Wilson 99S string experiences

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Rabbit

dammit, Jack, I was going to say that!

lol. Well at least I know I got it right

[AlfaAce]

Originally Posted by drakulie

... favorite combination of the above in terms of feel, spin, power, control, etc was the 17G gut with a 17 gauge poly.

If I want to try this combo in a 99S (probably with 17G Wilson Nat Gut and 4G 1.25), what tension(s) would you recommend? I'll preface this question with: I play PD2012s with full nat gut 17G at 60-62#. Thank you in advance!

[drak]

Played with my new 99S for first time today, strung with Pacific classic gut mains at 58# and 4g crosses at 55#, both 16 gauge 1.30. I liked this set up a lot, very comfortable, tons of spin, nice mix of control and power. Unless you are a big time power hitter/stringbreaker this combo should work for a lot of folks.

see my full review in the racket section

Drak

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by AlfaAce

If I want to try this combo in a 99S (probably with 17G Wilson Nat Gut and 4G 1.25), what tension(s) would you recommend? I'll preface this question with: I play PD2012s with full nat gut 17G at 60-62#. Thank you in advance!

I always recommend, when players are switching to a new frame or new string to try and keep some things the same. In this case, I would recommend you use the same tension you used with the PD, and then go from there. If you feel the strings break too quickly, lower your tension.

One more note, I do believe lower tensions really magnifies the spin potential. But everyone is different, so best to experiment.

happy hitting!

[AlfaAce]

Originally Posted by drakulie

I always recommend, when players are switching to a new frame or new string to try and keep some things the same. In this case, I would recommend you use the same tension you used with the PD, and then go from there. If you feel the strings break too quickly, lower your tension.

One more note, I do believe lower tensions really magnifies the spin potential. But everyone is different, so best to experiment.

happy hitting!

So at that rate, 60# for both the gut and poly? I've mostly heard hybrid users saying you should string the poly 3-6# lower than the gut, no? I've never tried a hybrid string job. Sorry for the noob Q .

[Pro_Tour_630]

dark, rabbit, et al.......we are talking about this frame in the jr section for an 11 year old girl who hits flat with somewhat of an eastern grip. she is used to 18g blackcode mains with bipase 18g in cross at low tension in her babolat PD. if she stays with the same set up and her swing path do you think she would like this frame will she have issues with directional control since she is not a heavy tops hitter with such an open pattern. or will this frame force her to hit more tops to keep the ball in, your thoughts

[drak]

Originally Posted by Pro_Tour_630

dark, rabbit, et al.......we are talking about this frame in the jr section for an 11 year old girl who hits flat with somewhat of an eastern grip. she is used to 18g blackcode mains with bipase 18g in cross at low tension in her babolat PD. if she stays with the same set up and her swing path do you think she would like this frame will she have issues with directional control since she is not a heavy tops hitter with such an open pattern. or will this frame force her to hit more tops to keep the ball in, your thoughts

really hard to say, for this frame even more than others - DEMO DEMO DEMO. I wanted an extended demo so I bot one, figuring it's an easy sell if I did not like it

[pvw_tf]

Originally Posted by drak

Thx in advance and let the 99S games begin!

I am interested in "how long does the string last". And as always there will be a difference in the court you play on. Hardcourt vs European red clay.

In the past there was a Snauwaert Hi-Ten racket, was used by one of the Woodies, which had a string pattern of 12*13.

Did string several of them. But the Hi-Ten had special strings. There were 2 available. Snauwaert Natural Gut and a mono string called Dynocraft. Both in thickness 1.8. The gut was nice to play with.

But on red clay a normal gauge string of 1.35, did not last long.

So I do not expect any long life with a 17 string in one of the wilsonS. But interested in results.

Peter

[AlfaAce]

Luxilon "4GS" available: http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Luxi...LUX4GS141.html

[AlfaAce]

Originally Posted by AlfaAce

If I want to try this combo in a 99S (probably with 17G Wilson Nat Gut and 4G 1.25), what tension(s) would you recommend? I'll preface this question with: I play PD2012s with full nat gut 17G at 60-62#. Thank you in advance!

Originally Posted by drakulie

I always recommend, when players are switching to a new frame or new string to try and keep some things the same. In this case, I would recommend you use the same tension you used with the PD, and then go from there. If you feel the strings break too quickly, lower your tension.

One more note, I do believe lower tensions really magnifies the spin potential. But everyone is different, so best to experiment.

happy hitting!

Originally Posted by AlfaAce

So at that rate, 60# for both the gut and poly? I've mostly heard hybrid users saying you should string the poly 3-6# lower than the gut, no? I've never tried a hybrid string job. Sorry for the noob Q .

^^^Drakulie - Can I get your expert opinion on this please?

Also - What do you advise if I go with a 16G NG and a 15G Lux "4GS"? Same?

Thanks again!

[tennis_nut]

Broke the mains in my gut/poly hybrid earlier today. It was 16g Prince gut mains with 17g 4G crosses. The setup lasted roughly 6 hours of play.

Besides the lack of durability, the setup played amazing. Not overpowered like I thought it would be. Very spinny initially but after the 2nd hour the mains weren't snapping back as well. I think a thicker and slicker cross might be the ticket as Drakulie had mentioned. I think I'll try RPM 16g next as a cross. Not worried about tension loss because I think the gut will break before any drastic change in tension. If I can get 8-10 hours outta the gut/RPM, I'll be happy.

[Buford T Justice]

Originally Posted by tennis_nut

Very spinny initially but after the 2nd hour the mains weren't snapping back as well.

I noticed the exact same thing with a full bed of 4g 16. After 1.5-2 hrs, the mains were not snapping back in place and I had to adjust the strings between points. I also seemed to experience a reduction in spin. The racquet just didn't play the same.

I've played with these strings about 5 hrs total and the mains are very notably notched....maybe 33% or so.

I wonder if a switch to the 4gs 15 will help a bit?

[Buford T Justice]

Originally Posted by Buford T Justice

I noticed the exact same thing with a full bed of 4g 16. After 1.5-2 hrs, the mains were not snapping back in place and I had to adjust the strings between points. I also seemed to experience a reduction in spin. The racquet just didn't play the same.

I've played with these strings about 5 hrs total and the mains are very notably notched....maybe 33% or so.

I wonder if a switch to the 4gs 15 will help a bit?

I just went and took a closer look......it actually appears that many of the mains are notched 50% after ~5 hours. (Granted, probably half this time was drilling and hitting alot more balls than in a match).

I compared the notching to that found on my old racquets (old school Wilson Ceramic 95) strung with Babolat Duralast 16, and found those racquets are barely notched with about the same amount of time on them.

For a recreational player like myself, who is not willing to string racquets every 4-5 hours of play, what do you guys think is a solution? Switch to thick gut mains and thick poly crosses? If that would last ~10 hours I could probably be happy with that.

[Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Pro_Tour_630

dark, rabbit, et al.......we are talking about this frame in the jr section for an 11 year old girl who hits flat with somewhat of an eastern grip. she is used to 18g blackcode mains with bipase 18g in cross at low tension in her babolat PD. if she stays with the same set up and her swing path do you think she would like this frame will she have issues with directional control since she is not a heavy tops hitter with such an open pattern. or will this frame force her to hit more tops to keep the ball in, your thoughts

Hey man, good to hear from you. Based on my experience, she will like the frame. The one I hit with for two hours was not set up to my liking even though I strung it . The owner asked that I string it at 58.5/55.5 and then said I could hit with it. I had no issues with control, it played great for me. There is an adjustment at first because the ball will have a bit higher trajectory, but that is really corrected without any thought whatsoever.

The frame is stiff (not as stiff as a PD), but plays soft. Again, the midpoint on this frame is 58, I play to string mine at 54-ish with poly or 58 with gut mains and 54 with poly crosses. I think this frame would be fantastic at lower than midpoint tension. So much so, that I have ordered two.

Originally Posted by tennis_nut

Broke the mains in my gut/poly hybrid earlier today. It was 16g Prince gut mains with 17g 4G crosses. The setup lasted roughly 6 hours of play.

Besides the lack of durability, the setup played amazing. Not overpowered like I thought it would be. Very spinny initially but after the 2nd hour the mains weren't snapping back as well. I think a thicker and slicker cross might be the ticket as Drakulie had mentioned. I think I'll try RPM 16g next as a cross. Not worried about tension loss because I think the gut will break before any drastic change in tension. If I can get 8-10 hours outta the gut/RPM, I'll be happy.

Thanks, that is super encouraging. I think this setup sounds great.

[tennis_nut]

Just restrung with 16g Prince gut in the mains at 58lbs and RPM 16g in the crosses at 54lbs. Will report back in a few days about playability and durability.

Also, the Solinco Outlast 16g in my other frame has dropped tension dramatically after roughly 7 hours of play. Makes a wierd buzzing sound on contact now Mains are notched about half way through. Might have got another 2 hours if the tension wouldn't have dropped so bad. I'm gonna try a full bed of Silverstring 1.25 next because its the only 17g poly I have lying around. I would like to be able to find a full poly setup that I can break around the same time it loses playability. The gut/ poly setups are going to get too expensive soon!

[tlm]

All I had in 16 g. poly on hand was gamma monoblast which is a crappy string. But I put it in at 64lbs. and it played way better than the TNT that came in it.

I have some 4G 16+15 gauge coming and will put in at 64lbs. and this should be pretty good, hoping to tone down the power. I would never string this under mid 60's tension because it has plenty of power still and feels very comfortable, from what I can tell this racket is very arm friendly.

I think that if you want good performance from this racket you are going to have to string often. I would advise those that don't want to string often to look for another racket.

[Buford T Justice]

Originally Posted by tlm

I think that if you want good performance from this racket you are going to have to string often. I would advise those that don't want to string often to look for another racket.

Yes I think this is going to be the case . I just broke down and am restringing mine after 5 hrs of use. This time am going to try something cheap (Golden Set Snakebite 17).

[Centerforward71]

Originally Posted by Rabbit

Hey man, good to hear from you. Based on my experience, she will like the frame. The one I hit with for two hours was not set up to my liking even though I strung it . The owner asked that I string it at 58.5/55.5 and then said I could hit with it. I had no issues with control, it played great for me. There is an adjustment at first because the ball will have a bit higher trajectory, but that is really corrected without any thought whatsoever.

The frame is stiff (not as stiff as a PD), but plays soft. Again, the midpoint on this frame is 58, I play to string mine at 54-ish with poly or 58 with gut mains and 54 with poly crosses. I think this frame would be fantastic at lower than midpoint tension. So much so, that I have ordered two.



Thanks, that is super encouraging. I think this setup sounds great.

Yeah the higher trajectory is the only thing I am not LOVING although not terrible.

ANOTHER THING, I have tested tensions after strigning and then one play and the INITIAL drop in tension seems to drop alot and then settle but that first drop seems to be more than the normal, maybe cause of the open pattern ? Used Racquettune.

I always loved stiff frames but this frame is stiff yet soft, strange combo but very nice and welcomed. Reminds me a bit of my junior days playing the Yonex R-7 and R-22, blast from the past !!

[AlfaAce]

Originally Posted by Centerforward71

Yeah the higher trajectory is the only thing I am not LOVING although not terrible.

ANOTHER THING, I have tested tensions after strigning and then one play and the INITIAL drop in tension seems to drop alot and then settle but that first drop seems to be more than the normal, maybe cause of the open pattern ? Used Racquettune.

I always loved stiff frames but this frame is stiff yet soft, strange combo but very nice and welcomed. Reminds me a bit of my junior days playing the Yonex R-7 and R-22, blast from the past !!

Good to know about the abnormal tension drop. What string(s) were you using?

If what you say is true about the 99S reminding you of the R-22... I'm buying 3!!!

[Centerforward71]

Originally Posted by AlfaAce

Good to know about the abnormal tension drop. What string(s) were you using?

If what you say is true about the 99S reminding you of the R-22... I'm buying 3!!!

It's happened with all the polys I've used all polys that I use and know to be pretty good at tension mtce. And yes on the R22 renaissance