Low, low tensions. 30lbs feels great. 20lbs pretty good, too

[drak]

Originally Posted by Sander001

Thank you for all that! I look forward to trying things out
The lowest I've gone is 46lbs with Sharky Spike or Black Shark or whatever. It was an interesting experience and I especially loved volleying with it but groundstrokes felt weird, almost jarring[though not super uncomfortable]. I did like it overall, even if I was hoping for more spin.
I'm definitely going to be trying this much more though I'll be taking baby steps and step 1 is to hit with this PC600.

What is ELT?

believe it is "extremely low tension"

A Q to the guys who like 30ish with syngut. Is it like Poly then that you want to cut the strings out after 8-10 hrs?

[v-verb]

Originally Posted by Sander001

Thank you for all that! I look forward to trying things out
The lowest I've gone is 46lbs with Sharky Spike or Black Shark or whatever. It was an interesting experience and I especially loved volleying with it but groundstrokes felt weird, almost jarring[though not super uncomfortable]. I did like it overall, even if I was hoping for more spin.
I'm definitely going to be trying this much more though I'll be taking baby steps and step 1 is to hit with this PC600.

What is ELT?

ELT = Extreme Low Tension. So about 30 lbs give or take. For my 18 x 20 Donnay X-Platinum I'm going down to 25 lbs from 35 lbs

[yourmailman]

Just ordered some more natural gut. I'm gonna try 25 as well.

[drak]

Originally Posted by yourmailman

Just ordered some more natural gut. I'm gonna try 25 as well.

You ELT gut guys, how long is a full gut job lasting? I asume there is no playability decline until it breaks?

[v-verb]

Originally Posted by yourmailman

Just ordered some more natural gut. I'm gonna try 25 as well.

Cool - I was going to get some Klip 18 ga but someone (I'm thinking you;<)

got the last of it. Should be restocked soon

Cheers

[Overdrive]

Who does the DC London Tour play in very very low tenisons?

[yourmailman]

Originally Posted by drak

You ELT gut guys, how long is a full gut job lasting? I asume there is no playability decline until it breaks?

I am at about 36 hours with no decline. Tension seems to be holding very well and playability is great.

[unorthodox stringing]

Originally Posted by drak

believe it is "extremely low tension"

A Q to the guys who like 30ish with syngut. Is it like Poly then that you want to cut the strings out after 8-10 hrs?

From my experience, the syn gut does not go dead like poly after 8-10 hrs. I did feel a very gradual and small tension loss after a few hours of very hard hits. The unusually harder hits were due to the extra spin curling the ball into the net. So I needed more drive to get it across.

The "big" drop in tension seem to happen at about the 8-10 hours mark. Or it could be due to me leaving the racket in a friend's car in the hot sun

But it remains playable and comfortable. I've actually recorded almost every session I had with my first ELT stick at the link below.

http://unorthodoxstringing.blogspot....ut-30-lbs.html

[unorthodox stringing]

Originally Posted by yourmailman

Just ordered some more natural gut. I'm gonna try 25 as well.

Awaiting your report eagerly!!!

On a sidenote, I was still thinking about benefits of ELT when i came across a very very slightly cracked racket.

Then i thought, since ELT is strung at only HALF the poundage of what the racket is designed for, wouldn't that open up more fanciful stringing opportunities?

For one, I'll string up that minor cracked frame. Full protective gear on of course!

Another thought could be stringing one-piece bottom up (against some manufacturers' advice). That'll save us some hard weaves and avoid going around the racket.

Hey! I may even dig out an unwanted stick and do a zigzag pattern!

[Povl Carstensen]

Originally Posted by unorthodox stringing

The unusually harder hits were due to the extra spin curling the ball into the net. So I needed more drive to get it across.

I do believe this is also because of loss of power with elt, which again works as a relative increase in spin. And it is why I do not think elt will be for me since most of my rackets are low powered (90", 18x20 and so on).
It could be interesting to try it in a higher powered racket. My PS Classic comes to mind. But what happens when the snap back goes? Well I will have to see.

[drak]

Originally Posted by yourmailman

I am at about 36 hours with no decline. Tension seems to be holding very well and playability is great.

Thx for the reply. Is your gut at 30lbs? And how is the power level and spin potential at ELT for gut vs syngut - is there a significant difference?

some comments here say that 30lbs may actually have too little power for some rackets/players. So I am wondering if gut boosts the power that enough to reach a better blend of power/control/spin?

[drak]

Originally Posted by Povl Carstensen

I do believe this is also because of loss of power with elt, which again works as a relative increase in spin. And it is why I do not think elt will be for me since most of my rackets are low powered (90", 18x20 and so on).
It could be interesting to try it in a higher powered racket. My PS Classic comes to mind. But what happens when the snap back goes? Well I will have to see.

as I wrote in another post is gut then perhaps an ever better alternative for someone like you who might want a little more power and perhaps even spin at ELT's near 30 lbs?

[Trippisthebest]

What strings seem to do very well at ELT? Polys, multis, sun guyt?

[drak]

Originally Posted by Trippisthebest

What strings seem to do very well at ELT? Polys, multis, sun guyt?

in the beginning of this thread it was thought that Poly would be THE string to use at low tensions and there seemed to be little or no syngut or gut testing at ELT. It appears over the last sever weeks? Months? that using a syngut or multi or now even gut at ELT tension is perhaps superior. when I begin playing again is a week or so I will try this out on one of my frames.

[yourmailman]

Originally Posted by Trippisthebest

What strings seem to do very well at ELT? Polys, multis, sun guyt?

The poly I used ( TF Red Code 18 ) seems a bit stiff for my tastes. A hybrid setup goes a long way in alleviating that problem. But an all syn-gut string bed is far superiors IMHO. If you really want to see some action, I recommend going natural gut all the way.

Try the syn-gut first, if you are worried about price, and if you like the results, try natural gut. I was very pleasantly surprised. I love the all nat-gut at ELT!

[drak]

Originally Posted by yourmailman

The poly I used (TF Red Code 1 seems a bit stiff for my tastes. A hybrid setup goes a long way in alleviating that problem. But an all syn-gut string bed is far superiors IMHO. If you really want to see some action, I recommend going natural gut all the way.

Try the syn-gut first, if you are worried about price, and if you like the results, try natural gut. I was very pleasantly surprised. I love the all nat-gut at ELT!

"If you really want to see some action, I recommend going natural gut all the way.

Try the syn-gut first, if you are worried about price, and if you like the results, try natural gut. I was very pleasantly surprised. I love the all nat-gut at ELT!"




great, can you give us a detailed synopsis of why gut is the best for you? thx

Drak

[SOY78]

Just tried ELT 35# on a Volkl Tour 10 V Mid strung with ProSupex Big Ace 1.22 and a BB London Tour strung with Polyfibre Poly Hightech 1.20. All I have to say is they both feel great. Last Friday all I was doing is working on consistency just hitting at the baseline for 2 hours straight. The feel from those copoly's were amazing. You can even volley with those. Didn't try any serves but baseline shots were awesome. Hitting flat could be a challenge at first but I had to adjust and not hit flat that much. No way I am going back to poly in the 50's

[yourmailman]

Originally Posted by drak

great, can you give us a detailed synopsis of why gut is the best for you? thx

Drak

Hey Drak,

The natural gut has a nicer feel to it than the syn-gut (for me, anyway). It seems to give me a little more rotation on the ball and a little more pop on my serve than the syn-gut. Granted, it's not much more, but there is definitely a difference. As I said earlier, I was really hoping there wouldn't be a noticeable difference between the syn-gut and the natural because of the big price discrepancy. But there is.

Plus, it seems like the playability is still there in the nat-gut after a lot of use.

[drak]

Originally Posted by yourmailman

Hey Drak,

The natural gut has a nicer feel to it than the syn-gut (for me, anyway). It seems to give me a little more rotation on the ball and a little more pop on my serve than the syn-gut. Granted, it's not much more, but there is definitely a difference. As I said earlier, I was really hoping there wouldn't be a noticeable difference between the syn-gut and the natural because of the big price discrepancy. But there is.

Plus, it seems like the playability is still there in the nat-gut after a lot of use.

thx and that makes sense. Did you feel the control of gut at ELT was as good as the syngut?

[keithfival]

Ok, I took the bait. Just strung a frame with ogsm 17 at 30 lbs... will see tomorrow!