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

[Orion3]

Well the bhbr didn't turn up today so am not going to be able to review until later in the week. I did however, get the savage strung at 38lb and can report that the spin generation is...awesome.

I was a bit concerned that a looser string would give me too much power and coupled with my gradual move from a SW to an eastern grip I would hit everything out of the court. Pleased to say that pretty much everything stayed in - the extra topspin has been amazing so far.

So far, very, very good.

[rjw]

Well, I finally played with Black Magic in my apdgt at 40/36 and it was pretty nice.

Balls that I hit badly, that would normally sail out, pretty much flew out further, but everything that I hit well had more spin, pace and depth and I hit a lot of corners.

Serve seemed a tad weaker, but volleys were actually almost unreal.

I hit a ton of touch volleys off of balls that were coming at me with a lot of pace. I could just suck it up and drop them over the net to both sides!!

I've only strung /hit with 2 polys prior to this, Black Magic and Head Ultra Tour , both in my son's sticks and at 57/54.

At 40/36, the sound off the racquet is somewhat interesting, but not irritating (no dampner).

BM is advertised as a soft poly, but when stringing, I find it to be much stiffer than the Ultra tour. Also, it can kink very easily and when tying knots at such low tension, they are tough to get any air gaps out of the actual knot.

Another hint that this poly is not all that soft is that I had literally no string movement at all??? with nrg2 and OGSM, at low to mid 50's required fairly regular readjustment of strings.

Anyone have any comments on how Black Magic measures up to other polys, with respect to stiffness?

I am going to string my other stick with the same BM at 35/30 and see how that goes.

All in all, I'm very happy with this string/racquet/tension setup, so far.

It should definitely help improve my strokes, in that if I don't promote enough spin, and hit the ball hard, it will sail.

return of serve was actually not bad, considering all this.

More after day 2 with lower tension (hopefully by tomorrow)

[rjw]

35/30 worked out just great!!

Serves, volleys ground strokes, it's all good.

No elbow problems and just loving it....

Thanks to the people who suggested this!!

[eman resu]

I've never broken a string. I restring my ozone every 3 or 4 months, when the string starts to move around too much for my taste. I currently use Kirschbaum competition 1.25 at 58. Does it make sense for me to go low? I mean, won't it become too loose and weird in 3 months? Is low tensions only for those who string often, that is, only for fresh strings?
I was thinking about getting a cheaper Toalson polygut 1.30 at 40 too see how it plays...

[mikeler]

Black Magic is the softest poly of the 7 or 8 I've hit with.

[rjw]

Originally Posted by mikeler

Black Magic is the softest poly of the 7 or 8 I've hit with.

Do the rest of them kink so easily? Head Ultra tour didn't

[anewtypedude]

Do you think stringing low would benefit a doubles player? I play mostly at the net.

[THAAS909]

but what level players and what kind of game do you have that you ares stringing at 20-30 lbs.....

[mistapooh]

Originally Posted by anewtypedude

Do you think stringing low would benefit a doubles player? I play mostly at the net.

No way, not when feel is a priority.

[Fuji]

Originally Posted by THAAS909

but what level players and what kind of game do you have that you ares stringing at 20-30 lbs.....

I'm a 4.5 and I play all court tennis!

Whenever I play with poly, in full beds, I have to keep it around 30-35lbs to keep my arm happy, and it seems to be working pretty well! Even in an APD! Just hitting with a bit more spin and a bit more power is a great benefit. The only negative I can thing of is that volleying is a bit more difficult, but it's not a huge adjustment from fully synthetic set ups.

Plus being able to "bend" shots around net players and approaching players is something that I'd rather not give up!

-Fuji

[Fuji]

Originally Posted by anewtypedude

Do you think stringing low would benefit a doubles player? I play mostly at the net.

Depends on what type of net player you are! If you are more of a bank back most shots, and really punish others, then higher tensions would probably be better. If you like to bleed off pace and do a lot of droppers and such, I prefer lower tensions. The only thing about lower tensions is the response is a bit unpredictable!

-Fuji

[rjw]

This is like everything else, basically subjective

I read quite a few posts in this thread where people didn't like how low tension poly volleyed, but I felt the exact opposite.

As stated elsewhere, poly doesn't turn into a rocket launcher at low tensions (like multis and syn), and I actually loved how my volleys felt.

Mind you, I've only played the one poly at 30-40 lbs and I'm barely a 4.0 player, so take that for what it's not worth....lol

If you string for yourself, then it's worth a shot, otherwise.....???

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Fuji

Depends on what type of net player you are! If you are more of a bank back most shots, and really punish others, then higher tensions would probably be better. If you like to bleed off pace and do a lot of droppers and such, I prefer lower tensions. The only thing about lower tensions is the response is a bit unpredictable!

-Fuji

I'm an all court player.....do you really find the response unpredictable?

Amazing how opinions differ...I also play apdgt's

[rjw]

Yesterday was my 3rd day playing BM at 35/30 in an apdgt, well actually 40/36 on the first day, but so far I am liking it more and more.

I get enough extra spin to keep my topspin forehand in the court and with a fair bit more pace and enough extra back/side spin, to keep slices deep and low. My topspin backhand also lands deeper, but still barely in.

Had to adjust my serve a bit, but it's also working pretty well and as posted above, I like the feel of volleys ,especially drop volleys and even drop shots from the baseline. I am also hitting a few more angled winners from the line.

If my arm doesn't start hurting, all is good , so far.

[Orion3]

Originally Posted by Orion3

Well the bhbr didn't turn up today so am not going to be able to review until later in the week. I did however, get the savage strung at 38lb and can report that the spin generation is...awesome.

BHBR is now strung at 38lb, playing on Thursday weather permitting - will report back after.

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Orion3

BHBR is now strung at 38lb, playing on Thursday weather permitting - will report back after.

If you like 38, try low 30's

[kaiser]

Originally Posted by Orion3

BHBR is now strung at 38lb, playing on Thursday weather permitting - will report back after.

Looking forward to your review, am very interested in how BHBR performs at low tensions! Which gauge are you trying?

[Orion3]

17g. I deliberately went for 38lb as I'm assuming a 20% tension drop in the first few weeks

[Orion3]

.....so expect to be playing at tensions around 31-32lb in a few weeks.

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Orion3

.....so expect to be playing at tensions around 31-32lb in a few weeks.

Just remember if it goes dead then your arm might go south...

Many only get 6-8 hours out of poly...some less than that....but if you aren't a BIG hitter, then surely more.