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

[kaiser]

Originally Posted by Orion3

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

Been playing for some time with Tornado/Hyperion @ 40/38lb and recently SP Hextreme @ 36lb in my 4D200Ts. Liked the last setup best sofar. Given the reviews I read on BHBR at normal tensions, one might expect some crazy spin at low tensions...

[Orion3]

Originally Posted by rjw

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.

I hit a very heavy ball with a SW grip but am changing to a more eastern grip; the new tension seems to be giving me much more spin so whilst I'm now hitting a flatter ball with as much power as I had 20 years ago (pretty hard) I seem to have as much spin as I had 2 weeks ago with a SW grip.

If I get 6-8 weeks, so be it. At this moment in time I'm still experimenting, so it will nice to see how long poly strings last at low tensions.

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Orion3

I hit a very heavy ball with a SW grip but am changing to a more eastern grip; the new tension seems to be giving me much more spin so whilst I'm now hitting a flatter ball with as much power as I had 20 years ago (pretty hard) I seem to have as much spin as I had 2 weeks ago with a SW grip.

If I get 6-8 weeks, so be it. At this moment in time I'm still experimenting, so it will nice to see how long poly strings last at low tensions.

If you get 6-8 weeks out of a poly, then you either play 1 hour a week or you hit like grandpa playing moon ball doubles....jk

My 24 year old boy got 4 hours out of Head Ultra Tour...at 57 lbs

[Orion3]

Originally Posted by rjw

My 24 year old boy got 4 hours out of Head Ultra Tour...at 57 lbs

Understand that, but how long will it last strung at 38lbs?

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Orion3

Understand that, but how long will it last strung at 38lbs?

Not sure just yet....my pair at 40/36 and 35/30 have maybe 2-3 hours on each.

I'm also new to poly @ low tensions

[CameronJ]

Hello, first post here, I'll wade right in.

I have a Wilson BLX 6 one tour. It never occurred to me to string it at as low as this, but I string at 50 (the bottom of the recommended range) and I find that the feel and control of the racquet are much better than in the middle of the recommended range.

I find tightly strung racquets feel dead to me, like playing with a board.

I do not accept the common view that tighter strings give a player more control. This is not my experience.

[nickarnold2000]

Originally Posted by CameronJ

Hello, first post here, I'll wade right in.

I have a Wilson BLX 6 one tour. It never occurred to me to string it at as low as this, but I string at 50 (the bottom of the recommended range) and I find that the feel and control of the racquet are much better than in the middle of the recommended range.

I find tightly strung racquets feel dead to me, like playing with a board.

I do not accept the common view that tighter strings give a player more control. This is not my experience.

If you have a poly in the mains and hit with some topspin, you should be able to string even lower.
Before, with syn gut, I found lower tensions equaled less control but not with poly.

[Orion3]

Should be playing tomorrow, so checked the tensions...interesting.

My EX03 tour strung last week with Luxilon savage at 38lbs is now at 27lbs

My EX03 tour strung yesterday with BHBR at 38lbs is now at 34lbs

I also checked my Rebel 105 strung with Savage at 58lb a months or so ago and this is now sitting at 44lbs.

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Orion3

Should be playing tomorrow, so checked the tensions...interesting.

My EX03 tour strung last week with Luxilon savage at 38lbs is now at 27lbs

My EX03 tour strung yesterday with BHBR at 38lbs is now at 34lbs

I also checked my Rebel 105 strung with Savage at 58lb a months or so ago and this is now sitting at 44lbs.

What are you using to determine tension ?

[Orion3]

Racquettune App on my iPad!

Great toy and seemed reasonably accurate (compared with a tourna stringmeter when first got it)

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Orion3

Racquettune App on my iPad!

Great toy and seemed reasonably accurate (compared with a tourna stringmeter when first got it)

forget stringmeter...imo

[Orion3]

I just got back from playing.

Started with the savage and thought it was still pretty good. Good control, excellent spin really happy with it...still lost the first set though.
Second and third sets: Tried the BHBR stung EX03 tour - what can I say...fantastic. Control was great and the spin!! I hit the highest kicker of my life; ad court to my opponents backhand, landed plum in the corner and ended up over 6ft high as it jumped past his racket and then outside of the tramlines.
I've got to take some credit - it was a great serve, but the bite from these strings was unreal.

Also, hitting heavy sliced drop shots from my backhand from behind the baseline - wondrous! I won an entire game with sliced deep, deep, dropshot. These shots were stopping dead and one even bounced back towards the net.

All in all, I'm a convert - can't ever see me going back to high tensions.

Also, as much as I loved the savage, it BHBR for me now all the way. Its the best string I have ever hit; personal preference I know, but I'd chose it over natural gut. I'm going to order a reel in the morning.

Only criticism of BHBR...I wish it came in black!

Oh, and I won in 3!

[kaiser]

So no issues with controlling the extra power? In other threads pvaudio and Torres both doubted that BHBR could be strung as low as regular polys because it is inherently more powerful and responsive. According to pvaudio you only gain additional power as you string lower than 45. However, I don't know if either has actually strung at 38 as you have, and by the sound of it, you didn't have any uncontrollable power issues...

[Orion3]

First time I've hit BHBR, so can't compare directly, but I honestly didn't notice much difference in its power compared to savage strung at 38lbs. Nor did I notice much difference in power with savage strung at 58lbs compared to savage strung at 38lbs.

I cut the savage out today, it had dropped down to 25lbs and put in BHBR, this time a 40lbs to see if I could notice a difference on Sunday when I play next. My first EX03 tour strung with BHBR is now down to 32lbs (from the original 3.

The BHBR seems to hold it's tension much better than the savage; I guess it's a little stiffer.

I hit 40 serves today with the BHBR and the kick is wild; I wonder if it's the same at higher tensions? I may get my next restring done at 45lb to see if there is a noticeable difference.




As an afterthought - I do hit a heavy ball, so it's possible that this would help control any additional power; but honestly I've not noticed anything dramatic...other than lots more spin.

[kaiser]

You're getting me pretty excited, I want try BHBR at low tensions now too!

[Orion3]

Best string I've ever hit.

[eman resu]

How heavier would a 100 sqin, 16x18 be from high to low tensions? (like 58 to 3

[eman resu]

Originally Posted by Orion3

First time I've hit BHBR, so can't compare directly, but I honestly didn't notice much difference in its power compared to savage strung at 38lbs. Nor did I notice much difference in power with savage strung at 58lbs compared to savage strung at 38lbs.

I cut the savage out today, it had dropped down to 25lbs and put in BHBR, this time a 40lbs to see if I could notice a difference on Sunday when I play next. My first EX03 tour strung with BHBR is now down to 32lbs (from the original 3.

The BHBR seems to hold it's tension much better than the savage; I guess it's a little stiffer.

I hit 40 serves today with the BHBR and the kick is wild; I wonder if it's the same at higher tensions? I may get my next restring done at 45lb to see if there is a noticeable difference.




As an afterthought - I do hit a heavy ball, so it's possible that this would help control any additional power; but honestly I've not noticed anything dramatic...other than lots more spin.

Did you cut the savage just because you liked it better with the other string or because it started to play bad?

[Hominator]

Anyone having arm issues with poly in the 30s or 40s? Thanks.

[rjw]

Originally Posted by Hominator

Anyone having arm issues with poly in the 30s or 40s? Thanks.

Yes....not sure why yet....

I have Black Magic in apdgt's for about 4 to 5 hours each. Tensions of 40/36 and 35/30

After my last 2 hours with the lower tension (35/30), I felt some pain in my shoulder, back and a bit of tingling in my arm.

I'm not sure yet if it's the lower tensioned racquet is too low for me, or if the strings are going dead or possibly unrelated??

I am told that the life of this string is 6-8 hrs if you are a hard hitter, which I don't think that I really am.

I'm not dumping it quite yet....will continue to hit with the 40/36 stick and see what happens.

Played again and had no arm, shoulder , back problems at all after using both sticks for around 1 hour each. I am getting to the potential dead time, now having over 6 hours play time on them.

I think that my body pain was from having lifted a bunch of heavy metal pieces for a couple of days...lol....

Darn work is interfering with my tennis...

Also picked up some Hexonic 18 and 18l to test as well as some Maxim Touch...