Sampras goes to Babolat! (pics incl.)

[gavna]

Yes the Allwood had white paint around the outside of the hoop and a thicker shaft with extra layers at the bottom of the hoop. This is the super light - you can even see at the top of the hoop allwood super light spelled out. The super light was a thinner all around frame.

[King_roger]

Originally Posted by vsbabolat

The Allwood Superlight does not have the white paint on the out side of the hoop like the Allwood. The outside of the hoop on the Allwood Superlight is natural wood color.

Here is a better photo. Clearly Allwood Superlight:

How can you be sure in this case? Maybe it's a paintjob?

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

Really? I used to have a standard Allwood and I don't remember it having white paint on the hoop. Do you have a pic of one?

You can even see in the photo at the top of the hoop it is written Allwood Borg Superlight. Wow you have a very bad memory. Like I said I played with the Allwood Borg SuperLight for a year. I am intimate knowledge of these frames.

Here you go.
Check out the white paint at the outside of the hoop.

Originally Posted by gpt

Heaps of these were sold in the 70's

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by gavna

Yes the Allwood had white paint around the outside of the hoop and a thicker shaft with extra layers at the bottom of the hoop. This is the super light - you can even see at the top of the hoop allwood super light spelled out. The super light was a thinner all around frame.

Thanks for the help. It's pretty obvious if you ever played with these racquets.

[fms]

While Pete's is indeed the Superlight, my (regular) Allwood doesn't have any white paint around the outside of the hoop at all.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by vsbabolat

You can even see in the photo at the top of the hoop it is written Allwood Borg Superlight. Wow you have a very bad memory. Like I said I played with the Allwood Borg SuperLight for a year. I am intimate knowledge of these frames.

Here you go.
Check out the white paint at the outside of the hoop.

Yeah, but that's the "Allwood Bjorn Borg", not the standard Allwood which just had the word "Allwood" on the hoop. Besides, the Allwood was never my main stick. I just bought one to fool around with since the paintjob was so gorgeous.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by fms

While Pete's is indeed the Superlight, my (regular) Allwood doesn't have any white paint around the outside of the hoop at all.

That's exactly how I remember my standard Allwood to be - no white paint on the outside of the hoop.

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

Yeah, but that's the "Allwood Bjorn Borg", not the standard Allwood which just had the word "Allwood" on the hoop. Besides, the Allwood was never my main stick. I just bought one to fool around with since the paintjob was so gorgeous.

The standard "Allwood" was only around in the 70's and even they had the the white paint around the outside of the hoop. In about 1979 Donnay started putting Borg's name on just about everything. There is no difference between a "Allwood" and a "Allwood Bjorn Borg".

[niktub]

Any difference between the allwood superlight and the allwood borg superlight except one "word"?

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by niktub

Any difference between the allwood superlight and the allwood borg superlight except one "word"?

No difference. Like I said in about 1979/80 Donnay started putting Borg's name on anything they could. The Allwood Superlight is thinner and more flexible than the regular Allwood.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by vsbabolat

The standard "Allwood" was only around in the 70's and even they had the the white paint around the outside of the hoop. In about 1979 Donnay started putting Borg's name on just about everything. There is no difference between a "Allwood" and a "Allwood Bjorn Borg".

Then how do explain fms's claim as he sounds like he still has an Allwood:

Originally Posted by fms

While Pete's is indeed the Superlight, my (regular) Allwood doesn't have any white paint around the outside of the hoop at all.

And, yes, I bought mine in the 70's.

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

Then how do explain fms's claim as he sounds like he still has an Allwood:



And, yes, I bought mine in the 70's.

Most Allwood had the white around the outside of the hoop of the frame and that was before they added Borg's name to the frame.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by vsbabolat

The standard "Allwood" was only around in the 70's and even they had the the white paint around the outside of the hoop. In about 1979 Donnay started putting Borg's name on just about everything. There is no difference between a "Allwood" and a "Allwood Bjorn Borg".

Here are some pics of standard Allwoods (like the one that I had) which do NOT have white paint on the outside of the hoops:

[fms]

BreakPoint is correct; I've got an Allwood and that's exactly how it looks like - no white paint.

[gavna]

Some of the early pre 1976 Allwoods may not have had the white paint around the hoop and actually it's not paint its "vulcanized fibre". If you look at vids of Borg's 1976 win at Wimby it had the paint, I also have pics of Borg when he had just switched to Donnay in 75 and the loop was painted. I played with the Allwoods from 76 thru 80 and all had the paint layer. One way to tell if you have a "pre Borg" Allwood is to look at the shaft just above the grip you see a list of the wood and fibre layers and the laminate layup. The first Allwoods only have 1 layer of fibre between the laminates, all of the models after show an additional layer of fibre listed as vulcanized fibre as the white layer around the hoop.

As for the super light Allwood Sampras was using the big difference was a thinner and straighter shaft and again only 1 layer of V Fibre in-between layers of wood. It was really more of a womens racquet I never saw adult males ever playing with a super light in the 70s.

[fms]

Well, my Allwood, without the "white stuff", has Borg's signature on the side, so I don't think it's entirely "pre-Borg". You're correct about it having one layer (number 4) of fibre between the other layers. It goes 1-2-4-3-3-3-3.

[gavna]

Interesting and cool, love to be able to learn when it was produced exactly. I must have had 40 or 50 Allwoods in the Jrs and all had the white layer. I'm not sure when Donnay started adding the Borg sig on the shaft. One interesting thing is all the Donnay's sold in the USA until 1980 had a sticker over his sig. It was soooo much fun peeling off those damn things every time I got a new batch.

[BreakPoint]

My Allwood was purchased after 1976, more like around 1978 or 1979. It did not have Borg's signature on the side (as far as I recall) and it did not have the white paint on the outside of the hoop. I don't recall exactly how many fibre layers it had but I believe it was just one layer. The cover it came with was exactly the same as in the pics I posted above - it had "Allwood" printed near the top of the cover.

[NikeWilson]

Is Pete still with Babolat, or did he go back to Wilson?

[uk_skippy]

Originally Posted by tstring

Do you think that this was the natural gut that Pete Sampras used at gauge 18 1.22mm? I may have found some of it below!!!!

http://tinyurl.com/petesamprasstring

Possibly. Bartoli also uses the 122 gut.

Regards

Paul