The Church of Polystringism-- Alidisperanza's PT Thread

[alidisperanza]

Stringischo Iontec [Earthworm]
Frame(s): YT Radical Pro
Tension: 48
Don't care what anyone says... it's not salmon, it's earthworm. After stringing it up, it's an injustice to my favorite sashimi... I'm not quite sure what Discho is trying to do with the color; perhaps they're trying to make a play off BBO? Either way, it's downright ugly in my YT radicals.

Stringing:
The bright side is that this string is incredibly easy to work with. I might just put this among my favorite polys to deal with. Interesting note is that Discho uses 3 zipties with their sets of Iontec but only 2 with hexa. Perhaps it's just the [very small] organizational part of me but I like it. Keeps everything neat. One of the most interesting characteristics that I noticed while stringing the 1.25 is that it's malleable soft. The string itself is average if not slightly softer than average when you first pick it up and start working with it. After running it through a few grommets, it seems to soften up in your hands. This is most evident when weaving crosses since the "head" of my piece of string actually became wavy.Tie offs are no problem at all.

I'm not quite sure what to make of it because the string doesn't snap back as aggressively as other polys when playing with the mains but on the flip side, there's a bit of flex and give @ the sweet spot. Should be interesting.


First impressions:
I'd like to introduce to you my nomination for most comfortable poly of the year. I've always been a dedicated vibration dampener player...always, regardless of what I'm hitting with. Iontec is a go without one; It's not even pingy. Now that that's aside it's time for the good and the bad. Iontec got the trial by fire tonight. I had to play against the no 1 singles from my 4.5 team until a doubles court opened up and then got the chance to hit with a former D1 college player. Off the ground, the string does what you want it to and it enhances your strokes if you hit them properly. Power is there in spades-- even a touch too much at times. Flat strokes, spin strokes, all comfortable. There are two things I simply don't understand with this string. Slices and serves. It was like I was playing russian roulette. The serves that went in were absolutely killer-- the rest. Fault-gasm. That much is unacceptable since my serve is my biggest weapon, especially playing singles. The end result, I lost the set 4-6. The feedback from my opponent was all positive though. He commented that if I were more consistent with my serves, that the match would have gone decidedly differently. He also mentioned that my kick serve was off the charts which is a HUGE plus since I haven't been able to hit an effective one in a while.

Basically, I'm really really hoping that this string retains its characteristics. I'm sure I can figure out how to serve with it etc with some practice but to have a comfortable poly at a low price is a gem. Definitely needs more play to be certain though.

Groundies:
If I had to pick a single adjective to describe this string, it would be "comfortable." Even though IT is fairly stiff in the hands, it plays nothing like it. What I mentioned above is still, for the most part, true. I can play this string after so many days strung and several hours of hitting without a dampener. Hitting forehands and backhands with this string is just awesome. There's plenty of pop but not so much that it's uncontrollable. Add a dash of spin and you have a penetrating ball with minimal effort. If you should choose, ratchet up the RHS and change the trajectory of your swing and you have a stroke that kicks up deep in the court. While I've been having more difficulty with it, hitting flat is solid too. You can get a really nice crack off the frame if you hit the ball properly and transfer your weight through the shot. I find that I'm enjoying the return of serve with this frame quite a bit as well. The responsiveness of the string bed is helping me cover my weakness of return. I've been trying to employ a much abridged motion with a short back swing and provided I'm placing the racquet correctly, the ball is zipping off the frame. On shots where you're stretched out and reaching, the strings provide enough pop to get the ball back on court. The issue I'm still having with this string is hitting slices. Unless I really have ample time to control my racquet and hit a "textbook" shot, I'm just drawing a blank. I've almost literally taken slices out of my game when hitting with these strings. This is definitely something I need to dedicate some time and practice with.

Serving:
Oh boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy. I figured it out. It was a combination of a few things tonight-- principally me making some adjustments and breakthroughs on my service motion. I had the opportunity to play 3 sets of good doubles and a tie breaker so quite a bit of pressure serving. Held all but 1 game. Held serve in tiebreak too. If you hit a proper flat serve, the ball just positively SINGS off the strings and eats up court. Tonight, I was working on placing my feet more appropriately and adopting a true "trophy" pose. It paid off in spades. I was able to crack flat serves down the T and wide with alarming speed. Don't get me wrong, I made more than my share of errors but the beauty of playing with this string is that I was able to rely on a wicked kick serve to win points on my second serve. I haven't seen a ball jump to 6' and hit the back court (or the side curtain) in years. The absolute best part is even after hitting serves at 100%, I had absolutely no discomfort in my arm. With some of the other setups I've been playing, I've had this abnormal numbness in the pointer finger of my right hand after hitting the ball (mind you, connecting square in the center, not shanking); not here. My buddy has 2 of the sets on his GoPro-- I'm really curious to see if I can get the speed off some of my flat serves by measuring frames.

Volleys:
Ehhh--Here's where I'm not entirely certain how to react. I've had both good and bad nights hitting volleys with this string. The first time I played with it was positive while tonight, playing doubles, wasn't. I'm going to chalk it up to my poor volleys and not the string. Having said that, the string has a fair amount of pop to it which helps nicely when you hit the ball properly. Mis-hits are terrible. There's nothing on it, no saving grace. Touch isn't my specialty but I didn't see anything in the string that would enhance it-- it's simply too lively for my taste. On the flip side, it's great for getting you out of a jam when you have to reach for volleys to get them back on court. Granted, this is alleviated by better footwork and anticipation of the ball.

Tension maintenance:
At 4.5 hours, I'm impressed. The strings are starting to shift but it's not patently noticeable. Play is changing a bit but the string still hits great and feels lively; There's no "dead" poly feeling yet.

Durability:
At 4.5 hours, I'm shocked...At 1.22 measured by caliper... The strings are notched but only marginally. 1/4 at BEST. Had I been given this frame without knowing how long it had been played, I would say it's in the "just set" period. Just about any other string I've played has been utterly destroyed at this point. Kudos to Discho.

*Update* Up to ~8.5 hours and the string is about half way notched. Still viable for practice although shifting is apparent

Groundstrokes: 4.5/5
Serves: 4.5/5
Volleys: 4/5
Spin: 4/5
Power: 4/5
Comfort: 5/5
Tension: 4/5
Durability: 5/5 I've yet to have a full bed last me this long...

35/40

Final thoughts: Had I been given this string as a blind test, I would have been really impressed by the simple comfort and durability. Knowing the price point of the string, it's a stellar purchase in my book. Despite it's atrocious look in my frames it plays fantastically and that's what matters. The performance/price ratio is off the friggin' charts for me. I don't do things hastily and without adequate research but I fully intend on playing a few more sets of this and trying out the different variants Mamba/Discho has to offer. If I have similar play experiences though, you can be sure it'll be on my "reels to buy" list.

[alidisperanza]

Originally Posted by all_backhand

I'd love to see a review on a BHB7/Iontec hybrid.

I'll get to this as soon as I'm done with my full bed of Iontec or as soon as a frame opens up.


In the meanwhile, check out my new project!

Instead of constantly fiddling around with silicone and Pb, I figured I'd modify my frame with Donnay's only successful marketing ploy. Conveniently, the Head buttcap and the 0g Donnay cap are only .9g apart with Donnay being the lighter.

+5g cap gives me 4.8g - 0.9g= 3.9g heavier
+10g cap gives me 9.0g - 0.9g = 8.1g heavier

Unfortunately, I came to realize that the frame I chose to do it to was slightly underweighted and now, with the "+10g" cap is matched within 1g of my other frames. Haha

[all_backhand]

Originally Posted by alidisperanza

I'll get to this as soon as I'm done with my full bed of Iontec or as soon as a frame opens up.


In the meanwhile, check out my new project!

Instead of constantly fiddling around with silicone and Pb, I figured I'd modify my frame with Donnay's only successful marketing ploy. Conveniently, the Head buttcap and the 0g Donnay cap are only .9g apart with Donnay being the lighter.

+5g cap gives me 4.8g - 0.9g= 3.9g heavier
+10g cap gives me 9.0g - 0.9g = 8.1g heavier

Unfortunately, I came to realize that the frame I chose to do it to was slightly underweighted and now, with the "+10g" cap is matched within 1g of my other frames. Haha

I'm looking forward to it. That's hilarious about your youteks lol. Have you ever noticed the difference in weight before?

[alidisperanza]

Yeah, so much work for nothing. I even had to go out to buy new staples for my T20 because the 8 different types I have just didn't cut it. Oh wells. no big deal.

I'm getting to a stage in my life where I can pick up a frame and just play. Sure, I have preferences and dislikes but there are very few setups that I simply will put down after a few shots. A few grams here and there on the YTs aren't breaking the bank. Consider also that I bought all three used.

[alidisperanza]

First impressions:
I'd like to introduce to you my nomination for most comfortable poly of the year. I've always been a dedicated vibration dampener player...always, regardless of what I'm hitting with. Iontec is a go without one; It's not even pingy. Now that that's aside it's time for the good and the bad. Iontec got the trial by fire tonight. I had to play against the no 1 singles from my 4.5 team until a doubles court opened up and then got the chance to hit with a former D1 college player. Off the ground, the string does what you want it to and it enhances your strokes if you hit them properly. Power is there in spades-- even a touch too much at times. Flat strokes, spin strokes, all comfortable. There are two things I simply don't understand with this string. Slices and serves. It was like I was playing russian roulette. The serves that went in were absolutely killer-- the rest. Fault-gasm. That much is unacceptable since my serve is my biggest weapon, especially playing singles. The end result, I lost the set 4-6. The feedback from my opponent was all positive though. He commented that if I were more consistent with my serves, that the match would have gone decidedly differently. He also mentioned that my kick serve was off the charts which is a HUGE plus since I haven't been able to hit an effective one in a while.

Basically, I'm really really hoping that this string retains its characteristics. I'm sure I can figure out how to serve with it etc with some practice but to have a comfortable poly at a low price is a gem. Definitely needs more play to be certain though.

[pvaudio]

Originally Posted by alidisperanza

First impressions:
I'd like to introduce to you my nomination for most comfortable poly of the year. I've always been a dedicated vibration dampener player...always, regardless of what I'm hitting with. Iontec is a go without one; It's not even pingy. Now that that's aside it's time for the good and the bad. Iontec got the trial by fire tonight. I had to play against the no 1 singles from my 4.5 team until a doubles court opened up and then got the chance to hit with a former D1 college player. Off the ground, the string does what you want it to and it enhances your strokes if you hit them properly. Power is there in spades-- even a touch too much at times. Flat strokes, spin strokes, all comfortable. There are two things I simply don't understand with this string. Slices and serves. It was like I was playing russian roulette. The serves that went in were absolutely killer-- the rest. Fault-gasm. That much is unacceptable since my serve is my biggest weapon, especially playing singles. The end result, I lost the set 4-6. The feedback from my opponent was all positive though. He commented that if I were more consistent with my serves, that the match would have gone decidedly differently. He also mentioned that my kick serve was off the charts which is a HUGE plus since I haven't been able to hit an effective one in a while.

Basically, I'm really really hoping that this string retains its characteristics. I'm sure I can figure out how to serve with it etc with some practice but to have a comfortable poly at a low price is a gem. Definitely needs more play to be certain though.

It's ridiculously linear. In other words, yes.

[alidisperanza]

Originally Posted by pvaudio

It's ridiculously linear. In other words, yes.

Good to know. I had to jump right on court but once the strings settled in, things were much more controllable. There's a lot of free power here at 48lbs and I might have to up the tension a bit for my next stringing. My biggest worry is that they're going to lose tension drastically. If I can get 7 hours of the same/similar play time out of this setup I'll contemplate buying a reel even if it is horrendously ugly.

[mixedmedia]

I thought when I asked if you were trying the black that you said you don't care how string looks.

[alidisperanza]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

I thought when I asked if you were trying the black that you said you don't care how string looks.

Well, I haven't cut it out just yet, now have I?

If ugly gets the job done, ugly it shall be. But ugly is ugly.

[alidisperanza]

My boy pulled through tonight!!!

I'm so tempted to buy a PDR and string it up with PHT/VS to commemorate the occasion.


This tells me two things. A) I hate to say it but I think there's hope for me. Apparently it's possible to beat one of the best players the game has ever seen without knowing how to hit a backhand!!! B) American tennis is still good for one thing; we hit the ever living crap out of the ball!!!

[all_backhand]

Originally Posted by alidisperanza

My boy pulled through tonight!!!

I'm so tempted to buy a PDR and string it up with PHT/VS to commemorate the occasion.


This tells me two things. A) I hate to say it but I think there's hope for me. Apparently it's possible to beat one of the best players the game has ever seen without knowing how to hit a backhand!!! B) American tennis is still good for one thing; we hit the ever living crap out of the ball!!!

Those forehands he hit early on in the third set were just monstrous. Hands down, that was the most impressive match he's played since the 2009 Wimbledon finals. Even his net game was solid. Fed really didn't have much of an answer to those 133mph bombs to his backhand.

[GlenK]

^^I agree. I said at the time that beating Fed in that exho would not help much. I am glad to say I was wrong. Haven't see Andy play with that much confidence against Fed since he lost that Wimby final..

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by all_backhand

Those forehands he hit early on in the third set were just monstrous. Hands down, that was the most impressive match he's played since the 2009 Wimbledon finals. Even his net game was solid. Fed really didn't have much of an answer to those 133mph bombs to his backhand.

Don't think Fed hit a ball to Andy's backhand that game he got broken in the 3rd. King Fed can get obsessed with trying to beat his opponent at their strength. It reminded me of him going so much to Delpo's forehand in the US Open final.

[alidisperanza]

Originally Posted by mikeler

Don't think Fed hit a ball to Andy's backhand that game he got broken in the 3rd. King Fed can get obsessed with trying to beat his opponent at their strength. It reminded me of him going so much to Delpo's forehand in the US Open final.

Indeed. Roddick kept running around everything and playing aggressively but with the statistics instead of against them. Unless he pulled the trigger, the ball was about 2' more "in" than his usual constant attempts for winners. Fantastic 1st and 3rd sets overall.

[Up&comer]

I always like to see the underdog win except when they are playing Fed. I'm not a huge Federer fan, but I guess I just like his demeanor on court and how he acts. There's nothing you could say bad about his on court behavior.

[alidisperanza]

Completed my playtest of OGSM... popped 3 mains in 20 minutes flat. Almost took me longer to string

Continued my playtest of Iontec [Earthworm] and I have to say I'm really pleased with what I'm seeing. I didn't really get a chance to serve with it tonight but I was able to play about an hour of king of the court. Great response from the stringbed. Volleys are really solid and comfortable too. The extra pop you get from the stringbed is really awesome when you're out of position/ in a jam. My average strokes are doing well with this string but I'm still a touch hesitant/ need to work out how to pull the trigger and unleash on the ball. I'm very close but I'm still catching the ball out from an inch or two to a few feet. I'm also pleased to say that I'm more comfortable hitting a 2 handed backhand with these strings. While they're not winners, the ball is going back on court where I intend.

Oh, and I'm now thoroughly convinced that Roddick is like the super hot girl in school that flirts with the nerds so that they'll do her homework; She's a total tease but will never satisfy

[mad dog1]

Originally Posted by alidisperanza

Good to know. I had to jump right on court but once the strings settled in, things were much more controllable. There's a lot of free power here at 48lbs and I might have to up the tension a bit for my next stringing. My biggest worry is that they're going to lose tension drastically. If I can get 7 hours of the same/similar play time out of this setup I'll contemplate buying a reel even if it is horrendously ugly.

with iontec, i go 46-47#s for a 85 sq in head and 49-51#s in a 95 sq in head. i've tried lower but found it too powerful.

in my experience, iontec holds tension very well.

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by alidisperanza

Completed my playtest of OGSM... popped 3 mains in 20 minutes flat. Almost took me longer to string

Continued my playtest of Iontec [Earthworm] and I have to say I'm really pleased with what I'm seeing. I didn't really get a chance to serve with it tonight but I was able to play about an hour of king of the court. Great response from the stringbed. Volleys are really solid and comfortable too. The extra pop you get from the stringbed is really awesome when you're out of position/ in a jam. My average strokes are doing well with this string but I'm still a touch hesitant/ need to work out how to pull the trigger and unleash on the ball. I'm very close but I'm still catching the ball out from an inch or two to a few feet. I'm also pleased to say that I'm more comfortable hitting a 2 handed backhand with these strings. While they're not winners, the ball is going back on court where I intend.

Oh, and I'm now thoroughly convinced that Roddick is like the super hot girl in school that flirts with the nerds so that they'll do her homework; She's a total tease but will never satisfy

I only got 14 games out of OGSM 17. Broke it in the middle of the string bed and not on a shank.

[alidisperanza]

Originally Posted by mad dog1

with iontec, i go 46-47#s for a 85 sq in head and 49-51#s in a 95 sq in head. i've tried lower but found it too powerful.

in my experience, iontec holds tension very well.

Awesome. I'm thinking a bump to 50 is in order for my next set.

Originally Posted by mikeler

I only got 14 games out of OGSM 17. Broke it in the middle of the string bed and not on a shank.

I don't even want to know what would have happened if I started hitting serves. I maybe, MAYBE hit 100 balls?

[mikeler]

Originally Posted by alidisperanza

I don't even want to know what would have happened if I started hitting serves. I maybe, MAYBE hit 100 balls?

I think return of serve is the hardest thing on strings. Taking all that energy and redirecting back to where it came seems like it would take the biggest toll to me. Naturally, I have no data to back up my assertion.