Babolat VS Touch Natural Gut - Tension/Hybrid suggestions?

[AA5B Tiger]

Q: Looking for tension and possible hybrid suggestions with VS Touch Natural Gut to achieve a little more power.

Background:
For the first time ever, I put a full bed of Babolat VS Touch in my Radical Pro at 55#. The suggested range on the racket frame says 47-57#.

At first, the string felt very stiff -- not at all deserving of all the accolades I've always heard about natural gut. Then, after about 45 mins of serve practice, it "arrived". The feel became sublime. The touch on volleys is unlike anything I've ever felt. I'm hitting serves with more pace and precision than ever. Plus, the slight tingle in my arm completely went away.

I've now played with it about 6 hours a feel think the tension has settled in. (Is that correct -- does Natural Gut "settle" and stops loosing tension?) If so, I still feel like it could stand to be a little looser -- looking for a little more power/depth.

So.... Should I put another full set in a 2nd racquet at say 50#, hybrid it with something else to achieve the added power I'm after, wait for more tension loss, something else?

For what it is worth, I have been banging on the string for 6 hours and see no signs of wear, fraying yet. (With X1 BiPhase I'd already have that fuzzy fraying all over the sweet-spot at this point... And be struggling to keep balls in the court due to the rocket-launcher effect of X1 BiPhase after a couple of hours.)

Thanks in advance for the advice. Experimenting at $43/set for string tallies up fast -- so I welcome the experience and suggestions of others.

[AlfaAce]

Natural gut looses about 8-10% of it's initial tension before it "settles". Of course, it will continue to loose tension but very very slowly at this point (especially compared to any other type of string!). Usually you will break a string before it goes much further than the initial 8-10% loss.

If you want the "sublime" feeling faster on your next set, try Wilson NG. It does not have the BT7 coating that makes the Babolat NG feel stiff. Many claim Wilson NG is the original Babolat VS gut still made by Babolat for Wilson... "Made in France" is printed on the string .

[Lambsscroll]

[quote=AA5B Tiger;7111502]
I've now played with it about 6 hours a feel think the tension has settled in. (Is that correct -- does Natural Gut "settle" and stops loosing tension?) If so, I still feel like it could stand to be a little looser -- looking for a little more power/depth.

Looks like all you need to do is reduce the tension a little. I would reduce it by 2 pounds.