Butt Caps: The Key to the racquet under the paint

[ibelieveinliquidmetal]

In the thread about Safin's Racquet david aames said that they didn't change Safin's butt cap.

I got bored so I started watching my Agassi vs. Coria at Indian Wells match and and noticed that Agassi's LM Radical had a black butt cap. I'm not sure about what all LM racquet's have as their butt cap but my Prestige is white. Anyone with a LM Radical confirm this?

[mach1]

The butt cap doesnt always say what kind of racquet is under the paint. There was a discussion of Mark Philippousis's racquet having a prince buttcap but we all know it is a Prestige Classic...i think it was because he likes prince grips better than the head grips and so he had it remolded.

[Will]

My Lm Radical Mp has a whitish silver one

[Michael Ludwig]

Yeah, David did say that the butt cap was stock, but he assumed that the stock butt cap on the Prestige is black (which was not true in recent years). FYI, butt caps prove nothing. If that was true, I guess Kiefer is using some sort of Volkl....

Butt Caps do not really reveal what type of racquet it is. As we all know, pro frames are modified to fit a certain player. For example, most of your European players use mostly a head type of handle (square handle) because of their western grips. As for the guys in the States, most of our players are taught to use a semi-western grip and most of us will use a round handle from a prince or wilson frame. The point is any high profile pro player can request to use any of these handles, so it's tough to tell what racquet it is just by looking at the butt cap.

[Rabbit]

Butt caps aren't an indication. All Volkl's sponsored players have yellow butt caps.

but you can tell a paintjob in some cases. for instance if someone is using a racket painted to one of the prince airstick frames and the butt cap is all black, then there's something wrong. that's the only brand i can think of where you can tell that stuff.

[thomas martinez]

Nope, not necessarily. Look at Paola Suarez, she's using a NXG but has a black cap, and strangely clear grommets.