help on lead tape customization

hi guys
i have racquet Head Liquidmetal Prestige Midplus
weight is 11.9 oz strung, 7 pts headlight, and 320 g.

i'm trying to customize this racquet so that it will help me with my one hand backhand. (adding lead tapes).

could you guys help me how much amount i should put in? i'm thinking of making the swing weight about 350 or so. (i think that's recommended for one hand back hand??)
please give me instruction where to put lead tape and how much to put.
also, people say about putting lead tape at the butt but i don't get what that is.

i think it means that i put it inside the grip through the buttcap, but my buttcap won't come off. so tell me what to do ^^
thanks.

Steve

well what do you want in your one hand backhand? more spin? more sweetspot near the top or the sides? tell us

well, when i hit my one hand backhand, my racquet tend to twist off of my hand because of vibration. and i can't seem to get much power on it. spin, i think i get a lot. so basically, i think i want more power and more sweetspot and no twisting.

Maybe you don't need lead tape. It's probably how you hit your backhand. You should probably hit through the ball more. Are you using Continental grip? Do you use shocks?

i use continental grip with shockbuster

I think you should hit through the ball and push up when hitting your 1H backhand, but I'm not sure how to fix your shock problems.

but i really want my racquet to be over swingweight 350 T_T
cause i feel that racquet might be better if the swing was heavier when i hit my backhand.

But then, how about your forehand? Are you comfortable with hitting a forehand with 350 swingweight? Just be careful since you might have a weird forehand if you increase the swingweight into the weight you're not used to.

I think that you put lead tape on the sides of the racket head at 3:00 and 9:00 to increase sweetspot sideways, but I have no idea what else it does. And btw, double check with other people since I don't know much stuff about lead tape(XD I just saw that in a poster at a racket shop I go to).

i have pretty strong arm. i think i can handle 350 swingweight comfortably, since the racquet i have right now, 11.9 oz, feels pretty light.

i'll be waiting for many other comments how much and where to put lead tapes to increase my game play ^^ thanks

Up until recently, I would add lead at 3 & 9 o'clock positions on my X-1s until they would 'solidify'. I just figured 3 & 9 would give me the most 'plow-thru' and lateral stability, and would drag the sweetspot up toward the center, but never really tested that theory too much. A few weeks ago though, on a whim, I tried moving the lead up toward the head which immediately made the racket unplayable. Then I moved it down toward the throat and all of a sudden the racket just opened up. More solid, but also more manuverable than before; less 'barbell-y' weight distribution. Racket head speed went up and I found myself hitting more consistently in the bottom half of the stringbed (where the sweetspot is on the X-1).

Try this: get 4 two to three inch strips of 1/4" lead tape. Attach them lightly, centered on your 3 & 9 position. Swing some, hit some balls. Then move them toward the top of the frame, centered at 2 and 10. Try that. Lastly try moving them down toward the throat, say 5 & 7 o'clock. Determine which of those setups worked the best for you then add or remove lead to taste. It's a feel thing more than anything else so trust your gut and don't worry about what others have done with their sticks.

Good luck!

First add leather to add some weight.
Second add 5 grams total to 3&9
Third add 5 grams to the top of the handle.

On my FXP Prestige at least I noticed a lot more power and gained the ability to hit far reaching 1hbh on the run (I use 2hbh)

This is a classic problem with the Prestige MP rackets, all of us put lead in the bottom of the handle

jackson vile said:

This is a classic problem with the Prestige MP rackets, all of us put lead in the bottom of the handle

Click to expand...

what do you mean put lead in the bottom of the handle? does it mean put lead tape inside the buttcap? or inside the overgrip? i don't get what that is.

hehe;;
could anybody help me with this???

Read this for some background:

http://www.tennis4all.com/info/racquets/customize.shtml

stevekim8 said:

also, people say about putting lead tape at the butt but i don't get what that is. i think it means that i put it inside the grip through the buttcap, but my buttcap won't come off. so tell me what to do

Click to expand...

stevekim8 said:

what do you mean put lead in the bottom of the handle? does it mean put lead tape inside the buttcap? or inside the overgrip? i don't get what that is.

Click to expand...

Hi Steve Kim

I can explain this. It's no big whups really.

1. Remove over grip if you have one.

2. Remove the grip. Just undo the tape at the top then unwind it.

3. What you are looking at now is the pallet and the butt cap. The butt cap on LM Prestige is held in place with 4 staples. These staple can be removed with a nudge from the corner of a flat head screwdriver.

4. The only reason to take the cap off is to prevent a problem. If you try to put too much lead tape in one area, you can change the shape of the grip. You can put a little in one spot, or lots spread out through the whole length of the pallet. But if you want to put more than 20 grams (40 inches of .5 inch wide) lead tape right under the heel of you hand, you are going to make a big lump. The solution is to go inside the pallet, or inside the buttcap itself.

5. You wont know if you need to take the buttcap off until you determine what you like best, weight at the top of the grip, spread evenly, or at the very bottom.

6. Just putting weight at the handle will not do anything for lateral stability on off center shots. However, just adding as little as 2 or 3 grams of lead on each side of 3-9 will change your balance quite a bit. With a +12 oz. frame you really have to keep on the HL side of things or it just does not work, so the final solution usually implies some counter weight somewhere in the handle. Adding 8 gm total at 3 & 9 (4g each side) would make a very noticeable difference, but then you've got to also add something like double or triple that amount at the handle to have it work.

More Info here: http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/LC/Customizing/customize.html


[..].............................


I played the LM Prestige for a long time, I play with a 1BH, and I think I understand what you are trying to do here. But I have some questions for you. What is your height, weight, age, and best guess at your NTRP rating?

Best regards to you,
-Jack

omg thank you ^^ i finally understand how it works

my height is 173
weight 167
age 15 (16 soon)
for ntrp, my best guess is around 3.5

stevekim8 said:

omg thank you ^^ i finally understand how it works

my height is 173
weight 167
age 15 (16 soon)
for ntrp, my best guess is around 3.5

Click to expand...

stevekim8 said:

i use continental grip with shockbuster

Click to expand...

No Problemo Steve,
I think I understand your situation. 5ft 7" tall with a continental grip 1BH, and about 3.5 NTRP.

You probably like to hit backhands low and close to the body, but have difficulty hitting topspin with anything above waist level. I'm guessing this because I was your height in High School and hit almost everything continental back then. (a 70s thing) Are you sure you hit all your backhands with continental, or are you adjusting a little bit? How often do you slice? It's possible to hit with topspin w continental but the hand doesnt have much leverage to drive the ball. I'm 6ft tall and play with a full western grip 1BH, and even for me - hitting the high bouncing 1BHs w top requires a little extra concentration, care, and timing.

There are things you can do in terms of leading, to get the racquet to do some of the work for you in this scenario - but am I on the right track so far? Please feel free to set me straight If I'm just trippin in the wrong direction.

Best regards to you,
-Jack

hehe
i'm 5'11'' actually.
i was 173 few months ago and never measured cm after that. but last time i measured with feet and inches i was 5 feet 11 inches.
anyway
yes
i'm having trouble hitting the balls above my waist level
i slice whenever i think i don't have enough time or it's too hard to hit with topspin.
do you think i should change to full western grip? thanks ^^

jackson vile said:

This is a classic problem with the Prestige MP rackets, all of us put lead in the bottom of the handle

Click to expand...

still waiting for an answer of what this means ^^
how do i put lead in the bottom of the handle??

stevekim8 said:

still waiting for an answer of what this means ^^
how do i put lead in the bottom of the handle??

Click to expand...

It mean just that you need to put the handle weight where it feels best, it may be higher or lower.

You simply wrap lead tape around the pallet/bare grip and then wrap your main grip back over it.