Increasing tension for spin with multifilament?

Arak

Legend
I’ve always used multifilament at 55 and NG at 57 because of my sensitive arm. I have a spin friendly technique and I get moderate spin with my usual strings.
Yesterday I was coerced into demoing a new racket for a club event. It was strung with some kind of poly strung in the low 50s as far as I could tell. Suddenly I was producing incredible spin (for me) and I really liked this newly found ability. Unfortunately my arm was very sour after the session so I know that poly isn’t for me.
So my question is: would increasing the tension on multi improve the spin? What would be the recommended tension for the best effect?
Thanks!
 

kailash

Hall of Fame
I’ve always used multifilament at 55 and NG at 57 because of my sensitive arm. I have a spin friendly technique and I get moderate spin with my usual strings.
Yesterday I was coerced into demoing a new racket for a club event. It was strung with some kind of poly strung in the low 50s as far as I could tell. Suddenly I was producing incredible spin (for me) and I really liked this newly found ability. Unfortunately my arm was very sour after the session so I know that poly isn’t for me.
So my question is: would increasing the tension on multi improve the spin? What would be the recommended tension for the best effect?
Thanks!
Multis won't come closer to spin when compared to polys. Have you tried hybrids? Multi/poly, or poly/syn.gut.

Also, what racquet are you using?
 

Arak

Legend
Multis won't come closer to spin when compared to polys. Have you tried hybrids? Multi/poly, or poly/syn.gut.

Also, what racquet are you using?
Thank you for your reply! Indeed a hybrid would be the most obvious set up. I haven’t tried it yet, as I wanted to explore the full bed multi at higher tension idea before going to that. I use several rackets at the moment, but mostly the RF97, and occasionally the PS97 CV and Blade 18x20 CV.
 

Slash007

Rookie
Actually, tighter strings give an impression of extra spin as the balls will travel a shorter distance not unlike poly.

On the lab I believe less tension results in more spin but the ball will sail long as it has more pace.

But honestly change at least 3-5 lbs at a time to actually notice any difference.

Multi/ poly feels great and play like a multi with poly spin ( for two hours... and then snap)

Theoretically using a lower tension on the crosses than the mains can also help, but I am not sure it will help with multi as it will lock up anyway.

You may try special strings, monogut ZX with poly cross ( 50 lbs or less for you) is something I would like to try myself. Ashway dynamyte is another one I would like to try.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ventoux

New User
I would either change the multifilament or use a hybrid with lower tension. I find that gut isn't smooth enough for spin friendly snap-back. NXT is better. I'm using X1 Biphase with All Power Feel at low 40lbs tension and have had no problems and am recovering from a long lay-off for tennis elbow. A monofilament like Weiss Cannon Explosiv might make for a soft cross as well. It has a smooth casing over those inner strands. Haven't tried it yet
 

Shroud

G.O.A.T.
Thank you for your reply! Indeed a hybrid would be the most obvious set up. I haven’t tried it yet, as I wanted to explore the full bed multi at higher tension idea before going to that. I use several rackets at the moment, but mostly the RF97, and occasionally the PS97 CV and Blade 18x20 CV.
Higher tension will not work IMHO. The reason you had that happen with the poly is that the launch angle was higher and there was more snapback. Multi is a locked stringbed in that the strings don't snap back like poly. Locked strings are always crooked. Higher tension just locks the stringbed more. So how do you get that snapback with multi. Hybrid is the obvious answer because with a poly cross, the mains will move and snapback more than full multi.

Another way is to do full multi, and add a whole pack of babolat electro crosses to the existing stringbed starting at the top cross doing every intersection. It will cost about $8 but the electro crosses are reusable if you have the patience.
 

Kevo

Legend
You can get some pretty sick spin with syn gut strings if the tension is right. They will move around quite a bit, and it won't be the same as poly, but it should be pretty easy on the arm. Most multis have a lot of polyurethane in them and they tend to have more friction. I think the head syn gut that some of their racquets come strung with is pretty good at sliding around and not getting too locked. You'll probably need to experiment with the right tension, but I think you want it lower than the typical recommended range.
 

kailash

Hall of Fame
Thank you for your reply! Indeed a hybrid would be the most obvious set up. I haven’t tried it yet, as I wanted to explore the full bed multi at higher tension idea before going to that. I use several rackets at the moment, but mostly the RF97, and occasionally the PS97 CV and Blade 18x20 CV.
For RF97, if you are using 55 multi full bed, you could try 55 multi main with a round soft poly cross at 52.
Or a round poly main at 52 and a good syn.gut or multi at 55.
You will have to experiment a bit to find your combo, that gives good spin and still arm friendly.
 

Arak

Legend
Thank you everyone for your kind suggestions! The consensus seems to be that higher tensions will not give me extra spin. So I guess my next stringing job will be a hybrid. I do agree also from first hand experience that synthetic gut produces more spin than multi, though noticeable but not a dramatic difference.
 

Arak

Legend
Update: I strung my Blade 98 18x20 cv with Solinco Vanquish 17 @55 mains and Revolution 18 @52 crosses. Played one hour of heavy hitting with this set up two days ago. It felt great, very comfortable and spinny. It gave me a sore arm the next day and some pain at the TE location. Will give it a couple more tries, but I’m starting to think maybe I should try multi FB 17g or maybe SG since it seems to be somewhere in between poly and multi in comfort and spin. Thanks again to all who gave me their suggestions.
 

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
If your arm is up to using SG, try Gamma Ruff or Prince Topspin in 16 or 15L gauges. Neither will last more than 12 hours, but you will get a lot of spin.
 

Steve Huff

G.O.A.T.
If you liked the extra power, you could try it strung at 30#. I tried it and the only disadvantage was that it made very little noise on contact. The ball left the racket at a higher launch angle and also had more spin. I had no problems keeping the ball in court, which I worried about. I used Solinco Tour Rev 1.20. Played good, no sound.
 

Arak

Legend
If your arm is up to using SG, try Gamma Ruff or Prince Topspin in 16 or 15L gauges. Neither will last more than 12 hours, but you will get a lot of spin.
Thank you for the suggestions. I can probably find the Prince string locally.
 

Arak

Legend
If you liked the extra power, you could try it strung at 30#. I tried it and the only disadvantage was that it made very little noise on contact. The ball left the racket at a higher launch angle and also had more spin. I had no problems keeping the ball in court, which I worried about. I used Solinco Tour Rev 1.20. Played good, no sound.
Thanks! One thing I noticed is that the Revolution 18 makes a loud sound at impact which is kind of cool. Many options to consider :)
 

Crazy Finn

Hall of Fame
There are several reasons that polys have more spin potential than other stings.

- As others have mentioned, polys are less elastic, so with a spin-friendly swing, the strings bend downward (for topspin) and snap back in place, imparting more spin. The reality is that unless you are an advanced player, you likely are not generating enough racquethead speed for this to come into play.
- Polys are almost universally lower powered than other strings (due to the lower elasticity) so, even if you can't generate snapback, the lower power allows you to swing faster - thus generating more spin - without necessarily sending the ball past the baseline.
- Some Polys are textured or shaped and bite into the ball more than a round string, allowing you to generate more spin. Round polys seem to do this a bit more than other round strings, as well, though I'm less sure of this.

A poly at a high tension will have somewhat less power, somewhat less spin, less feel and ball pocketing, somewhat more control. A poly at a lower tension will have somewhat more power, more spin, more feel and ball pocketing, slightly or somewhat less control.

That same metric as far as tension works for all strings, synth guts and multis alike. Synth guts and multis have more power than any poly, so dropping the tension on them will result in noticeable increase in power.

I now play on softer polys, but played with multis for years. I haven't found a multi than generates nearly the spin of a poly, regardless of tension. However, a higher tension will not give you more spin on either a poly or multi. I have cracked the tension up to 59-60 lbs on a multi, it did not give more spin - though it did have good control.

I haven't played on a synth gut other than a demo since I was in high school and college (I wasn't a HS or college player, to be clear) so I can't say much about that. I did use a synth gut as a cross with a multi (RIP Control), but I really am not sure if that accomplished much - spin wise (or otherwise).

When I played with multis, I generally had them in the mid to upper 50's. I generally string my polys in the 40's - either upper or lower depending on the string.

Of the multis I played with, I found Head Velocity MLT to have pretty good spin for a multi and also a nice soft feel. Head Rip Control and Black Babolat Xcel were Ok. Lately, I've been playing with a Tourna Big Hitter Black 7 in a 17 gauge, and it's been a nice soft, comfy poly with excellent spin and control for me.
 

Arak

Legend
There are several reasons that polys have more spin potential than other stings.

- As others have mentioned, polys are less elastic, so with a spin-friendly swing, the strings bend downward (for topspin) and snap back in place, imparting more spin. The reality is that unless you are an advanced player, you likely are not generating enough racquethead speed for this to come into play.
- Polys are almost universally lower powered than other strings (due to the lower elasticity) so, even if you can't generate snapback, the lower power allows you to swing faster - thus generating more spin - without necessarily sending the ball past the baseline.
- Some Polys are textured or shaped and bite into the ball more than a round string, allowing you to generate more spin. Round polys seem to do this a bit more than other round strings, as well, though I'm less sure of this.

A poly at a high tension will have somewhat less power, somewhat less spin, less feel and ball pocketing, somewhat more control. A poly at a lower tension will have somewhat more power, more spin, more feel and ball pocketing, slightly or somewhat less control.

That same metric as far as tension works for all strings, synth guts and multis alike. Synth guts and multis have more power than any poly, so dropping the tension on them will result in noticeable increase in power.

I now play on softer polys, but played with multis for years. I haven't found a multi than generates nearly the spin of a poly, regardless of tension. However, a higher tension will not give you more spin on either a poly or multi. I have cracked the tension up to 59-60 lbs on a multi, it did not give more spin - though it did have good control.

I haven't played on a synth gut other than a demo since I was in high school and college (I wasn't a HS or college player, to be clear) so I can't say much about that. I did use a synth gut as a cross with a multi (RIP Control), but I really am not sure if that accomplished much - spin wise (or otherwise).

When I played with multis, I generally had them in the mid to upper 50's. I generally string my polys in the 40's - either upper or lower depending on the string.

Of the multis I played with, I found Head Velocity MLT to have pretty good spin for a multi and also a nice soft feel. Head Rip Control and Black Babolat Xcel were Ok. Lately, I've been playing with a Tourna Big Hitter Black 7 in a 17 gauge, and it's been a nice soft, comfy poly with excellent spin and control for me.
Great information! Thank you so much for sharing!
 

phl92

Hall of Fame
Please let me know how it fares. From what I’ve read, the spin increase isn’t very clear with the thinner gauge.
For ppl who wanted to know how the thin multifil string, Tecnifibre NRG² 1.18mm plays in a v7 Blade 18x20:
just had a very short session, only groundstrokes but there it gave me all what I missed with my previous hybrid. Much more power, spin more or less the same (maybe slightly less than with hybrid), good feel. Slice didnt change too much, still very stable with the blade.
I can imagine that this setup, strung @23/22kg is much too powerful for most people here but for me atm it feels great. Also I noticed a much higher launch angle. It feels overall very soft and you can hear the strings jumping a lot while hitting, almost like playing natural gut...
will see next sessions how its doing with volleys/serves.
 

Arak

Legend
For ppl who wanted to know how the thin multifil string, Tecnifibre NRG² 1.18mm plays in a v7 Blade 18x20:
just had a very short session, only groundstrokes but there it gave me all what I missed with my previous hybrid. Much more power, spin more or less the same (maybe slightly less than with hybrid), good feel. Slice didnt change too much, still very stable with the blade.
I can imagine that this setup, strung @23/22kg is much too powerful for most people here but for me atm it feels great. Also I noticed a much higher launch angle. It feels overall very soft and you can hear the strings jumping a lot while hitting, almost like playing natural gut...
will see next sessions how its doing with volleys/serves.
Thank you very much for sharing!
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
Update: I strung my Blade 98 18x20 cv with Solinco Vanquish 17 @55 mains and Revolution 18 @52 crosses. Played one hour of heavy hitting with this set up two days ago. It felt great, very comfortable and spinny. It gave me a sore arm the next day and some pain at the TE location. Will give it a couple more tries, but I’m starting to think maybe I should try multi FB 17g or maybe SG since it seems to be somewhere in between poly and multi in comfort and spin. Thanks again to all who gave me their suggestions.

If poly is making your arm hurt, I'd say stay away from it. Otherwise you're pretty much juggling with hand grenades.

I agree that syn. gut is worth some trials. It's moderately soft - not exactly as plush as a lot of multi's, but soft enough for many of us and I've always preferred its personality over multi. Syn. gut is also really affordable - easier to replace and keep relatively fresh compared with the "premium" multi's and poly's. Remember that although poly options take a longer time to physically snap, they lose what little resilience they have rather quickly.

Sometimes the crisp and punchy feel of 17 ga. syn. gut (SG) is what I'm after, but I also sometimes lean toward 16 ga. options to get a little more composure from my string bed, especially when it's hotter in the summer. Your 18x20 Blade is definitely worth a try with some 17 ga. syn. gut, but I'd expect your RF 97 to behave a little better with a 16 ga. SG.

Prince Original SG (not the Duraflex version), Volkl Classic, and perhaps Dunlop S-Gut are three options with moderate softness. Gosen OG Sheep Micro is a popular SG, but it's probably going to be slightly more firm compared with some others - good or not-so-much depending on what you want from your strings. Forten Sweet is the softest SG on the block - I only recommend trying the thinner Sweet 17 in a dense pattern like your Blade. The Sweet 16 is a cozy catch-all that can actually work as an affordable alternative to some multi's.

Your RF 97 is a stiff 'n hefty rig that can more readily propel the ball compared with many other frames. It's a wonderful frame for serve and volleyers - I consider it to be sort of a modern update of the ProStaff 6.1 Classic, which I played several years ago. But a full stroke will produce a lot of zing with that Wilson. I'd say that if you can't get the control you want from it with a full bed of snug 16 ga. SG, then it's probably not a great fit for your game, at least right now. Consider either shopping for a more spin-friendly alternative or keep working on your strokes to get things more under control. Not saying that your game isn't "good enough". Just saying that it's probably not a good match with that racquet.

In case you've never sampled a Volkl C10, I'd say try to give one of those a test drive. The heft and layout are in the neighborhood of the RF 97, but the flex profile is different. It might give you some of what you love in the Wilson along with a good bit of extra arm-friendliness. There are other options out there, too. I've had pretty good success with the C10's though, so that's why I'm throwing in my two cents here. I string mine with 16 ga. Forten Nylon at maybe 57-58 lbs. and they work great for me like that.

Sorry for rambling... last thought!! If you're hooked on the polys, I can say that I've had GREAT success locally through recent years with offering a poly hybrid to "clients" that includes a rather light gauge of poly main paired with a 16 ga. syn. gut cross at moderate tension (perhaps 52-55 lbs.). The thin poly I keep on hand is Isospeed Baseline in 1.20mm. These hybrids don't "go dead" anywhere as drastically as full beds of poly and the lighter gauge of poly seems to be significantly less harsh on the arm compared with heavier gauges.
 

Arak

Legend
If poly is making your arm hurt, I'd say stay away from it. Otherwise you're pretty much juggling with hand grenades.

I agree that syn. gut is worth some trials. It's moderately soft - not exactly as plush as a lot of multi's, but soft enough for many of us and I've always preferred its personality over multi. Syn. gut is also really affordable - easier to replace and keep relatively fresh compared with the "premium" multi's and poly's. Remember that although poly options take a longer time to physically snap, they lose what little resilience they have rather quickly.

Sometimes the crisp and punchy feel of 17 ga. syn. gut (SG) is what I'm after, but I also sometimes lean toward 16 ga. options to get a little more composure from my string bed, especially when it's hotter in the summer. Your 18x20 Blade is definitely worth a try with some 17 ga. syn. gut, but I'd expect your RF 97 to behave a little better with a 16 ga. SG.

Prince Original SG (not the Duraflex version), Volkl Classic, and perhaps Dunlop S-Gut are three options with moderate softness. Gosen OG Sheep Micro is a popular SG, but it's probably going to be slightly more firm compared with some others - good or not-so-much depending on what you want from your strings. Forten Sweet is the softest SG on the block - I only recommend trying the thinner Sweet 17 in a dense pattern like your Blade. The Sweet 16 is a cozy catch-all that can actually work as an affordable alternative to some multi's.

Your RF 97 is a stiff 'n hefty rig that can more readily propel the ball compared with many other frames. It's a wonderful frame for serve and volleyers - I consider it to be sort of a modern update of the ProStaff 6.1 Classic, which I played several years ago. But a full stroke will produce a lot of zing with that Wilson. I'd say that if you can't get the control you want from it with a full bed of snug 16 ga. SG, then it's probably not a great fit for your game, at least right now. Consider either shopping for a more spin-friendly alternative or keep working on your strokes to get things more under control. Not saying that your game isn't "good enough". Just saying that it's probably not a good match with that racquet.

In case you've never sampled a Volkl C10, I'd say try to give one of those a test drive. The heft and layout are in the neighborhood of the RF 97, but the flex profile is different. It might give you some of what you love in the Wilson along with a good bit of extra arm-friendliness. There are other options out there, too. I've had pretty good success with the C10's though, so that's why I'm throwing in my two cents here. I string mine with 16 ga. Forten Nylon at maybe 57-58 lbs. and they work great for me like that.

Sorry for rambling... last thought!! If you're hooked on the polys, I can say that I've had GREAT success locally through recent years with offering a poly hybrid to "clients" that includes a rather light gauge of poly main paired with a 16 ga. syn. gut cross at moderate tension (perhaps 52-55 lbs.). The thin poly I keep on hand is Isospeed Baseline in 1.20mm. These hybrids don't "go dead" anywhere as drastically as full beds of poly and the lighter gauge of poly seems to be significantly less harsh on the arm compared with heavier gauges.
Great input! Thank you so much, it is indeed very helpful advice.
 
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