When racket modding goes wrong.

Polotechnics · Apr 18, 2021

Learnt a valuable lesson today.

I'm a 4.5 ish equivalent playing in Wales.

Playing with Extreme 360+ tours which I have modded to 330g, all in.

Absolutely love them.

Got a bit greedy, added another 5g to the handle and it was a disaster.

It's amazing how drastic a change can be when you're already playing at the top of your spec level.

Got absolutely hammered. Won't be doing that again.

Slowtwitcher · Apr 18, 2021

Heard that racquet modding is like heroin... one hit and you're hooked for life.

Polotechnics · Apr 18, 2021

Slowtwitcher said:
Heard that racquet modding is like heroin... one hit and you're hooked for life.

Absolutely. It's a nightmare

Slowtwitcher · Apr 18, 2021

Seriously, 5g is a lot. The way I've done on-court mods was to bring little 1g balls of blu-tac that I applied wherever I wanted to test. Blu-tac is really easy to apply/remove and it makes it very practical to work on fine-tuning your specs.

Polotechnics · Apr 18, 2021

It had a massive impact on the manoeuvrability of the racket. Felt like a bat

esm · Apr 18, 2021

Polotechnics said:
Learnt a valuable lesson today.

I'm a 4.5 ish equivalent playing in Wales.

Playing with Extreme 360+ tours which I have modded to 330g, all in.

Absolutely love them.

Got a bit greedy, added another 5g to the handle and it was a disaster.

It's amazing how drastic a change can be when you're already playing at the top of your spec level.

Got absolutely hammered. Won't be doing that again.

Can I ask what new spec you were trying to achieve (&why), and where in the handle did you add the 5g?

Polotechnics · Apr 19, 2021

Hi ESM. Yup, I've added about 8 grams split across 3 and 9. 4 points head light. I was really happy with this set up and then got gready

I just wanted to add a touch more weight to help with some of the big hitters in the first team. So I added 5g in the trapdoor. But it made the racket really unwieldy.

14OuncesStrung · Apr 19, 2021

I don't have the whole story. What string are you using and at what tension?

esm · Apr 19, 2021

Polotechnics said:
Hi ESM. Yup, I've added about 8 grams split across 3 and 9. 4 points head light. I was really happy with this set up and then got gready

I just wanted to add a touch more weight to help with some of the big hitters in the first team. So I added 5g in the trapdoor. But it made the racket really unwieldy.

maybe try the same additional weight at the 7" location (rather than at the trap door) and see if that will help?

ps - you know there is a "bump" on the back of the trap door, if you remove that, it'd save around 4g.... if you want less HL but do not want to add too much additional weight at the handle end...

Polotechnics · Apr 19, 2021

Excellent, Cheers ESM

Polotechnics · Apr 19, 2021

14OuncesStrung said:
I don't have the whole story. What string are you using and at what tension?

I'm using a Hybrid of Head Lynx 1.20 and Tecnifibre SG 1.25 at 48/ 50

14OuncesStrung · Apr 19, 2021

Polotechnics said:
I'm using a Hybrid of Head Lynx 1.20 and Tecnifibre SG 1.25 at 48/ 50

But WHY!?!??!? ergh

1HBHfanatic · Apr 19, 2021

Polotechnics said:
I'm using a Hybrid of Head Lynx 1.20 and Tecnifibre SG 1.25 at 48/ 50

-i got the h.extreme.pro (the neon yellow one)
-i've found that this combo ,(poly/sg) seems to agree with me most ,"on this racquet"
-i think i went a bit tighter in tension!?!, but it's a nice feel/control
-btw i got mine with red strings instead

eah123 · Apr 19, 2021

330 to 335 isn't that much of a change. Can't tell from your post what you think happened. I think the most likely scenario is that it threw your timing off, but then this is something that takes 1 or 2 sessions to fix. My suggestion would be to add another 4-5 g to the head at 12 o'clock and see if that fixes the problem.

Personally, I don't like weight added to 3 and 9 as the increased twist weight significantly reduces racquet maneuverability.

dgoran · Apr 19, 2021

You are lucky you didn't injure your arm you probably increased your sw by 20 pts

Slowtwitcher · Apr 19, 2021

dgoran said:
You are lucky you didn't injure your arm you probably increased your sw by 20 pts

Adding weight to the buttcap doesn't change SW significantly.

esm · Apr 19, 2021

dgoran said:
You are lucky you didn't injure your arm you probably increased your sw by 20 pts

lol - i didn't think the OP increased the length by .5" after adding the 5g in the trap door

RF_PRO_STAFF · Apr 19, 2021

Slowtwitcher said:
Adding weight to the buttcap doesn't change SW significantly.

Maybe @dgoran knows @Polotechnics is playing his ET upside down.

Slowtwitcher · Apr 19, 2021

RF_PRO_STAFF said:
Maybe @dgoran knows @Polotechnics is playing his ET upside down.

In that case... it's not heroin we're talking about.

Power Player · Apr 19, 2021

Polotechnics said:
Hi ESM. Yup, I've added about 8 grams split across 3 and 9. 4 points head light. I was really happy with this set up and then got gready

I just wanted to add a touch more weight to help with some of the big hitters in the first team. So I added 5g in the trapdoor. But it made the racket really unwieldy.

Id suggest removing the existing lead in the head and just adding 2-3 grams at 12. If this frame is 319 sw,2- 3 grams will get you to 330 depending on your string setup.

From there you could add 3 grams in the handle and probably be fine. At 4.5 level thats plenty of sw. plus the twistweight on the extreme tour is already fairly high at 14.3. So adding more lead on the sides will make it real tough to maneuver quickly.

With my proposed setup you will have a little more hl balance and only add a total of 5-6 grams to the frame.

RF_PRO_STAFF · Apr 19, 2021

Slowtwitcher said:
In that case... it's not heroin we're talking about.

Strong stuff.

But to OP: I recognize your experience. You've spent time dialing those sticks in with strings/tension/customization, and you've moved up to the point where you know you're at a great setup. But like @Slowtwitcher said, then the 'heroin' kicks in and you think 'it could be even better if I just do this and this'. And then the magic is gone.

CosmosMpower · Apr 19, 2021

Polotechnics said:
Hi ESM. Yup, I've added about 8 grams split across 3 and 9. 4 points head light. I was really happy with this set up and then got gready

I just wanted to add a touch more weight to help with some of the big hitters in the first team. So I added 5g in the trapdoor. But it made the racket really unwieldy.

That doesn't make sense, 5 grams in the trap door should have minimal impact on the swingweight and should make it more head light which should make it feel more whippy not sluggish. I doubt 5 extragrams out of 330+ total weight is going to make it feel sluggish either.

Slowtwitcher · Apr 19, 2021

CosmosMpower said:
That doesn't make sense, 5 grams in the trap door should have minimal impact on the swingweight and should make it more head light which should make it feel more whippy not sluggish. I doubt 5 extragrams out of 330+ total weight is going to make it feel sluggish either.

You're the first person to use the word sluggish on this thread.

Deleted member 776614 · Apr 19, 2021

I added 10g to the handle of my racquet. It felt great for volleys but I totally lost my ground strokes. I was in a clinic, so I just took off the grip to see if that would help. Suddenly I had the most lethal weapon I could ever have imagined for my 2HBH. Obviously the other strokes didn't benefit like that, but it's just amazing what seemingly small changes will do.

CosmosMpower · Apr 19, 2021

Slowtwitcher said:
You're the first person to use the word sluggish on this thread.

Sluggish, unwieldly same thing.

dgoran · Apr 19, 2021

RF_PRO_STAFF said:
Maybe @dgoran knows @Polotechnics is playing his ET upside down.

Lol misread I though he added 5g to the top of the frame.

When racket modding goes wrong.

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