natural gut durability in clay?

B

Barry_92

New User
Hi,
This has probably been mentioned but il say it anyway because i coudn't find anything, I've got a microgel prestige strung with Babolat VS mains and big banger crosses, I currently live in australia where the majority of courts are clay. anyway before we play we always water the courts. do u think its safe to use natural gut and what are tips of maintaning it longer eg like wax or baby oil. Im also about to travel to Indonesia where the humidity is on average 55% what are things I should do to make the gut more moisture resistant
thanks
 
ericsson

ericsson

Hall of Fame
It's not ideal for clay IMO, it frays a lot faster, the little stones get under the strings and cut their way in, better take a soft poly or hybrid, full gut can but it dont last so long on clay.
 
Rabbit

Rabbit

G.O.A.T.
55%? Man, that would be a dream! Here the humidity hovers around 80 - 90% for most of the year. Gut does ok here even with high humidity.

To add to ericsson's post, take some string savers along. They'll extend the life of your string job considerably, probably even past the point that you want them to.
 
J

jaykay

Professional
Barry_92 said:
Hi,
This has probably been mentioned but il say it anyway because i coudn't find anything, I've got a microgel prestige strung with Babolat VS mains and big banger crosses, I currently live in australia where the majority of courts are clay. anyway before we play we always water the courts. do u think its safe to use natural gut and what are tips of maintaning it longer eg like wax or baby oil. Im also about to travel to Indonesia where the humidity is on average 55% what are things I should do to make the gut more moisture resistant
thanks
Click to expand...

Good q, Barry. Relevant for me as well, since I am relo-ing from the US (hard courts) to Oz (Melbourne). I have all my racquets strung with gut in the mains. I have to start looking at gut alternatives, I suppose now...
 
nickb

nickb

Banned
Natural gut on clay will not last long but if you dont break strings often you should be ok...you could always take another racket with full poly or switch the Big Banger to the mains.

Nick
 
B

Barry_92

New User
How do I protect gut if im checkin in my tennis bags to the airport? ive got a 6 pack babolat bag. will that be sufficient?
 
P

PROTENNIS63

Hall of Fame
I always take the racquets with me on an airplane. I guess I am just scared the airline will lose my sticks. That would be a major problem. I just take out all my accessorys and other crap and leave 3 racquets and the bag becomes very thin or small.
 
B

bsandy

Hall of Fame
Barry_92 said:
How do I protect gut if im checkin in my tennis bags to the airport? ive got a 6 pack babolat bag. will that be sufficient?
Click to expand...

I keep my sticks in bags . . . Bud

345ls0w.jpg
 
V

volleyman

Semi-Pro
I'd say to try playing with the gut on the clay before giving it up. I play on a mix of hard courts and soft courts, and the clay doesn't seem to cost me any longevity. I do use string savers on fray/notch points.

As for humidity, I find that gut becomes much more sensitive to that once it starts to notch or fray - in other words, once you've worn through the protective coating. However, for me, it still plays fine unless the relative humidity gets to be really, really bad, say 70% or higher.

As always, your results may vary. :)
 
rooski

rooski

Professional
Nobody has mentioned one key piece of information. The tight string pattern of a Prestige helps increase the string life of gut. The strings don't move a lot so it's sort of like built in string savers.

The other thing no one is mentioning is that gut maintains tension very well especially compared to poly. You may only get 5-7 hours of play time with gut in a Prestige but most polys feel like cr@p at 7 hours to me so I end up cutting them out anyway.

I would say give it a shot and see for yourself how well gut holds up for you on the clay.
 
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