Have i brought a real PT57a ? (Re-posted).

G

Gaz77

New User
***This is an old post but I have reposted with some more details pictures***

Can anyone help me.

I’ve recently brought a PT57a off **** (UK) which has a Prestige MP paintjob.

Admittedly i always knew these things existed but without doing too much research i made an impulse buy.

The seller is quite clear that its a genuine PT57a which was made in Austria for a ATP top 50 player, in fact if he's correct the player he says that the racket was made for is top 20.

He's included pictures of the hairpin where the pallet has been removed and the image quite clearly shows a piece of paper or sticker on the hairpin which states PT57a A3 WT:248g BP: 383mm 12. The racket has silicon in the handle and no lead anywhere else that i can see, its fairly head light and weighs 350g (strung), although the seller did say that he had removed any lead on the racket to suit his own preferences.

The racket does have a leather grip however as the previous user of the racket removed the leather grip I have no idea if this is the original grip or not. Also the previous owner changed the pallet over for me from a TK82 g4 to a g3 and butt cap was changed to an old Intelligence one since that’s all the seller had. (I believe pro-stock butt caps are just black).

Therefore can anyone tell me what i should look for i.e. what other features are there that defines a PT57a from a retail racket besides the piece of paper /sticker on the hairpin, which IMO could quite easily be faked.

I have also attached a picture of Tommy Haas apparent PT57a and im curious to know why the grommet strip on his racket is longer than on mine. His appears to be about an inch and a half longer.

Any comments / feed back would be very much appreciated.

Below are two links to a series of detailed pictures, if anyone need to see some other pic’s please let me know and I’ll upload some more today.

http://photobucket.com/gs1977

http://s1054.beta.photobucket.com/us...rommet strip
 
treblings

treblings

Hall of Fame
the first link works, the second doesn´t (on my computer)
did the seller tell you the name of the pro?
 
Orion3

Orion3

Semi-Pro
Not sure how you could ever tell for certain.

The frame shape looks looks the same as my PT630's and Bumblebees - which is good.

Weight sticker says 248g but strung weight is 350g??.

Does the 350g include the grip weight? Assuming it does.

Strings probably weigh approx 20g. A leather grip 25g and an overgrip up to 10g. Estimated weight of 55g

Can't say I've ever used silicon on any of my sticks so not sure if 45-50g is a reasonable/realistic amount to apply.

My understanding is that the PT57a is essentially the prostock version of the PT630 - much lighter and so, much easier to customise. For comparison, one of my capped PT630's weighs 310g without string and ungripped.

Hope this helps a little - but without knowing its provenance I don't know that you can ever be 100% certain.
 
G

Gaz77

New User
Orion3 said:
Not sure how you could ever tell for certain.

The frame shape looks looks the same as my PT630's and Bumblebees - which is good.

Weight sticker says 248g but strung weight is 350g??.

Does the 350g include the grip weight? Assuming it does.

Strings probably weigh approx 20g. A leather grip 25g and an overgrip up to 10g. Estimated weight of 55g

Can't say I've ever used silicon on any of my sticks so not sure if 45-50g is a reasonable/realistic amount to apply.

My understanding is that the PT57a is essentially the prostock version of the PT630 - much lighter and so, much easier to customise. For comparison, one of my capped PT630's weighs 310g without string and ungripped.

Hope this helps a little - but without knowing its provenance I don't know that you can ever be 100% certain.
Click to expand...

Gaz77 said:
Damn Photobucket, everytime i copy the link it doesnt see to work. Can someone try the links below ?

http://s1054.beta.photobucket.com/user/gs1977/library/PT57a Grommet strip
Click to expand...


Yes, strung, leather grip overgrip and silicon in the handle, the racket weighs bang on 350g.

Someone asked me to post some images of the grommet strip / grammet channel and where it ends because apparently you can identify PT57a's that way.
 
G

Gaz77

New User
treblings said:
the first link works, the second doesn´t (on my computer)
did the seller tell you the name of the pro?
Click to expand...


Yes i do know the name of the pro that the racket was made for but the seller has sworn me to secrecy. I did post a previous message naming the player but the seller (somehow) found my post contacted me by email and asked me to remove it !!!

So id love to tell you but i cant.
 
rlau

rlau

Hall of Fame
vsbabolat said:
You have a set of old i.Prestige C.A.P. System Grommets in your racquet.
Click to expand...

Indeed, if you had a regular CAP grommet, you'd see that the grommet channel on the PT57A (if that's what it is) was longer compared to a regular retail stick.
 
treblings

treblings

Hall of Fame
Gaz77 said:
Yes i do know the name of the pro that the racket was made for but the seller has sworn me to secrecy. I did post a previous message naming the player but the seller (somehow) found my post contacted me by email and asked me to remove it !!!

So id love to tell you but i cant.
Click to expand...

it´s not because i´m curious, but i had a chance once to buy a racquet played by Stan Wawrinka, and by asking on this forum was able to determine that Wawrinka never played with that particular variation.
if i remember correctly, the offered racquet had a 16x19 string pattern, whereas Wawrinka played 18x20 only
 
vsbabolat

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
treblings said:
it´s not because i´m curious, but i had a chance once to buy a racquet played by Stan Wawrinka, and by asking on this forum was able to determine that Wawrinka never played with that particular variation.
if i remember correctly, the offered racquet had a 16x19 string pattern, whereas Wawrinka played 18x20 only
Click to expand...

Wawrinka did use 16x19 string pattern in MG and YT cosmetics.
 
treblings

treblings

Hall of Fame
Orion3 said:
Not sure how you could ever tell for certain.

The frame shape looks looks the same as my PT630's and Bumblebees - which is good.QUOTE]

is the frame shape of a pt630 really that much different from a prestige mp that you can tell them apart by looking at the pics?
Click to expand...
 
cork_screw

cork_screw

Hall of Fame
What I would do is I would demo the same racquet but in stock form. For example just demo a youtek prestige mp or whatever it says. Or just borrow one. Strip it with grip and all. See if they are similar or different in anyway. Most of the older stuff have pallets that are printed by head to indicate what serial number they are associated to. I do know there's a lot of cons going on, on Stringerforum where people are just putting their own little placards and saying they are pt57 whatever but they are something else. This could have been placed by the seller and he's just selling a ton of these this way. I do think that Head would put something on there to identify which racquet is which just in case they get mixed up and need to be stripped down to id them. I don't think they would rely on some index card cutout like the one shown, but I am not sure for certain, just try to get a hold of the same pj in stock form and look for any differences.
 
G

Gaz77

New User
treblings said:
Orion3 said:
Not sure how you could ever tell for certain.

The frame shape looks looks the same as my PT630's and Bumblebees - which is good.QUOTE]

is the frame shape of a pt630 really that much different from a prestige mp that you can tell them apart by looking at the pics?
Click to expand...

Hi Treblings, apparently the head of the racket on your PT630's and my PT57a (if thats what it is) should be the same but im led to believe the retail version of the YT MP is slightly different, what exactly i dont know.

I have a bag full of rackets all wilson with the exception of this Head racket and i have to say that the feel and sound of this racket is different to all of the others i have. It does feel softer when hitting the ball, almost like the rackets absorbing the ball more and the noise from it is less tinny and has a more solid feel to it but then non on my other rackets have silicon in the handle so that may add to the more solid feel.

Im really hoping that someone with a lot of knowledge about these things can take a look at the photo's and give me a definate 'yes' thats a real PT57a.
Click to expand...
 
G

Gaz77

New User
So if anyone out there can identify these sticks from the pictures ive attached id be very grateful to hear from you
 
aimr75

aimr75

Hall of Fame
Gaz77 said:
Hi Treblings, apparently the head of the racket on your PT630's and my PT57a (if thats what it is) should be the same but im led to believe the retail version of the YT MP is slightly different, what exactly i dont know.

I have a bag full of rackets all wilson with the exception of this Head racket and i have to say that the feel and sound of this racket is different to all of the others i have. It does feel softer when hitting the ball, almost like the rackets absorbing the ball more and the noise from it is less tinny and has a more solid feel to it but then non on my other rackets have silicon in the handle so that may add to the more solid feel.

Im really hoping that someone with a lot of knowledge about these things can take a look at the photo's and give me a definate 'yes' thats a real PT57a.
Click to expand...

It looks like a 57a.. but just take the iprestige caps off, buy a set of MG/YT CAPS from TW, put them on and see if the grommet channel extends beyond the CAP. This is cheap and not hard to do and will give you your answer

here is an example

94834313.jpg
 
G

Gaz77

New User
aimr75 said:
It looks like a 57a.. but just take the iprestige caps off, buy a set of MG/YT CAPS from TW, put them on and see if the grommet channel extends beyond the CAP. This is cheap and not hard to do and will give you your answer

here is an example

94834313.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks Aimr75. Excuse my ignorance but to change the caps means getting the racket re-strung, right ?

Cheers
Gareth
 
G

Gaz77

New User
aimr75 said:
It looks like a 57a.. but just take the iprestige caps off, buy a set of MG/YT CAPS from TW, put them on and see if the grommet channel extends beyond the CAP. This is cheap and not hard to do and will give you your answer

here is an example

94834313.jpg
Click to expand...

OK i see what you mean about the cap grommets, but did you mean to write MP/YT Caps and not MG ?
 
hrstrat57

hrstrat57

Hall of Fame
cork_screw said:
What I would do is I would demo the same racquet but in stock form. For example just demo a youtek prestige mp or whatever it says. Or just borrow one. Strip it with grip and all. See if they are similar or different in anyway. Most of the older stuff have pallets that are printed by head to indicate what serial number they are associated to. I do know there's a lot of cons going on, on Stringerforum where people are just putting their own little placards and saying they are pt57 whatever but they are something else. This could have been placed by the seller and he's just selling a ton of these this way. I do think that Head would put something on there to identify which racquet is which just in case they get mixed up and need to be stripped down to id them. I don't think they would rely on some index card cutout like the one shown, but I am not sure for certain, just try to get a hold of the same pj in stock form and look for any differences.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%, YT Prestige MP is a fine stick, I own a pair and love "em.....I also own a prostock PT630 paintjob - there is no comparison in how they feel. Perhaps it is the twaron, I don't know but the prostock is a cushy butter "thonk" when a tennis ball is hit squarely....

Hit a retail YT Prestige MP, you will have your answer in 5 minutes.....if you have a paintjob PT 57A it should be a very different feel to the hit. Otherwise it might just come down to whether you think the seller is trustworthy or not......

Curious why it has i Prestige MP cap on it?
 
hrstrat57

hrstrat57

Hall of Fame
Just looked at one of my chinese retail YT Prestige MP's vs my prostock frame, the channel extends further than the retail stick exactly as pictured by aimr75.

The cap grommet on my 2 sticks is flush with the area, the channel is not visible at the end of the cap grommet as it is in aimr75's pics.

I believe "MG" refers to microgel prestige MP in his post btw.
 
hrstrat57

hrstrat57

Hall of Fame
Thanks to aimr75 for posting that BTW, looks like a pretty bombproof test.

Never noticed the difference in the channel length before.....

Assume tho it doesn't help with a prostock TGK 238.4 vs a retail stick...only with the PT 57? Am I correct that the prostock TGK 238.4 is the exact same mold as retail just a lighter hairpin with perhaps a different layup?
 
G

Gaz77

New User
hrstrat57 said:
Just looked at one of my chinese retail YT Prestige MP's vs my prostock frame, the channel extends further than the retail stick exactly as pictured by aimr75.

The cap grommet on my 2 sticks is flush with the area, the channel is not visible at the end of the cap grommet as it is in aimr75's pics.

I believe "MG" refers to microgel prestige MP in his post btw.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks for clearing that up. As mentioned before i have a bag full of wilson sticks, all types but mainly T90's and K and Blx Blades and the sound from the Head stick is unlike all my other's. Your previous explanation of the sound you get from the PT57a or PT630 in your case is a good description of the sound i get, so the more people post their own experiences with this racket the more confident i am that its the real deal.

I understand Head changed from having the racket name PT57a, TGT/TGK etc stamped in the throat to being placed in a more secretive postion i.e. under the pallet to try avoid and ultimately make it harder for people like us (i.e. this forum in general) knowing that the pro's really play with. Afterall the tennis racket market is nothing but a con. However i just wish Head would have kept the pro stock rackets identification in the throat because everytime i mention to other players i know that i have a pro-stock racket i have nothing to show that it really is one and your made to feel as though you have to prove it.
 
G

Gaz77

New User
Despite the difference in 'feel' and solid sound from the PT57a's as other people have posted on here the best way for anyone to check seems be to change the grommets over and if the cap grommet channel extends past the cap grommet its a 57 which is guess must be something to do with this mold being slighty different to the retail stick.
 
pshulam

pshulam

Hall of Fame
However i just wish Head would have kept the pro stock rackets identification in the throat because everytime i mention to other players i know that i have a pro-stock racket i have nothing to show that it really is one and your made to feel as though you have to prove it.
Click to expand...
Why do you have to prove it?
 
movdqa

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
"because everytime i mention to other players i know that i have a pro-stock racket i have nothing to show that it really is one and your made to feel as though you have to prove it."

I think that you get over that at some point. It's cool to have something to show others but eventually you get down to the reasons why you use a pro stock and what it does for your game. It might be for better arm health, being able to get matched frames, or the ability to get extended length models.
 
G

Gaz77

New User
No pun intended but its the prestige of being able say I have a pro stock stick and the writing on the throat of the racket proves it, without that it appears to be just a standard racket
 
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