Firewire initial thoughts

I've hit with my Firewire for two sessions now (practice sets) in my Graphene 360 Extreme MP. My "normal" string setup is FB Hyper-G 16 or Hyper-G/Origin. Lately I've been using Tour Status and loving it. Heard good things about Firewire and its similarity to Hyper-G, so I gave it a shot (black color).

- A little difficult to string (getting it through holes); but not terrible.
- No issues with string breakage.
- Wow, crazy spin! Really spinny. Not quite Cyclone 19G, but it's up there.
- POWERFUL! Wow this is powerful. I string it at 48 lbs and this feels too powerful. It's hard to keep the ball in the court with my normal swing. Dunno if it's my swing style or the string, or both. I generate sweet angles on the BH, serves are nice, but the FH I just cannot dial in. This is different from the Tour Status, which lets me hit FHs with barely a second thought.
- Not harsh. Makes a ping sound on impact. Much different from the Tour Status thud. Not a fan of the sound, but I really only care about results and feel. Feels alright.

Interesting results. I'll continue to test it out. I might go with a Tour Status/Firewire hybrid for my next test.

Do you think it's comfortable enough to string it at a higher tension so it's not as powerful?

cd3768 said:

Do you think it's comfortable enough to string it at a higher tension so it's not as powerful?

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Not sure. I am leery of stringing any polys (especially FB) above 50 lbs.

The "powerful" factor may also be me not having a swing conducive to the launch angle.

I've strung FW at 56 and thought it was comfortable.

Have also done the "boost" hybrid and that opens the SS some and lowered the trajectory. The round cross doesn't notch the mains quite as fast also. That said, dont really find much performance change with the boost.

I've used that ghostwire cross a lot in various hybrids lately. Thought it was the best option out there, but recently tried yonex poly tour fire and love that stuff!
Will be combining it with FW on my next restring.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

2nd Serve Ace said:

I've strung FW at 56 and thought it was comfortable.

Have also done the "boost" hybrid and that opens the SS some and lowered the trajectory. The round cross doesn't notch the mains quite as fast also. That said, dont really find much performance change with the boost.

I've used that ghostwire cross a lot in various hybrids lately. Thought it was the best option out there, but recently tried yonex poly tour fire and love that stuff!
Will be combining it with FW on my next restring.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Can you describe Yonex Poly Tour and compare it to Ghostwire?

I used Ghostwire as a cross with Black Knight but didn't like the setup. But that's my only experience with both of those strings, so I suspect that the Black Knight was driving my distaste. Next up I want to try combos of Firewire, Ghostwire, and Tour Status.

I will also keep hitting with my FB Firewire for a few sessions, inserting my grip wedge back in to see if I can reign my FH in.

I used FW Boost at 60 pounds but my 16x16 pattern is very open and needs the higher tension. I'm down to 56 pounds the last year.

2nd Serve Ace said:

I've strung FW at 56 and thought it was comfortable.

Have also done the "boost" hybrid and that opens the SS some and lowered the trajectory. The round cross doesn't notch the mains quite as fast also. That said, dont really find much performance change with the boost.

I've used that ghostwire cross a lot in various hybrids lately. Thought it was the best option out there, but recently tried yonex poly tour fire and love that stuff!
Will be combining it with FW on my next restring.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

beltsman said:

I've hit with my Firewire for two sessions now (practice sets) in my Graphene 360 Extreme MP. My "normal" string setup is FB Hyper-G 16 or Hyper-G/Origin. Lately I've been using Tour Status and loving it. Heard good things about Firewire and its similarity to Hyper-G, so I gave it a shot (black color).

- A little difficult to string (getting it through holes); but not terrible.
- No issues with string breakage.
- Wow, crazy spin! Really spinny. Not quite Cyclone 19G, but it's up there.
- POWERFUL! Wow this is powerful. I string it at 48 lbs and this feels too powerful. It's hard to keep the ball in the court with my normal swing. Dunno if it's my swing style or the string, or both. I generate sweet angles on the BH, serves are nice, but the FH I just cannot dial in. This is different from the Tour Status, which lets me hit FHs with barely a second thought.
- Not harsh. Makes a ping sound on impact. Much different from the Tour Status thud. Not a fan of the sound, but I really only care about results and feel. Feels alright.

Interesting results. I'll continue to test it out. I might go with a Tour Status/Firewire hybrid for my next test.

Click to expand...

Everything you described you might want to try Firewire BOOST

beltsman said:

Can you describe Yonex Poly Tour and compare it to Ghostwire?

I used Ghostwire as a cross with Black Knight but didn't like the setup. But that's my only experience with both of those strings, so I suspect that the Black Knight was driving my distaste. Next up I want to try combos of Firewire, Ghostwire, and Tour Status.

I will also keep hitting with my FB Firewire for a few sessions, inserting my grip wedge back in to see if I can reign my FH in.

Click to expand...

The poly tours in the red color have surprising power, feel and nice feedback. Like to string them a few lbs higher for those reasons.

GW is an excellent string, just think it mutes the feel too much. (The titanium dioxide in the color does this with most white strings!)

Never used black knight but will go out on a limb to say that like blast and cyclone it doesn't hybrid well.




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After some more hitting and matchplay with the Firewire, I am surprisingly not a fan. Not sure why. Maybe it is too soft for me? Or maybe it coincides with my recent grip change. In fact, the grip change is probably the issue.

But subjectively I am just not gelling with the power/launch angle. It feels simultaneously lower powered with a weird launch angle that seems to change. I can't groove my strokes with it. I don't know, it's very strange. It's not bad. My serve and BH are fine. But I can't dial my FH in. I will try it with my old grip and see what's up. It's like I need to brush up the ball, but then it lands very short. But when I drive through the ball, it lacks spin and might fly long. The massive spin is not as massive as I once thought. It either over-rotates and lands short, or under-rotates and sails long. Again, is likely a function of my stroke/power/racquet/etc.

Not a great review, I know. But it's just off and I can't find the right words to describe it.

I got the Firewire Boost from Tier One after answering their questionnaire. To me, the string does play a lot like Hyper-G. The launch angle, power level, and spin capability are all pretty similar. From a performance aspect, it has been seamless to switch from Firewire Boost to Hyper-G. The most different aspect is in how it feels. The boost cross feels kind of dead and lifeless, and seems to rob the stringbed of any kind of crisp response. It doesn't feel springy, but honestly feels kind of like a really good poly that has gone dead but is still quite playable.

The Firewire itself seems fine, and I've wondered what would happen combining it with a more lively cross string. I think someone mentioned they were going to try it with Tourna Silver 7 Tour as a cross and that's an interesting combo that might positively enhance the feel while providing a bit more power and crispness.

TierOneSportsOfficial said:

Everything you described you might want to try Firewire BOOST

Click to expand...

Hi, a question I hope you can answer. What would you say are the technical differences between Tour Status and Firewire? Obviously the shape, but I think the composition is very different as well. Just curious if you can expound on the differences.

beltsman said:

Hi, a question I hope you can answer. What would you say are the technical differences between Tour Status and Firewire? Obviously the shape, but I think the composition is very different as well. Just curious if you can expound on the differences.

Click to expand...

We don’t want to go into too much details but the shape of a string will quite drastically change how a string plays even of the chemical compound is the same. Tour status offers more control, more durability and less spin over FireWire. Both strings have very high tension stability!

beltsman said:

I've hit with my Firewire for two sessions now (practice sets) in my Graphene 360 Extreme MP. I might go with a Tour Status/Firewire hybrid for my next test.

Click to expand...

So you did a full bed of Firewire (black) right?

Firewire mains with tour status crosses is nice. I think you will see a little more predictability on your FH in a hybrid, no matter what cross string you use, and you won't sacrifice the great spin FW produces. IMHO, full bed or hybrid, one the hardest things to do is learning to trust Firewire. Its launch angle is inherently exaggerated. My advice is try to may be focus on net clearance. When hitting FH with FW from the baseline, I aim for the tape on the net. When I started doing this this summer, I stop overhitting. Usually, I easily get 2-3 foot clearance (lower when I hit on the run) with a ball that accelerates on the bounce after it hits the back third of the court. Find a zone to aim at and I think you will appreciate the string more.

TierOneSportsOfficial said:

... the shape of a string will quite drastically change how a string plays even of the chemical compound is the same.

Click to expand...

@beltsman Not only that, but the tension you play FW at drastically changes how it plays, too.

Anybody with insight on black vs red playing differences for FW?

2nd Serve Ace said:

I've strung FW at 56 and thought it was comfortable.

Have also done the "boost" hybrid and that opens the SS some and lowered the trajectory. The round cross doesn't notch the mains quite as fast also. That said, dont really find much performance change with the boost.

I've used that ghostwire cross a lot in various hybrids lately. Thought it was the best option out there, but recently tried yonex poly tour fire and love that stuff!
Will be combining it with FW on my next restring.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Hey!

I know it was a long time ago, but do you recall how the FireWire mains and PolyTour Fire crosses performed as a hybrid? I have just bought these 2 red strings and also some black FireWire and Tour Status to try out in a hybrid set-up - looking forward to trying them out