about the HEAD TXP Pro

MichaelChang

Hall of Fame
I want to discuss about the different version of HEAD TXP Pro. Racket historians on this board will remember this one. Quoting from "Tennis Man"s post in the past:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=268388
In 1986, the first of Professional (Pro) series offered in North America was the TX Professional (TXP). The TXP was introduced as Head's flagship racket. They considered it a midplus at the time. It was the very first example of the "thinbeam" rackets, the first with the full-length "CAPS" bumper guard/grommet, and was indeed the predecessor of the 1988 Prestige Pro which began the long line of Prestige mids.

It's one of the first to have Twaron in its layup. The TXP is not from the Graphite Pro Mold. The TXP is how Head marketed the Prestige Pro in the U.S.A in 1986 and 1987. While in 1986 and 1987 Europe got the racquet marketed as the Prestige Pro, in 1988 the U.S.A. got the Prestige Pro cosmetic but was not as beautifully detailed as the Austrian version.


I had some luck to pick up 2, yet with different wordings on their side. See the pic below:
5d5a1e.jpg


One says "Tubular Graphite/Fiberglass/Twaron", and on buttcap says "Made in USA".
The other says "tubular Twaron/Graphite", and on buttcap says "Made in USA - Frame Austria".

So apparently they are different versions, and I have read there is yet another version that says "Very Firm Flex". Both of mine says "Firm Flex".

So, is all HEAD TXP the same? or they are really different? And if they are the same as the 1st version of Prestige Pro, then the P.P. should also varies?
 
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retrowagen

Hall of Fame
This model (and its now iconic mold) came out in 1986, and it was indeed the first variant of the Prestige lineage available in the US market. The Prestige Pro of 1988 was the same racquet, but with a more "global" appearance, now looking more like the brown/red Prestige Pro made in Austria for the rest of the world.

Head tennis split its production of racquets, until some time in 1988, between Kennelbach, Tirol, Austria, and Boulder, Colorado, USA. Typically, the Austrian-made frames were sold everywhere but North America, while the Colorado-made ones comprised the NA market, though both factories had most of the same racquet molds at each facility. Alas, the company shut down its Colorado tennis production at some point in 1988, after Austrian Tabak (tobacco) bought the company and restructured it, then shifting virtually all racquet production to Austria, until some lower-end composite and aluminums were outsourced to Taiwanese OEM's in late 1989. Henceforth, Head has progressively made fewer and fewer racquets in Austria (on account of the unit cost), using facilities in the Czech Republic and OEM's in China.

But back to these TXP's: as Head was transitioning out of the Colorado facility, they were a bit inconsistent in their production sourcing and graphics. The specimen with the Frame Austria designation on it is likely either a very early, or very late production specimen. Kennelbach would "help" Boulder by molding lots of frames, where they would be painted, gripped, and finished Stateside. They did likewise during some of the PC600 production, only painting and finishing in their Czech facility.

Your TXP's have the same Graphite/Fiberglass/Twaron layup regardless of where they were molded, and should also be identical to the concurrent Austrian-made Prestige Pro. Weight and flex should be fairly consistent between them all. Some savant-like racquet nerds seem to be convinced that there are differences between them, but having played with them all when new, and still playing with various ones from time to time today, I don't note any intended design differences among them... Merely minor normal spec tolerance variance.

Hard to believe these are racquets are over 25 years old now! Yikes!
 
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MichaelChang

Hall of Fame
Thanks Retro, when I saw my 2 TXPs where one mentions Fiberglass and the other one does not, I thought they were different. But from your post so you are saying they are indeed the same thing, just maybe different paint jobs. From your experience/knowedge, does the TXP/Prestigo Pro and the later on Prestige 600/Classic 600 all have the same layout? I honestly can not tell a lot of difference, I have hit with the lime green 600 and Prestige Tour 600 and the TW reissued PC600, and now the 2 new TXP I got, they all feel very close, not much difference I can tell, if any maybe just the Prestige Tour 600 slighly muted. However I do not own any brown/red Prestige Pro and never hit with one.

btw I have received the elite pro grommets, thanks!
 

retrowagen

Hall of Fame
Thanks Retro, when I saw my 2 TXPs where one mentions Fiberglass and the other one does not, I thought they were different. But from your post so you are saying they are indeed the same thing, just maybe different paint jobs. From your experience/knowedge, does the TXP/Prestigo Pro and the later on Prestige 600/Classic 600 all have the same layout? I honestly can not tell a lot of difference, I have hit with the lime green 600 and Prestige Tour 600 and the TW reissued PC600, and now the 2 new TXP I got, they all feel very close, not much difference I can tell, if any maybe just the Prestige Tour 600 slighly muted. However I do not own any brown/red Prestige Pro and never hit with one.

btw I have received the elite pro grommets, thanks!

Hey, MC! Glad the grommets arrived on your end.

Yes, the TXP, Prestige Pro and PC600 were supposedly all the same layup/composition, though some notice a very minor difference in feel between the earliest Colorado-made frames, and the Kennelbach-made frames of thame years (that's 1986-1988). I personally don't discern a difference beyond normal production tolerances.

I did later buy a few of the TW SMU PC600's (Austria-molded and Czech-finished), and was surprised at how light they were, compared to the older bats. It seemed as though they weighed at least half an ounce less.
 

MichaelChang

Hall of Fame
ah Retro I didn't notice the weight difference on the SMU PC600s. I still have 2 in brand new condition, kept them in my closet nice and warm like babies :D I have weighted all my 600s I think at some point in the past, including these SMU and also the "Classic Mid" the one without the collar on grip, almost sure not much weight difference, but maybe the production quality control was not as tight as before so some of yours may be lighter.

also I noticed the grip pallets HEAD used in the past (TK76 or before) could be slightly heavier, some of them (I have seen a lot in Midplus or oversize) have 2 pieces of red rubber beneath, which could add a few g weight and dampening the viberation a bit. I am not sure what others do, but I have also tried putting LEAD tape to replace these red rubber to add weight to the handle, works well I feel. It is a pity how cheap HEAD is now, even the pallets look like crap nowadays.
 
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Colpo

Professional
This model (and its now iconic mold) came out in 1986, and it was indeed the first variant of the Prestige lineage available in the US market. The Prestige Pro of 1988 was the same racquet, but with a more "global" appearance, now looking more like the brown/red Prestige Pro made in Austria for the rest of the world.

Head tennis split its production of racquets, until some time in 1988, between Kennelbach, Tirol, Austria, and Boulder, Colorado, USA. Typically, the Austrian-made frames were sold everywhere but North America, while the Colorado-made ones comprised the NA market, though both factories had most of the same racquet molds at each facility. Alas, the company shut down its Colorado tennis production at some point in 1988, after Austrian Tabak (tobacco) bought the company and restructured it, then shifting virtually all racquet production to Austria, until some lower-end composite and aluminums were outsourced to Taiwanese OEM's in late 1989. Henceforth, Head has progressively made fewer and fewer racquets in Austria (on account of the unit cost), using facilities in the Czech Republic and OEM's in China.

But back to these TXP's: as Head was transitioning out of the Colorado facility, they were a bit inconsistent in their production sourcing and graphics. The specimen with the Frame Austria designation on it is likely either a very early, or very late production specimen. Kennelbach would "help" Boulder by molding lots of frames, where they would be painted, gripped, and finished Stateside. They did likewise during some of the PC600 production, only painting and finishing in their Czech facility.

Your TXP's have the same Graphite/Fiberglass/Twaron layup regardless of where they were molded, and should also be identical to the concurrent Austrian-made Prestige Pro. Weight and flex should be fairly consistent between them all. Some savant-like racquet nerds seem to be convinced that there are differences between them, but having played with them all when new, and still playing with various ones from time to time today, I don't note any intended design differences among them... Merely minor normal spec tolerance variance.

Hard to believe these are racquets are over 25 years old now! Yikes!

This is excellent, and quite possibly given the passage of time the most authoritative, global comment on this topic. Well done!
 

tandayu

Professional
Colpo, nice to see you still on this board. I still have the Prestige pro 600 i bought from you back in 2005-2006.


I noticed on my new old model rackets, the made in USA head has better paint job (bolder, deeper color, and darker thicker printing) in comparison to the later made in Austria frames.

Early TXP Pro has thick heavy leather grip. Made in USA grip size 4 1/4 feels bigger than today China made 4 3/8.

One of my made in USA TXP Pro weigh 370 gram.
 

Colpo

Professional
Thanks much, tandayu. Nice to be remembered. I guess the fire came back, lol.
 
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MichaelChang

Hall of Fame
Over the years I have collected a few nice specimens from the Head Prestige 600 linege, however yet to find a Prestige Pro or a trek font PC600. Gonna wonder why. Is the production limited or just not many? In comparison, look how many Max200g out there on the bay, even brand new ones... I think I have almost never seen a trek font PC600 on the bay in the past 3 years or what...
 
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Hotrocks

Rookie
I want to discuss about the different version of HEAD TXP Pro. Racket historians on this board will remember this one. Quoting from "Tennis Man"s post in the past:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=268388
In 1986, the first of Professional (Pro) series offered in North America was the TX Professional (TXP). The TXP was introduced as Head's flagship racket. They considered it a midplus at the time. It was the very first example of the "thinbeam" rackets, the first with the full-length "CAPS" bumper guard/grommet, and was indeed the predecessor of the 1988 Prestige Pro which began the long line of Prestige mids.

It's one of the first to have Twaron in its layup. The TXP is not from the Graphite Pro Mold. The TXP is how Head marketed the Prestige Pro in the U.S.A in 1986 and 1987. While in 1986 and 1987 Europe got the racquet marketed as the Prestige Pro, in 1988 the U.S.A. got the Prestige Pro cosmetic but was not as beautifully detailed as the Austrian version.


I had some luck to pick up 2, yet with different wordings on their side. See the pic below:
5d5a1e.jpg


One says "Tubular Graphite/Fiberglass/Twaron", and on buttcap says "Made in USA".
The other says "tubular Twaron/Graphite", and on buttcap says "Made in USA - Frame Austria".

So apparently they are different versions, and I have read there is yet another version that says "Very Firm Flex". Both of mine says "Firm Flex".

So, is all HEAD TXP the same? or they are really different? And if they are the same as the 1st version of Prestige Pro, then the P.P. should also varies?
MC- I have the same TXP's as you. There are two versions. Maybe different years in production. The butt cap's are different as the description on the outside throat of each racquet. The TXP with the AMF logo on butt cap is 12.5-12.6oz. and 6pts. head light. The butt cap with Head/Made in US is 12.6oz and 10-11pts. head light. The AMF butt cap has the same weight ad balance of the European Version Prestige Pro(Brown First Edition) I have two of these. I had the same question as you, after purchasing three of these frames. Would like to know why the difference in balance, all I can come up with is that the European Prestige's were heavier and more demanding to use. I also have the Prestige Pro 600 US version and it's like 11.9oz versus the European at 12.6oz. I know this responses is a bit late, but I was as curious as you, in finding why these racquets are so very different in balance. Love the racquet that without the AMF on the butt cap.
 
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