Advice on racquet setup - AI98 customized

[scabadaska]

I've been playing with my Yonex AI98s for about two years now. I really like my racquets and am in no position to switch to anything newer/different at the moment. That said, after I first bought them, I customized them. I haven't revisited the topic since then however now I am trying to fix some minor flaws in my mechanics and feel the racquet is too heavy. Here's my setup:

Yonex AI98 310g L3 (4 3/8)
Flared butt-cap since the stock Yonex one is so tiny
Wilson leather grip
Wilson Pro overgrip
3-4 grams of lead at 3 & 9 (can't remember exactly, but used enough to get the balance back to ~7points HL)
Yonex Poly Tour Pro
Stock Yonex dampener

My static weight comes in at ~354g. Here's the thing though, I absolute love the feel, size and shape of my handle. I'm afraid to change it at all. I suppose the flared butt-cap is not needed, but it's the one minor thing that has always bothered me about Yonex racquets. I realize Wilson leather grips are medium-heavy in terms of weight. That said, the only reason I used leap tape was to rebalance the racquet a bit and give a little more stability. I'd hate to lose the stability but obviously I need to change something here.

Will removing the lead completely even matter? It's only a 3-4 gram gain. Likewise, I assume it will make my racquet too HL (something around 11 points if I remember before adding the tape). I suppose I could get lighter dampeners but again, we are talking perhaps a 1g difference in weight. I know most of my added weight is stuck in my handle. I wonder if I would get the same size/feel as my current setup by using different leather/overgrip combo and then removing the lead tape without affecting the HL balance being too high.

Thoughts?

 

[Muppet]

If you put 2g of lead at 11 and 1 and remove the lead from 3 and 9, it will change the racquet's stability a little, but it will preserve most of the same balance. Then switch to a thinner, light weight rubber band for a dampener and cut off the excess. My rubber bands add only 1g. That brings your total weight down by 3 or 4g. Since this weight adjustment is further up the racquet from your hand, it will be very noticeable. If the balance is too headlight, add a gram at 10 and 2. The further up the racquet you go, the more sensitive it is to modifications. OTOH, if you cheat up to 8 HL, your heavy racquet will be more maneuverable and feel lighter.

 

[Racer41c]

I've been playing with my Yonex AI98s for about two years now. I really like my racquets and am in no position to switch to anything newer/different at the moment. That said, after I first bought them, I customized them. I haven't revisited the topic since then however now I am trying to fix some minor flaws in my mechanics and feel the racquet is too heavy. Here's my setup:

Yonex AI98 310g L3 (4 3/8)
Flared butt-cap since the stock Yonex one is so tiny
Wilson leather grip
Wilson Pro overgrip
3-4 grams of lead at 3 & 9 (can't remember exactly, but used enough to get the balance back to ~7points HL)
Yonex Poly Tour Pro
Stock Yonex dampener

My static weight comes in at ~354g. Here's the thing though, I absolute love the feel, size and shape of my handle. I'm afraid to change it at all. I suppose the flared butt-cap is not needed, but it's the one minor thing that has always bothered me about Yonex racquets. I realize Wilson leather grips are medium-heavy in terms of weight. That said, the only reason I used leap tape was to rebalance the racquet a bit and give a little more stability. I'd hate to lose the stability but obviously I need to change something here.

Will removing the lead completely even matter? It's only a 3-4 gram gain. Likewise, I assume it will make my racquet too HL (something around 11 points if I remember before adding the tape). I suppose I could get lighter dampeners but again, we are talking perhaps a 1g difference in weight. I know most of my added weight is stuck in my handle. I wonder if I would get the same size/feel as my current setup by using different leather/overgrip combo and then removing the lead tape without affecting the HL balance being too high.

Thoughts?

Still playing the AI98's? Have similiar challenge with this racquet. I find it has a lot of weight in the throat/top of the handle area. The AI98 has a lot of twist weight already, so more weight at 3/9 isn't really that helpful. So removing that weight won't hurt the response, but adding weight at 12 will help with power if your looking for that.

Getting back to the heaviness, I've gone to a light weight grip, shortened and then covered with an OG. I then added 5g in the butt cap 2G at 12 o'clock and now feel it has better overall balance.