Anyone uses Kevlar and poly cross here? What are your thoughts of how it plays compared to full poly.
A little late to the game on this one, but my setup is Ashway 17 mains and polylon black 17 crosses...I've upped tension to around 65 pounds each on my NXG's since upping swing weight via lead to get some control back.
The truth about Kevlar is it feels pretty much the same from 40-65 lbs..and the drop weight on my klipper just stops moving at a certain point, no matter what tension you set it at. It's fairly obvious that there is almost zero elasticity in Kevlar, which is what makes it play so well for so long. It doesn't go dead like poly (when poly loses any elasticity it does have) or get too springy like nylon/synth gut (which only seems to get more elastic as it gets older).
The biggest problem with Kevlar is stringing through shared holes and tying off knots without any slack on the outside of the frame. Other than that I'll use it as a main string for as long as it's available. It's what I'm used to, it lasts for months and plays well for a very long time. I've had no long standing arm issues and I've used it for about 5 years now. The only TE I ever experienced was when I swapped the Kevlar and poly in the mains and crosses..I had bad TE the following day. Never again. I hate poly strings in the mains, I think they vibrate more in addition to being really bad for the arm when dead..not a good combination.
I use this setup on my NXG's which have a very open string pattern, play an average of about 3-4 hours per week. I've had a string job last me 5 months before finally snapping..it was hanging by a thread for weeks but still kept chugging along. I'll often take some chapstick or other kind of wax and apply it to the string bed, moving the mains around as part of the process. Seems to bring everything back to life a little more.
For rec players I think it is a better option than poly for mains, but all the pros use poly, so that's what everyone else uses. Kevlar provides more control than nylon stings and has a longer playable life than poly.