Babolat VS Wilson natural gut

Original 6.0

Original 6.0

Rookie
Hi guys,

are there any noticeable differences between the good old (and trusted) Babolat VS Natural Thermogut Touch gut string and the Wilson Natural Gut version?

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Bab...oGut_16_Touch_String/descpageACBAB-BNG16.html
http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Wilson_Natural_Gut_16_String/descpageACWILSON-WNAT16.html

I am familiar with the VS gut by Babolat (both on hybrids and full job), less so with the Wilson version.
They have the exact same price tag, in fact I suspect they are one and the same string - Babolat producing for Wilson and Wilson rebranding. Is this the case? Thanks!
 
When BT7 came out I switched to Wilson NG. Thought at that time it was the closest to the old VS I could find.
Prince NG is also very good but liked the Wilson a bit better.
 
I have both Wilson's nat gut and still have many older non bt7 babolat gut and it does hit the same as Wilson's nat. gut.
Drakulie even posted a while back that a # of years ago he opened a set of Wilson's nat. gut and it was marked babolat VS on the string, so take it from there.
 
jim e said:
I have both Wilson's nat gut and still have many older non bt7 babolat gut and it does hit the same as Wilson's nat. gut.
Drakulie even posted a while back that a # of years ago he opened a set of Wilson's nat. gut and it was marked babolat VS on the string, so take it from there.
Click to expand...

Thought so... so basically, Wilson's gut would be softer compared to BT7?
Any thoughts on Titan's nat. gut? They are very cheap (for a gut), how about quality?
 
jim e said:
I have both Wilson's nat gut and still have many older non bt7 babolat gut and it does hit the same as Wilson's nat. gut.
Drakulie even posted a while back that a # of years ago he opened a set of Wilson's nat. gut and it was marked babolat VS on the string, so take it from there.
Click to expand...

I can confirm that Babolat makes Wilson Nat Gut.
 
bluegrass_stringer said:
Wilson gut is different than current VS. I have some half sets in the champions choice string, and it is a little different shade than the VS.
Click to expand...

Champions choice the nat. gut was always different from Wilson's or Babolats. Always seemed stiffer and more dried out.
This has also been reported many times over a good # of years , way before BT7 even came out.
 
jim e said:
I have both Wilson's nat gut and still have many older non bt7 babolat gut and it does hit the same as Wilson's nat. gut.
Drakulie even posted a while back that a # of years ago he opened a set of Wilson's nat. gut and it was marked babolat VS on the string, so take it from there.
Click to expand...

so you are saying Wilson bought Babolat and it is highly kept secret ?
 
Nostradamus said:
so you are saying Wilson bought Babolat and it is highly kept secret ?
Click to expand...
DOUBLE-FACEPALM.jpg


Hope you're joking.
 
jim e said:
Champions choice the nat. gut was always different from Wilson's or Babolats. Always seemed stiffer and more dried out.
This has also been reported many times over a good # of years , way before BT7 even came out.
Click to expand...

hmmm..so its different than Wilson Natural Gut 16? I find it hard to believe a half set in CC is much different than cutting a half set from a pack of Wilson Natural Gut 16...who knows.
 
So in what aspects exactly is Wilson's gut different from BT7?
E.g. softness/stiffness, loss of tension, resilience, etc.

And I also wonder if anyone has ever tried out Titan's gut.
They are really dirt cheap (for a nat gut), which makes me wonder about quality...
 
Last edited:
Nostradamus said:
What if they produeced these guts with NO quality control whatsoever ?? would it be cheaper then ?
Click to expand...

Quality Control basically means testing. And discarding the pieces which do not meet certain requirements.

Some QC (Quality Control) factors for strings I can think of are

length( is there 40 feet in every set?)
damage (does the entire string look good? are there any kinks or notches?)
color

In addition they may even test individual sets for resillience, elasticity etc.

Companies don't do QC just for the sake of it. They do it ONLY because it improves their business.

If they removed QC division, it would seem they can spend less money and make a bigger profit. However you, as a customer, would run into defective sets of string every now and then that don't all play to your standard expectation.

That would be bad for both you and the Stringing company.
 
Nostradamus said:
so you are saying Wilson bought Babolat and it is highly kept secret ?
Click to expand...

This is how I see it. Wilson has a good brand image but are not capable of producing their own premium natural gut.

Babolat is very capable of making high quality NG but they are not able to sell as much as they can produce.

So, they make a deal with Wilson where some of the NG that Babolat manufactures will be packaged, sold and distributed by Wilson and the profits are shared.

This would be a win-win for both Wilson and Babolat while they are still competitors in other items such as poly strings, shoes, racquets, apparel etc
 
EpitomeOfAwesome said:
This is how I see it. Wilson has a good brand image but are not capable of producing their own premium natural gut.

Babolat is very capable of making high quality NG but they are not able to sell as much as they can produce.

So, they make a deal with Wilson where some of the NG that Babolat manufactures will be packaged, sold and distributed by Wilson and the profits are shared.

This would be a win-win for both Wilson and Babolat while they are still competitors in other items such as poly strings, shoes, racquets, apparel etc
Click to expand...

that is true. also even though babolat is the inventor of the NG string I think they have a slightly different customer profile than wilson. Babolat attracts mainly young (often competitive) players who like to bash and play a lot of spin (probably because of nadal but also the performance of their rackets). most of those players are probably going full poly in these days.

wilson probably has a little more conservative and probably older customer profile on average which might prefer NG.
 
ultradr said:
I somehow feel like Wilson gut touch stiffer than old non-BT7 Babolat VS.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's all in my mind, but imho, it's stiffer than even BT7 Babolat VS....
Granted I've tried only one set of Wilson gut recently, over a spawn of years of using Babolat.
 
Fintft said:
Maybe it's all in my mind, but imho, it's stiffer than even BT7 Babolat VS....
Granted I've tried only one set of Wilson gut recently, over a spawn of years of using Babolat.
Click to expand...

I would get suspicious about the string job on your last Wilson. :)
 
Original 6.0 said:
Titan's gut anyone?
Or is it just a 'titanic' waste of time? :)
Click to expand...

Titan is good as a cross string only, and I'd only use it for yourself & not for any customers.

If you use full gut, it can really save you $ by putting the good stuff (Wilson/Babolat/Pacific Tough/Prime) in the mains & Titan in the crosses. Sure, it won't play nearly as plush as a full bed of the good stuff, but you're saving yourself 25% per job.

And how much difference will there be? Well, that really depends on the player.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Which string to get?
Replies
6
Views
882
rodrigoamaral
rodrigoamaral
E
String Life
Replies
7
Views
1K
tlm
tlm
M
Babolat VS Gut 16 - Changed Packaging?
Replies
3
Views
707
Rabbit
Rabbit
R
Babolat VS Touch NG price reduction?
Replies
28
Views
4K
NDtennis_Williston
N
kerplunker
New Wilson Natural Duo String
Replies
4
Views
2K
Joe12
Joe12
Back
Top