balancing a head-heavy racquet with a leather grip?

[Ocean Breeze Sunset]

hi everybody, i have a Wilson BLX Blade 98 and i'm thinking about making the balance more head-light. i could use lead tape, but i was wondering if it would also be a good idea to use a leather grip instead to increase the balance. like, i see that some leather grips are heavy and i wonder if they'll make a racquet more head-light.

thanks everybody!

 

[anirut]

Yes, changing to leather grip will make it just a tad more HL, around 2 +/-1 pts.

 

[TennisMaverick]

hi everybody, i have a Wilson BLX Blade 98 and i'm thinking about making the balance more head-light. i could use lead tape, but i was wondering if it would also be a good idea to use a leather grip instead to increase the balance. like, i see that some leather grips are heavy and i wonder if they'll make a racquet more head-light.

thanks everybody!

Good place to start.

 

[Ronaldo]

hi everybody, i have a Wilson BLX Blade 98 and i'm thinking about making the balance more head-light. i could use lead tape, but i was wondering if it would also be a good idea to use a leather grip instead to increase the balance. like, i see that some leather grips are heavy and i wonder if they'll make a racquet more head-light.

thanks everybody!

Tried this with a Radical, heatsleeve, leather, OG, CAP grommets.

 

[movdqa]

Headlight in a hurry:

 

[klementine]

^ Nails work great... bullet fishing weights even better. The mass of the nail is distributed uniformily.

Non-lead or lead bullet fishing concentrate the mass towards the end of the handle, achieving a couple of points more.

 

[movdqa]

Nails are good if you already have silicone or another firm material in the handle. The K90 has foam in it and nails might work there. Nails are easily reversible too. They're also dirt-cheap. I think that I paid $3 for a pound of them (32 nails) or less than a dime each.

 

[klementine]

I believe all wilson's have foam in them. You're right though nails are easier to push-in and to find, usually sitting around somewhere in a drawer or in the garage.

BTW- Nice silicone job. A DIY project?

 

[movdqa]

That was a pro stock. Here's the first one that I did in the mid-1990s. The corrosion was from some metal bits that I used. I put in lead tape and other objects and then put in the silicone - which was a bad approach as stuff rattled around. The second and third frames were a lot cleaner - silicone and then nails. I only found out about pro stocks this year so my old stuff wasn't bad for an amateur job.

 

[Xizel]

Now if only mine had a trapdoor...

 

[Ocean Breeze Sunset]

Yes, changing to leather grip will make it just a tad more HL, around 2 +/-1 pts.

oh i see. thank you for your answer. i will do that then.

 

[Ocean Breeze Sunset]

Headlight in a hurry:

i never thought of doing it that way. that is an interesting way to make it head-light. thank you for your answer

 

[Ocean Breeze Sunset]

^ Nails work great... bullet fishing weights even better. The mass of the nail is distributed uniformily.

Non-lead or lead bullet fishing concentrate the mass towards the end of the handle, achieving a couple of points more.

thank you for your answer. i never thought of using fishing weights. i think i'll try that too.

 

[Ronaldo]

thank you for your answer. i never thought of using fishing weights. i think i'll try that too.

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/LC/customize.html

 

[Ocean Breeze Sunset]

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/LC/customize.html

thank you for your help

 

[eleventeenth street]

the BLX blades come with those wilson hybrid grips which i think are actually pretty heavy. heavier than most standard synthetics, so depending on how headlight you want your racquet and which leather grip you use, you may need more than just the leather grip.

 

[Ronaldo]

the BLX blades come with those wilson hybrid grips which i think are actually pretty heavy. heavier than most standard synthetics, so depending on how headlight you want your racquet and which leather grip you use, you may need more than just the leather grip.

A heatsleeve will add more weight than a leather grip, http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpage-SLEEV.html

 

[Champs990411]

I had a half heat sleeve with a replacement on my two sticks. Removed one sleeve and threw on a leather grip and the leathered racket was heavier in the handle per the pen balance test. So: leather > half sleeve + Head synth rep grip

 

[Ronaldo]

I had a half heat sleeve with a replacement on my two sticks. Removed one sleeve and threw on a leather grip and the leathered racket was heavier in the handle per the pen balance test. So: leather > half sleeve + Head synth rep grip

Added a full sleeve, leather, OG, CAP grommet hiding lead covering the entire head on both a LM Radical and Prestige mid. Too much racquet weight. Always used a full sleeve.

 

[Ocean Breeze Sunset]

the BLX blades come with those wilson hybrid grips which i think are actually pretty heavy. heavier than most standard synthetics, so depending on how headlight you want your racquet and which leather grip you use, you may need more than just the leather grip.

i see. yeah i ended up using lead tape for the handle anyway. thank you for your answer

 

[Gee]

Headlight in a hurry:

Hi movdqa,

How much does that nail weigh?
Don't you need to put the nail into the center of the surface because of the balance or doesn't that matter?

 

[movdqa]

Nail weighs 15 grams.

Wilson frames have a plastic piece in the middle of the pallet. This is a Head frame and I don't know whether or not it is completely hollow or has tubes so I didn't try the middle. Besides, if you put it on the side, you have room to add a second.

I've moved onto the IG Prestige MP. The new set came with a setup where I didn't need to add any weight.

 

[Gee]

Nail weighs 15 grams.

Wilson frames have a plastic piece in the middle of the pallet. This is a Head frame and I don't know whether or not it is completely hollow or has tubes so I didn't try the middle. Besides, if you put it on the side, you have room to add a second.

I've moved onto the IG Prestige MP. The new set came with a setup where I didn't need to add any weight.

I switched to the IG Prestige MP as well as you can see into my signature. I customized the Prestige as follows:
- lead at 3-9 (all around the head)
- Gamma leather grip
- Yonex Supergrap

Total weight: 355 gram
SW: 354
Balance: about 33 cm

However I feel the balance is too high to my taste so I need to add some weight into the handle. I prefer a 32 cm balance so I guess I need to add about 10 grams. I was considering the nail solution and I was searching on this forum about this and through this I found your post.