Ball Pocketing Strings

[SFeigl]

Hey Guys,

I thought I'd give you a bit of a brief rundown. I play with a Wilson BLX 6.1 Tour 90 racket, and have a pretty all-round game. Strokes are fairly smooth, not too fast... kind of like effortless power. If I try to hit harder... I tend to not get much more pace and control goes out the window.

As for strings, I've tried a number of things from Gut/ALU Rough hybrid 16, Wilson Sensation 16, Technifibre Black Code 18, & a Signum Pro multifilament string.

For me, I find that I like the power and the spin from the Poly's, but the spin itself is quite inconsistent I find. The worst part is that I have great difficulty pocketing the ball with the Poly's. Also the feel is limited at the net - not great for my game.

Natural Gut in a hybrid was pretty good, but expensive to run as it breaks pretty quickly.

Multifilament strings such as the Sensation and Signum Pro (not sure what type) have been the best thus far. They are pretty good all round strings, but I'm not quite sure if that will help take my game to the next level.

My question is.... what strings work well for ball pocketing? I've had every racket strung in the past at 55lbs, and never changed from that at any time. Is that the problem with the Polyester strings... is that why they are inconsistent and difficult to pocket for me? Also... how do vibration dampener's affect the Polyester strings if strung at a low tension.

Sorry for all the questions. I just bought a stringing machine, and a stack of different options. I'm very keen to try them out and find what I really like... but just want to get a bit of an idea before my mass string testing begins!

Thanks!

 

[Shaochieh]

I am a 3.5-4.0 and I play your stick for a little while and I still play with it at times. For me at 25kg/55lb does not do your racket justice. I usual used Black Code 17 main 23kg / 17 NRG2 cross 21kg to have control and power out of it. I also try the same setup with plan synthetic gut for cross string and it last a whole lot longer. I break the cross string before the mains. You can have the best of both world.

 

[SFeigl]

Okay, so you are stringing the Polyester string lower than the multifilament NRG2 string, but 2kgs? I'd always heard that Poly's should be lower in tension, but not heard that the multifilament string should be so low.

I must admit, I'm a bit new with the tension thing. Now that I have a stringing machine, I'll have to try some lower tensions. I grew up playing with Syn Gut strings in a Prince Precision Response racket strung at 61lbs. I loved that, but it seems nowadays that stringing at a lower tension is the way to go.

 

[kiteboard]

barb wire/alu power.

 

[mrtrinh]

i find multi's and synthetic guts to have the best ball pocketing. I grew up with just synthetic gut and til this day gosen og micro in a full bed is my favorite but doesn't last me very long, I have moved to poly/synthetic gut hybrids. If you want to stay with poly I suggest dropping the tension a little more. I find luxilon adrenaline, tourna big hitter silver, and rpm (loses tension extremely fast) blast to have excellent ball pocketing.

 

[tennisjon]

I coach college tennis and play on several 4.5 teams. So many of my players/teammates use the same setup. Use Babolat N.Vy as a cross string. Its a soft, durable, monofiliament that pockets the ball really well and helps aid the main string at its mission. I would string 1 lb. tighter than you would usually string a monofiliament. I recommend Technifibre Code Black or Babolat RPM Blast for extra topspin. RPM is a little softer but loses tension faster than Code Black. I would string RPM the same tension as a monofiliament. The Black Code, I would drop 1-2 lbs vs. a monofiliament, but tighter than Luxilon.

 

[Kevo]

Most polys don't pocket very well they're generally too stiff. If you string them low (less than 50lbs.) you can get some pocketing, but it's not the same as what you get from a good multi or syn gut.

The best poly I've used so far is Lux Ace. It's pricey though. Ace in combination with Head Rip Control is money, but the RIP control shreds pretty quick.

Sensation is one of the best for feel, the 17g is great, but it also lasts a matter of hours. In general the tradeoff for a softer nice pocketing string is poor durability.

 

[OldButGame]

I had Topspin Cyber Blue 17g @ 55lbs, in a AG200,...and it REALLY pocketed well,...almost TOO MUCH for my liking,..(almost felt 'trampoline like). Next stringing i strung same stuff at 59 lbs,...and it wasnt like that.

 

[austinjbrunner]

i find multi's and synthetic guts to have the best ball pocketing. I grew up with just synthetic gut and til this day gosen og micro in a full bed is my favorite but doesn't last me very long, I have moved to poly/synthetic gut hybrids. If you want to stay with poly I suggest dropping the tension a little more. I find luxilon adrenaline, tourna big hitter silver, and rpm (loses tension extremely fast) blast to have excellent ball pocketing.

Agreed with the Gosen. It pockets extremely well but never lasted me long either. Energy and Blackcode have been reliable in terms of pocketing for me, but I can't get consistent spin from Blackcode.

 

[airman88]

Sounds like a champion's choice is the best thing for you. You definitely won't want a full poly setup (some people suggesting it obviously didn't rad your original post). But the nat gut/lux is real expensive. You can do this kind of setup for cheaper using a soft smooth main multi that has decent durability @ 16 or even 15l gauge and a cheaper 3rd generation poly cross that is similar to ALU rough.

One idea could be Alpha Gut 2000 16 gauge (not quite as durable, but costs $6 a set) and Genesis Typhoon cross. This would be somewhere around $6.50 a racket, and you could restring it often when it breaks quickly.

You can try a whole range of strings under the maximum playability category as the main in this setup from Gamma TNT2 to NRG2 to Yonex Tour Super 850 (which I think is supposed to be a little more durable).

 

[SFeigl]

Hi Guys,

Some interesting suggestions there. I think I tend to agree with airman88, in that a full poly setup just doesn't seem to work for me (well in this racket at least). I've tried PHT16 in a Babolat Aero Pro Racket a year ago and I liked this... but it didn't pocket as well, not have the feel and scalpel precision like the Wilson, nor the feel at the net. The Poly in the Wilson really doesn't seem to work, for me and my playing style at least.

I've played the champions choice before and it was great... but durability wasn't so great. Also, I found the vibration quite strong, despite putting in a big dampener. I'm going to try some 15g Natural Gut, with Luxilon Big Banger Original. This will give me hopefully some more durability from the bigger guage gut, and also from the less rough Big Banger. We'll see how that goes, and I'll try using power pads and string savers in the Fed pattern too... hopefully that will help with a bit of durability and the vibration.

Has anyone tried the Babolat Tonic string? It's a cheaper less refined gut to the VS Babolat string, but according to TW it is the same quality, but not as consistent as VS. That's what I am going to try.

I've also got a stack of multifilament strings on order, such as the X-One BiPhase which I think could be quite good, like a gut-feeling Sensation string. We'll see - I'll be sure to give you guys some results of my testing. I ordered like 15 different types of string!

Maybe I got a little bit carried away... but its a new stringing machine for me too. Just a bit excited I guess!

 

[Carolina Racquet]

IMO you're stringing poly much too high. The playing characteristics between any poly string and a multi are very different.

I didn't appreciate the difference in elasticity between poly and multis/syn gut until I started stringing my own racquets with a drop-weight machine. The poly string stretches very little when you pull tension whereas the multi as almost like a rubber band. It really opened my eyes.

I now use a fully poly setup (Cyclone 17g) and have now gone done to 45lbs on an OS frame, about 18% lower than the lowest recommended tension. The ball pocketing is great, power is manageable and my arm loves me.

So if you go fully poly again, try a significantly lower tension than you've used with other strings (other than Kevlar).

 

[Austinthecity]

I'd suggest a different route. For me, when I used full poly I felt it really pocket the ball when I hit the sweet spot. The problem is that unlike a pro, I don't hit the sweet spot every time! My problem with full poly was the drastic difference of pocketing over the face of the racket.

I hit a pretty heavy ball.

I'd suggest a thin kevlar / poly hybrid. Personally, I use an 18 ashaway kevlar and 17 cheap poly for the crosses. I'd suggest 50 pounds on a constant pull machine, or maybe 53 on a lockout.

This setup feels really good to me and the thin gauges help the kevlar feel softer. It's also very consistent all over the stringbed.

 

[kiteboard]

IMO you're stringing poly much too high. The playing characteristics between any poly string and a multi are very different.

I didn't appreciate the difference in elasticity between poly and multis/syn gut until I started stringing my own racquets with a drop-weight machine. The poly string stretches very little when you pull tension whereas the multi as almost like a rubber band. It really opened my eyes.

I now use a fully poly setup (Cyclone 17g) and have now gone done to 45lbs on an OS frame, about 18% lower than the lowest recommended tension. The ball pocketing is great, power is manageable and my arm loves me.

So if you go fully poly again, try a significantly lower tension than you've used with other strings (other than Kevlar).

Berdych, Tsonga, Delpo, Soderling, Gulbis, Murray, all string at 60-62lbs, and all but Murray use full alu power. Murray uses it on his main, and vs team cross.

 

[JackB1]

My own opinion.....no poly or full poly job can pocket the ball like a multi/poly hybrid or nat gut.

 

[SFeigl]

G'day everyone,

I strung up 6 of my rackets, the BLX Six.One Tour 90 racket each with a different string. I bought a swag of different options from TW a week ago, and I wanted to test them all out. I played for 3 hours yesterday in warm conditions, around 28deg celcius, and it was quite interesting the results. All strings were strung at 55lb, in the same guage, and all strung the day before I played. I played with each string for 30 minutes. The strings I tested on this first test were:

• Prince Synthetic Gut with Duraflex 16G
• Babolat Addiction 16G
• Wilson Sensation NXT 16G
• Babolat XCel Power 16G
• Technifibre NRG2 16G
• Technifibre X-One Bi-phase 16G

1. Prince Synthetic Gut with Duraflex 16G - 5/10
I was quite surprised by this. I more got it as it was cheap, and I wanted to rule out just a straight synthetic gut string. Feel was good, and I think durability would have been okay, but spin and power were not really there compared with a good multi.

2. Babolat Addiction 16G - 4/10
A cheaper multi from Babolat. Quite disappointing really - a lot of excess vibration and the power felt very limited. I certainly cannot see myself addicted to this string, and it was the string I least preferred from this test.

3. Wilson Sensation NXT 16G - 7/10
A significant improvement over the first two strings tested. This felt immediately playable, and enjoyable to hit. Good penetration and adequete spin potential for my game. Good string to serve with good pace, but some excess vibration made it feel like there was more to come.

4. Babolat XCel Power 16G - 7/10
Very good string. This felt quite similiar to the Sensation NXT, but with an emphasis on power, with less spin and less feel. The spin and feel were definitely still good though, and the power was definitely a handy thing to have. My serves were booming at around 190kph.

5. Technifibre NRG2 - 9/10
I felt this was the pick of the strings for my game. The feeling off the racket was really sweet, like natural gut. The spin was very good, and volleys came off really strong. Power was actually quite similiar to the XCel Power, with the control and feel far surpassing it making it a superior string for me.

6. Technifibre X-One Biphase - 7/10
I thought going into the test that this would be the winning string. I was left perhaps a bit disappointed though. When compared against the NRG2, I felt a lack of feel, with less spin and control. Power was still good, but it felt not quite up to the NRG2. Perhaps as this was the last string of my test, and I was getting quite tired, it may have been a fair test. I'll keep this string in and report back again on my next time out.

In my next test, I'll be trying out some of the mono/multi strings out there, as well as Natural Gut and Natural Gut Hybrids. The combinations are:

• Luxilon M2 Pro 125
• Technifibre X Code 1.25mm
• Babolat Tonic 15G Gut/Luxilon BB Original 16G
• Luxilon BB Original 16G/Klip Legend 16G Gut
• Klip Armour Pro 16G Gut

I've also got NRG2 and X-One Biphase in 17G as well, and will try this later. I think this will help the X-One, but I think the NRG2 is probably good enough as it is for my game. Will be interesting to try though.

Enjoying the testing, and the stringing.

 

[parasailing]

G'day everyone,


4. Babolat XCel Power 16G - 7/10
Very good string. This felt quite similiar to the Sensation NXT, but with an emphasis on power, with less spin and less feel. The spin and feel were definitely still good though, and the power was definitely a handy thing to have. My serves were booming at around 190kph.

5. Technifibre NRG2 - 9/10
I felt this was the pick of the strings for my game. The feeling off the racket was really sweet, like natural gut. The spin was very good, and volleys came off really strong. Power was actually quite similiar to the XCel Power, with the control and feel far surpassing it making it a superior string for me.

6. Technifibre X-One Biphase - 7/10
I thought going into the test that this would be the winning string. I was left perhaps a bit disappointed though. When compared against the NRG2, I felt a lack of feel, with less spin and control. Power was still good, but it felt not quite up to the NRG2. Perhaps as this was the last string of my test, and I was getting quite tired, it may have been a fair test. I'll keep this string in and report back again on my next time out.

I've also got NRG2 and X-One Biphase in 17G as well, and will try this later. I think this will help the X-One, but I think the NRG2 is probably good enough as it is for my game. Will be interesting to try though.

Enjoying the testing, and the stringing.

You should definitely try Xone and NRG2 comparison against as I feel Xone offers better power than NRG2. You are probably the first to say otherwise so another test is in order. NRG2 plays more consistent and I can go with either one of them. Xcel power plays somewhere between X1 and NRG2 but pricing wise, is too expensive to consider as your main string.

 

[SFeigl]

Hi,

I tried the Babolat XCel Power, NRG2 and X-One Biphase again. My conclusion is that still for me, the NRG2 provides the best feel and power. The X-One Biphase is definitely better than I had originally thought, but still not as good as NRG2, and the XCel Power isn't quite as good as I had originally thought when compared against the two Technifibre strings. The worst part was the lack of spin from these strings. They definitely have spin, but not as much as I would like, meaning that there is less margin for error in my strokes. I'm going to cut these two out, and try them in 17G to see what more playability I can get out of these two.

I'm going to have another hit again later today, this time with the Wilson NXT string to clarify my conclusion on that.