Best Natural Gut available?

Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
Having played with Klip Legend (both the coated and uncoated versions) and becoming hooked on the feel of gut, I am wondering what the best available gut is?

In other words, which gut, preferably sold by TW, is best representative of what Natural Gut is all about? Obviously the gold standard was always VS gut, but with the change to BT7 I am wondering if this is still the case, or if you gut users have another idea?

I am definitely wanting to try a lot of stuff out, but want some advice/direction on this.
 
Nostradamus said:
Rafabestfriend, I read your post and it makes NO sense much like your post...............lol
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who is rafabestfriend? I hope you don't mean me, because anyone who knows me at all knows that's not true.

My OP made plenty of sense as people haven't had trouble answering it.
 
This is entirely subjective, and there's no right answer.

That said, I like Pacific Classic gut. It's reasonably priced and feels great. The more expensive guts (at least from Babolat and Pacific) tend to be a little lower-powered and muted than Pacific Classic in my experience.
 
seekay said:
This is entirely subjective, and there's no right answer.

That said, I like Pacific Classic gut. It's reasonably priced and feels great. The more expensive guts (at least from Babolat and Pacific) tend to be a little lower-powered and muted than Pacific Classic in my experience.
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Ditto. Have not tried them all but out of Pacific Classic, Klip Legend, and Tonic I like Pacific Classic the best.
 
Wilson gut is the best for people who want the classic natural gut feel. VS is significantly stiffer but does offer a little additional durability. I play with the old VS or Wilson gut indoors and the VS BT7 for the added durability during the outdoor season.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As long as it remains sealed, it only gets better! I have some from way back that I still use and it is sublime.
 
seekay said:
This is entirely subjective, and there's no right answer.

That said, I like Pacific Classic gut. It's reasonably priced and feels great. The more expensive guts (at least from Babolat and Pacific) tend to be a little lower-powered and muted than Pacific Classic in my experience.
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+1 Really depends on the individual. Pacific classic is on my list of strings to try. I am familiar with Klip and Babolat.

If you like a crisp choose Klip. If you want plush choose VS. VS is very powerful so it has to be strung at higher tensions.
 
Nostradamus said:
why is Wilson better than Babolat ? didn't babolat dominate the gut market and was the original best of guts ?
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Wilson Gut is made by Babolat, however, Wilson Gut does not have the 'BT7' process that is now used in the VS Babolat Gut.

Thus, Wilson plays softer, as BT7 is known to make the gut play stiffer while also more durable.

Same manufacturer and quality, different recipe, so to speak.

So, if you want the best feel out there (and I have tried all of those, plus most of the Pacific), you want Wilson Gut 17. A close second is Pacific Prime 17 (have yet to try the 'orange bull fibre').

This is just my opinion, regarding the "most plush feel". If you want other things: control or durability, then there is a different choice for me, which is Pacific Tough Gut.

Pacific Classic is nice, but not the velvet-plush feel that Wilson Gut has (and to be clear, the current Wilson Gut feels like the pre-BT7 Babolat VS - which used to be the gold standard for Gut). I've used both Babolat Guts (pre-BT7 and current BT7, and the BT7 is noticeably different, not bad, but not the same as before either).
 
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JT_2eighty said:
So, if you want the best feel out there (and I have tried all of those, plus most of the Pacific), you want Wilson Gut 17. A close second is Pacific Prime 17 (have yet to try the 'orange bull fibre').
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FWIW, I couldn't discern a difference in playability between Pacific Prime Gut and the Orange Bull Fiber version (16 ga for both) when I had them strung up side-by side. The latter has an orange/red spiral around the string which looks neat, but that's about it.

That said, I have one of my Pro Staff 97's strung with Wilson Natural Gut 16 and the other with Orange Bull Fiber 16. Between the two, I feel like the Pacific string is softer with better ball feel. They're both great, but for these two specific sets of string, my experience differs from yours.
 
It must be just me then, as I find Pacific Tough Gut feels more softer to hit with than VS( pre bt7 and bt7) , or Wilson nat. gut.
 
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Which gut tends to hold out ok even when it gets wet? I live on the west coast & we sometimes play when its still a bit wet (use squeegees & slow safe warm up until the court dries up).
 
Tennisguy3000 said:
Which gut tends to hold out ok even when it gets wet? I live on the west coast & we sometimes play when its still a bit wet (use squeegees & slow safe warm up until the court dries up).
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BT like in my sig, but wax it and also you in heavy rain you may want to switch to a full bed multi.
 
Rabbit said:
As long as it remains sealed, it only gets better! I have some from way back that I still use and it is sublime.
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When using gut/_____ hybrid setup, do we really have to string 2x racquets at a time? I have a 40' packet of VS Touch and I wonder if I can use half a set to string 1x racquet now, re-seal it, and use the remaining 20' later on.

I store my strings in cool , dry environment. Away from sunlight and extreme fluctuations of temperature. My worry is the humidity level inside that re-sealed packet. Should I put a tiny silica gel sachet inside the packet?
 
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I find Pacific Classic gut to be little bit hard to control, not as good in control department. Very good power though. Why is this ?? Not as good of ball pocketing as Babolat gut ?
 
Say Chi Sin Lo said:
I wonder if Wilson caught us talking about how Babolat BT7 is pure crap, and everyone is converting over to Wilson gut, and they took advantage of the situation?
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It's certainly possible.

It does not matter to me. Once I'm out of original VS and Tonic (yes, I still have them), I'm going Klip (preferably uncoated). I don't think it's worth to
pay anything over $30 (VS or Tonic) for current Babolat natural gut, especially because of its shortened playability lifespan(after BT7, IMHO).
 
Ghost3789 said:
When using gut/_____ hybrid setup, do we really have to string 2x racquets at a time? I have a 40' packet of VS Touch and I wonder if I can use half a set to string 1x racquet now, re-seal it, and use the remaining 20' later on.

I store my strings in cool , dry environment. Away from sunlight and extreme fluctuations of temperature. My worry is the humidity level inside that re-sealed packet. Should I put a tiny silica gel sachet inside the packet?
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Should be fine. I have done the same (put other half from hybrid in ziplock until ready to string it). Never had any issues. The way I see it, the ziplock is still better environment than in a back-up racquet in the racquet bag.
 
How do they justify a 10% increase in Wilson Gut. Curiously there is only one site that has it in stock. I purchased some last week days before the price increase. I wonder what happened as I have been using Wilson since Babolat went to the BT7 formulation but it has always been available.
TW will not have it in stock until March. It is all very curious. Is it all about exploiting its preference for many over Babolat.
 
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Yikes - I got hooked on Wilson 17g natty and thought it was steep at $46.95. As a hybrid that lasts 30 hours for me, not too bad, but at $55? Yikes.
 
Say Chi Sin Lo said:
I wonder if Wilson caught us talking about how Babolat BT7 is pure crap, and everyone is converting over to Wilson gut, and they took advantage of the situation?
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Yes... there is a lot of this happening online. Easy for anyone to claim anything without any reality checks. BIG TIME.

Bottom line is that Babolat produce excellent natural gut strings. Many of the peeps who give loads of advices online are no more than average recreational club players, advices which tend to have disproportionate impact IMHO.
 
Ghost3789 said:
When using gut/_____ hybrid setup, do we really have to string 2x racquets at a time? I have a 40' packet of VS Touch and I wonder if I can use half a set to string 1x racquet now, re-seal it, and use the remaining 20' later on.

I store my strings in cool , dry environment. Away from sunlight and extreme fluctuations of temperature. My worry is the humidity level inside that re-sealed packet. Should I put a tiny silica gel sachet inside the packet?
Click to expand...

No, you don't have to do 2 at a time. Unless you're talking about stringing the first 20' and waiting 2 years to string the second 20'. :) Leaving it unsealed that long might affect the playability.
 
APG said:
How do they justify a 10% increase in Wilson Gut. Curiously there is only one site that has it in stock. I purchased some last week days before the price increase. I wonder what happened as I have been using Wilson since Babolat went to the BT7 formulation but it has always been available.
TW will not have it in stock until March. It is all very curious. Is it all about exploiting its preference for many over Babolat.
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It looks like their production cannot meet the demand. That is a perfect justification for a price increase.
 
John Z. said:
Yes... there is a lot of this happening online. Easy for anyone to claim anything without any reality checks. BIG TIME.

Bottom line is that Babolat produce excellent natural gut strings. Many of the peeps who give loads of advices online are no more than average recreational club players, advices which tend to have disproportionate impact IMHO.
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Agreed. I don't think the BT7 Gut is "not excellent"; however, you cannot deny the feel has changed from before BT7 when it was using 15 thinner strands.

The fact remains, you make a string more durable and the trade-off is always comfort/feel.

Yes, still excellent quality of course. In fact, I think BT7 is especially great in a gut/poly setup. The feel of poly is going to take away from your main string no matter what, so might as well have a more durable gut there. That's why I always like Pacific Tough for hybrids - it has been the most durable gut for me.

I did try the BT7 VS 17 Gut in a hybrid and the longevity & playability was also wonderful.
 
KaiserW said:
They won't have much demand at that price! Can't see many willing to pay that price.
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I don't know about that. You can get a pack of strings for $3. I think it is likely that most people willing to pay $46 for gut will pay $55. Especially if an increase by other mfg.'s follows
 
sundaypunch said:
I don't know about that. You can get a pack of strings for $3. I think it is likely that most people willing to pay $46 for gut will pay $55. Especially if an increase by other mfg.'s follows
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I understand an increase but that is a huge increase. I think they are making a mistake and will lose customers.
 
jim e said:
It must be just me then, as I find Pacific Tough Gut feels more softer to hit with than VS( pre bt7 and bt7) , or Wilson nat. gut.
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I agree about Pacific Tough Gut feeling softer than VS gut. I did not like the newer VS gut (BT7 series). The older VS gut, pre BT7 and the series just before that one too- so I guess three series ago, had a lot better feel and better playability.
I have not tried the Wilson gut yet.
 
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SeeItHitIt said:
Yikes - I got hooked on Wilson 17g natty and thought it was steep at $46.95. As a hybrid that lasts 30 hours for me, not too bad, but at $55? Yikes.
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That was what price I bought it for. However, now at $55 they have lost my business. Roger must have gotten a nice increase in his contract from Wilson.
 
Try a few and keep the one that you like the best.. start with least cost one and move up.

Cheers
3Fees :)
 
coloskier said:
Wilson gut is made by Babolat.
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Kinda like how Aston Marton is owned by Ford Motors, but an Aston Martin is NOT a Ford.

It's not WHO makes Wilson Gut. It's the formula of Wilson Gut. Is it the same as non-BT7 VS?... only if Babolat sold Wilson the rights to it.
 
What is the shelf life of natural gut once open (storing half set) and sealed in zip loc bag? What about the un-open package?
 
UCSF2012 said:
Kinda like how Aston Marton is owned by Ford Motors, but an Aston Martin is NOT a Ford.

It's not WHO makes Wilson Gut. It's the formula of Wilson Gut. Is it the same as non-BT7 VS?... only if Babolat sold Wilson the rights to it.
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Drakluie a while back posted that a # years ago he opened a set of Wilson nat. gut and the string was marked VS babolat. Take it from there what that was or means to you, either a mix up or both strings were indeed the same. They certainly feel and hit the same to me, ( Wilson and pre bt7) .I posted the Babolat rep and he did not want to answer it , said he did not know..but did not deny it as well that they are the same.
 
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