Best way to dampen a racquet response with customization?

jimmy8 said:
There's no amount of shock absorption that can stop the eventual demise of your arm from a pure drive. Pure drives are harder than diamonds. It should be illegal to sell pure drives for tennis. Pure drives should only be sold to install on the heads of drilling machines.

Every person I know with a pure drive reports pain and injury problems. They go from poly or syn gut or cheap multi to x1 biphase. They buy softer grips. Go lower tension. Wear wrist bands.

Young orthopedic doctors who are wanting to get into more surgeries endorse the use of pure drives.
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Rosstour said:
Babolat racquets are herpes sir

Put them in storage and don't even try this, unless you fancy a go with tennis elbow
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While I appreciate the medical advice and some levity, I think you guys are missing the point of the thread. I have upwards of 75 rackets and the pure drives that I’m collecting / modifying will not be used very often. More for just a fun hit her here or there.

I’m pretty wary about arm health as someone who’s had golfers elbow flare up for the better part of a decade. I switched to the softest polys in TW‘s database. Since then I have zero issues across all frame types, including over a dozen Babolats that I currently own. I Mained the pure strike tour for the last five years and found it to be, super easy on my arm. I’m back to a 365g v14 pro staff 97 as my main frame, along with a handful of RF97s

Point of the thread is to get these playing a little bit more dampened than they come out of the box. Like I said before I might be trying to put lipstick on a pig, but I’m gonna give it a go
 
gino said:
While I appreciate the medical advice and some levity, I think you guys are missing the point of the thread. I have upwards of 75 rackets and the pure drives that I’m collecting / modifying will not be used very often. More for just a fun hit her here or there.

I’m pretty wary about arm health as someone who’s had golfers elbow flare up for the better part of a decade. I switched to the softest polys in TW‘s database. Since then I have zero issues across all frame types, including over a dozen Babolats that I currently own. I Mained the pure strike tour for the last five years and found it to be, super easy on my arm. I’m back to a 365g v14 pro staff 97 as my main frame, along with a handful of RF97s

Point of the thread is to get these playing a little bit more dampened than they come out of the box. Like I said before I might be trying to put lipstick on a pig, but I’m gonna give it a go
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I understood. Just having a little fun.
 
I’m going to try the advantec strips. I’m not entirely convinced they’ll work as advertised on the website, but it’s not super expensive either. Maybe they’ll make all my racquets feel like Countervail lol.

Edit: according to verified reviews, the strips really work but the adhesive is bad quality, strips fall off.
 
PistolPete23 said:
I’m going to try the advantec strips. I’m not entirely convinced they’ll work as advertised on the website, but it’s not super expensive either. Maybe they’ll make all my racquets feel like Countervail lol.

Edit: according to verified reviews, the strips really work but the adhesive is bad quality, strips fall off.
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Im going to order some as well & looks like they have some grips that dampen. Ill probably try one of those
 
gino said:
how do you insert the silicone earplugs? can you link the variety you are using?
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Here you go! You may be able to pick them up locally. I open the trapdoor and put blue tac in first since it’s stickier. I put the blue tac to around the staples if not a little bit deeper. Then you roll up and weigh the silicone and put it on top of the tac and against the sides inside of the handle. Definitely more muted after.
 
codonnell said:
www.cvs.com

CVS Health Ultra-Soft Silicone Earplugs, 6 Pairs, - CVS Pharmacy

Buy CVS Health Ultra-Soft Silicone Earplugs, 6 Pairs, and enjoy free shipping on most orders. Shop CVS now to see coupons and get the best deals!
www.cvs.com www.cvs.com

Here you go! You may be able to pick them up locally. I open the trapdoor and put blue tac in first since it’s stickier. I put the blue tac to around the staples if not a little bit deeper. Then you roll up and weigh the silicone and put it on top of the tac and against the sides of the handle. Definitely more muted after.
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Love this idea, much less messy than injecting and having to work with air bubbles
 
gino said:
Love this idea, much less messy than injecting and having to work with air bubbles
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Thank you! Let me know how it goes, I definitely would block the handle somehow since I wouldn’t want it to fall down the frame. Also easier to weigh, less guestimation involved. I can send pics of a frame later if you want as well.
 
codonnell said:
Thank you! Let me know how it goes, I definitely would block the handle somehow since I wouldn’t want it to fall down the frame. Also easier to weigh, less guestimation involved. I can send pics of a frame later if you want as well.
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that would be nice man, but no worries either way. just ordered a few packs.

moreover, what frames did you put them in?
 
gino said:
While I appreciate the medical advice and some levity, I think you guys are missing the point of the thread. I have upwards of 75 rackets and the pure drives that I’m collecting / modifying will not be used very often. More for just a fun hit her here or there.

I’m pretty wary about arm health as someone who’s had golfers elbow flare up for the better part of a decade. I switched to the softest polys in TW‘s database. Since then I have zero issues across all frame types, including over a dozen Babolats that I currently own. I Mained the pure strike tour for the last five years and found it to be, super easy on my arm. I’m back to a 365g v14 pro staff 97 as my main frame, along with a handful of RF97s

Point of the thread is to get these playing a little bit more dampened than they come out of the box. Like I said before I might be trying to put lipstick on a pig, but I’m gonna give it a go
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How did I miss the point? You asked how to dampen, and I answered that it's impossible. If you're going to have a fun hit, it should be only one stroke and do that only once a decade. So it's a complete waste of money to have more than one pure drive for a fun hit, emphasis on singular hit. Actually, it's a complete waste of money to have more than zero pure drives. I wouldn't even put a pure drive in my house even if someone paid me $1,000 to take it because my arm would have pain just from looking at it.
 
gino said:
that would be nice man, but no worries either way. just ordered a few packs.

moreover, what frames did you put them in?
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I put them in my pure aero vs 2016 (aero storm mold) which is at a stiffness of 67 so definitely benefited from it. I’m going to start putting them in my storms but will have weigh out the blue tac. Definitely can use more of it too as it’s lighter. I also like the pure drives so let me know how it hits with that, if it goes well maybe I’ll pick up a base(only have the Roddick now) to experiment with.
 
gino said:
Love this idea, much less messy than injecting and having to work with air bubbles
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i have used blue tac in multiple racquets with no problems, but some claim it can get runny.at high temperatures, so you migut want to put some cotton ot something in before adding the blue tac block mentiomed above.
 
jimmy8 said:
How did I miss the point? You asked how to dampen, and I answered that it's impossible. If you're going to have a fun hit, it should be only one stroke and do that only once a decade. So it's a complete waste of money to have more than one pure drive for a fun hit, emphasis on singular hit. Actually, it's a complete waste of money to have more than zero pure drives. I wouldn't even put a pure drive in my house even if someone paid me $1,000 to take it because my arm would have pain just from looking at it.
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lmao youre tripping homie, pure drives are great esp the earlier iterations
 
I add a gram or 2 to the head and 10-20 grams to the handle and my PD’s are plenty comfy, even with stiff poly ((TB) at 55 lbs.

I add weight to the handle using overgrips and sometimes Gorilla tape. Covering the handle with Gorilla tape down to the butt cap adds about 9 grams. I cut it into separate strips for each bevel so I don’t round off the bevels.

The tape doesn’t really dampen much or mute the feel but the overgrips do. Adding weight inside the handle definitely dampens the vibrations more but also mutes the feel a lot.

I am admittedly very picky about where I add weight. I don’t like adding weight inside the handle. It changes the playability and feel. Weight at the bottom of the handle just inside the butt cap makes the tip feel more sluggish. Having all the mass in one place just seems to make the frame swing a bit clunky. To me, distributing the mass over the handle with the center of the added mass at the middle of the handle gives the benefit of added mass (stability and dampening) without drastically changing the way the frame plays. YMMV, of course.
 
gino said:
lmao youre tripping homie, pure drives are great esp the earlier iterations
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We'll see who's tripping when you end up in the hospital, then come home and throw away all your pure drives in anger. And you'll have a light bulb moment when you see an article showing that Roddick, Kenin, Clijsters and all the other people who used pure drives have handicapped arms.
 
You know who loves pure drives? Technifibre and Wilson. Why? Because they sell so much expensive X-One Biphase and NXT to pure drive owners who think they can use the pure drive with a softer string after they experience pain.

I string for these people. I play with these people. I helped sell one of the pure drives of one of them who tried NXT, then decided to sell afterwards.
 
jimmy8 said:
We'll see who's tripping when you end up in the hospital, then come home and throw away all your pure drives in anger. And you'll have a light bulb moment when you see an article showing that Roddick, Kenin, Clijsters and all the other people who used pure drives have handicapped arms.
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Jimmy, I think you need some fresh air brother. I have half a dozen collegiate tennis teammates that use pure drives with poly their entire junior days, to play collegiate tennis, and now into their young adult years. None of them have lingering or long-term injury. That’s at least six specific examples of people that have played with pure drives for at least 15 years at a high-performance level. Why aren’t any of them injured? I think the problem is that you’re referencing a lot of people that don’t care to have the type of physique to support playing with a stiff racket and stiff strings

Roddick never had an elbow issue. Let’s see the receipts Jimmy. Link the article !
 
gino said:
Jimmy, I think you need some fresh air brother. I have half a dozen collegiate tennis teammates that use pure drives with poly their entire junior days, to play collegiate tennis, and now into their young adult years. None of them have lingering or long-term injury. That’s at least six specific examples of people that have played with pure drives for at least 15 years at a high-performance level. Why aren’t any of them injured? I think the problem is that you’re referencing a lot of people that don’t care to have the type of physique to support playing with a stiff racket and stiff strings

Roddick never had an elbow issue. Let’s see the receipts Jimmy. Link the article !
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All half dozen have had issues, they just didn't tell you about them. The article I referred to is a future article that will come out when they all reveal their injuries. Someday your half dozen may also reveal their injuries.

It's interesting how people support things that are injurious. If you like surgeries on your body, then I guess you should support pure drive. It's also interesting how people support a rapist, fraudster, thief, felon to be their leader. They make excuses, look for ways to dampen what they know is injurious, look for justifications for the convictions. It's an interesting world we live in.
 
jimmy8 said:
All half dozen have had issues, they just didn't tell you about them. The article I referred to is a future article that will come out when they all reveal their injuries. Someday your half dozen may also reveal their injuries.

It's interesting how people support things that are injurious. If you like surgeries on your body, then I guess you should support pure drive. It's also interesting how people support a rapist, fraudster, thief, felon to be their leader. They make excuses, look for ways to dampen what they know is injurious, look for justifications for the convictions. It's an interesting world we live in.
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So one of them is one of my best friends. I know really everything about the guy. If he’s lying about not being injured by a PD, that would be pretty stupid

Also, hell of an analogy, you got a Lot of keyboard courage my guy lol
 
I've tried the pure strike gen 3 98 16x19 for about 10 minutes. Too muted. Never tried any other babolat. Just going off what others report.

Even Gino is asking how to dampen it, and that he only uses it for a fun hit once in a while, knowing otherwise, he would suffer the consequences.
 
gino said:
So one of them is one of my best friends. I know really everything about the guy. If he’s lying about not being injured by a PD, that would be pretty stupid

Also, hell of an analogy, you got a Lot of keyboard courage my guy lol
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Hey, people who support hurtful things or people confound me. To think otherwise is, well, you.
 
jimmy8 said:
Hey, people who support hurtful things or people confound me. To think otherwise is, well, you.
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Is the pure drive objectively damaging to society? Or did it provide a source of inspiration for thousands of people who were influenced by Andy roddick winning the us open? Clijsters winning majors as a mom inspire thousands of women to be active postpartum ? A piece of graphite that gave people a reason to go out and be healthy and play a sport is objectively hurtful?

Im having a hard time rationalizing your approach. & insinuating someone who likes a pure drive tennis racket is supporting hurtful things, well that’s downright ignorant
 
I’m also not sitting here saying everyone should use a stiff Babolat, but FFS man, let us have some fun
 
gino said:
I’m also not sitting here saying everyone should use a stiff Babolat, but FFS man, let us have some fun
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I'm not exaggerating when I say every single person I know who uses pure drive and pure aero (pure strike is ok) said they have pain where they had to take time off, tried remedies (dampeners) and all remedies did not help enough. I play on multiple tennis ladders, travel up to about 30 miles from my house to play, meet new people every week, advertise my stringing services and get lots of customers, buy and sell rackets from all over the US, I have plenty of people who all say pure drive or pure aero hurt their arms/wrists/shoulders. And many on this forum report the same. This forum is the only place where I see support for pure drives and pure Aeros.

You can have fun, just don't say I didn't warn you. I've had shoulder surgery, not because of tennis, and recovering from that surgery was so long and arduous. I still can't play tennis like I used to. I have to take Aleve every time I play because my shoulder still hurts. I wish so much I could serve like I used to. That would make winning so much easier. I wish I could play more. I can't play more than 2-3 times a week because of the shoulder pain. I'm trying to warn forumers so that they don't have to suffer like me. The pure drive and pure aero owners I know often take time off or can't play too often or can't play too long per session.
 
I have a buddy who was a top player when I was in high school and he went on to play D1 tennis. I believe he used a Pure Drive and later on Pure Aero. He doesn’t play tennis anymore due to a shoulder tear that prevented him from overhead motions. Don’t know for sure if it was the PD that caused long term injury. I have shoulder issues now too and I’ve never played with a stiff racquet like the PD, except briefly in my youth when I used a Wilson Profile.
 
esgee48 said:
Aluminum and plastic rods would have different harmonics effectively dampening each others vibration out quickly. Alu foil does not have the ability to do this. Foam, sponge and silicone do not vibrate for very long, which is why they are efficient dampeners. Layers of tape will also dampen, but not well as foam, etc. Keep in mind that any inserted material should contact as much of the chamber as possible.

FWIW, I use silicone cubes or foam. Depends on whether client wants to go more HL.
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Alu foil is aluminium. E.G. in the IGA 298 they do lay the graphite with alu for both flex and dampening reasons.
Aluminum foil offers 85% effect as a noise insulator. So its quite effective regarding taking out frequenzy.
 
jimmy8 said:
I've tried the pure strike gen 3 98 16x19 for about 10 minutes. Too muted. Never tried any other babolat. Just going off what others report.

Even Gino is asking how to dampen it, and that he only uses it for a fun hit once in a while, knowing otherwise, he would suffer the consequences.
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Pure Strike 98 3. gen is not too muted. Just dont play with it with the factory Syn Gut.
Its not too muted if you hit hard and you are at competition lvl and have stiff strings (over 200 TWU) in the racket.
Stiffness of the racket reduces over time and already after a few restrings. A babolat 66 will quickly become a 63 after 5-10 stringjobs.
Buyng a RA 63 will become a 60 and so on.
 
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fritzhimself said:
Sorry - but where did you pick up this BS? o_O
That is 100% not true!
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Its ok.
its just something they do in the Pro Rooms for some pros before they use a racket the first time.
Stringing a racket 20-50 times to get the flex numbers down.
But I guess I have to tell them that you think its a bad idea and not true.
 
PistolPete23 said:
I have a buddy who was a top player when I was in high school and he went on to play D1 tennis. I believe he used a Pure Drive and later on Pure Aero. He doesn’t play tennis anymore due to a shoulder tear that prevented him from overhead motions. Don’t know for sure if it was the PD that caused long term injury. I have shoulder issues now too and I’ve never played with a stiff racquet like the PD, except briefly in my youth when I used a Wilson Profile.
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No medical expert here but I’ve also had shoulder surgery (non dominant arm), and my strong one is suspect, but we are going with it. I wouldn’t attribute the tears and surgical needs to a pure drive. It’s that repeated overhead motion we do for serving that will wear down your shoulder. Just like pitching a baseball, it’s harsh and overuse, some people run into issues longer term. I think the main issues you’d see with a stiff frame would be tennis elbow or arm tenderness. But there are also a lot of people out there that don’t know poly should get cut out every 8-15 hours. Some played D3 and D2 tennis.
 
BallsOfFire said:
Its ok.
its just something they do in the Pro Rooms for some pros before they use a racket the first time.
Stringing a racket 20-50 times to get the flex numbers down.
But I guess I have to tell them that you think its a bad idea and not true.
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I have had an RDC for almost 20 years. I also tune and string for people who make money playing tennis in higher leagues.
Some people have up to 8 frames and they come to me regularly when the players' new rackets are delivered.
Anyway - that's all I want to say - each of these frames has been strung more than 20 times and (if there is no external damage) they have nearly the same RA value as before.
This is not hearsay or anything like that, I have measured this myself and therefore claim that what you have said is not true.
 
Almost everyone I know personally who had issues with the PD or Babs in general stopped using them when they started to feel joint discomfort. I think as long as you're careful and aware, it's fine. If @gino starts to feel pain anywhere, I'm sure he's wise enough to stop hitting with the PD. I think it's a cool experiment to try to mute the frame vibrations via customization.
 
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PistolPete23 said:
I have a buddy who was a top player when I was in high school and he went on to play D1 tennis. I believe he used a Pure Drive and later on Pure Aero. He doesn’t play tennis anymore due to a shoulder tear that prevented him from overhead motions. Don’t know for sure if it was the PD that caused long term injury. I have shoulder issues now too and I’ve never played with a stiff racquet like the PD, except briefly in my youth when I used a Wilson Profile.
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Profile is the best stick ever…. One guy kept one for the zombie apoclypse
 
gino said:
Trying to assess what I can do with some old pure drives to dampen the response.

That being said, trying to look outside of simply adding weight or slapping on a leather grip. Moreso searching for some material or grip that can mute harsh vibration

Couple thoughts:
  1. Fill handles with silicone or similar dense injectible filler
  2. Replacement grips with shock absorption
    1. Wilson shock shield hybrid
    2. Babolat Xcel Gel
    3. Gamma Hi Tech Gel
  3. Cotton swabs/light removable material into the handle
Let me know if you guys have other thoughts
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In case it hasn’t been mentioned, but you could use gel candles. Just build a dam and melt and pour. Also with some care and an oven it should be reversable

 
Shroud said:
Profile is the best stick ever…. One guy kept one for the zombie apoclypse
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Dense string pattern with zero flex. I was able to hit with abnormal amounts of pace as a skinny 12 yr old; that's about the only positive. Racquet had absolutely zero feel. My dad bought it for me, and taking sentimental value out of the equation, it's probably the worst racquet I've ever hit with :laughing:
 
BallsOfFire said:
Pure Strike 98 3. gen is not too muted. Just dont play with it with the factory Syn Gut.
Its not too muted if you hit hard and you are at competition lvl and have stiff strings (over 200 TWU) in the racket.
Stiffness of the racket reduces over time and already after a few restrings. A babolat 66 will quickly become a 63 after 5-10 stringjobs.
Buyng a RA 63 will become a 60 and so on.
Click to expand...

Agreed, gen 3 strike is a fine frame. I used the tour as my main stick for 5ish years. It actually made my arm issues better
 
PistolPete23 said:
Dense string pattern with zero flex. I was able to hit with abnormal amounts of pace as a skinny 12 yr old; that's about the only positive. Racquet had absolutely zero feel. My dad bought it for me, and taking sentimental value out of the equation, it's probably the worst racquet I've ever hit with :laughing:
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IIRC the silver ones had the dense pattern. The gold ones were pretty open. Not too sure about the black ones. So many diff models. Was talking about the gold ones. But yeah zero feel to be sure. Its why I dig it. FWIW I hopefully will get to my storage locker and resurrect a couple for kicks...
 
jimmy8 said:
I'm not exaggerating when I say every single person I know who uses pure drive and pure aero (pure strike is ok) said they have pain where they had to take time off, tried remedies (dampeners) and all remedies did not help enough. I play on multiple tennis ladders, travel up to about 30 miles from my house to play, meet new people every week, advertise my stringing services and get lots of customers, buy and sell rackets from all over the US, I have plenty of people who all say pure drive or pure aero hurt their arms/wrists/shoulders. And many on this forum report the same. This forum is the only place where I see support for pure drives and pure Aeros.

You can have fun, just don't say I didn't warn you. I've had shoulder surgery, not because of tennis, and recovering from that surgery was so long and arduous. I still can't play tennis like I used to. I have to take Aleve every time I play because my shoulder still hurts. I wish so much I could serve like I used to. That would make winning so much easier. I wish I could play more. I can't play more than 2-3 times a week because of the shoulder pain. I'm trying to warn forumers so that they don't have to suffer like me. The pure drive and pure aero owners I know often take time off or can't play too often or can't play too long per session.
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I can infer you are connected to the game at the rec level, but the rec level is just that. A lot of people who dont warm up dynamically, cool down stretching, or do any consistent treatment post-playing. I think attributing injury 100% to gear is misguided and a shallow attempt at understanding what moreso contributes to injury

You have to realize youre the one who came in hot to this thread. The warning you are issuing will fall on deaf ears because I dont think a .5 hour hit will destroy my shoulder, wrist or elbow. It's quite rare for a stiff setup to yield acute injury. I could see that happening if someone took out a big bubba after two decades of using the PS85. Swinging a few pure drives for a half hour? FFS man, come on. The injuries you are referring to are a result of years of using stiff frames/strings and not enough muscle mass to alleviate the pressure on the ligaments/joints. Im bummed you had to go through a shoulder op. Would never want that for anyone, but directly correlating frame choice and risk for major shoulder surgery isn't logical

The irony in you targeting me for this little life lesson is that I am the last person who needs info/warnings/advice regarding arm injury. When I was a junior I was traveling playing national tournaments, I took a string deal with Solinco. I was testing a bunch of polys - but in a low stiffness prestige. Im sure those polys torched my elbow, but also I had technical elements of my 1HBH follow through enhancing the issue. I also wasnt doing enough strength training in that region. There are so many more contributing factors then just gear. That being said, I was using a 62RA HEAD Microgel/Youtek Prestige MP. I came from using the Wilson 6.1 95 for about a decade with stiff string like Luxilon. The Solinco deal saved my family money on strings so I just took the plunge. Little did I know, a soft RA racket wasnt going to save me. The string was the main gear-related culprit of my issues. Once I got to college tennis, the golfer's elbow so bad I had to consider all options. I came back to the forum chasing a gear solution. I landed on using the HEAD Youtek IG Speed because of it's 58-59 RA flex ratings. I dove into the TW string database and used the lowest stiffness poly strings possible (switched from Solinco Outlast - 208 stiffness lb/in to Ashaway ZX - 106 stiffness lb/in). These gear changes coupled with new therapy/training routines saved my elbow. I have since been very wary about string choice and consider that to be a more important cotributing factor then frame stiffness. Since then, I've used the RF97 (competitively at the ncaa level), Pure Strike Tour, and now back to the Pro Staff 97/RF97 as my main frames. I own dozens of frames I mix in all the time with high stiffness ratings and thick beams - but you know what keeps my arm health in order? The string choice mate. & the fact I've been years building up my strength around my elbow to alleviate the pressure on the joint itself. You can't just make blanket statements that every person who's used a babolat had serious injury. That's flat out untrue. I will concede the strikes are much better for arm health then a pure drive or pure aero, but let's be fair, there are way more contributing factors to extremity injury in tennis than the choice of racket. Let's swing a few pure drives and worry about grander issues in life
 
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