Pure Control Gen 2 Mold, all black, iconic Babolat racing stripes, vintage Babolat logos. Perfection.
The most beautiful racquet ever produced has never been able to strike a ball. This has to change. I am of course referring to the promotional display racquet, the Babolat POP Woofer. Sent to shops as a display of Babolat’s newly touted, highly doubted Woofer System, the Babolat POP Woofer was clearly never meant to be strung. The POP Woofer does not have a head guard, nor does it have a full set of grommets. Not only that, but the POP Woofer also has 8 holes drilled in peculiar spots on the frame to better hold the large Woofer System advertisement. These oddities obviously make the racquet unsuitable for stringing purposes.
I will not let this stop me. This spoon needs to get some court time. I’ve taken sections of grommets and head guard from other Pure Control racquets I have and crudely cut them to fit the POP Woofer. I’ve started to hand-string Frankenstein’s POP Woofer to get a proof of concept, and I can fairly confidently say I will be able to string this racquet, but the results won’t be pretty. The spacing between cross strings is atypical and as I have it designed, the string pattern will be 16x14 - not quite the pattern one typically looks for in a Pure Control type racquet. Beyond the stringing concerns, I’m also fairly certain Babolat did not use any sort of layup or materials weaving/blending in the production of their promotional piece. The frame feels “hollow” but I’m hoping that won’t be the case once I add weight to the right spots.
Getting this racquet court-ready has been my entire focus for the past 18 hours. Any tips, recommendations, caveats are all appreciated and welcomed. Pictures to follow.
The most beautiful racquet ever produced has never been able to strike a ball. This has to change. I am of course referring to the promotional display racquet, the Babolat POP Woofer. Sent to shops as a display of Babolat’s newly touted, highly doubted Woofer System, the Babolat POP Woofer was clearly never meant to be strung. The POP Woofer does not have a head guard, nor does it have a full set of grommets. Not only that, but the POP Woofer also has 8 holes drilled in peculiar spots on the frame to better hold the large Woofer System advertisement. These oddities obviously make the racquet unsuitable for stringing purposes.
I will not let this stop me. This spoon needs to get some court time. I’ve taken sections of grommets and head guard from other Pure Control racquets I have and crudely cut them to fit the POP Woofer. I’ve started to hand-string Frankenstein’s POP Woofer to get a proof of concept, and I can fairly confidently say I will be able to string this racquet, but the results won’t be pretty. The spacing between cross strings is atypical and as I have it designed, the string pattern will be 16x14 - not quite the pattern one typically looks for in a Pure Control type racquet. Beyond the stringing concerns, I’m also fairly certain Babolat did not use any sort of layup or materials weaving/blending in the production of their promotional piece. The frame feels “hollow” but I’m hoping that won’t be the case once I add weight to the right spots.
Getting this racquet court-ready has been my entire focus for the past 18 hours. Any tips, recommendations, caveats are all appreciated and welcomed. Pictures to follow.
