Hi, As the title says, can anyone recommend a cheap, inelastic syn gut for the cross? I tried Gosen OG Sheep 17 but it's very elastic. I believe Prince Syn gut /w duraflex isn't elastic. That's a good option. Anything cheaper than this that i can buy in a reel? Thanks.
Monofilament nylon feels poor. I would never pay for it to be put into my racquet. In fact, I think it makes demoing racquets a pointless exercise when they come with strings like that in them.
A good nylon multi like NRG-2, a Zyex string, or possibly a polyolefin (haven't tried it but it's rated as being around the flexibility of Zyex) is what I would put into a racquet unless it's natural gut. I have played a lot with low-quality strings like Prince Duraflex and they're very low-grade. They feel like plastic. The Duraflex string in particular feels poor because it has a little Kevlar in it (the Duraflex part). Kevlar is the worst string material on the planet. I had Gosen "Sheep" in a racquet also and it was no sheep.
The only tolerable experience I've had with nylon mono is the factory string in the T-2000 which is playable, although firm.
I had no money when I was getting into tennis so I tried to buy the cheapest strings (DuraThin, PSG-D, Gosen nonsense, ProBlend for the Kevlar durability, Wilson Sensation since it was cheap for a multi) and all of that was a waste of money and time. Don't scrimp on strings. Wilson Sensation, for example, was sensationally breakage-prone and moved around a lot so it played poorly even before it broke. So much for saving money... I am not a string-breaker, except with that particular string. The strings that I've used that are good are:
1) VS 17 natural gut (too expensive for me these days)
2) VS 16 natural gut (too expensive for me these days)
3) Ashaway monogut Zyex 17 (be careful with knots because it tends to snap, no annoying coating to crack)
4) Ashaway Dynamite WB (coating would annoyingly split but really nice performance, especially before the coating would crack)
5) Ashaway Dynamite Tough (not as good as monogut Zyex so don't bother, although not a bad string, stiffer than I prefer)
6) Technifibre NRG-2 (plays quite well although it becomes a bit mushy as it wears)
I would be fine with any of those except for the Tough, which is too stiff for my taste now that I'm older. There was a line of Head polyolefin strings which probably plays close to the Zyex stuff, since TW's measurements of stiffness showed it to be the other flexible synthetic material the last time I looked at them.
If you want a decent-quality string that has a firmer feel maybe get the 16 gauge MonoGut Zyex and string it a bit tighter than Ashaway suggests. I've only used the 17 because I've never preferred 16 gauge in any string I've compared the two gauges with. The Dynamite Tough is also quite firm.
