Best of luck, enjoy the game... I noticed that you mentioned two concepts that are vanishing from the dialogue of the game, "accuracy and touch"... I would add "feel."
Your Vac 90 had all that in spades. But again, that Austrian frame was made a unique process by a top EU Skiing and Aerospace Company by Austrian engineers with very tight standards. Sorry, but that isn't done that way nowadays. Yes, I still have one Vac 90 in my bag. Great for serving practice and a great hit... But, many, many years have passed and that always changes things. So, the question remains - what racquet will be enjoyable and effective today for my neutral gripped, more linear game that relies on variety, accuracy and "feel?"
A few words - this forum has so much to offer. Another, is to be careful about modern reviews. Those are mostly for players who did not play for years with a more linear game and a Vac 90. I have no plan to change my grips and my love of variety and accuracy. Find the TW voices that speak your language, and then listen.
I found (this is just imo) that the modern frames were all very similar to each other - the key differences being weight and string pattern... Sorry, they all feel stiff and light. I did find that one can add more feel with a denser string pattern and modern soft strings. I play the best gut that I can find. Remember, our frames years ago were so different. I am not an engineer, but it seems evident to me that the production process and materials of today are very different. Not better or worse, just different. The modern RA is not the same feel as a vintage heavier frame of the same RA. That matters if you love the game.
For me, I listened to forum members and two reviews. One modern Pacific frame was said to "call out for gut" and a TW Review said that the "sweet spot was small and hard to find and even variable in power."( Small sweet spots come with control frames and I grew up using different places in a variable sweet spot for varied shots. We all did.) Then another reviewer spoke of that frames "accuracy" and "a slight instability that lead to precise control." He, as a fine reviewer, found that refreshing in today's frames. Then I knew, since I use thin natural gut that we were really talking a control and feel frame here - and it is, in spades. Others would hate it as not powerful enough - or the head needs stiffening for their poly.
So, enjoy your trek - obviously you have and enjoy the skills. My bag always includes two vintage frames - both Austrian. My playing racquet that best fits me with the passing of many years is still produced by a smallish German company - Pacific. I like Pacific frames - the Fischer designs are there, especially that lovely 16X20 Fischer (yes same as VAC 90) that is perfect for thin gut. The gut lasts forever with my flatish game. Pacific is a smallish, innovative company that sorta goes its own way - I hear very popular in the EU. And yes, a less than 12 oz frame that will hit every neutral gripped shot in the book - it is called feel and accuracy and touch and power.
