Comfortable hybrid

ballistic

ballistic

New User
Hello. I’m moving away from full bed poly and am looking for some comfortable hybrid suggestions. I am a string breaker and just tried my first multi/multi hybrid. I used rip control / Multifeel 16 and got maybe 2.5 hours in an ezone 98. Rip sawed through Multifeel. Is there any multi on the market that could potentially last 7-8 ish hours? Not opposed to multi/soft poly hybrids either. Heck even syn gut would be fine too if it’s soft enough and durable but I like the power from a multi. Thanks
 
Before you spend a lot of money, I'd try some 15L synthetic guts. Not cheap, but Gamma makes Gamma Gut 2 in a 1.40 gauge, and Gamma Syn w/Wear Guard comes in a 1.38 gauge.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try those and see what the feel and durability is like compared to some of the 1.30 multis I’ve tried.
 
ballistic said:
Hello. I’m moving away from full bed poly and am looking for some comfortable hybrid suggestions. I am a string breaker and just tried my first multi/multi hybrid. I used rip control / Multifeel 16 and got maybe 2.5 hours in an ezone 98. Rip sawed through Multifeel. Is there any multi on the market that could potentially last 7-8 ish hours? Not opposed to multi/soft poly hybrids either. Heck even syn gut would be fine too if it’s soft enough and durable but I like the power from a multi. Thanks
Click to expand...
Prince Tournament Nylon 15L gauge for main string at 55 lbs.
Luxilon ALU Power 138 for cross string at 45 lbs.

Very comfortable and powerful and has a lot of feel was well.
 
You have a pretty rough soft multi in the cross which is why you snapped it as the mains slid across and frayed the heck out of it until it snapped. I think you will get a bit more out of a soft poly cross paired with your main but in the end as Steve suggests you may find going thicker better but not an ultimate solution.
 
vokazu said:
Prince Tournament Nylon 15L gauge for main string at 55 lbs.
Luxilon ALU Power 138 for cross string at 45 lbs.

Very comfortable and powerful and has a lot of feel was well.
Click to expand...
Does tournament nylon play decent at lower tensions? I’ve been stringing multis at like 48 and that feels tight to me. I will grab a pack of each and put in the queue to test. Thanks
 
LOBALOT said:
You have a pretty rough soft multi in the cross which is why you snapped it as the mains slid across and frayed the heck out of it until it snapped. I think you will get a bit more out of a soft poly cross paired with your main but in the end as Steve suggests you may find going thicker better but not an ultimate solution.
Click to expand...
I actually just put velocity 1.30 on mains with cream on the crosses. Going to see how that goes. I actually got a little pain from multi/multi after it notched and locked up. It felt good fresh but my 2nd hit on that stringbed seemed stiff.
 
ballistic said:
Hello. I’m moving away from full bed poly and am looking for some comfortable hybrid suggestions. I am a string breaker and just tried my first multi/multi hybrid. I used rip control / Multifeel 16 and got maybe 2.5 hours in an ezone 98. Rip sawed through Multifeel. Is there any multi on the market that could potentially last 7-8 ish hours? Not opposed to multi/soft poly hybrids either. Heck even syn gut would be fine too if it’s soft enough and durable but I like the power from a multi. Thanks
Click to expand...
The syn. gut that will give you a softness in the neighborhood of some multis is Forten Sweet. The 17 ga. version is significantly less durable than the 16 ga. - same with pretty much every string out there - and I'd say the durability of Sweet 16 is average for a syn. gut.

A rather durable syn. gut is Gosen OG Sheep Micro. I often use the 16 ga. version as a cross in poly hybrids that I do for locals. It's relatively slippery when it's fresh and it's also pretty tough, but the trade-off is that it's one of the stiffer syn. guts I've played. I use syn. gut in my own frames all the time, but this Gosen along with Prince SG with Duraflex have too much backbone for my taste, at least when I tension it in the mid 50's like I do with other syn. guts I use. No idea how it would feel at 42-44 lbs.

Easily my favorite syn. gut is from Kirschbaum. I get a terrific balance of buttery comfort and performance with this string and a few locals have also been enjoying it in recent years, too. Although its durability is about average for this type, it's very affordable by the reel. I string at home, so it's no big deal to replace something in one of my racquets in a hurry, but I'm also not much of a string breaker. The service life I get with any 16 ga. syn. gut is plenty acceptable.

I usually lean toward syn. gut instead of multi because multi generally costs a lot more than syn. gut, but multi also seems to more readily degrade (fray and soften) compared with syn. gut. It costs more, but gives me less.
 
fuzz nation said:
The syn. gut that will give you a softness in the neighborhood of some multis is Forten Sweet. The 17 ga. version is significantly less durable than the 16 ga. - same with pretty much every string out there - and I'd say the durability of Sweet 16 is average for a syn. gut.

A rather durable syn. gut is Gosen OG Sheep Micro. I often use the 16 ga. version as a cross in poly hybrids that I do for locals. It's relatively slippery when it's fresh and it's also pretty tough, but the trade-off is that it's one of the stiffer syn. guts I've played. I use syn. gut in my own frames all the time, but this Gosen along with Prince SG with Duraflex have too much backbone for my taste, at least when I tension it in the mid 50's like I do with other syn. guts I use. No idea how it would feel at 42-44 lbs.

Easily my favorite syn. gut is from Kirschbaum. I get a terrific balance of buttery comfort and performance with this string and a few locals have also been enjoying it in recent years, too. Although its durability is about average for this type, it's very affordable by the reel. I string at home, so it's no big deal to replace something in one of my racquets in a hurry, but I'm also not much of a string breaker. The service life I get with any 16 ga. syn. gut is plenty acceptable.

I usually lean toward syn. gut instead of multi because multi generally costs a lot more than syn. gut, but multi also seems to more readily degrade (fray and soften) compared with syn. gut. It costs more, but gives me less.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestion. I do have an old reel of og sheep micro 17 from years ago when I used to use it for hybrids. I’ve been full poly for probably 10 years at least so wasn’t sure about hybriding again and if other syn guts have come on the scene since then. Sounds like I need to do some research on syn guts. I’ll take a look at stiffness ratings on twu and other metrics to see if I can find a nice soft setup. I’ll check out that forten string.
 
I’ve been exploring comfortable hybrids as I get over TE and my son explores playing poly. Primary reason in both cases is spin while preserving arm comfort.

For consistency I’ve always strung multi at 54 lbs and poly at 48 lbs.

We both shred the cross in fullbed multi in no time, playing a poly cross increases duration by some until we pop the main. All breaks, main or cross, in the middle of the sweetspot. Trying mostly multi main for comfort and slick and soft poly cross for spin while maximizing comfort.

In the Rafa 290:

m/x

black PPC 16/orange Revolve 16 = good spin and comfort

natural Multifeel 16/Element 16L = good spin, most comfort (also used in an Tec Iga)

natural Multifeel 16/green Velocity 16 = less spin, not as comfortable (both multi at 54), velocity broke first

black Wilson syn gut Power 16/black PPC 16 = less spin, powerful, comfortable, mains sticking out of place = no snapback

natural Multifeel 16/Cream 16L = okay spin, kinda stiff? not sold on cream

waiting to try Multifeel/Revolve myself to see if cheaper are similar to my fav of Multifeel/Element 16L

Son is coming from fullbeds of NRG2 in blue FX 500:

natural NRG2 16/YPTFire 16L = good spin (hard to gauge comfort from a kid)

Element 16/Cream 16L = good spin, seems comfortable, low power (waiting to try Element 16L/Cream 17 see if we can up power but keep spin while increasing maximize durability)

NRG2 16/orange Revolve 16 (cheaper than Element and YPTF) = good spin and comfort

Cream 16L/YPTF 16L = too stiff (both at 48), cut it out and restrung with:

waiting for kid to hit PPC/Revolve as that’s the cheapest of the multi/slick and soft poly hybrids.
 
Wow. Thank you for taking the time to type all of this out. Sounds like we are in a similar spot. I had considered element but was looking at more budget friendly strings. I guess it wouldn’t be all that bad with a hybrid. What kind of durability did you get from ppc/revolve? I will probably get a set of each to test.
 
ballistic said:
What kind of durability did you get from ppc/revolve? I will probably get a set of each to test.
Click to expand...
I think that’s the longest lasting, my only beef with PPC is it tends to get kind of wavy sometimes, I guess from tension drop.

Just remembered I have strung up Multifeel/Revolve in a PS1620, I think I prefer element as element seems just a tad softer.

I’m really curious to try YPTAir, but like you, trying to avoid premium $$ strings, but if a fullbed is soft enough, might make up in durability.
 
Try the Yonex Poly Tour Spin (mains) and the Yonex Poly Tour Pro (crosses). Casper Ruud uses and personally, I think it's great.
 
ballistic said:
I actually just put velocity 1.30 on mains with cream on the crosses. Going to see how that goes. I actually got a little pain from multi/multi after it notched and locked up. It felt good fresh but my 2nd hit on that stringbed seemed stiff.
Click to expand...

What tension did you use? That there is a great setup. So does Ghostwire as a cross to velocity.
 
Last edited:
LOBALOT said:
What tension did you use? That there is a great setup. So does Ghostwire as a cross to velocity.
Click to expand...
42 for cream and 45 for velocity. I may go a bit higher next time like 45/48. How much of a difference can I go on a hybrid without compromising the frame? Just got my 2nd hour on the string bed and still feels good. No major flaking on velocity and elbow feels good. Cream is definitely helping it slide.
 
ballistic said:
42 for cream and 45 for velocity. I may go a bit higher next time like 45/48. How much of a difference can I go on a hybrid without compromising the frame? Just got my 2nd hour on the string bed and still feels good. No major flaking on velocity and elbow feels good. Cream is definitely helping it slide.
Click to expand...

Wait are you going poly/multi? I do not recommend that as for sure it will play stiff. I would do the reverse and also go higher on the mains than the crosses.

So like Velocity 16g at 50 and 47 on the 17g cream.
 
Side by side of PPC/Revolve and NRG2/Revolve, PPC was way too powerful. Both newly strung in not too dissimilar FX 500 racquets. NRG2 was just right, if only it wasn’t so dear!

And dang it, NRG2 is expensive and doesn’t last long…I’ve also come to the conclusion that maybe Xalt isn’t as bad as I thought, having learned more about the unfamiliar racquet I was demoing it in…

I am now very curious to try Xalt with a slick poly cross, considering its spin potential at 5.9(!) but still a multi. And thinking that I might need to string it lower tension because it’s a liitle stiff, and as much as I like to hate on Velocity, maybe I just need to string it lower than NRG2/Multifeel/NXT also? Velocity has a stiff feel to me, but maybe I need to stop treating it like every other multi.

Ugh! Oh yeah…and then there’s Triax…

I then found a v7 Blade 104 I strung for my wife a while back with Multifeel/Ghostwire? (I think…unlabeled slick, white poly that’s not Cream) and it played beautifully, though that is one of the softest frames on the planet which can cover a multitude of sinfully stiff strings.

I’m gonna go broke.
 
ChanterRacquet said:
Side by side of PPC/Revolve and NRG2/Revolve, PPC was way too powerful. Both newly strung in not too dissimilar FX 500 racquets. NRG2 was just right, if only it wasn’t so dear!

And dang it, NRG2 is expensive and doesn’t last long…I’ve also come to the conclusion that maybe Xalt isn’t as bad as I thought, having learned more about the unfamiliar racquet I was demoing it in…

I am now very curious to try Xalt with a slick poly cross, considering its spin potential at 5.9(!) but still a multi. And thinking that I might need to string it lower tension because it’s a liitle stiff, and as much as I like to hate on Velocity, maybe I just need to string it lower than NRG2/Multifeel/NXT also? Velocity has a stiff feel to me, but maybe I need to stop treating it like every other multi.

Ugh! Oh yeah…and then there’s Triax…

I then found a v7 Blade 104 I strung for my wife a while back with Multifeel/Ghostwire? (I think…unlabeled slick, white poly that’s not Cream) and it played beautifully, though that is one of the softest frames on the planet which can cover a multitude of sinfully stiff strings.

I’m gonna go broke.
Click to expand...

I question the findings on this and thus the stringing and I think most would related to PPC/NRG2 and stiffness between the 2.
 
LOBALOT said:
I question the findings on this and thus the stringing and I think most would related to PPC/NRG2 and stiffness between the 2.
Click to expand...
TWU has the two strings VERY similar so the difference in power is hard to rationalize power differences on that alone (identical stiffness and tension loss). As far as stringing goes I do it myself on a lockout. Perhaps the two strings respond differently to being pulled so they start at different tensions (exacerbated by lockout instead of constant pull)? Who knows, but the differences in the playability are marked. I don’t recall having this issue before, but in this case it’s bad enough to cut PPC out pre-tournament and restring with the preferred NRG2. I guess I’ll then see if the power level stays the same (so it’s the racquet frame) or changes (it was indeed the strings).
 
if you must use poly, mix in gut. the extra cost is negated by the longevity of the strings.
otherwise i would recommend full beds of syn or multi.
 
ChanterRacquet said:
Side by side of PPC/Revolve and NRG2/Revolve, PPC was way too powerful. Both newly strung in not too dissimilar FX 500 racquets. NRG2 was just right, if only it wasn’t so dear!

And dang it, NRG2 is expensive and doesn’t last long…I’ve also come to the conclusion that maybe Xalt isn’t as bad as I thought, having learned more about the unfamiliar racquet I was demoing it in…

I am now very curious to try Xalt with a slick poly cross, considering its spin potential at 5.9(!) but still a multi. And thinking that I might need to string it lower tension because it’s a liitle stiff, and as much as I like to hate on Velocity, maybe I just need to string it lower than NRG2/Multifeel/NXT also? Velocity has a stiff feel to me, but maybe I need to stop treating it like every other multi.

Ugh! Oh yeah…and then there’s Triax…

I then found a v7 Blade 104 I strung for my wife a while back with Multifeel/Ghostwire? (I think…unlabeled slick, white poly that’s not Cream) and it played beautifully, though that is one of the softest frames on the planet which can cover a multitude of sinfully stiff strings.

I’m gonna go broke.
Click to expand...
Some combinations just work beautifully together. I don't care for Multifeel full bed or with many soft polys that I've hit, and I've grown to not like Ghost Wire in any other combination, but Multifeel/GW is chocolate/peanut butter. And that has proven true for me in various frames.

Another is Gosen OGSM/Cream, but I do like Cream as a cross with various shaped poly mains, especially Hyper-G Soft.
 
d-quik said:
How is the slipperiness of this string when compared to other synthetic guts of the same gauge?
Click to expand...
Hmm... You might want to start a thread to maybe gather some feedback.

I haven't handled Forten Sweet in a little while and don't recall what its cover felt like.
 
Well after some demoing of strings, I’m about to settle on Multifeel mains/Xalt crosses, currently 54/51. Plays fantastic, little wear after 3 hours of bashing the ball in cross courts, down the lines, volley, and overheads with a partner. It’s fullbed multi to boot.
 
ChanterRacquet said:
Well after some demoing of strings, I’m about to settle on Multifeel mains/Xalt crosses, currently 54/51. Plays fantastic, little wear after 3 hours of bashing the ball in cross courts, down the lines, volley, and overheads with a partner. It’s fullbed multi to boot.
Click to expand...
What kind of duration are you getting from this combo? Wondering which string pops first or if you’re seeing notching of any kind? Did you compare xalt with hdmx or Triax? I was planning on testing mf natural with hdmx crosses.
 
ballistic said:
What kind of duration are you getting from this combo? Wondering which string pops first or if you’re seeing notching of any kind? Did you compare xalt with hdmx or Triax? I was planning on testing mf natural with hdmx crosses.
Click to expand...
I haven’t played triax in forever. I don’t recall it being slick though. Xalt is slick and appears to be flattening as the mains rub over it instead of shredding, at least so far. I’m on my first bed of mfeel/xalt hybrid so I’ll have to report back when it does finally go (and how).
 
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