coachrick
Hall of Fame
A REEL of NG? Never saw such during my stringing days
Common pre-poly string setups?
- Thread starter beltsman
- Start date
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Pre-historic NG!A REEL of NG? Never saw such during my stringing days
coachrick
Hall of Fame
So, that was YOU !!!!
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Who?So, that was YOU !!!!
coachrick
Hall of Fame
Thanks for the heads up!!! I haven't purchased anything in years; but I have quite a few card/points "somewhere". Think they would let me switch to Pickleball ?
They have some very good paddles!!
Dang...I probably have 2-3 dozen sets of unopened Gamma strings with the cards. I need a plan!Steve Huff
G.O.A.T.
Your road sounds familiar. I used Victor Imperial most of the time, but I switched to Africord (red) when Imperial got too hard to get. Great strings.
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Welcome to the 80s
Autodidactic player
Professional
Some leftovers from the 70's and 80's:
coachrick
Hall of Fame
Very familiar with at least half of those!Some leftovers from the 70's and 80's:
Plainsman83
Rookie
Just seeing the coil of High Wire makes my fingers hurt...
coachrick
Hall of Fame
The first set was a novelty; but as a stringer back then, I was VERY glad it never caught on!!!
Autodidactic player
Professional
Found a few more, including some Leoina Horn "with super stainless steel wire" to keep your fingers tingling!
coachrick
Hall of Fame
Interestingly, I used to live a few miles away from Zebest's "distribution headquarters" as well as Unique(Tourna) and would make a trip to each from time to time.Found a few more, including some Leoina Horn "with super stainless steel wire" to keep your fingers tingling!
NOW, I live just six miles from the Alpha folks(1000 miles away from my former home).
Steve Huff
G.O.A.T.
Are you sure you're not thinking of Blue Star? The 1st poly I remember was Leoina Poly X, then Poly 7. If you lived in Europe, you may have come across a few more, as many European players were using it for durability reasons as they played on clay.
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Polystar was supposedly sold by the same company as Bluestar
Autodidactic player
Professional
Apparently, Poly Star string came to market in 1981.
"POLY STAR tennis string was made to integrate the elastic properties of natural gut. Research objective of the former HOECHST AG was to develop a tennis string combining the advantages of synthetic and natural gut in one product. The result was the world first POLY STAR tennis string entering the market in 1981."
Tennis Strings|Story|POLY STAR SPORT
Steve Huff
G.O.A.T.
I still have a set of Gamma Extreme Spin 19. Also, have a set of Victor Superb 16, Leoina 77, Pro Kennex Eclipse, Super Leoina UFO, and a set of Gorilla Gut (aramid hybrid). Brings back good memories.
coachrick
Hall of Fame
Funny how the Victor Superb wasn't so superb! I remember some 15L that had sections that almost wouldn't go through the holes in a wood racket!! I strung WAY too many sets of pink UFO...especially in the Prince Pro and Kennex Silver Ace!! I don't recall GO-rilla Gut, however!
DTA Dropshots
Rookie
Blue Star with String-a-lings, I ran tension fairly high in my Graphite Directors 62lbs mid-October/March, then 68lbs the rest of the year.
Plainsman83
Rookie
Ah yes, String-a-lings were a great thing, or at least they seemed to be at the time. With all the focus on factory swing weights and balance point today, I have to laugh at my setup in high school. I played with the POG (no grommets) with spaghetti tubing in most of the holes, power pads, String-a-lings, and all coated in a nice thick coat of Gut-X plus either tape on the hoop or some other headguard gizmo since the frames had no bumper strip. All this to try and milk just a little extra life out of the strings.
Steve Huff
G.O.A.T.
If I knew how to post pictures, I'd post one of the Gorilla Gut. I still have a set. Plainsman83--really brought back some memories--tubing, power pads, String-a-Lings, head tape, and Gut-X. I was a toe-dragger serving. I used a lot of Shoo-Goo also. Not only that, but Adidas made some shoes that had a leather compound mixed in the rubber of the toes. I figured it must be more durable, so I Shoo-Gooed leather (cut up from old grips) strips onto the toe of my right shoe to help with durability.
Plainsman83
Rookie
I also went through tubes of Shoo-Goo every year. I'm sure if I had done a better job of surface prep it might have stuck better instead of often coming off in big chunks. I would drag my left foot on slice backhands, and once a hole appeared in the shoe it would get covered in tape and then the Shoo-Goo. These days I replace my shoes due to the footbed padding breaking down well before the sole wears out. It can't have anything to do with me not moving like I did 40 years ago...
coachrick
Hall of Fame
I've traded hard-surfaced tennis courts for INdoor Pickleball courts(hardwood). I have shoes that are three years old and they look GREAT!!!
I hear you about the innards breaking down, though. I have swapped out SO MANY pairs of insoles over the years!!!
coachrick
Hall of Fame
Late response; but I used the TXM(aster) for a couple of years and we really pushed the T-20 at that time. Good playability, neutral color, good price. The rep came through a few years later with some OEM reels(that I believed to be T-20 or OG Micro), completely unmarked(actually not even on a spool...just wound in a ~ 15-inch loop inside a plastic bag). I was excited to find such a bargain for my "personal" stringing business!!! Ha! I still have a 'reel' in my stash!
Steve Huff
G.O.A.T.
Do your pickleball shoes have the gum soles? I've thought about getting that type for playing on clay. What do you think?
coachrick
Hall of Fame
As I wear a size 15, my options are a little limited. NO gum rubber YET. Lots of folks wearing (former) volleyball and badminton shoes somewhat re-branded for Pickleball...especially those folks coming from those other indoor sports. I think the gum rubber would be fine on clay. The pattern might make a difference. Some have gum rubber only on specific traction areas. I do have a pair of hemp sneaks with gum rubber soles...but surely a "lifestyle" shoe vs a true court shoe.
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
Used Victor Imperial and Vilatla Vich gut on my Head Vilas frames and XRCs, later changed to Blue Star.. It wasnt quite as good
JackieTreeh0rn
Rookie
Polystar was an amazing string! Is it possible to get this in the US?
Seem like I used a Gosen string called Biogut. Do you remember this string? What was your opinion of it? I think I used it back in the early 80's or so. I forgot about it until I saw you used to being a Gosen rep.
coachrick
Hall of Fame
I remember it; but, it was barely a blip on the radar in my area. I honestly don't remember stringing any on request(maybe only in 'for sale' or giveaway frames).
My Gosen repping was for a distributor called Century Sports and it's likely we didn't carry every model of string.
coachrick
Hall of Fame
As I've thought about it some more, I think BioGut referred to a line of strings that had "biodegradeable" components or some such...so not one single model of string, but a few slightly different ones.
Now that you mention this fact you are right. It was a line of strings with the " Biogut" label on them. I remember using the Biogut Multi for a few years. I liked it but then, like all the strings I end up liking, Gosen discontinued it.
DrumWizOHBD
Semi-Pro
Loved the Gamma Extreme Spin! I also used the Hammerlast 19 when I was sponsored by Wilson, but it didn't have as good of feel in my opinion. I used the prepackaged hybrids, so IDK if it was the Aramid mains or the synthetic crosses that made the difference in feel. The Gamma lasted my a little longer by a few games normally.
DrumWizOHBD
Semi-Pro
I didn't start playing until the early 90's but I strung hundreds of racquets between 95-2004. The most popular string was Prince Synthetic Gut with Duraflex or competing companies' copy of that string, I would dare say that made up 60% of what I strung. I worked at a country club and honestly didn't see that much natural gut going out (couple Senior men and women that only restrung once a year), but the Tecnifibre Multis, Gamma TNT line, Sensation NXT (actually made by TF in the beginning), Babolat premium synthetics were quite popular among the 3.0-4.0 range. Stringbreakers were using Kevlar/Syn Gut, or other Aramid Mains with syn gut or 15G "Spin" synthetic guts (Wilson and Prince made some with Ridges). When I played Junior college tennis, almost every small school we played in our conference, except for the sponsored players, used Forten or Prince Nylon 15L! The Fancier schools would have Prince w/ Duraflex, they were high rollers. We would prestretch the Forten Nylon and string it 67-74 for the biggest hitters on the team in there Wilson 6.1 Classics (which everyone used). Nylon has tons of control, but feels like a board at high tension, you were lucky for the Forten to last a set of singles. Most of the players had 4-6 racquets simple because the strings broke so fast. I was the team stringer and had to travel to the tournaments (I was 7-8 on the ladder) because the top guys were break the strings in all 6, sometimes more, racquets after day of play. Also, those racquets would crack in the middle of the season from such high tensions. When I retired from college tennis after 2 years and went back to the country club in 2000, there were a few high level adults (4.5-5.5) starting to use fullbed polyesters like Luxilon Big Banger original and Polystar, while I started seeing a shift from prepackaged Kevlar/SG hybrids to polyester/synthetic hybrids. Most of the Country Club folk at the turn of the century in my town were still using a majority of full bed Synthetic Gut from whichever Brands we were carrying in the shop. Since the Premium synthetics and Multis started getting so good by then, I never really saw nylon after college, unless someone brought it in. Of course, I still used Forten Nylon until I quit teaching in 2004 because it was only $0.40/set when I bought it through my alma mater. If it was match day in 2003, I was using 17g Babolat FiberAce or TF 515 at 66lb in my Wilson PS 6.1 Classic. To this day, I still love 17 multi strung tight, but that stuff just doesn't last and I don't carry 6 of the same stick anymore....I'm lucky to have 2 of the same racquet in my bag at any given time! Nowadays, TF Black Code 17 or 18 around 50lbs is my go to all around string in most racquets. Now that I'm thinking back to my heavy stringing days, anyone remember the original Gamma Ruff??!!! Yuck that stuff took a layer of skin from my finger tips every time I strung it. I had one guy on my high school team that would get 2-3 sticks done at a time with that stuff. It gave great spin, especially for synthetic....for about 2 hours, then the texture wore off.
"You've got maille".........Needed maille gloves for Gamma Ruff with Ridges,
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Yes, rather than First Blood, especially with shaped-polys.
I had to say that. It reminded me of the old AOL voice and also on the movie, " You've Got Mail".
I had Davis strung with vantage then college had 4 Spalding strun16 Klip gut and 2 with vantage After college played with Dulop maxpl1ys 2 with Klip 2 vantage till around late 70s went to Yamahas then to Wilson Graphite with Vantage 2. At times after early 80s had contrcts with Spalding Prince Wilson and finally Head. played P
rince Dur nylon and hbrid pol1y nxt. Now play hybrid poly syn gut
I
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rince Dur nylon and hbrid pol1y nxt. Now play hybrid poly syn gut
I
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EggSalad
Hall of Fame
I was a junior then and used synthetic gut at 49lbs in a Dunlop Black Max. I’m not sure what string gauge or maker (most likely 16g Prince or Gamma) because I just gave my racquet to a Friend on my team who strung and he’d bring it back to me the next day.
I also remember the rainbow color Prince synthetic gut being pretty popular. And everyone now and then, someone would have a full bed of natural gut.
I also remember the rainbow color Prince synthetic gut being pretty popular. And everyone now and then, someone would have a full bed of natural gut.
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