"Crisp" Laserfibre strings?

[babar]

Howdy all,

I keep reading about the "crisp" feel of the Laserfibre strings and was wondering what "crisp" means to those of you who use Laserfibre. I think I want "crisp" feeling strings, but not sure. I am getting tired of the "mushy" feel of Sensation after a few sets. Would I experience the same thing with Laserfibre? Also, not sure what kind of Laserfibre to try. Should I start with Tour, then Supreme, etc? What do you guys recommend? Thanks.

 

[Grimjack]

They're lively, but without feeling mushy. I you took NXT, and ordered it with extra starch, the feeling would probably be a lot like LF Supreme.

I don't know if you've played any of the livelier poly strings, like Lux ALU or whatever, but if you have, this'll make sense. LF Supreme plays kind of like the midpoint between NXT-style multis and ALU. It's not quite as powerful as NXT, nor as control-oriented as ALU. It moves around more than ALU, but not nearly so much as NXT. Likewise, feel, durability, tension maintenance, and just about every other characteristic seem to come about midway between those extremes.

What I think of as 'crisp' is probably a combination of less springy-type power, less string movement, and nice bite on the ball. LF Supreme is an excellent string for people who want the best of both worlds (multi & poly), or are looking for a comfortable spot between them.

 

[Jerry Seinfeld]

Guilty as charged! I always describe these strings as "crisp." I choose this term because "firm" is not the correct term. I think Grim provides an excellent description.

To me, "crisp" means that while soft, the strings maintain a solid feel, they do not feel "mush-like" after a few sets of play. They retain their tension and because of this they do not settle in or "soften" like many other multis do after a few sets of play. Overall stringbed stiffness will be higher and noticably different than the NXT/Sensation stringbeds after a few sets.

Some of my customers who were NXT lovers preferred the LF supreme when I convinced them to try it, but several found it to be too crisp and stuck with NXT. Not soft enough for them. They actually preferred the mushy feel and this string won't produce that feel.

The new LF Phenom actually plays softer than the LF Supreme while still exhibiting superior tension maintenance. Many of my NXT users have been switching to this string. Not quite as soft as NXT, but it outlasts, outplays and outshines NXT in most ways.

The LaserTour is a solid core string so it will not play like a multi. It was built/constructed to play like, but outperform the Gamma TNT2 strings. Again, great at tension maintenance, but not designed for the Sensation user.

If you were my customer I would recommend the Phenom. I would also guarantee your satisfaction, because I am awefully confident it fills the need you described in your message.

Good luck!

 

[Skinny Dip]

Yep, thanks to advice in this forum, I switched from Babs XCEL Premium to Phenom. The XCEL string played incredibly for about 8 sets and then went dead on me.

The Phenom is definitely holding its tension, but its also a crisper playing string as described and doesn't let the ball loiter on the strings for great touch or slice shots the way the XCEL does (for the first few weeks anyway).

Since I can't afford a new string job every month, I'm sticking with the Phenom. So far of all the strings I've tried that hold their tension, this is by far the best performing.

 

[Jerry Seinfeld]

Skinny,

Did you mean to say you were sticking with Excel or Phenom? It would seem that you were switching to Phenom, but I don;t want to put words in your mouth.

 

[Skinny Dip]

Whoops - my bad. I'm sticking with the Phenom. Thanks for the recommendation. Changed my last post so it wouldn't be (as) confusing.