Dead strings are the way to go!!! Heres why:

I found an old Pro Kennex 5g strung with Lux Ace from 5 years ago in the bottom of my closet. I took it out to play and I completely LOVED them.

I figured out the reason why.....first...they were completely dead.....which meant I had very little trampoline affect. The control was amazing.

Brand new strings have way too much livliennes and trampoline effect which causes a lack of control.

Second the loss of tension brought my racquet down to 40lbs but since they were dead I had a ton of power which was completely controllable.

My suggestion is that the next racquet you get make sure to let it sit in your closet for a couple of weeks and stand on them a bit before playing. Also string them pretty low......the combination of dead strings and low tension is deadly!!
 

sboo

New User
facepalm2t.jpg


I'm pretty sure 90% of the posters here hold the opposite opinion. That luxilon plays great for a short while...and then proceeds to go dead and loose all playability.
 
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MarrratSafin

Hall of Fame
To the OP: It doesn't really work this way, and it can cause injuries. A small percentage of people may like your suggestion though, I've indeed heard people who like dead Luxilon better than newly strung.:lol:
 

[d]ragon

Hall of Fame
Lux Ace though for me felt great even when it was really old. It still had good power and spin as well as great control and comfort despite being in the racquet for quite some time. Lux Ace is the only poly I know of that does this
 

Kevo

Legend
Ace is a very nice feeling string even when it's new. One of my all time favorite polys. My only problem with it is the price to durability ratio.

I also like old loose dead strings. I have on occasion had an opportunity to hit with a frame or three that had more than year old strings. They all seemed to hit great.

And I don't think there is any reason to believe that old, dead, and loose strings are any more prone to cause injury than anything else.
 

MomentumGT

Semi-Pro
I also like old loose dead strings. I have on occasion had an opportunity to hit with a frame or three that had more than year old strings. They all seemed to hit great.

And I don't think there is any reason to believe that old, dead, and loose strings are any more prone to cause injury than anything else.

Yeah I agree here. I like my full poly setup definitely broken in if not on the dieing end of its string life. Completely dead poly is a different story tho.

-Jon
 

sboo

New User
Preferring a string that has been "broken in" is one thing, but the idea of waiting several years for a string to go completely dead seems a bit unrealistic to me :???:

My multi's feel best right before they break, especially in thinner gauges, but I think poly is another story....as there is more dramatic tension loss.
 
Ace is a very nice feeling string even when it's new. One of my all time favorite polys. My only problem with it is the price to durability ratio.

I also like old loose dead strings. I have on occasion had an opportunity to hit with a frame or three that had more than year old strings. They all seemed to hit great.

And I don't think there is any reason to believe that old, dead, and loose strings are any more prone to cause injury than anything else.

I cannot take full credit for this. The master stringer at USRSA John Wolfe holds the same opinion as i do.

In fact he says he uses dead Kevlar strings strung evry loosely. he says by doing this he can actually get Kevlar tio feel VERY soft.

Think about it.....the trampoline effect is what causes one to lose control. Even the strings that nadal uses are very lifeless and stiff.

I am telling you that the more dead your strings are the more control you will have .

I suggest pre stretching the crap out of your strings and then after they are strung stand on them for a couple of minutes every day for two weeks.
 
I'm pretty sure 90% of the posters here hold the opposite opinion. That luxilon plays great for a short while...and then proceeds to go dead and loose all playability.

No they just think they dont like dead strings. heres whgats really going on...

If you string lux at say 56 pounds...the very same day you will lose about 10% of the tenison. So you will be playing at actually about 50 pounds.

Then a week later you will even lose more tension...you will actually be playing with a string job closer to 45 pounds.

So the strings in just one week have significantly changed from what you thought you were originally playing with. Thats why you think dead strings are bad.
 

sboo

New User
Then a week later you will even lose more tension...you will actually be playing with a string job closer to 45 pounds.

So the strings in just one week have significantly changed from what you thought you were originally playing with. Thats why you think dead strings are bad.

So you are suggesting that a 5 year old string job does not loose tension, but simply goes dead instead? And that it is necessary to stand on my racquet everyday for weeks on end to get the most out of my strings? :shock:

Call me a pessimist, realist, or just plain lazy but I think I will just stick with letting my string jobs sit overnight. Especially when guys like Sampras get 8 racquets freshly strung a day.
 

Fedace

Banned
Yea why don't you just pre-stretch the Poly like Crazy and take all life out of it. and string it at Low tension. That is the better way to go.. letting it sit in the closet isn't going to kill the string that much.
Or you could loan your racket to the 8000 lbs gorilla and have the animal play with it for a day and take it back.. same effect.
 
So you are suggesting that a 5 year old string job does not loose tension, but simply goes dead instead? And that it is necessary to stand on my racquet everyday for weeks on end to get the most out of my strings? :shock:

Call me a pessimist, realist, or just plain lazy but I think I will just stick with letting my string jobs sit overnight. Especially when guys like Sampras get 8 racquets freshly strung a day.


No not at all.

it loses tension. In fact my 56 pound string job after five years was about 35 pounds. But the difference is that the strings were compl;etely and utterly dead. so although it was very loose......it was still controllable because the trampoline effect was almost nil.

try it!!!
 

sboo

New User
It's an interesting idea. If I ever use poly for more than a cross string I might play with the idea of using an insane pre-strech % on my Wise and see if I notice anything. But as stated, string preference is a case by case thing, so if it feels good to you go for it :p
 

tlm

G.O.A.T.
I agree with most poly plays best new+ not for very long. But i have to say that me+ a few of my friends have found some of the demos we have used with old beat up multis played great.

Some of these frames we ended up buying+ i would use the same type string that was in the demo even at different tensions+ try to match it. Well it seemed like we could never get them to play+ feel as good as the old beat up strings that were in the demo. Even though it was the same frame+ same string.So the op is on to something here.
 

LanEvo

Hall of Fame
idk but ic an understand from hsi view point, after strings have been broken in or dropped a bit in tenison, they tend to become softer and more flexible so they play better, but then this is imo so everyones perception is different
 

Bud

Bionic Poster
I found an old Pro Kennex 5g strung with Lux Ace from 5 years ago in the bottom of my closet. I took it out to play and I completely LOVED them.

I figured out the reason why.....first...they were completely dead.....which meant I had very little trampoline affect. The control was amazing.

Brand new strings have way too much livliennes and trampoline effect which causes a lack of control.

Second the loss of tension brought my racquet down to 40lbs but since they were dead I had a ton of power which was completely controllable.

My suggestion is that the next racquet you get make sure to let it sit in your closet for a couple of weeks and stand on them a bit before playing. Also string them pretty low......the combination of dead strings and low tension is deadly!!

Try a Kevlar/SG hybrid strung at about 45#. You'd probably love it.
 

Bud

Bionic Poster
Actually thats what the Johnathan Wolfe of the USRSA does. He plays with a completely dead set of Kevlar strung at 45 punds. he says its as soft as gut.

There's very little difference between fresh Kevlar and well-used (i.e. dead) Kevlar. They feel about the same. Like poly, it won't trampoline at low tensions.
 
There's very little difference between fresh Kevlar and well-used (i.e. dead) Kevlar. They feel about the same. Like poly, it won't trampoline at low tensions.

I dont know ....I have never used Kevlar so I cannot give an opinion. You can take issue with Johnathan Wolfe at the USRSA.

Its easy enuf to send him an email.
 

jackson vile

G.O.A.T.
I found an old Pro Kennex 5g strung with Lux Ace from 5 years ago in the bottom of my closet. I took it out to play and I completely LOVED them.

I figured out the reason why.....first...they were completely dead.....which meant I had very little trampoline affect. The control was amazing.

Brand new strings have way too much livliennes and trampoline effect which causes a lack of control.

Second the loss of tension brought my racquet down to 40lbs but since they were dead I had a ton of power which was completely controllable.

My suggestion is that the next racquet you get make sure to let it sit in your closet for a couple of weeks and stand on them a bit before playing. Also string them pretty low......the combination of dead strings and low tension is deadly!!

I agree, I love dead Alu power
 

chaddles

Semi-Pro
my gf loves the dead alu power strings - won't change them until they break, and takes a while for that to happen.
 

ronalditop

Hall of Fame
i like my poly strings dead better than new, because when theyre new they feel very stiff and with little power, but when theyre dead they are more loose so they have more power and feel softer.
 

fps

Legend
i feel the ability to adjust to where my strings are at in their life cycle is part of the challenge of playing tennis for me :) old dead strings sometimes feel beautiful
 

Blade0324

Hall of Fame
Well I have to disagree with the OP and this notion of using dead strings. I have used numerous different racquets and strings that have had significantly older strings in them. Some poly, some not and in every case the old strings feel horrible. They move all over the place because of the low tension and it feels so soft it's like using a butterfly net. I much prefer a very fresh string job and restring at least 2 racquets before every league or tournament match. Even if I have not broken a string which I don't actually do that often I cut them out and restring. The stiff string bed and higher tensions provides much less string movenment and MUCH better control than these old strings. There is a reason why top pros have their racquets restrung before evey match. If dead low tension strings were really better don't you think the best in the world would do things that way?
 

Kevo

Legend
...
They move all over the place because of the low tension and it feels so soft it's like using a butterfly net.

...

If dead low tension strings were really better don't you think the best in the world would do things that way?

Some people like the soft butterfly net feel. I actually enjoy it a lot. The other benefit of a racquet like that is the insane spin you can get. I imagine if there were a way to consistently get a string to perform like that it would be banned like spaghetti stringing was. The spin can be wild and unpredictable.

The other point you make about pros is an interesting one. My gut feeling is that for a pro it's more about the consistency and repeatability. It would probably be somewhat challenging to get a string to perform the same way every time when you had to string it, then wait for several months, or apply some process to advance the aging of the string.

I have only had that wonderful feeling like you were grabbing and holding the ball on the strings a couple of times, and I could never reproduce it. It was always with old strings in a demo or closet find.

I could get close with very soft and thin strings, but they break when you glance at them sideways so it's simply not practical to play with them. If they lasted even one whole match I might use them, but they all break way too fast.
 
Actually thats what the Johnathan Wolfe of the USRSA does. He plays with a completely dead set of Kevlar strung at 45 punds. he says its as soft as gut.
I just strung with my second Ashaway Crossfire set. First set was 16g set at 57, which was way too stiff starting out. They get "roughed up" and they grip the ball like sand paper. The longer I played them, the better they got as the tension dropped. This time I went with 18g strung at 48-52 to start out. They're awesome right now, but I'm a little concerned they'll lose too much tension before they break.

I think the ideal set up would be to string about 5 pounds heavy, let someone else play with them for a 6 or 8 hours to break them in and reach and stabilize at your preferred tension :)
 

plum

Rookie
I wonder if that's why I am having such a good time playing with my Fischer M speed No 1 105 strung up with dead poly. It is so comfortable and I am laughing wondering why my slightly heavier ProKennex PSE Ki 5 strung with exspensive natural gut at 54 sends my bunt returns long. Whereas what ever is going on with the cheap old poly on my fisher seems to be creating a very controled plenty powerful set up-- and my bunt returns are landing perfectly inside the baseline! Maybe I shouldn't get a sting job!
 

plum

Rookie
So if I wanted to achieve 45 lbs on a 105 Frame with Kevlar strings, should I start with 50 before stepping on the strings?
 
So if I wanted to achieve 45 lbs on a 105 Frame with Kevlar strings, should I start with 50 before stepping on the strings?

I'm not going to recommend stepping on the strings as a way to deaden them, but however you choose to deaden them, set them a bit higher than you want at first :)
 

Blade0324

Hall of Fame
Wow, I guess to each their own, but I just can't see how you guys can play with such low tensions. I usually go somewhere over 62 even with full poly. The movement is pretty nonexistant at the higher tension and also the string bed is not so mushy. I bought a stick off of someone once that was strung with a poly main, multi cross, hybrid at 49 and if you even touched the ball it would fly way too high and way to long. Simply was not controllable. I ended up cutting out a brand new string job and going with a new setup at 62mains and 64 crosses.
 
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