Do Any of You Prefer Regular Syn Gut?

mnttlrg

mnttlrg

Professional
I played a session today with a racket I don't even like, with some two-year old Gosen Sheep Micro string that I put in just to have strings at the lowest price possible....

And wow! I was really impressed.

It had a nice combination of power and spin, and it was really predictable off the string bed. I don't have any arm problems normally, but the comfort part was an added bonus.

Normally when I hit with all poly, my power level fluctuates when I have to move laterally, and hitting off the sweet spot makes it even worse. The syn gut shots seemed to balance out much more, on or off the sweet spot.

I hate the feel of most multi strings, in particular when they bag out. A lot of poly feels like crap, and natural gut is too elastic for my flawed swing style, and ends up giving me unpredictable responses.

I am seriously considering trying this string in a poly hybrid. I don't know whether to do mains or crosses, although my friend adamantly told me to do syn gut mains.

What say you? Which syn gut has played the best for you?
 
L

lucieisland

Semi-Pro
I think there are much less difference between s-gut than between poly or any other strings.
as much between two poly of the same brand, of the same gauge there can be an ocean which separates them, one going to 100% control and 0% speed, while the other will be 100% comfort and 0% speed (I carricature express), but generally the s-gut are very close to each other. (in the same price ranges)
the design of synthetic gues is very simple, and the very components of S-gut leave quite few variation parameters in their design (apart from the number and filaments in the wrapping, coating, and double wrapping) .. and few -be the diameter of the central core. but technically, it's really very close! a friend had compared a st-gut (black) between tecnifibre, dunlop, wilson, gosen and pro's pro. impossible with the same tensions and rackets to have a certainty on each of them. and identify them for sure.

my brother's double partner (6.0) swears by that. there are of course disadvantages. which are relative.
my brother travels in tournaments with 3 rackets. with necessarily less than 1 hour of play per line his friend never travels without 8 rackets. the S-gut is a super string (very underestimated), which could get a maximum score, if it did not have this durability problem. even for me (girl 5.0 to 6.0) it doesn't last long. I tried three or four years ago to put a duraflex s-gut I think on a Wilson 99 steam, it didn't last 25 minutes! (16X15) with an ultra efficient performance. as you pointed out, a controlled, powerful, comfortable string. with good spin, but lousy durability and not very high tensile strength.
 
D

Deleted member 768841

Guest
It’s weird, I think multi and syn. Gut strings after a couple years of doing nothing play better. I tried a racquet with I think multi from God knows when, and it felt like a soft poly. I’m not sure if that is technically correct but that’s what comes to mind.
 
M

mctennis

Legend
Syn gut in the mains would be what I would do. I am not sure if there is a superior playing synthetic gut out there.
 
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brownbearfalling

brownbearfalling

Hall of Fame
If you like the syngut more than put them in the mains. SG are well rounded strings. They sit in the middle of the spectrum of strings. Only downside would be tension maintenance and movement of strings.

Sometimes I miss the days when I have to adjust the main strings between points. Nostalgic. Helps me focus or forget about a bad play. I’ll look down at my poly strings and pretend to straighten them sometimes out of habit.
 
Yoneyama

Yoneyama

Hall of Fame
I really like Syn gut, has to be decent stuff though. Not a fan of the really old variants, but many more modern syn guts are awesome. I particularly like Gosen AK Pro CX, you can check my post history for comments on that string in full bed or hybrid setup.

The benefits of syn gut for me is relatively low power, consistency, and low launch angle.
 
SaaKha

SaaKha

Semi-Pro
Gosen OG Sheep Micro 17 is my go to string atm. Really like it in my RF97. Can’t wait to try it in my Pro Tour 2.0 when this lockdown ends. Will also try it in a hybrid with poly crosses.
 
dak95_00

dak95_00

Hall of Fame
For me, the following synthetic gut strings play identical at the same tensions and also have identical wear and durability. The durability changes from 16 to 17 though. I usually play the 17 because it’s slightly firmer and breaks before it starts sliding too much.
Gamma w/ Wearguard
Prince w/ Duraflex
Head w/ PPS

I’ve also played cheap nylon in 16 from reels by Genesis and Forten which are typically under $20/reel. For the first 2-5 hours, These also play the same as the listed synthetic guts and have the same durability. After the notch up a bit and slide, I’m done with them.

The point of poly strings is they must slide freely to increase spin from snap back. Once they are notched, they’re as worthless as the next string and likely worse. To decrease notching and increase usage time, you must string lower tension.

Synthetic gut has better control at higher tension and better power at lower tension. It keeps its tension good compared to natural gut and excellent compared to poly.

I don’t understand why people who keep their string for more than a week use poly unless they like stiff boards. Synthetic gut is the way to go and nylon if you string yourself and weekly.
 
Doubles

Doubles

Legend
I’m normally a poly player but I strung a UT with Gideon Micro Super at 66 the other day and it plays well. It’s firm without being too stiff, produces decent spin, and the stringbed is dense so it should last me a while.
 
Shaolin

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
Syn gut is great for 6 minutes until it breaks!

So glad poly strings came along. I still remember the dark times when there was only natural gut or syn gut and you'd have 2 sets of string break per set.

Good riddance.
 
L

lucieisland

Semi-Pro
Shaolin said:
Syn gut is great for 6 minutes until it breaks!
Click to expand...

6 minutes? really?
you have to be stronger and hit harder than thomas muster then .. who was playing with isospeed .. which was an improved s-gut-ribbons instead of multifilament which surround a central core ..)

I don't remember if he had 20 or 30 frames in his bag. and if he really changed rackets several times per game .. since obviously, the games lasted more than 6 minutes ..

I think you are exaggerating a bit. or you use a racket with a very open string plant, like 14 * 16 (if it exists?) otherwise it's hard to believe.
 
Shaolin

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
lucieisland said:
6 minutes? really?
you have to be stronger and hit harder than thomas muster then .. who was playing with isospeed .. which was an improved s-gut-ribbons instead of multifilament which surround a central core ..)

I don't remember if he had 20 or 30 frames in his bag. and if he really changed rackets several times per game .. since obviously, the games lasted more than 6 minutes ..

I think you are exaggerating a bit. or you use a racket with a very open string plant, like 14 * 16 (if it exists?) otherwise it's hard to believe.
Click to expand...

I was being sarcastic with ''6 minutes'' but stuff like Prince broke twice a set on average for me.

I never tried Muster's Isospeed string, Im sure it was better than the stuff I was using.

Frame I used was an open pattern yes. And if you think breaking run of the mill syn gut that often is hard to believe you must not hit very hard or maybe you never tried it.

Late 90s sucked for string breakage for me. I was restringing constantly. When Poly came out I immediately changed to it and never looked back.

cheers
 
L

lucieisland

Semi-Pro
when i was 15 i played with prince spectrum 90, and prince graphite pro 90 (14 mains), and indeed, with original prince 1.25mm i broke my strings in less than 45mn. (I was 16 at that time and I was 4.5 to 5.0, in France between 15/1 and 5/6), my brother who played with head graphite pro 89.5 broke his strings in about 1 hour.

today, a prince duraflex lasts me about 3h, on head radical tour 18 * 19 .. now, to know if I can play or not.?

today my two brothers (one who was 5.0 and the youngest who is 5.0 to 5.5) play with a hybrid s-gut duraflex and cross black magic. (I have the same thing on a pro tour lite), and it breaks string in about 3h30.

I also think that s-gut is not what it was 20 years ago today. a weiss 6starstring lasts me much more than 2h.
 
T

Trinity110

Rookie
I play with different combos sometimes if some free string finds its way to me or the mood strikes me, and even if I like a new setup, when I switch back to my standard (Gamma Syn Gut w/ Wearguard) it's like, "Man this is a great feel! What am I fooling around with others for?"

The exception is a used copy of my fave racquet I bout online, and it came with a Gut/poly hybrid in it, and oh my that gut is so nice. Feels like I am catching the ball in a baseball glove, thinking about what I want to do with it, then doing it!
 
T

travlerajm

Talk Tennis Guru
Rabbit said:
I love synthetic gut. I've been using it for the last 6 years or so hybrided in the mains with polyester in the crosses.
Click to expand...
I’ve been very happy with my kevlar/poly hybrids lately. I really like pro xtreme as a cross because it’s so resistant to denting. I just might have to try 15L syn gut mains with the pro xtreme cross to see if I can get a little more pop without sacrificing too much spin or longevity.
 
E

esm

Legend
Back with Syn Gut pretty much full time now. Not a string breaker but I usually cut out/restring every 6-8 hours.
my current ones are Pro’s Pro Syn Gut 16 (many colours to choose from) & Angell Halo 3 (only in light blue)
 
F

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
mnttlrg said:
I played a session today with a racket I don't even like, with some two-year old Gosen Sheep Micro string that I put in just to have strings at the lowest price possible....

And wow! I was really impressed.

It had a nice combination of power and spin, and it was really predictable off the string bed. I don't have any arm problems normally, but the comfort part was an added bonus.

Normally when I hit with all poly, my power level fluctuates when I have to move laterally, and hitting off the sweet spot makes it even worse. The syn gut shots seemed to balance out much more, on or off the sweet spot.

I hate the feel of most multi strings, in particular when they bag out. A lot of poly feels like crap, and natural gut is too elastic for my flawed swing style, and ends up giving me unpredictable responses.

I am seriously considering trying this string in a poly hybrid. I don't know whether to do mains or crosses, although my friend adamantly told me to do syn gut mains.

What say you? Which syn gut has played the best for you?
Click to expand...

I'm also very much at home with syn. gut and I've been blathering about it around here for a while now. It seems to dwell in that Goldilocks realm of not-too-soft and not-too-firm, but I think that it often gets overlooked because it's so unexotic compared with other options. Kirschbaum's standard syn. gut was my favorite for a good stretch, but they seem to have pulled the plug on making that string type. It disappeared about a year ago.

Lately I've actually been getting along with Forten Nylon 16 - this string is about as ordinary as it gets, but it seems to work great in my gear. It's bananas affordable and the yellow version is really spiffy in my black & yellow Volkls... so there's that. Unfortunately they don't offer this string in a lighter 17 ga., but I've checked that box through recent years with syn. guts from Tecnifibre or Gosen OGSM.

My take on the other string types is also similar to yours in terms of feel. I'm not wild about how multi always has the potential to trend toward more flimsy as I use it. I also can't get with the thuddy feel and relative deadness of poly - plus it wrecked my arm a couple years ago. I didn't need it, but had to try a full bed - soft racquet, low tension, yaddah-yaddah... Never again.

If you try a hybrid layout, I'd say go with the syn. gut in the mains. The mains will typically dominate the feel and performance of a string bed, but using a poly cross will probably give it a little bump in terms of firmness. Depending on the type and tension of the poly, it could give your string bed a little more of a predictable response, but it could just make it feel a little more clunky and dead. That verdict is up to you to sort out.

The reverse version of this hybrid might be something to try if you can get a lighter gauge of poly for a main. I keep Isospeed Baseline 1.20mm handy for exactly this sort of setup. I usually combine it with a cross of Gosen OGSM 16 - and this has easily been the best received poly hybrid I've offered the locals who want to get into a hybrid. Although I don't use polys in my own racquets, I have sampled this layout to see how it performed and how it felt for me. I was surprised that it felt similar to a firm bed of 16 ga. syn. gut. Much more civilized than most heavier gauge poly hybrids I've tested in recent history.

**edited last paragraph for better clarification**
 
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dak95_00

dak95_00

Hall of Fame
Shaolin said:
It's all about tension. I string at 43 and it plays great for weeks.
Click to expand...

I can get behind this statement. Poly should be strung low, below 50 lbs, to produce power and prevent notching. Far too many string it to be like boards at 55+ lbs. They might as well play a full bed of kevlar. Once notching happens and the strings fail to snap back, you might as well play a synthetic gut.

I know someone is going to say a pro strings there’s above 50 lbs. I know this. I also know they switch their racquet with every set of new balls too. The average player doesn’t have that luxury (or skill).
 
Shaolin

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
dak95_00 said:
I can get behind this statement. Poly should be strung low, below 50 lbs, to produce power and prevent notching. Far too many string it to be like boards at 55+ lbs. They might as well play a full bed of kevlar. Once notching happens and the strings fail to snap back, you might as well play a synthetic gut.

I know someone is going to say a pro strings there’s above 50 lbs. I know this. I also know they switch their racquet with every set of new balls too. The average player doesn’t have that luxury (or skill).
Click to expand...

I think everyone that uses poly should try it at super low tensions at least once. I used to string poly in the high 50s or even 60s but now I'm at 40 to 45 depending on the string. Currently using HEAD Lynx edge 17 at 43 and it plays amazing.
 
T

Trinity110

Rookie
dak95_00 said:
I can get behind this statement. Poly should be strung low, below 50 lbs, to produce power and prevent notching. Far too many string it to be like boards at 55+ lbs. They might as well play a full bed of kevlar. Once notching happens and the strings fail to snap back, you might as well play a synthetic gut.

I know someone is going to say a pro strings there’s above 50 lbs. I know this. I also know they switch their racquet with every set of new balls too. The average player doesn’t have that luxury (or skill).
Click to expand...
Right to the point. Especially the skill.
 
L

lucieisland

Semi-Pro
when i started playing poly (plasma signum), i was listening to my club stringer, (it was before my brother came back to live near me).

my stringer said: tension s-gut less 2kg.
I listened, it was hard, and not that comfortable. and one day, when my brother came back, he said to me: lower down. as he lives quite far from my house (90km) it is difficult for him to string my frames often. (blow string after 8h)
he told me to strain less. I then put 22 (instead of 24kg), but it was always hard, one day, he told me that he was going to string my rackets, and when he returned the rackets to me it was gone nothing to see. nice, flexible, comfortable, powerful, lots of snapback and spin.

to the question to which he had stretched my rackets: he answered: 16.5kg .. I could not believe it.

try! .. (head radical IG S) .. I always have them !.
 
mnttlrg

mnttlrg

Professional
With a decent-spinning racket and poly strung at 53, I can hit a clean, flat plow.... or I can fling a nasty spinner. It will be a bit erratic to do either one, but it generally works.

When I start playing around at 35 or below, I lose all ability to flatten out or plow. Every ball is just a spinner without a lot of weight imparted into it.

With the right setup, that can be a beautiful thing. With the wrong setup, it's fatal.

I haven't done this experiment with anything else other than multi, which had similar results.
 
mnttlrg

mnttlrg

Professional
What somebody told me recently is that a good poly at 42-45 is very different than at 35 and below. If that's the case, then I will have to include that in my future testing.
 
edelp

edelp

Semi-Pro
esm said:
Back with Syn Gut pretty much full time now. Not a string breaker but I usually cut out/restring every 6-8 hours.
my current ones are Pro’s Pro Syn Gut 16 (many colours to choose from) & Angell Halo 3 (only in light blue)
Click to expand...
Very interesting... what would be the main differences? Will be receiving a reel of pros pro syn gut and thinking about ordering in a possible next purchase a Halo 3 set...
 
E

esm

Legend
edelp said:
Very interesting... what would be the main differences? Will be receiving a reel of pros pro syn gut and thinking about ordering in a possible next purchase a Halo 3 set...
Click to expand...
Not much of a difference for me really in terms of playability. If any, I’d say the Halo 3 I can stretch for maybe another 2 - 4 hours.
The biggest price difference is the price. A reel of PP Syn Gut Is £15.95 + basic shipping form an UK retailer, where as it is £55 + basic shipping from Angell for the Halo 3. Does Halo 3 worth 3.4 times more/better then the PP Syn Gut, for me, I don’t think so, but it is a nice all round string (& a rather nice shade of blue too). If I recalled correctly, the Halo 3 is 1.26mm instead of the 1.30 for the PP Syn gut.
 
R

ron schaap

Hall of Fame
lucieisland said:
when i started playing poly (plasma signum), i was listening to my club stringer, (it was before my brother came back to live near me).

my stringer said: tension s-gut less 2kg.
I listened, it was hard, and not that comfortable. and one day, when my brother came back, he said to me: lower down. as he lives quite far from my house (90km) it is difficult for him to string my frames often. (blow string after 8h)
he told me to strain less. I then put 22 (instead of 24kg), but it was always hard, one day, he told me that he was going to string my rackets, and when he returned the rackets to me it was gone nothing to see. nice, flexible, comfortable, powerful, lots of snapback and spin.

to the question to which he had stretched my rackets: he answered: 16.5kg .. I could not believe it.

try! .. (head radical IG S) .. I always have them !.
Click to expand...
sppp or the similar Pros pro plus power i find is very tension dependent. At 24 kg it feels like frying pan but at 22kg for me its playable, and even lower or when tension dropped after some time it seems to increase in spin. Not all poly does that. Some is soft and has to be strung at higher tension.
 
Aestheticsaboveallelse

Aestheticsaboveallelse

Legend
dak95_00 said:
I don’t understand why people who keep their string for more than a week use poly unless they like stiff boards. Synthetic gut is the way to go and nylon if you string yourself and weekly.
Click to expand...

Leaving it in for more than a week actually might be the key to amazingness. Late last year had 50 lb alu 1.25 in a pure aero vs used it a few times then had it laying around the house for months and when I went back out it was the easiest playing racquet string setup of all time. It was the opposite of boardy it'd let the ball sink in or pocket or something and then repel it very nicely and every single serve return or groundstroke felt like hitting the sweetspot as long as you got the ball anywhere on your strings, it was so easy to return everything never experienced anything like it. I want my strings to play like that again
 
F

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
Aestheticsaboveallelse said:
Leaving it in for more than a week actually might be the key to amazingness. Late last year had 50 lb alu 1.25 in a pure aero vs used it a few times then had it laying around the house for months and when I went back out it was the easiest playing racquet string setup of all time. It was the opposite of boardy it'd let the ball sink in or pocket or something and then repel it very nicely and every single serve return or groundstroke felt like hitting the sweetspot as long as you got the ball anywhere on your strings, it was so easy to return everything never experienced anything like it. I want my strings to play like that again
Click to expand...
Maybe I should build a sort of wine cellar to store racquets so that their string beds can "mature". Always a new cottage industry lurking 'round the next corner ;)
 
Aestheticsaboveallelse

Aestheticsaboveallelse

Legend
gold325 said:
The biggest issue I found it that nice "mature" feeling quickly goes away and the string doesn't last much longer.
Click to expand...
Ah dang, the only reason I experienced this was cause I was selling the racquet and trying it out one more time before shipping it out so I wouldn't know what happens after. Do you mean it breaks soon after or just loses the nice way it was playing?
 
gold325

gold325

Hall of Fame
Aestheticsaboveallelse said:
Ah dang, the only reason I experienced this was cause I was selling the racquet and trying it out one more time before shipping it out so I wouldn't know what happens after. Do you mean it breaks soon after or just loses the nice way it was playing?
Click to expand...

The "matured" string died on me quickly me both times... But it vibration increased tremendously and became a little erratic without a huge drop in power. When the same poly normally dies on me... it suddenly becomes stiff feeling and ball doesnt want to go over the net. And if it does likes to fly out.

Im getting a Wise 2086 soon so I plan to prestretch at the much lower tension. My regular 48 lbs I will string at 40 lbs with a 20% prestretch. I figure that the long sitting poly would have dropped to around 40. But this time it should last a longer time after it is prestretched and played right after.
 
Aestheticsaboveallelse

Aestheticsaboveallelse

Legend
gold325 said:
The "matured" string died on me quickly me both times... But it vibration increased tremendously and became a little erratic without a huge drop in power. When the same poly normally dies on me... it suddenly becomes stiff feeling and ball doesnt want to go over the net. And if it does likes to fly out.

Im getting a Wise 2086 soon so I plan to prestretch at the much lower tension. My regular 48 lbs I will string at 40 lbs with a 20% prestretch. I figure that the long sitting poly would have dropped to around 40. But this time it should last a longer time after it is prestretched and played right after.
Click to expand...
Hmm that doesn't sound too bad if you ignore the vibration the playability disadvantage is just a little more erratic? I wonder what would happen with a factory prestetched like 4G, maybe it problematically wouldn't lose much tension laying around cause great maintenance
 
F

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
Pumpkin said:
I was using multifilament for a long time but when I started stringing I used syngut. I was surprised how good it feels. I was wasting my money stringing with expensive multifilament. I haven't tried natural gut yet.
Click to expand...
I try to avoid knocking multis too hard, just because I've seen a few locals reverse rather serious arm issues after switching into them. I always keep some Prince Premier Control on hand for these cases - it doesn't come with quite the same sticker shock as others such as NXT, X-1 Biphase, etc., but there is some inherent softness there.

Even though I string at home, I just can't get around to dipping my toe in the proverbial pond of natural gut. I think that I'm lucky that I don't need anything softer than the syn. guts I use now, but it's nice to know that the natural gut is out there. Maybe in the late spring when things start to ramp up for me again I'll take the plunge. Hard to justify using a string that costs literally TEN times as much as what works fine for me now...
 
P

princemidplus

Semi-Pro
I must say I love a fresh syn gut string job. I also hate a 3 match old syn gut job. Thus I get better mileage out of poly. Multi feels amazing until I break it after a few games to a set
 
Fairhit

Fairhit

Hall of Fame
So, you guys think I would get a better tension retention if I string at lower tension? Like 35-40 pounds?
 
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