Do stiff polys break faster than soft polys?

[socallefty]

I generally play with gut/poly hybrids these days and break the gut. Once in a while I try fullbed soft polys (like HyperG Soft) and they seem to last longer than what I remember when I tried older, stiffer polys many years ago in fullbed like ALU Power, RPM Blast etc. Is it because I am older and possibly hitting softer or do stiffer polys break faster?

 

[nyta2]

I always thought softer breaks faster… but haven’t exactly done a scientific study recording every breakage, hitting type (practice vs match), style (grinder, sv’er, etc,…), who my opponents are (big hitters/heavy spinners,….), comparing within string families (eg 4g vs 4g soft), court surface,
Etc,…

 

[Injured Again]

My experience is that softer polys tend to notch earlier and to a greater amount, and break faster from notching through. Stiffer strings I believe tend to be harder and more wear resistant, and there greater stiffness means less string movement on impact which further reduces wear.

When I was using Silver 7 Tour and Black 7, both shaped identically but with Black 7 being quite a bit more elastic, the Black 7 would last me about 10 hours and the S7T would be 12-14 hours, so about a third longer life. I do think, though, that perhaps a stiffer string breaks from notching with more material left, possibly because harder equals more brittle. When the Black 7 would break on me, the notching was really significantly, like 75%, whereas I seem to think that S7T would break at about 60% notching.

 

[nyta2]

My experience is that softer polys tend to notch earlier and to a greater amount, and break faster from notching through. Stiffer strings I believe tend to be harder and more wear resistant, and there greater stiffness means less string movement on impact which further reduces wear.

When I was using Silver 7 Tour and Black 7, both shaped identically but with Black 7 being quite a bit more elastic, the Black 7 would last me about 10 hours and the S7T would be 12-14 hours, so about a third longer life. I do think, though, that perhaps a stiffer string breaks from notching with more material left, possibly because harder equals more brittle. When the Black 7 would break on me, the notching was really significantly, like 75%, whereas I seem to think that S7T would break at about 60% notching.

Agreed (realized I had my post backwards )

 

[Thiemster]

I generally play with gut/poly hybrids these days and break the gut. Once in a while I try fullbed soft polys (like HyperG Spft) and they seem to last longer than what I remember when I tried older, stiffer polys many years ago in fullbed like ALU Power, RPM Blast etc. Is it because I am older and possibly hitting softer or do stiffer polys break faster?

Probably depends on your racket string pattern, Guage and how much spin you play with?

I m sure you are not using the same racket model as when you tried those other polys

 

[socallefty]

Probably depends on your racket string pattern, Guage and how much spin you play with?

I m sure you are not using the same racket model as when you tried those other polys

Still using the same racquet for about 6 years and the same model (used previous gen prior) for 10 years. I don’t change racquets that often.

 

[K1Y]

hyper g soft just lasts forever

 

[esgee48]

Depends! In hybrids, the harder surfaced string will generally do more damage to the softer surface. But this also depends on ref tension at which the hybrids are installed. The string that generally moves more due tension or COF will break first. In FB, mains will generally break first if they move more. However if they’re restricted, the crosses will break first. Installed tension also affects which one will break first. Diameter and shape also affects which one will break first. Stiffness is not perfectly correlated with surface hardness. In short, what one poster experiences probably is not what another poster experiences.

 

[socallefty]

Depends! In hybrids, the harder surfaced string will generally do more damage to the softer surface. But this also depends on ref tension at which the hybrids are installed. The string that generally moves more due tension or COF will break first. In FB, mains will generally break first if they move more. However if they’re restricted, the crosses will break first. Installed tension also affects which one will break first. Diameter and shape also affects which one will break first. Stiffness is not perfectly correlated with surface hardness. In short, what one poster experiences probably is not what another poster experiences.

My question is about fullbed polys.

 

[Rabbit]

Still using the same racquet for about 6 years and the same model (used previous gen prior) for 10 years. I don’t change racquets that often.

You are my hero. I wish I would stick with a stick. I did for a long time but now…

There is a guy at my old club who breaks 1.30 poly in an hour, regardless of how hard or soft it is. What moved him to Hyper G soft 1.30 was his arm didn’t hurt or get fatigued using it.

 

[Chairman3]

I think if you string them tighter like 52lbs or more they do.