Does anyone remember the Head Graphite Pro?

Awesome collection khw! What is your solution for upkeeping the grommets?

khw72004 said:
Still my favorite series of rackets.
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khw72004 said:
The ones I used I strung them with Prestige Mid 18x20 Cap Grommets as a replacement. The old grommets can't be saved in most of these models.
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Which versions of Prestige mid 18/20 CAP grommets fit them?
All of them or only certsin versions..?
If so.which ones? Thanks
 
I'm not familiar with the current models of prestige series, but I had used Flexpoint, Microgel and Youtek's Midsize 18x20 in the past
 
amidala8388 said:
Made in not USA and not Austria? First time seeing this on a Graphite Pro.
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I have Made In Austria with the USA flag on it and I have one Made in Austria without the flag. The one without the flag is late production. I’ve also when I first switched to play with the Graphite Pro in 1987 it had Made in USA Frame Austria. That meant that the raw frame was made in Austria and was shipped to the USA (Boulder, CO) to be paint and finished. In 1988 HEAD consolidated manufacturing to Austria. I’ll post up some photos of my made in Austria with the flag and without the flag. Look on the butt-cap of your flag one.
 
So I found one of these in a thrift store today and got it pretty much because I'd been wanting a classic/"classy"/"tour" Head racquet, which I could tell very from the look and branding and "Made in USA" was the case for this one. I was a little skeptical due to the headsize but errored on the side of "this will be a useful practice" tool, and after reading this thread and discovering I accidentally bought a piece of tennis art, I am damn glad I did. Some of the grommets are decayed and there are several points where the plastic frame guards are peeling up, so it is not in tiptop condition, but when I started hitting with it I noticed it seemed to perform very well (especially with 1HBH <3) and felt incredibly solid in a soft comforting way when I made good contact on my forehand. I was not sure if I was imagining things but I see very clearly from the other hitting reviews that I was not. It feels like such a nice racquet I think there is a decent chance I go against my better judgement and break it out for real matches. There was a pure joy using it I can only equate to hitting the best forged golf irons from the 1970s/1980.
 
optic yellow said:
So I found one of these in a thrift store today and got it pretty much because I'd been wanting a classic/"classy"/"tour" Head racquet, which I could tell very from the look and branding and "Made in USA" was the case for this one. I was a little skeptical due to the headsize but errored on the side of "this will be a useful practice" tool, and after reading this thread and discovering I accidentally bought a piece of tennis art, I am damn glad I did. Some of the grommets are decayed and there are several points where the plastic frame guards are peeling up, so it is not in tiptop condition, but when I started hitting with it I noticed it seemed to perform very well (especially with 1HBH <3) and felt incredibly solid in a soft comforting way when I made good contact on my forehand. I was not sure if I was imagining things but I see very clearly from the other hitting reviews that I was not. It feels like such a nice racquet I think there is a decent chance I go against my better judgement and break it out for real matches. There was a pure joy using it I can only equate to hitting the best forged golf irons from the 1970s/1980.
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These old box beam rackets are so fun to use. When you strike it just right nothing feels better.
 
And there isn’t ONE head 89.5 sq inch tennis racket EVER produced in Austria / USA where ever , whatever frame outta the lot of these midsize frames are the best hitting most rewarding tactile feel of any “ series “ ever produced by man …. Ever . Mic drop ..
also they are all so well made that you don’t even need grommets I can string all of these variants .. graphite pro, comp pro, SE pro , magnum , club pro etc … and they all hold up quite fine without grommets not one ever has splintered, caved in, sheared a string prematurely.. matter of fact I did this for so long for so many years hitting 6 days a week 3 hours a day for 14 years and never did any one of them break ..
strangely enuff tho , if you string them tight they fold up like lawn chair . Go figure ..
God love the queen . And god love Head frames from 1986-1988
 
teachingprotx said:
strangely enuff tho , if you string them tight they fold up like lawn chair . Go figure ..
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Ohhhhhh I missed this, would have had a better clue about why my frame looks warped if it had registered. Going to cut them out and replace using a syn gut I know I like with a correct pattern and lower tension than I know I feel in there.

teachingprotx said:
and they all hold up quite fine without grommets not one ever has splintered, caved in, sheared a string prematurely.. matter of fact I did this for so long for so many years hitting 6 days a week 3 hours a day for 14 years and never did any one of them break ..
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So you are saying it would be fine to restring without replacing the grommets?
 
optic yellow said:
Ohhhhhh I missed this, would have had a better clue about why my frame looks warped if it had registered. Going to cut them out and replace using a syn gut I know I like with a correct pattern and lower tension than I know I feel in there.


So you are saying it would be fine to restring without replacing the grommets?
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100000000% yes . These frames can withstand a lot . Except high tensions . The reason why stringing grommet less works so well is due to the extremely thick walls of the frame throughout its entire build .so no caving in .

It’s remarkable how well they engineered that mold . I have as a matter of fact and experimentation , sanded these down to toothpicks and they are still holding strong . I use these still from time to time . I love them unconditionally. But , I can , in no way shape or form play with them stock weight . The grommets alone will take a nice amount of weight off these as well as the bumper gaurd . It takes an entire ounce off .
But some may not like that however , I love it cause it’s so much lighter .
 
teachingprotx said:
100000000% yes . These frames can withstand a lot . Except high tensions . The reason why stringing grommet less works so well is due to the extremely thick walls of the frame throughout its entire build .so no caving in .

It’s remarkable how well they engineered that mold . I have as a matter of fact and experimentation , sanded these down to toothpicks and they are still holding strong . I use these still from time to time . I love them unconditionally. But , I can , in no way shape or form play with them stock weight . The grommets alone will take a nice amount of weight off these as well as the bumper gaurd . It takes an entire ounce off .
But some may not like that however , I love it cause it’s so much lighter .
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Yeah I ended up replacing the original warped one I found in Goodwill with a nicely restored version from @dak95_00, but I found that while it looks beautiful with the Youtek Prestige Pro CAP grommets, the overall weight and the weight balance are both notably off from the other frame, which makes it much harder to actually play with. The handle is I think also 5 instead of 4, which I can manage with if I am trying but do not find comfortable for long periods of time. I have debated fixes in the form of cutting off as much of the CAP as I can without compromising the stringing job (rip aesthetics :cry:) and replacing the handle with a 4 1/2 using the Head pallet replacements that I currently have access to shopping in Europe, but have held back because I don't know how much of the CAP I can safely remove, and also don't know if the Head pallet system is functional on frames of this era.
 
optic yellow said:
Yeah I ended up replacing the original warped one I found in Goodwill with a nicely restored version from @dak95_00, but I found that while it looks beautiful with the Youtek Prestige Pro CAP grommets, the overall weight and the weight balance are both notably off from the other frame, which makes it much harder to actually play with. The handle is I think also 5 instead of 4, which I can manage with if I am trying but do not find comfortable for long periods of time. I have debated fixes in the form of cutting off as much of the CAP as I can without compromising the stringing job (rip aesthetics :cry:) and replacing the handle with a 4 1/2 using the Head pallet replacements that I currently have access to shopping in Europe, but have held back because I don't know how much of the CAP I can safely remove, and also don't know if the Head pallet system is functional on frames of this era.
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The TK237 CAPs weigh about 28g, compared to the standard grommets around 16g, so they add about 25sw pts and 1cm less HL balance. Quite a difference.

You can trim the CAPs quite close to the centre. I have got them down to 12g, so less than the original grommets, and they still work fine (at least for one stringing).
 
Grafil Injection said:
The TK237 CAPs weigh about 28g, compared to the standard grommets around 16g, so they add about 25sw pts and 1cm less HL balance. Quite a difference.

You can trim the CAPs quite close to the centre. I have got them down to 12g, so less than the original grommets, and they still work fine (at least for one stringing).
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Ok thank you for the numbers. This tracks about with what it felt like. When I return to the US again I will perform this surgery on it, after figuring out which long term string I want in it. I do remember that I bought a couple other of the same CAP sets separately because I heard they were stopping to make them, so I guess I do have backup if needed. :D

Can you say anything about the handle size switch?
 
optic yellow said:
Ok thank you for the numbers. This tracks about with what it felt like. When I return to the US again I will perform this surgery on it, after figuring out which long term string I want in it. I do remember that I bought a couple other of the same CAP sets separately because I heard they were stopping to make them, so I guess I do have backup if needed. :D

Can you say anything about the handle size switch?
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I haven't tried modifying any of mine, but I think the handles are foam on the Pro series, rather than pallets:

IMG-20250206-213145-2.jpg
 
fritzhimself said:
They are pallets, but they have a different hairpin. The newer pallets definitely won't fit.
So I manually reduced the handle from L4 to L2.





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So looking at the advert schematic, I guess the 'pallet' is the Pebax material, and it's a foam-filled pallet, kinda hybrid, so reducing it would require shaving the foam rather than just replacing the pallet, or just discarding the pallet?
 
Grafil Injection said:
So looking at the advert schematic, I guess the 'pallet' is the Pebax material, and it's a foam-filled pallet, kinda hybrid, so reducing it would require shaving the foam rather than just replacing the pallet, or just discarding the pallet?
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It’s a lower density polyurethane foam material. Sands down easily with a handheld orbital sander using medium rough sandpaper.

Recently, in my own customization work , to know where to stop sanding, I took a new Head butt cap in size 3 (my target size), and sawed off the bottom end. This created a die that I use as a gauge, sliding it on and over the pallet, to see what material needs to be removed to achieve this size. It works well for the purpose!
 
retrowagen said:
Recently, in my own customization work , to know where to stop sanding, I took a new Head butt cap in size 3 (my target size), and sawed off the bottom end. This created a die that I use as a gauge, sliding it on and over the pallet, to see what material needs to be removed to achieve this size. It works well for the purpose!
Click to expand...
Very clever! Great idea.
 
Rip, this is beyond the level of intervention I feel comfortable with doing myself. I guess maybe the handle will bother me less if I fix the swingweight.
 
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