Does poly go dead slower in a (non-poly/poly) hybrid setup?

[useframesavestrings]

Does poly go dead slower in a (non-poly/poly) hybrid setup?

Notching aside - if you ran poly in the mains and a nylon (let's say Syn Gut) in the crosses, will the relatively springy Syn Gut absorb the brunt of the impact and let the poly mains play for longer before they lose their elasticity? Or will the increased elasticity from the Syn Gut make the entire stringbed flex more than it would in a full bed of poly situation and sap the poly's life quicker due to the higher stringbed deflection?

Anecdotally, I want to say it does go dead slower but I'm not entirely sure if it's still the poly that feels alive or if it's just the Syn Gut carrying the dead poly.

 

[socallefty]

It seems like you feel the effects of dead poly like tightness/soreness and erratic control slower by a few hours in a gut/poly hybrid than fullbed poly. But is it because you are feeling the effects of only the crosses from the dead poly rather than the full stringbed going dead? I don’t know. I use gut mains and poly crosses.

 

[VanDerVaart23]

To the question of the thread, I would say yes, no idea the rate, but you'll feel more how the mains change playabillty performance and if they're non-poly, they tend to hold tension better and the elasticity loss is lower.
Although eventually your poly cross will be dead, but hopefully if hitting hard enough, you'll break the main before noting any dead poly cross.

 

[fuzz nation]

Does poly go dead slower in a (non-poly/poly) hybrid setup?

Notching aside - if you ran poly in the mains and a nylon (let's say Syn Gut) in the crosses, will the relatively springy Syn Gut absorb the brunt of the impact and let the poly mains play for longer before they lose their elasticity? Or will the increased elasticity from the Syn Gut make the entire stringbed flex more than it would in a full bed of poly situation and sap the poly's life quicker due to the higher stringbed deflection?

Anecdotally, I want to say it does go dead slower but I'm not entirely sure if it's still the poly that feels alive or if it's just the Syn Gut carrying the dead poly.

The general consensus seems to be that the majority of a string bed's feel and performance is from the mains. A hybrid of syn. gut mains and poly crosses will likely work and feel more like syn. gut in a full bed with probably a little extra firmness from the poly crosses. Reverse that hybrid with the poly in the mains and more of the feel and performance will be like full poly bed, but with perhaps a little more softness and extended resilience that's typical with syn. gut.

Since "most" of the string bed's performance and feel are thought to come from the mains, many folks here discourage the idea of using natural gut as a cross string in something like a poly hybrid because it doesn't add much to the recipe in that application. Gut mains paired with poly crosses is a whole different story.

I string for local players and I often set up folks with a poly hybrid that includes a light gauge poly main and a syn. gut cross. The simple and affordable option for this has been Isospeed Baseline 1.20mm with Gosen OGSM 16 crosses. It's been very well received for a number of years and while I'm sure that a full bed of that skinny poly would turn dead after not too many hours of use, the hybrid remains playable for a rather long time for many who aren't really huge hitters.

What seems to happen in these hybrids is that even as the poly mains turn the corner and go dead, that degradation is less drastic with a syn. gut cross because the nylon retains more resilience over more of its lifespan. It continues to spring back and support the mains compared with poly crosses that can also lose their resilience. I like Gosen OGSM 16 as a cross for these hybrids because it's tough, slick, and rather affordable, but it's also on the firm side compared with many other syn. guts. I don't like to use it in a full bed in my own racquets when I have let's say Babolat or Kirschbaum SG on hand.