dunlop muscle-weave 200g...what am i missing?

[wallymann]

i play heavy, head-light, thin-beamed racquets....generally 360g static and ~325sw strung. my gamers are the '90s donnay pro1 limiteds.

i'm also a racquet junkie...and i picked up an OG mw200g 95 thinking it'd be right up my alley...had it strung with my normal prince syn-gut 17g at 50# and weighted it up to my specs...

...and the racquet feels like doo-doo...

i'm used to low-powered racquets, but this feels stupid-low-powered with zero feel, quite dead -- no pop at all, like none.

i do have a damper on it, maybe that's overkill and sucking the life out of it given the racquet supposedly has built-in damping tech?

separate from the feel/feedback hitting, it also feels sluggish thru the air. it is my first 18x20 (normally play 16x19) maybe the extra strings slow things down thru the air?

anyway...interested experiences thoughts from other racquet dinosaurs that might have experience with a mw200g.

 

[Grafil Injection]

i play heavy, head-light, thin-beamed racquets....generally 360g static and ~325sw strung. my gamers are the '90s donnay pro1 limiteds.

i'm also a racquet junkie...and i picked up an OG mw200g 95 thinking it'd be right up my alley...had it strung with my normal prince syn-gut 17g at 50# and weighted it up to my specs...

...and the racquet feels like doo-doo...

i'm used to low-powered racquets, but this feels stupid-low-powered with zero feel, quite dead -- no pop at all, like none.

i do have a damper on it, maybe that's overkill and sucking the life out of it given the racquet supposedly has built-in damping tech?

separate from the feel/feedback hitting, it also feels sluggish thru the air. it is my first 18x20 (normally play 16x19) maybe the extra strings slow things down thru the air?

anyway...interested experiences thoughts from other racquet dinosaurs that might have experience with a mw200g.

Those two rackets are good to compare. I find my MW much more whippy than my Pro One, and both around 345g strung, 7pt HL. The Donnay feels like it has weight around the shoulders to me, whereas the MW has more weight at the top of the handle. In fact I added 1g at 4 and 8 o'clock to the MW for more stability. Sounds like your tailoring up to 360g is too much. Although lead adds SW and hence power (at the same swing-speed), lead does not return energy to the ball like graphite does.

Definitely lose the dampener in the MW. The bridge has elastomer and kevlar in it, which are both great vibration absorbers. I have Red Code at 55lbs in mine, and it's still very comfortable. Yes the MW is relatively low powered, but not enough to be a problem for me, and it's definitely much more controlled than the Pro One.

 

[Seth]

I’ve used the OG and the reissue. Both have very small sweetspots and are indeed very low-powered. You can swing for the fences and the ball usually stays in, but it can be tough to find put-away power.

It’s a real shame because it’s one of my favorite cosmetics of all time.

 

[PaulC]

This original release (not the re-issue) came with a Tofu throat bridge...

You can literally feel the excessive bend on it -- what I called BAD FLEX -- In contrast to the HM 200G 95 with the "Tour Bridge" (probably also used on the re-issue) that fixed this issue and made it feel a bit more solid.

(then again, I prefer stiffer frames in general anyway)

Not helping is the super-dense string pattern.

For me personally, lower the tension 15-20+ pounds with a 1.10 or 1.05 gauge thin poly, and it will be more playable.

 

[jmacdaununder2]

Needs nattie gut to give you anything back.

 

[AmericanTwist]

Lose the dampener. I have a hotmelt 18x20 that feels amazing stock at 358g with 17g syn gut. I might add a bit more weight to the butt cap to make the head swing around faster but I get as much power as I want. Feel and control is amazing. MW is only 1ra more flexible and pros used to play with the same specs. Maybe drop the tension a bit next time, but my HM is also strung tight. I don't know the tension as it came this way.

 

[basil J]

This was my goto frame for years. I strung it with full 17G gut at 58#-60#. At the time, I felt that it had plenty of power, feel and spin. I went away from it for years to the Becker Melbourne and that frame gave me more of everything that I could not get from the MW 200G. The reissues that came out a few years ago felt cheaper and hollow compared to the originals. I found them very low powered and not a frame I would ever use again in a match. The originals had a honey comb butt cap and they were much better than the reissue in my Opinion. Best cosmetic for any frame I have used. The darth vader of frames. I toyed with adding weight and found them to play best in stock with full gut and a rubber band for a dampener. I used the AG 200 for a summer 3 years ago and that had more pop than the reissue 200GMW, but still pretty low powered off the ground. Great all court frame. I wonder if the age of the frames plays into how they play. This frame came out 23 years ago.

 

[mtommer]

The reissues that came out a few years ago felt cheaper and hollow compared to the originals. I found them very low powered and not a frame I would ever use again in a match.

Perhaps, but I strung mine at 65 and got plenty of power. I often had to worry about hitting long. It depends on the user. If I go back to a 2HBH, it would be my main racquet most likely.

 

[ProRadTour]

I had the re-issue and it was probably the under powered players frame I have ever played with a sweet spot the size of golf ball. I string in the 40s and it didn't help.

 

[bigbadboaz]

I didn't like it either BITD. It has an incredibly dead, flexy, thudding feel to it. So I guess the "lose the dampener" advice is the first step to maybe salvaging your experience with it.