Getting wood racquets strung?

[Cerbo]

Oh well, replacement is coming on Tuesday. Bought it for $25. According to seller, it weighs 365g strung.
Edit: the seller has misinformed me about the weight, do read the following post...

 

[Cerbo]

Oh well, replacement is coming on Tuesday. Bought it for $25. According to seller, it weighs 365g strung.

Well, well, indeed! Turns out Germina Twen is a hefty girl, 415g strung, balanced at 33cm. Which is not a problem, because the racket looks to be in excellent condition, and I get a chance to experience the real plow-through effect. Although...
This seller has not been conducting himself in a very admirable manner. First, he tells me his scale might be faulty. Then, when I insist on him measuring the racket's weight accurately, a half an hour later he messages me back by saying that he has now measured it with a different, electronic scale, and it's also showing around 365g (the same weight, as measured with the other 'possibly' faulty scale). At that point, I was thinking, if two different scales are showing the same weight, then we're good to go.
Today, the package arrives. As soon as I picked up the racquet from the cardboard box, I realized it was much, much heavier. I then proceeded to measure it on my own scale, which I have calibrated with precise weights just a month ago (and have measured, and remeasured rackets on it, to make sure they measure the same). Of course, my scale shows the weight of 415g, the whole 50g heavier than what the seller reported.
Now, I offered him an option of just symbolically compensating me for his misinformation, by sending me one of his, couple of bucks worth items being sold, of my choosing. We'll see how he responds.

 

[Cerbo]

On Friday, I should be opening this beautiful red bag, so I could feast on the two goodies inside. The pleasure is all mine for $50.
Hopefully, one of them will be able to fill the void left by the loss of my Black Dart.

 

[Cerbo]

This Donnay Lady Flex is aesthetically fully complementing my Donnay Monte Carlo Björn Borg, which performance-wise fits me like a glove.
Although, I definitely won't be playing it, 'cause the grip size is M2, and it is a ladies racket. Also, it does have a slight bend on the top of the head.
I'll try to find some ways of straightening it.

 

[thenewbig3]

@Cerbo It might be a cool to have separate independent thread - "My racket purchase adventures" - or something like that

I was thinking about that for myself but I gave up. Since you are more inclined to put it out there it could work well for you.

 

[Cerbo]

@Cerbo It might be a cool to have separate independent thread - "My racket purchase adventures" - or something like that

I was thinking about that for myself but I gave up. Since you are more inclined to put it out there it could work well for you.

If I knew, let's say 4 months ago, I would be getting on this 'rackets purchase adventure', it would've totally made sense. I guess for me, the main motivation was the quest for knowledge. It's better to learn some things through experience. So actually, all along, I've been on a 'playtesting rackets adventure'.
Two weeks ago, when I was playtesting Donnay Monte Carlo Björn Borg, it all clicked. Clear as daylight, no qualms about it, I knew what is my mission:

From now on, woodies are my main choice in competitive amateur tennis!

Since then, I feel like the curtain is falling, my thirst has been quenched, and at least when it comes to rackets purchase, it is as the song says...

 

[Frankc]

My veteran group has a saying about frames - "How much wood?" That is short for does a frame have a sense of feel and maybe flex and maybe remind us of wood's control and feel.
Tough quest as materials decide the frame's response - no getting around that.
Yet my quest has been to come as close as I can to regaining that feel and "time on the frame"...
I am now very close and happy - variety is still the "spice" of our Game...

 

[Cerbo]

@Frankc Did you ever play on this court at the Racquet Club Ranch in Tucson, Arizona?
(photo: Raul Ramirez - 1977 Davis Cup Competition)
An awesome shade of blue!

I was too preoccupied with my tennis adventures, I've missed this year's Vienna Open. Their courts were painted in a lovely shade of blue as well.

 

[fritzhimself]

But this is a photo (No.2) from 2023—this year Tsitispas has withdrawn.

 

[Cerbo]

But this is a photo (No.2) from 2023—this year Tsitispas has withdrawn.

Come to think of it, since 2016, the year Nole finally won Roland Garros, I haven't been watching much tennis (I didn't play at all from 2015 'till 2020, here is partly why). I would mostly tune in for the slams, any other tournament just sporadically.
Ha, ha, in this post you can see my approach to playing vs watching tennis:

It should go without saying, I love playing tennis more than watching tennis. Actually, I can even recall a funny story, which takes me back to 2008 and that highly anticipated Wimbledon final, between Fed and Rafa.
The day before the final, I called up a friend of mine, with whom I used to spar a lot back then. And I told him: "Everyone and their grandmother is going to be glued to their TV screens from very the first second of tomorrow's final. Even though it's going to be a beautiful sunny day, all the courts will be completely empty. So how about, instead of watching the final live, we go out there tomorrow and play tennis without any disturbance whatsoever?" He agreed, and while Fed and Rafa were locked in a grueling battle, we had so much fun casually sparring. Because the Fedal five-setter final lasted the whole five hours, we even got to watch the last two sets live!

 

[Frankc]

Smart move - nothing better than empty courts and a perfect day. You can actually hear the ball strike on a good serve...
(Similar here in that I have a lifetime love of the Game, yet have not watched a full live match in years (just highlights to see what I am not missing...).
But I do watch all the time a really extensive collection of earlier matches 60s - 90s, and I admit to the joy when the USTA just posted a HD copy of USO Mac - Borg, '80. Probably my most watched match of all - amazin... utterly so... Love the Game...

 

[Cerbo]

Nooooooooo!!!

Quickly found the right replacement!
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/inde...ce-synthetic-gut-soft-16.793677/post-19102790

 

[Cerbo]

@Frankc Wow, what a coincidence! For $25 I just bought pretty much the same 'Wilson Jack Kramer Autograph' with which Raul Ramirez used to play.

 

[Frankc]

Yep, very well done... Now, remember that he did play VS gut tight (sorry, that is the old school, labor intensive and prime quality VS that hasn't been available for way too long now...)
Once I walked out of a thrift with a new, never strung JKA with cover , 4 1/2 L ... 3.99 USD (+ tax)....
I'd rather stare at the beauty than string it up...

And those Maxply Forts are gorgeous, also...

 

[Cerbo]

And those Maxply Forts are gorgeous, also...

Both of my 'Donnay'-s are balanced at 31.5cm (strung with OG and DN), which for me seems to be the key ingredient. I don't mind a woodie being heavy, like 365g unstrung, as long as it has 9 pts HL balance (strung with OG and DN).
My 'Dunlop Maxply McEnroe', as I've learned, is 'Maxply Fort' in disguise. The thing that bugs me about it, and one of the reason I haven't still playtested it, is its balance of 33cm or 4 pts HL (strung with OG and DN). That's a whole 1.5cm or 5 pts more head heavy than I prefer. Which is also why I wasn't so bummed out about my 'Slazenger Black Dart' braking, 'cause, even though it only weighed 345g unstrung, its balance was also 4 pts HL (strung with OG and DN).
That aside, I'll probably string both 'Dunlop Maxply Fort' and 'JKA' with 'Blue Star', 'cause this string has been working really well for me when I was playtesting it on 'Donnay Schmitter Sport'.
(Here are a couple more seller's photos of 'Dunlop Maxply Fort', which I also paid $25 for.)

 

[Frankc]

Agree, the Mac Maxply is just gorgeous - but a heavy balance. Great serving, though - have one strung with Gamma Gut II.

Your wood frames always remind me of the craft & beauty that used to be part of our Game. Miss that greatly.... and the sound of wood and tight gut...
Yup, was a better Game then...

 

[Cerbo]

Mac Maxply is just gorgeous - but a heavy balance.

I'm hoping my 'JKA' comes balanced at, for instance, 8 pts HL just like this one (although, not as heavy):
https://gb.tennismuseum.co.uk/wilson-jack-kramer-autograph-1970/

 

[Cerbo]

I'm hoping my 'JKA' comes balanced at, for instance, 8 pts HL just like this one (although, not as heavy):
https://gb.tennismuseum.co.uk/wilson-jack-kramer-autograph-1970/

I hoped 'JKA'-s balance would be more head light, but 5 pts HL isn't that bad, since the racket doesn't weigh too much, 385g strung. Interestingly, 'Donnay Super Service' has the same balance as 'JKA' and is only 5g heavier.

It didn't, but it's OK. I have a match tomorrow, and I'm going to playtest it. Also, I've strung 'JKA' with 'Blue Star' at 21/20kg and fixed it up as best I could.
Just wait till I take some good photos!

 

[clp34vmp]

Since I started this thread I have received my never-before-strung Head Vilas racquet which I must say looked even better in person than I'd hoped. The bad news, though, is that I took it to the one guy I know of in my area who I know is able to string wood racquets and he won't do it. Says he has never done a wood racquet on the new stringer he has in the shop and would be too afraid to damage it. Ugh! I'm not in a super rush since I have no plan to actually play with it, but I really do want to get it strung at some point. Any advice? I've been toying with the idea of learning to string myself, so was considering maybe buying a used older model machine and learning on wood frames picked up from garage sales or wherever.

 

[thenewbig3]

Any advice?

I have had absolutely no issues stinging up wood rackets in all kinds of machines. All rackets were structurally sound before and after stringing.

But my suggestion is to not let it be your first string job ever....

Get a junk graphite racket and a cheap string reel. String, Cut, Repeat.

 

[steveq81]

@clp34vmp An unstrung Vilas is a pretty good find and not a run of the mill woodie. I would strongly suggest keeping it unstrung. Use it as a great display item, and find another wood racquet to string up and play with.

 

[clp34vmp]

An unstrung Vilas is a pretty good find and not a run of the mill woodie. I would strongly suggest keeping it unstrung. Use it as a great display item, and find another wood racquet to string up and play with.

Definitely have no intention of playing with it but would prefer to have it strung for display if it's at all possible

 

[steveq81]

Gotcha. Maybe I missed that in an earlier post, but an unstrung racquet (never strung, in this case) is not going to warp. A strung racquet might over time.

Your racquet, your call. A new Vilas is pretty nice! I have a new one with the hangtag still attached. Tried to post a pic, but I got error messages. If I get it figured out, I'll pop back.

 

[Moldyoak]

...but an unstrung racquet (never strung, in this case) is not going to warp.

It absolutely can warp if stored improperly. However, I'd agree that if not warped now and it's stored relatively stress-free and not in extremes of climate, it should remain un-warped.

I'll take the contrary position that I would string that sucker and play with it. These are tools to be used and not meant to last forever. I'm not a collector but I do have quite a number of woodies that were nos/never strung, and I've strung them all and continue to use them, including probably 10 Vilas racquets at this point. Greatest standard-size woods ever made, imho!