johncauthen
Semi-Pro
This answers a question from grizzly4life.
Think of the racquet in three parts. The first part, 5 3/8 inches from the butt can be light. If you add weight there it doesn’t affect the racquet negatively or positively. That’s the first 136 mm. Handle weight starts to be effective between 5 3/8 and 8 3/8 inches from the butt. That’s between 213 and 136 mm.
The third part of the racquet is from 213 mm to the top of the head. The third part is what the tennis industry has become expert in. Everything from 8 3/8 inches to the top of the hoop gives the racquet its personality that people like or not. Every racquet has a different personality.
Thinking of the racquet as three separate parts, you can add a lot of weight to the second part between 213 and 136 mm. If the weight you add is strips of lead tape; add it between 212 and 144 mm like I say at the bottom of my posts. If it’s a shaped weight, you can stretch it out to between 213 and 136.
Unshaped strips might start to feel heavy at about 17 to 25 grams. A shaped weight can be as much as 62 grams.
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever learned. That Babolat -- described in a deleted post in the Pro Racquets and Gear section that I cannot recover -- weighs 249 grams and its balance point is at 377 mm as a bare strung frame. There is no added weight between 213 and 136. Its balance point is at 377 mm.
The Babolat is from the original Babolat mold, the same mold Moya uses. It weighs 249 grams as a bare strung frame with a grip. Its balance point is 377 mm.
I have a Hammer 6.3 that weighs 269 grams as a bare strung frame with a grip, which is the closest racquet I have in lightness to the Babolat. That Babolat is my best performing racquet.
After I bought the Hammer, to make it light like the Babolat I removed 10 grams of lead foil from under the butt end of the Hammer's grip. The altered 6.3 always seemed head heavy. I measured the Hammer’s bare strung frame like I measured the Babolat. It’s balance point was 382 mm.
Then I replaced the 10 grams of weight under the butt end of the grip. Now the balance point is 371 mm. The racquet no longer feels head heavy.
I discovered a secret. A frame can be about 377 mm and no more head heavy. Both the Babolat and Hammer feel good at 377 and 371. At 382 the Hammer felt head heavy, even after it was modified with 62 grams to the seond part of the racquet.
I added ten grams back to the first part of the racquet, between 136 mm and the butt, and it feels right.
Wilson felt the same thing. After they made the handle of that racquet superlight, they added ten grams back to the butt end of the handle to make the balance point of the frame as head heavy as it could be without feeling head heavy.
That Babolat and Hammer have the same optimum balance point. Any more is too head heavy.
To those unmodified frames I can add my weights between 213 and 136 mm from the butt. The weights can vary between 48 and 62 grams. I am not affecting the feel of the balance, nor the swingweight by adding more or less weight to the second part of the racquet; but the racquet becomes much more solid as I add more weight to the part of the racquet between 136 and 213 mm.
Adding 62 grams to the Hammer 6.3 produces a 345 gram finished racquet with a 1 or 2 pt head light balance. At this point it doesn't matter where the balance is. It feels just about perfect. I can add less weight down to 48 grams. My friend likes 48 grams. The weight and balance of the bare frame is always the same. That is what matters.
These higher performing modified racquets can be offered in weights between 345 and 331g. The racquet is a 283g strung racquet with no weight added. It’s a best seller that Wilson brought back into production. The frame is the remanufactured version of the Wilson Hammer 6.3, which is better than the original. It could be offered with variable hilt weights between 48 and 62 grams.
Thank you, thanks for asking exactly the right question.
Think of the racquet in three parts. The first part, 5 3/8 inches from the butt can be light. If you add weight there it doesn’t affect the racquet negatively or positively. That’s the first 136 mm. Handle weight starts to be effective between 5 3/8 and 8 3/8 inches from the butt. That’s between 213 and 136 mm.
The third part of the racquet is from 213 mm to the top of the head. The third part is what the tennis industry has become expert in. Everything from 8 3/8 inches to the top of the hoop gives the racquet its personality that people like or not. Every racquet has a different personality.
Thinking of the racquet as three separate parts, you can add a lot of weight to the second part between 213 and 136 mm. If the weight you add is strips of lead tape; add it between 212 and 144 mm like I say at the bottom of my posts. If it’s a shaped weight, you can stretch it out to between 213 and 136.
Unshaped strips might start to feel heavy at about 17 to 25 grams. A shaped weight can be as much as 62 grams.
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever learned. That Babolat -- described in a deleted post in the Pro Racquets and Gear section that I cannot recover -- weighs 249 grams and its balance point is at 377 mm as a bare strung frame. There is no added weight between 213 and 136. Its balance point is at 377 mm.
The Babolat is from the original Babolat mold, the same mold Moya uses. It weighs 249 grams as a bare strung frame with a grip. Its balance point is 377 mm.
I have a Hammer 6.3 that weighs 269 grams as a bare strung frame with a grip, which is the closest racquet I have in lightness to the Babolat. That Babolat is my best performing racquet.
After I bought the Hammer, to make it light like the Babolat I removed 10 grams of lead foil from under the butt end of the Hammer's grip. The altered 6.3 always seemed head heavy. I measured the Hammer’s bare strung frame like I measured the Babolat. It’s balance point was 382 mm.
Then I replaced the 10 grams of weight under the butt end of the grip. Now the balance point is 371 mm. The racquet no longer feels head heavy.
I discovered a secret. A frame can be about 377 mm and no more head heavy. Both the Babolat and Hammer feel good at 377 and 371. At 382 the Hammer felt head heavy, even after it was modified with 62 grams to the seond part of the racquet.
I added ten grams back to the first part of the racquet, between 136 mm and the butt, and it feels right.
Wilson felt the same thing. After they made the handle of that racquet superlight, they added ten grams back to the butt end of the handle to make the balance point of the frame as head heavy as it could be without feeling head heavy.
That Babolat and Hammer have the same optimum balance point. Any more is too head heavy.
To those unmodified frames I can add my weights between 213 and 136 mm from the butt. The weights can vary between 48 and 62 grams. I am not affecting the feel of the balance, nor the swingweight by adding more or less weight to the second part of the racquet; but the racquet becomes much more solid as I add more weight to the part of the racquet between 136 and 213 mm.
Adding 62 grams to the Hammer 6.3 produces a 345 gram finished racquet with a 1 or 2 pt head light balance. At this point it doesn't matter where the balance is. It feels just about perfect. I can add less weight down to 48 grams. My friend likes 48 grams. The weight and balance of the bare frame is always the same. That is what matters.
These higher performing modified racquets can be offered in weights between 345 and 331g. The racquet is a 283g strung racquet with no weight added. It’s a best seller that Wilson brought back into production. The frame is the remanufactured version of the Wilson Hammer 6.3, which is better than the original. It could be offered with variable hilt weights between 48 and 62 grams.
Thank you, thanks for asking exactly the right question.
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