Head Prestige 80?

[Miguelin]

I've stumbled into this strange "Prestige" for 25 bucks and was wondering if this is like a cheap version of the Prestige that went under a lower price tag back in the day (kind of like the Wilson comp 300 to the Pro Staff 85, which btw this seller also had –similar mold, same headsize, thinner beam, 16x18 pattern), or maybe some kind of precursor of the 1987 Prestige Pro that only released in Europe or something, or maybe just a Fake?

It's around 80 sqin headsize, ~19mm constant beam, comes with a leather grip and the finishing plastic piece at the throat also present in the Prestige classics. It resembles a little the Arthur Ashe aesthetic, only in a darker, less metallic and more glossy/glittery grey, with rounder edges.
It also seems to have some pseudo-CAP bumper, which seems to be kind of embedded in the mold of the frame, and passes for black paint where it hasn't been roughened up (but you can see clearly that where it has, there is a clear division between the plastic and the paint).
The pattern is a quite strange 18x17 with a couple of shared holes at each corner. Also the side mains seem to be a angled towards the tip, as some old frames do, but grommets are a little old and holes don't have a very noticeable difference in size between middle crosses/mains, tie-offs or shared holes, so I'm not entirely sure this is how the stringjob is supposed to look... There definitely is more room for extra crosses on both ends of the racket!

So if anyone can give any info on this frame's story, specs, construction or whatever, that would be much appreciated! It would also be my pleasure to answer any questions that are within my grasp!
Hope the pics are uploaded correctly:

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[Grafil Injection]

Pretty sure that's similar to the Edge series mould (81.5sqi), and would have been in the 1982-84 range before they standardised the MiA members of that series in 84-85. Nothing to do with the first famous Prestige Pro and TXP. There was also a MiA Gold Prestige MidPlus in the Pro mould before the FXP. Quite likely a wooden Prestige exists somewhere too.

 

[gino]

Tagging @vsbabolat for insight

 

[vsbabolat]

It’s an early 80’s 1981-1984 frame. It’s strung up completely wrong and should be 18x20.

 

[Grafil Injection]

That Prestige Mid also shows a lot of similarity to the Magnum Midsize, especially the colour-scheme. Although they both have 19x11mm beams like the Edges, the neck is about 2cm longer, making the throat aperture about 2cm shorter, so strictly speaking they are from a different mould. The Magnum (100% fibre) existed until 1985, but then was replaced by a Magnum 25 Edge Series (graphite), which had the shorter neck and longer throat of the rest of the MiA Edges. I can say the Magnum Mid plays surprisingly solid and powerful for a 100% fibre-glass stick. It feels less polarised/clubby than the Edges at the same weight, which makes it easier to swing; and whilst extremely comfortable, has no flutter off-centre. I suspect that Prestige Mid would be a very nice hit too.

 

[Miguelin]

That Prestige Mid also shows a lot of similarity to the Magnum Midsize, especially the colour-scheme. Although they both have 19x11mm beams like the Edges, the neck is about 2cm longer, making the throat aperture about 2cm shorter, so strictly speaking they are from a different mould. The Magnum (100% fibre) existed until 1985, but then was replaced by a Magnum 25 Edge Series (graphite), which had the shorter neck and longer throat of the rest of the MiA Edges. I can say the Magnum Mid plays surprisingly solid and powerful for a 100% fibre-glass stick. It feels less polarised/clubby than the Edges at the same weight, which makes it easier to swing; and whilst extremely comfortable, has no flutter off-centre. I suspect that Prestige Mid would be a very nice hit too.

Wow, they do look really similar. Seems even like the same mold and drill pattern. Thanks for the pic, I was doubting for a moment mine could pull off a 18x20, the last bottom cross seemed like it was going to be closer to the previous one than the 19th to the 18th which seemed odd to me, but seeing it strung on your pics the spacing feels corrects (even tho the wider gap is between 18-19 but I guess that's inevitable when you put three shared holes in a row and don't want the spacing issue to be between the 5-6-7 mains).

Now I wonder, as both the Magnum and Prestige Mid say "mid size" at the neck / abobe handle, but the Magnum doesn't specify "mid" in its name, were there other Prestiges of the same time with different sizes? Is there a Prestige MP or even OS? (Maybe 1981-84 is too soon for OS to be commonplace but who knows)

Also, does anybody know what material was this one made of? Could it be fiber glass as well, or maybe graphite on the same mold? I'll restring it properly and take it out for a hit, although don't think I would be able to tell its material from the hitting but I'll share my thoughts!

Any idea what connection could there be between its name and the 87 Prestige Pro? Even though they are clearly different frames, I can't help to think that the fact that the first entry in the Prestige series had "Pro" as "surname" points out to the name "Prestige" being taken from a previous frame, and I guess this could be it?

 

[Miguelin]

Ok so I've already strung it 18x20 and it does feel a little bit wrong. First of all the main tie offs go all the way from the 10T grommet hole to the 5T, overlapping 4 holes. The spacing between the 20th (bottom) cross and 19th is noticeably larger than 19-18 and even 18-17. The distance from 20th cross to bridge is smaller than from 1st cross to tip, which is also unusual.
I think it makes more sense to do an 18x19, and the throat section being 7T 8T shared, 9T skip, 10T shared (symmetrical with head).

 

[vsbabolat]

Wow, they do look really similar. Seems even like the same mold and drill pattern. Thanks for the pic, I was doubting for a moment mine could pull off a 18x20, the last bottom cross seemed like it was going to be closer to the previous one than the 19th to the 18th which seemed odd to me, but seeing it strung on your pics the spacing feels corrects (even tho the wider gap is between 18-19 but I guess that's inevitable when you put three shared holes in a row and don't want the spacing issue to be between the 5-6-7 mains).

Now I wonder, as both the Magnum and Prestige Mid say "mid size" at the neck / abobe handle, but the Magnum doesn't specify "mid" in its name, were there other Prestiges of the same time with different sizes? Is there a Prestige MP or even OS? (Maybe 1981-84 is too soon for OS to be commonplace but who knows)

Also, does anybody know what material was this one made of? Could it be fiber glass as well, or maybe graphite on the same mold? I'll restring it properly and take it out for a hit, although don't think I would be able to tell its material from the hitting but I'll share my thoughts!

Any idea what connection could there be between its name and the 87 Prestige Pro? Even though they are clearly different frames, I can't help to think that the fact that the first entry in the Prestige series had "Pro" as "surname" points out to the name "Prestige" being taken from a previous frame, and I guess this could be it?

There were no HEAD OS frames at that time as Prince had the patten on the design at that point and HEAD didn’t want to pay Prince. So the larger headed HEAD rackets looks like snow shoes to avoid the Prince patten. Vector series and Edge series rackets made in Austria were 18x20. The made in USA Graphite Edge and Composite Edge was 18x19. I firmly believe the correct string pattern is 18x20.

 

[Grafil Injection]

Wow, they do look really similar. Seems even like the same mold and drill pattern. Thanks for the pic, I was doubting for a moment mine could pull off a 18x20, the last bottom cross seemed like it was going to be closer to the previous one than the 19th to the 18th which seemed odd to me, but seeing it strung on your pics the spacing feels corrects (even tho the wider gap is between 18-19 but I guess that's inevitable when you put three shared holes in a row and don't want the spacing issue to be between the 5-6-7 mains).

Now I wonder, as both the Magnum and Prestige Mid say "mid size" at the neck / abobe handle, but the Magnum doesn't specify "mid" in its name, were there other Prestiges of the same time with different sizes? Is there a Prestige MP or even OS? (Maybe 1981-84 is too soon for OS to be commonplace but who knows)

Also, does anybody know what material was this one made of? Could it be fiber glass as well, or maybe graphite on the same mold? I'll restring it properly and take it out for a hit, although don't think I would be able to tell its material from the hitting but I'll share my thoughts!

Any idea what connection could there be between its name and the 87 Prestige Pro? Even though they are clearly different frames, I can't help to think that the fact that the first entry in the Prestige series had "Pro" as "surname" points out to the name "Prestige" being taken from a previous frame, and I guess this could be it?

Yes, the gap between 18 & 19 is unusually large on the Magnum, and that's another slight difference to the Edge rackets.

There's no real link from the Prestige Mid above to the Prestiges from 1986 onwards, other than the name, because the later famous models were larger, had more rectangular beams (19x9mm), and used CAP grommets and Twaron in the layup for the first time. My Magnum hits great however, so I would hope the Prestige Mid does too.

P.S. is the butt-cap sticker gold coloured and says Made in Austria?

 

[Grafil Injection]

Here's the Comfort Edge, Magnum and Prestige Midplus in case it helps work out the stringing. All 18x20.

 

[Miguelin]

Yes, the gap between 18 & 19 is unusually large on the Magnum, and that's another slight difference to the Edge rackets.

There's no real link from the Prestige Mid above to the Prestiges from 1986 onwards, other than the name, because the later famous models were larger, had more rectangular beams (19x9mm), and used CAP grommets and Twaron in the layup for the first time. My Magnum hits great however, so I would hope the Prestige Mid does too.

P.S. is the butt-cap sticker gold coloured and says Made in Austria?

I'm afraid there's no buttcap sticker. It has either been erased or peeled off.
Thanks for the pic, my stringjob does look just like the Magnum's, so I guess I'm good to go. I hope it hits great too!

Also, I see there was actually a Midplus model as well. No shared holes and paint job looks different, but I'm guessing it's from the same time more or less as the Mid? Do you know what Headsize is it?

Thank you all very much for the help.

 

[Grafil Injection]

I'm afraid there's no buttcap sticker. It has either been erased or peeled off.
Thanks for the pic, my stringjob does look just like the Magnum's, so I guess I'm good to go. I hope it hits great too!

Also, I see there was actually a Midplus model as well. No shared holes and paint job looks different, but I'm guessing it's from the same time more or less as the Mid? Do you know what Headsize is it?

Thank you all very much for the help.

Prestige Midplus is 89.5sqi same as the Graphite/Comp/Team etc Pro moulds with boxy 18x11mm beams, and different to the Prestige Pro / TXP mould, which is 89.5sqi, but more slender 19mm x 9mm. Actually, what's interesting is when you include the CAP grommets, the cross sections of the PP/TXP are the same at 11mm, so you could argue the CAP grommets are part of the layup (not completely LOLing).

 

[Miguelin]

Prestige Midplus is 89.5sqi same as the Graphite/Comp/Team etc Pro moulds with boxy 18x11mm beams, and different to the Prestige Pro / TXP mould, which is 89.5sqi, but more slender 19mm x 9mm. Actually, what's interesting is when you include the CAP grommets, the cross sections of the PP/TXP are the same at 11mm, so you could argue the CAP grommets are part of the layup (not completely LOLing).

Haha, the good ol' days when 89.5 was a Midplus.

Well, that's interesting. Of course a piece of plastic is not the same as 2 mm more of graphite, but I'd bet the flex of the hoop wouldn't be exactly the same without the CAP...

 

[vsbabolat]

Haha, the good ol' days when 89.5 was a Midplus.

Well, that's interesting. Of course a piece of plastic is not the same as 2 mm more of graphite, but I'd bet the flex of the hoop wouldn't be exactly the same without the CAP...

I’ve played with Prestige 600 with and without CAP grommets and I found in my personal experience that the Prestige 600 felt stiffer when compared to the same racket with CAP system grommets.

 

[Miguelin]

Yes, the gap between 18 & 19 is unusually large on the Magnum, and that's another slight difference to the Edge rackets.

There's no real link from the Prestige Mid above to the Prestiges from 1986 onwards, other than the name, because the later famous models were larger, had more rectangular beams (19x9mm), and used CAP grommets and Twaron in the layup for the first time. My Magnum hits great however, so I would hope the Prestige Mid does too.

P.S. is the butt-cap sticker gold coloured and says Made in Austria?

Well I just realized almost two years later that I never gave feedback regarding my hitting sessions. The Prestige Mid actually hits great (for a 81.5 sqin early 80s frame of course). I'd say it's 100% graphite as it feels actually pretty rigid. I was caught off guard at first, as even though I had hit with some modern prestiges (Graphene Touch, Youtek IG), I had not yet tried a Classic 600 (which I imagined having a buttery feel) and the Mid felt a little like a baseball bat. Later on I got my hands on a PC600 (finally) and was really surprised by how solid and crisp it felt (at least to me). So then I made a hitting session with all my (at the time) Prestige-like frames (The Mid, the PC600, the GT and IG, and a Pro Tour 2.0) and it actually made sense. The feel of the Mid is surprisingly close to the PC600, less solid and clean I'd say, and maybe a little more raw, probably due to Twaron vs. 100% graphite.
Not a frame I will be using very often but a fun frame to have for this kind of "pleasure hitting" seasions, definitely.

I’ve played with Prestige 600 with and without CAP grommets and I found in my personal experience that the Prestige 600 felt stiffer when compared to the same racket with CAP system grommets.

Well that's really counterintuitive, isn't it? I guess it was the same frame but changing the CAP for a trimmed version right? Do you remember if the weight (and SW) was adjusted? Or could it have been an effect of the extra weight "dampening" the impact?