Totally agree. FB V is very muted and in a countervail racquet which is muted to begin with just amplifys the issue. The gut to some extent negates this and I feel a bit more connected to the shot. Not sure crispness is the right word.
Perhaps I need to try FB of V in the RF97A and not the Blade CV and see how that plays. May like it more in that racquet.
Thanks for the reply. Connectedness is what I was looking for. Fb is difficult to discern where on the bed you are hitting. This sounds like an excellent hybrid, and I assume the comfort is up there with fb natty gut? I will try this whenever my arm heals up(work related, plus tennis).
That's certainly true. Stringbed feedback was lacking. But like BBP suggested it could be something you get used to and like. It is an extremely arm friendly setup. Sweet spot in terms of tension seems to be around 50-54 or so going be the consensus. I've tried 54 and 52 and may give 50 a shot.
Thanks for the kind words. Seems to be taking forever to heal, but I'm not taking any chances of re-injuring it. Relating to your previous post, I think Velocity revolve should be excellent. Substituting velocity for gut, I bet it would play well with many of the cross strings recommended in the gut/poly thread like revolve or hawk. Velocity/Cream was good when really hitting out. Felt some slight shock on off-center hits and when hitting softly(Seems the general consensus with any poly), so good feedback. Feel was excellent with Synthetic gut/Velocity in my 18x20 Angell TC 97(Only a 3.0 player).
But then, feedback is only useful if you can correct the problem. It is one hell of a ad for Velocity ... "you won't even feel your mishits".So you think Velocity is only good for average Players with Rhs, that wants to play a multi that is near Poly? Then what is a good (more powered) Multi that stays even in the Stringbed( at lower Price)? Wilson Sensation? Or any other Advice? Cause not many Students who came from Poly likes to bring back Strings in Position after every Point.
Ignorance is bliss [emoji6] as they say. No such thing as a shank with Velocity. Can see it working well in a stiff racquet where it's muteness is a value.I just started videoing my ball machine sessions again. Judging by where I'm hitting my 2hbhs (tip) I might could have used the feedback.
7 month old balls and a dead poly should do the trick. If TE from bad technique/form doesn't set them right nothing will.. Tough love indeed [emoji12]Actually this is a good question. Is it helpful to encourage longer strokes from the start? Maybe I should donate my 7 month old ball machine balls.
But now you have me thinking ... don't give them the pop they think they want. Give them the cr@ppy trampoline Velocity. Tough love.
Velocity can not be held responsible for dirt. I hate clay. I'm sure my legs from the knees to the ankles would like clay, but the rest of my body including the bottom of my feet hate clay. On my last USTA team we had a lot of guys, so we needed to rotate when we played. It was always "schedule the clay club match without BBP". Nice club ... except for the dirt.
Great review! Agree with a lot of your observations.Velocity 16g Natural 54#/17g Black 52# update (@9 hours ... not matches, just hitting and ball machine):
Short version:
- a couple of 50% notches, this is a little faster than fb 16g natural @55 and @52
- strings straight, which was the main reason I tried the hybrid
- like fb 16g natural @52 better ... both for feel (pocketing I think is it), and better spin for me (I expected the opposite)
Longer version (yeah, you know I have a longer version):
In order of my Velocity tests:
Velocity 16g Natural @55:
- best control of all setups, if I played tournament singles any more, probably would play this ... swing out
- control came at the cost of touch ... dropshots kind of brickish. String is muted to begin with
- got 30 hours until they broke (wow) ... played good until they broke, and stayed pretty much straight
- tension settled after approx 10% loss
Velocity 16g Natural @52:
- string feels much better at this tension, dropshots not brickish
- low powered string so still plenty of control
- seemed like spin was close to the same @52 and @55
- looked like I would have got 20-25 hours ... but cut out before broke for testing purposes. String was still playing the same
- tension settled after approx 10% loss
- strings moved more ... reason to try the hybrid
Velocity 16g Natural 54#/17g Black 52#
- good control ... close to fb 16g @55
- seems like less spin than fb 16 g natural (this makes no sense to me)
- don't like the feel as good as fb 16. I like all of these setups... could play with any of them and be happy, so just giving "head to head" comment
- strings straight at 9 hours
- 50% notch came a bit earlier @9 hours ... but not much. I guess 17g cuts in a bit faster.
- tension loss 12% after 9 hours (52.2 off stringer, 46.6 @9 hours ... 53.2, 49.4, 48.7, 47.9, 48.1, 47.6, 47.0, 46.6 ... would have stopped changing by now with 16g ... still great)
Humor: I'm doing my RT thing on that last reading, and kept getting 0.0. WTF ... I'm pinging the hell out of it with my screw driver. How can you get 0.0? Then I saw the dampener still in racquet. LOL ... but ZERO? I would not have expected that. [emoji14]
Only have about a month left of outdoor tennis. I won't play much in winter (maybe once a week), so not sure if I will test more this month.
Thoughts:
I suspect I just don't like 17g as good in this string (or maybe black plays different). I real test would need to be FB 17g black ... maybe @52. I intend to always keep FB 16g Natural @52 one racquet (ball machine and backup). The other racquet (match racquet) ... I can experiment. I want to experiment with it, because ball machine balls aren't the best test. You need to test in match conditions. So worse case if I pick something that sucks, I will just use the backup racquet until restringing.
What counts for more keeping mains straight? Tension (upping the tension to 54#) or differential. For example, one of the things I could try before giving up on hybrid is something like 16g @54/17G 50. I wonder if that couple of pounds less in cross would bump up the spin.
The other "next test" would be FB 17g black @52. I'm leaning in this direction because it should tell me if 17g (at least in black) is in or out (straight up head to head with 16g Natural @52).
It did for me. Both in FB and hybrid with a poly. Didn't really affect playability for me though. Could play either. With HyperG had a locked stringbed after 6 hours or so. With 16g it may have been 7-8 hours.
The answer depends as usual because the world is nothing but shades between Black and White in spite of our POTUS world view. It all depends on the string COFs and whether they would stick to each other at your main/cross tensions. You could increase main tension and if the resulting string was stiff enough, it will move if the cross tension remains the same. Or you could decrease the cross tension. If you use a high COF cross string, then the mains will not move well and when they do move, will stick. If you use a low COF string like ZX, then you could probably use any main at a reasonable tension.
For your particular case, I would drop the cross tension since the 17 Ga crosses are notching the 16 Ga mains. Increase tension of mains would also work, but at the cost of increased notching.
The answer depends as usual because the world is nothing but shades between Black and White in spite of our POTUS world view. It all depends on the string COFs and whether they would stick to each other at your main/cross tensions. You could increase main tension and if the resulting string was stiff enough, it will move if the cross tension remains the same. Or you could decrease the cross tension. If you use a high COF cross string, then the mains will not move well and when they do move, will stick. If you use a low COF string like ZX, then you could probably use any main at a reasonable tension.
Verbose, ain't I.
I just wanted to type.....
I just wanted to type.....
May help with pocketing and feel. Haven't gone that low myself. Will be interested to hear how it plays.
I'm inclined to agree. 50-52 seems low already and it plays pretty sweetly in this range - but like you i'm curious too. Have a feeling it might be too launchy - for me anyway.
Was hoping not to waste any of my precious V [emoji86] . Seeing as i have two reels though i will chance it for the greater good of this thread [emoji72] . 16g white or 17g black? Methinks 17g in my backup blade. Will string it up tomorrow and playtest it over a few days.You have the stringer ... you have to be the tester.
Band of V Brothers. The V Mile.
I just cut out VS/Cream with only about 27hrs. Very light notching on the gut. Light fraying main and crosses. Played consistently. Probably would have gone 40+ hrs for me.Snapped V16/V17 today with ball machine ... 10 hours. Pretty sure I like 20-30 hours with FB 16 better.
Going to restring with FB 16 @52. Then at some point, will try FB 17 in the Tonic/Cream racquet ... just can't cut out gut when I only have 15ish hours on it and virtually no fraying or notching.
