How to customize PT57A to play like Head Pro Tour (original) or Prestige MP?

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

Hi! I have a couple of PT57A which I've tried to customize to be much lighter from original Head Pro Tour 630.
But after many tries I came to conclusion – this rakcet needs weight to be as powerful as PT630.

PRO TOUR 630

Can you help me and tell me ––
1) How much silicon do you put into the handle?
2) How much lead tape and where do you put on your PT57A head to feel similar to PT630?

I know that PT630 had 325g unstrung weight and 315mm unstrung balance – but can you recommend any other customizations you consider as worth to try out?

PRESTIGE MP

Is this racket good as well if customized to 320g and 310mm unstrange balance as retail Prestige MP was offered for many years?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

This is mine version of PT57A2 – 336g strung with 2g dampener and 6,3g Pacific overgrip. 330g strung – NXT17 and AluPower Luxilon.
SW –– 338
Strung balance –– 32mm

 

[dr325i]

This is mine version of PT57A2 – 336g strung with 2g dampener and 6,3g Pacific overgrip. 330g strung – NXT17 and AluPower Luxilon.
SW –– 338
Strung balance –– 32mm

That is a perfect spec for me!

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

Unstrung – 312g

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

That is a perfect spec for me!

The point is that PT57A has really flexible head and polarised distribution of mass makes it even more flexible feel-wise.

Specs seemed fine to me when I was giving them to customization – but played recently with good old PT630 and liked it much more.
Of course – as I am getting older – 336g looks like the new 347g to me on paper

 

[dr325i]

The point is that PT57A has really flexible head and polarised distribution of mass makes it even more flexible feel-wise.

Specs seemed fine to me when I was giving them to customization – but played recently with good old PT630 and liked it much more.
Of course – as I am getting older – 336g looks like the new 347g to me on paper

same here.
I used to customize my PT57A to 355g strung and 345-350SW. Worked well. I actually just watched some old youtube videos of me hitting and practicing serves and it worked well.
I would not be able to swing that today, for 2 hours straight.
That is why I gave up on the PT630, however, still have them in my bag just for that special feel once in a while...

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

I have two the same PT57A2 rackets – in one of them I required later to took off the lead tape – so I guess I need to have around 4.25g of lead tape in the version I put in the first post.
Not sure I still have spare TK293 grommet – hence I did the math. This could be 2 x 10-2pm lead tape cuts – I customized the same way TGT291.2 and I worked well, but I don't like it in PT57A (or 4 x 11-1pm cuts for extra SW).

 

[kalic]

My experience - impossible... First, I tried to make lighter version of PT630. Didn't work because stability is gone, compared to stock PT630. Then I matched weight and balance of PT630 with both polarized and depolarized setup - something is still different in swing. I guess the only way is if you can match swingweight and twistweight.

 

[AceyMan]

Unstrung – 312g

What kind of scale is that?

I've been looking for something small with sub gram increments.

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

What kind of scale is that?

I've been looking for something small with sub gram increments.

You can look on any auction site for Small Digital Pocket Scale 0.01g – there's plenty of them and they're very cheap. I've been looking for them too.
If you try to customize rackets on your own – good scale is a must.

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

So this is the lead tape (4g) under the grommet used in the setup I described above (330g strung with no dampener and no overgrip, SW –– 338, strung balance –– 32mm, 312g unstrung with lead tape as showed below).

For sure the racket is lighter, but I always found it way too flexible in the head – even compared to original Pro Tour 630. The sweetspot seems even smaller.
The power and spin is there, but from my long experience PT57A2 isn't as good as original Pro Tour 630 once the weight is polarized.

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

Today I played one hour with my new setup. It was based on the amount of silicon – making the racket 308g unstrung with no lead (no power). I guess it was much more solid and Prestige MP alike than mu inital lighter setup above. Put some numbers and photos very soon.

 

[onehandbh]

same here.
I used to customize my PT57A to 355g strung and 345-350SW. Worked well. I actually just watched some old youtube videos of me hitting and practicing serves and it worked well.
I would not be able to swing that today, for 2 hours straight.
That is why I gave up on the PT630, however, still have them in my bag just for that special feel once in a while...

Can I add your videos to the list in my thread?

THE complete list of TW Posters' videos

The complete list of links to TW Posters' videos. Please reply with a link to your video and I will add it to the complete list. A @adamc637 NTRP 4.0 singles __ 3.5 vs 5.0 ___ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upcy-9OVIR0 @AgassiGrafFan groundstrokes __...

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

 

[dr325i]

Can I add your videos to the list in my thread?

THE complete list of TW Posters' videos

The complete list of links to TW Posters' videos. Please reply with a link to your video and I will add it to the complete list. A @adamc637 NTRP 4.0 singles __ 3.5 vs 5.0 ___ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upcy-9OVIR0 @AgassiGrafFan groundstrokes __...

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

Sure:
old:

old (Prague):

newer:

thanks

 

[onehandbh]

Sure:
old:

old (Prague):

newer:

thanks

Nice service motion.

 

[SinneGOAT]

This is mine version of PT57A2 – 336g strung with 2g dampener and 6,3g Pacific overgrip. 330g strung – NXT17 and AluPower Luxilon.
SW –– 338
Strung balance –– 32mm

That frame is so beautiful! Matched with the mold it is a real beauty.

 

[Songs For A Dead Pilot]

@H.G – this is my story about customizing PT57A2.