Hybrid set up and best syn gut/multi for stringers to have in stock for hybrids

Fighting phoenix

Professional
Question for the group - I have a USTA teammate (strong 4.0 mostly doubles) who uses a multi/hyper-g hybrid set up due to concerns about his arm but still wanting the spin/control one gets from a poly. Since I've upgraded my home-stringing business to string more often for teammates and others, and he's been asking me to string his racquets, I recommended he try hyper-g round as I felt it would perform better in a hybrid (ie shaped poly cutting into a soft multi). So far he likes it, but haven't gotten into depth with him on how it's performed relative to the shaped hyper G he's used to.

Questions I have are 1) am I right to recommend a round poly as either a cross or a main vs. a shaped poly like regular hyper-g, and 2) if I were to get a reel of a good multi/syn gut to use for customers who want a poly hybrid, what would be the best option for me to purchase to have on hand (and thinking that really expensive multis like TF Bi-phase might be better as a full bed given their high cost)?

Thanks!
 

maksp

Semi-Pro
Prince duraflex, velocity mlt , tf multifeel ,ogsm, x1,nrg, volkl sg,kirschbaum sg,triax,hdmx
 

tele

Hall of Fame
hdmx works well as a main with poly crosses- keeps sliding as it notches. Not the cheapest, though.
 

Cowboy

Semi-Pro
I have found that people are either really particular or have no clue what they want.

In some cases, I can talk with the person and make a recommendation based on what they tell me. I'm not afraid to open two packs to make a hybrid, in which case I just charge them the cost of the more expensive pack. If they like it and come back, I charge the less expensive pack the second time.

I think your logic is sound. A round poly will do less damage than a shaped one.

I try to keep cost down and only buy string when it is on sale or I have a coupon code. I generally do not pass on the entire savings to anyone who has me restring for them. I might not charge the full amount of the string, but it helps recoup some of the cost of the string that I use for myself. I would venture to say that most people on this forum would agree that poly goes dead around 10 hours. My own experience would confirm that thought. I know that isn't a hard and fast rule, but for a "standard poly" I think that is a good rule of thumb. Most people who do not string would prefer to restring less often. Someone playing with poly might restring less often than they should and thus increase the potential for injury.

Perhaps leaving the shaped poly in is good for both of you. You get to restring more frequently, which helps offset the cost of the stringing machine and any string that you purchased out of pocket. The client (for lack of a better term) has less chance of injury and more consistent play characteristics. The downside is that you could be seen as doing something that causes them to restring more often, which could be perceived as greedy. I think it comes down to individual preference and having that conversation with any customers is prudent.

If he likes Hyper-G, get a mini reel of it. IIRC, it cost around $90. A full reel of Kirschbaum will cost about the same. I've also seen full reels of Tecnifibre and Babolat go on pretty steep discounts from time to time (to the tune of 50% off). Personally, I like rough poly in my hybrids, but I don't have a lot of experience with shaped or round. For people who do not want to restring often, 4G rough does a really good job of holding tension. It starts out stiff, but it's a good string.

As for the non-poly, a reel of Kirschbaum syn-gut can be found for around $30. I don't string it often, but I have yet to have someone tell me that they didn't like it. I tried OGSM and found it to be a pretty dead string with little spin potential. That said, I still played well with it. I really like NXT Control, and it seems that most people who like poly in any fashion like it too. I plan to order a reel of that when I get down to a single set left. Tecnifibre Triax and Babolat Xalt are two other multis that poly players should like.

My personal go-to is Babolat RPM Rough and Xalt, or 4G Rough and NXT Control.

For your specific dude, I might recommend trying Triax, NXT Control, or Xalt in a full bed. I bet he will be surprised how much he likes it.

That's a lot of rambling, but I hope it helps out in some way.
 

Fighting phoenix

Professional
I have found that people are either really particular or have no clue what they want.

In some cases, I can talk with the person and make a recommendation based on what they tell me. I'm not afraid to open two packs to make a hybrid, in which case I just charge them the cost of the more expensive pack. If they like it and come back, I charge the less expensive pack the second time.

I think your logic is sound. A round poly will do less damage than a shaped one.

I try to keep cost down and only buy string when it is on sale or I have a coupon code. I generally do not pass on the entire savings to anyone who has me restring for them. I might not charge the full amount of the string, but it helps recoup some of the cost of the string that I use for myself. I would venture to say that most people on this forum would agree that poly goes dead around 10 hours. My own experience would confirm that thought. I know that isn't a hard and fast rule, but for a "standard poly" I think that is a good rule of thumb. Most people who do not string would prefer to restring less often. Someone playing with poly might restring less often than they should and thus increase the potential for injury.

Perhaps leaving the shaped poly in is good for both of you. You get to restring more frequently, which helps offset the cost of the stringing machine and any string that you purchased out of pocket. The client (for lack of a better term) has less chance of injury and more consistent play characteristics. The downside is that you could be seen as doing something that causes them to restring more often, which could be perceived as greedy. I think it comes down to individual preference and having that conversation with any customers is prudent.

If he likes Hyper-G, get a mini reel of it. IIRC, it cost around $90. A full reel of Kirschbaum will cost about the same. I've also seen full reels of Tecnifibre and Babolat go on pretty steep discounts from time to time (to the tune of 50% off). Personally, I like rough poly in my hybrids, but I don't have a lot of experience with shaped or round. For people who do not want to restring often, 4G rough does a really good job of holding tension. It starts out stiff, but it's a good string.

As for the non-poly, a reel of Kirschbaum syn-gut can be found for around $30. I don't string it often, but I have yet to have someone tell me that they didn't like it. I tried OGSM and found it to be a pretty dead string with little spin potential. That said, I still played well with it. I really like NXT Control, and it seems that most people who like poly in any fashion like it too. I plan to order a reel of that when I get down to a single set left. Tecnifibre Triax and Babolat Xalt are two other multis that poly players should like.

My personal go-to is Babolat RPM Rough and Xalt, or 4G Rough and NXT Control.

For your specific dude, I might recommend trying Triax, NXT Control, or Xalt in a full bed. I bet he will be surprised how much he likes it.

That's a lot of rambling, but I hope it helps out in some way.
That's really helpful thanks!
 

Fighting phoenix

Professional
@Wes @Irvin @USMC-615 @LOBALOT @Herb - as a new stringer for others (vs. just myself), can any of you guys recommend what reel(s) of syn gut/multi I should have on hand for both full bed low level intermediates/beginners, and for hybrids for more advanced players who don't want to play a full bed of poly due to arm comfort? Thanks!!
 

Herb

Semi-Pro
@Wes @Irvin @USMC-615 @LOBALOT @Herb - as a new stringer for others (vs. just myself), can any of you guys recommend what reel(s) of syn gut/multi I should have on hand for both full bed low level intermediates/beginners, and for hybrids for more advanced players who don't want to play a full bed of poly due to arm comfort? Thanks!!
What I carry and my best sellers are in order
Babolat Syn Gut 16g
Wilson Sensation 17g
Wilson Sensation 16g
Wilson Nxt Comfort 16g Mostly older players
Head Velocity MLT 16g
Wilson Nxt 17g Mostly older players
Technifibre NRG2 17g Mostly older players
Babolat Xcel 17g
Babolat 16g
Prince Syn gut rainbow 16g

The top two are probably 60-70% of all non-poly sales.
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
@Wes @Irvin @USMC-615 @LOBALOT @Herb - as a new stringer for others (vs. just myself), can any of you guys recommend what reel(s) of syn gut/multi I should have on hand for both full bed low level intermediates/beginners, and for hybrids for more advanced players who don't want to play a full bed of poly due to arm comfort? Thanks!!
Big fan of Prince Premier Control - does what a multi should in terms of bringing significant softness to the recipe, but it's also better than average (among multis) in terms of holding tension. I keep a reel of both 16 and 17 ga. handy for any jobs that call for a multi and I appreciate that this string isn't as expensive as some of the premium multis that come with a pretty hefty price tag.

I personally like to use Gosen OG Sheep Micro (OGSM) in 16 ga. as a durable cross in a poly hybrid I'll do for some "clients" who play that sort of setup, but that particular syn. gut is relatively stiff. I don't like it in my own racquets - I am a syn. gut (SG) player and while Babolat and Kirschbaum have been fine in recent years (Kirschbaum is my clear favorite), I've also done well with a few others including Prince Original SG (without the Duraflex) and Volkl Classic.

Your pal who has concerns about arm health might get a lot of the performance he wants with a full bed of syn. gut and that should also bring an extra measure of softness compared with a lot of poly options.
 

aussie

Professional
Big fan of Prince Premier Control - does what a multi should in terms of bringing significant softness to the recipe, but it's also better than average (among multis) in terms of holding tension. I keep a reel of both 16 and 17 ga. handy for any jobs that call for a multi and I appreciate that this string isn't as expensive as some of the premium multis that come with a pretty hefty price tag.

I personally like to use Gosen OG Sheep Micro (OGSM) in 16 ga. as a durable cross in a poly hybrid I'll do for some "clients" who play that sort of setup, but that particular syn. gut is relatively stiff. I don't like it in my own racquets - I am a syn. gut (SG) player and while Babolat and Kirschbaum have been fine in recent years (Kirschbaum is my clear favorite), I've also done well with a few others including Prince Original SG (without the Duraflex) and Volkl Classic.

Your pal who has concerns about arm health might get a lot of the performance he wants with a full bed of syn. gut and that should also bring an extra measure of softness compared with a lot of poly op
@fuzz nation Agree with everything you say here. PPC is a very underrated multi and does everything well at a reasonable price. I also find Gosen OGSM too stiff in 16 & 17 gauges but don't mind it in 18g. I'm also using Kirschbaum 16g syn gut at present full bed although my fav full bed in my Prince Tour 100 o-ports is Prince SGDF in 17g.

I find a nice, round, comfortable and affordable copoly to use in hybrids (particularly as a cross) is MSV Co-focus 1.23.
 

LOBALOT

Legend
@Wes @Irvin @USMC-615 @LOBALOT @Herb - as a new stringer for others (vs. just myself), can any of you guys recommend what reel(s) of syn gut/multi I should have on hand for both full bed low level intermediates/beginners, and for hybrids for more advanced players who don't want to play a full bed of poly due to arm comfort? Thanks!!

Sorry for the delay. I was at my son's Conference Championships. They pushed through and are in the D3 NCAA Team championships again this year. It was a blast watching them fight and I still haven't regained my voice.

First let me say you have feedback from some very experienced and respected stringers so take my thoughts with that perspective in that while I have been stringing for a while now and started from nothing I nowhere near have the 30 years or whatever experience others here have.

One thing I might add is start small/conservatively (i.e. sets) and then build your inventory based on what you see going out the door. If you get a lot of requests for Velocity then get reels after you have established that you have a base of customers requesting it. Also, know your target customer... Are they junior tournament players (i.e. poly users), old average rec players (like me) (more multi/soft poly hybrids or full soft poly), etc. You don't want to find yourself stuck with unwanted inventory.

I do stock OGSM (16G, 17G) and Duraflex (All their 16G colors including rainbow) for synthetic gut but frankly don't string much of it. Perhaps 10 racquets a year. I think you need to stock it but perhaps stock sets vs. reels and see what happens per above as I have a lot of it sitting there. If they are flying off the shelve use the proceeds and buy reels.

I sell more 16G velocity than anything else. I have a large inventory of sets in all the colors that I bought when they were on sale and then bought reels when they were on sale. It is great for young pre-poly junior tournament players and older players like me for either full bed or multi/poly hybrids. I stock X1, NRG2, Multifeel, Sensation, NXT comfort and all kind of sit there with perhaps 2 requests a year. Other than sensation they are expensive so perhaps that has to do with my customer base but I don't string much of it.

I do also stock Prince Premier Control 16G which is a good string too so that may be an option for you. Personally I am phasing that out as I have so much velocity.

One item I do not stock because I have velocity is NXT Power and over the past 3 years or so I have quite a few decent older 4.0-4.5 players that bring it to me to string. Maybe stock some sets of that.... Heck maybe I should stock some sets of that ;) .

One final note is I pretty much only buy when I see string on sale and/or I have a cheaper source where I am paying less than the retail non-sale price for string.

Good luck!
 
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Fighting phoenix

Professional
Sorry for the delay. I was at my son's Conference Championships. They pushed through and are in the D3 NCAA Team championships again this year. It was a blast watching them fight and I still haven't regained my voice.

First let me say you have feedback from some very experienced and respected stringers so take my thoughts with that perspective in that while I have been stringing for a while now and started from nothing I nowhere near have the 30 years or whatever experience others here have.

One thing I might add is start small/conservatively (i.e. sets) and then build your inventory based on what you see going out the door. If you get a lot of requests for Velocity then get reels after you have established that you have a base of customers requesting it. Also, know your target customer... Are they junior tournament players (i.e. poly users), old average rec players (like me) (more multi/soft poly hybrids or full soft poly), etc. You don't want to find yourself stuck with unwanted inventory.

I do stock OGSM (16G, 17G) and Duraflex (All their 16G colors including rainbow) for synthetic gut but frankly don't string much of it. Perhaps 10 racquets a year. I think you need to stock it but perhaps stock sets vs. reels and see what happens per above as I have a lot of it sitting there. If they are flying off the shelve use the proceeds and buy reels.

I sell more 16G velocity than anything else. I have a large inventory of sets in all the colors that I bought when they were on sale and then bought reels when they were on sale. It is great for young pre-poly junior tournament players and older players like me for either full bed or multi/poly hybrids. I stock X1, NRG2, Multifeel, Sensation, NXT comfort and all kind of sit there with perhaps 2 requests a year. Other than sensation they are expensive so perhaps that has to do with my customer base but I don't string much of it.

I do also stock Prince Premier Control 16G which is a good string too so that may be an option for you. Personally I am phasing that out as I have so much velocity.

One item I do not stock because I have velocity is NXT Power and over the past 3 years or so I have quite a few decent older 4.0-4.5 players that bring it to me to string. Maybe stock some sets of that.... Heck maybe I should stock some sets of that ;) .

One final note is I pretty much only buy when I see string on sale and/or I have a cheaper source where I am paying less than the retail non-sale price for string.

Good luck!
Awesome thank you! Very insightful, agreed on starting out with sets.

And congrats on your son’s college tennis success! Very cool - I played low level D1 back in the day, and remember some of these D3 schools can be powerhouses - got beat pretty badly by Kalamazoo and Gustavus Adolphus lol.
 
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