Kevlar Hybrid Guidelines???

[feds27]

I've pieced together the following guidelines from reading this forum, USRSA, and TW's info on hybrids but it seems like some of the guidelines contradict one another.

1. string kevlar mains 10% less tension than your normal tension (ex. if your normal tension with syn gut is 60lbs, then use 54lbs for kevlar).
2. keep the pound differential for mains and crosses to less than 5lbs, ideally 2-3lbs.
3. a lower tension on the crosses increases the size of the sweetspot and offsets for stiff mains.
4. string your syn gut crosses at your normal tension and string your kevlar mains 10% less than normal.
5. use kevlar or poly for mains for durability. These tend to have a dead feel or stiff feel, a smaller gauge would offset this slightly.
6. use natural gut or syn gut for crosses for playability, comfort.
7. the property of the string used for the main will determine the overall feel of the racquet.

Here are my issues:

-If I follow #4 I wind up with a differential of 6lbs which contradicts #2. For example if your normal tension is 60lbs, this would mean 60lbs on crosses and 54lbs on mains
-If I follow #4 I wind up with cross that are at a higher tension that my mains. Per #3 I would assume this would reduce the sweetspot.
-I've seen some people write that they use kevlar on the crosses but why would someone do this when most people tend to break the mains?

I'm sure these guidelines are subjective to the strings chosen for the mains and crosses. I've tried both Ashaway Crossfire 18 and Gamma TNT2 Fusion Pro 19/17 and both have felt great in certain configurations. I've only used the kevlars/aramids on the mains and the softer string for the cross and have strung the crosses at lower tensions than the mains. I'm trying to figure out how to tweak my configuration. Any help would be appreciated. Also, feel free to bring up other pointers or questions.

 

[spinbalz]

With Kevlar Ashaway crossfire 18g in the mains, I usually use X-one power 1.24g, X-one strung at my usual tension and Crossfire strung 15% lower. E-matrix can be used instead of X-one to save money, it also works great. if you find that your Kevlar mains fray into the Multifilaments cross and breaks to multi to quickly, then I think that the best synthgut to use for the cross is Forten Sweet, it is really comfortable and the sweatspot size is very good with it.

 

[feds27]

Spinbalz, Thanks for the reply.

FYI...I laced up one of my Pure Drives with Ashaway Crossfire 18 using 55lbs for the mains and 59 for the crosses. So far so good. I plan to lace up my other PD with Tecnifibre Biphase X-One. I picked up two sets, one of 18ga and one of 17ga and thought I'd mess around with 17ga on the mains at 55lbs and 18ga on the crosses at 57lbs.

You're not the first to recommend Forten Sweet for a syn gut. I picked up some Gosen Micro Sheep to try at a later point, I'll probably pick up some of the Sweet to compare. From what I've read, the Forten is similar or better than the Gosen.

For guidelines, It seems like I have to weigh the tension recommendations of the string manufacturer against those of the racquet manufacturer, plus I need to consider if the string is being used as a main or cross. I guess the best thing to do is to continue to check this forum for recommendations.

 

[diredesire]

Spinbalz, Thanks for the reply.

FYI...I laced up one of my Pure Drives with Ashaway Crossfire 18 using 55lbs for the mains and 59 for the crosses. So far so good. I plan to lace up my other PD with Tecnifibre Biphase X-One. I picked up two sets, one of 18ga and one of 17ga and thought I'd mess around with 17ga on the mains at 55lbs and 18ga on the crosses at 57lbs.

You're not the first to recommend Forten Sweet for a syn gut. I picked up some Gosen Micro Sheep to try at a later point, I'll probably pick up some of the Sweet to compare. From what I've read, the Forten is similar or better than the Gosen.

For guidelines, It seems like I have to weigh the tension recommendations of the string manufacturer against those of the racquet manufacturer, plus I need to consider if the string is being used as a main or cross. I guess the best thing to do is to continue to check this forum for recommendations.

Kevlar is pretty bad at holding tension, almost as bad as poly strings. I typically string it 5% lower and count on that tension drop off to get it down to around 10%. The sweetspot reduction on the crosses lowering is true, and if you want to take that into consideration, you should try stringing your crosses 5-10% lower to start off. This is due to the fact that cross strings are typically MUCH shorter than the mains, this means that if the two strings were both tensioned the same, the shorter one would be stiffer.

Cross string wise, i would tend to NOT recommend e-matrix. It's just not durable enough. You can try alpha gut 17g (it's really about a 16L) for a cheap, decently durable "multifilament" string

Forten Sweet is a very "mild" cross, it doesn't detract or add much to the feel of the mains, but it also lasts very well and doesn't change much throughout the course of a string job.
The OG-Sheep micro is an excellent choice, although it loses some of it's 'oomph' near the end of the string job, and doesn't wear as "consistently" as the sweet. It is a good choice for a hybrid because it softens things up and gives it a little spring (at first, at least).

Another excellent choice is Eketelon Power Play (formerly known as Prince Syn Gut soft, or at least, it's the equivalent of). You can find this string under the prince section at TW home.

 

[K. Wilson Moose]

Forten Thin Blend includes Forten Sweet 17 as a cross. I string it at 52m/58c with excellent results. The Forten Sweet 17 should work well as a cross with any thin kevlar.