lead tape on the throat: what does it do?

[matchmaker]

I am playing now with a Redondo MP. I got over my racquet addiction and now have only a couple of racquets. This one, a Donnay and a few vintage frames. Instead of buying new frames all the time, I'd like to customize the frames I have to find the exact balance point, weight distribution and swingweight to my liking. I play most with the Redondo nowadays mainly because of the tighter string pattern meaning I don't have to worry about popping strings each day and I can actually take only one racquet with me to play on the court next to my work if the strings are still in a good state. Actually I like the Donnay more but the strings move around a lot due to the open string pattern and always make me worry they will snap, even if the stringjob is fairly recent.

When I got this racquet is came in under its specs. The static weight was only 335 grams strung. Moreover the swingweight seemed very low to me (I guesstimate around 315). So I put 4 grams of lead at 3 and 9 o'clock each and also 2 grams of lead at 12 to increase swingweight. All of this seemed to have worked out quite well. I don't have tools to measure the swingweight but it still seems very reasonable. I did not add anything to the handle as this racquet is about 10 points headlight and mine may have been even more. I guess the balance point must be around 7 now.

I am thinking of adding a little lead, say 5 or 6 grams, around the balance point, also hoping to stretch out the sweetspot a little towards the throat, these Redondos seem to have a fairly high sweetspot.

Is my reasoning correct?

 

[leonidas1982]

In general, adding lead to the throat increases the static weight without changing the balance of the racquet. However, the swingweight also increases, but not as much as when lead is added at 12 o'clock.

 

[GPB]

Yes, matchmaker, I'd say your reasoning is correct. And leonidas1982 is also correct with what he said. I like to get a little more polarized with my lead, and put some in the handle instead of the throat. But hey, the beauty of lead tape is you can always take it off if you don't like it!

 

[Steve Huff]

I'd say your reasoning was correct. You probably raised the sweetspot a little when you added wt at 12:00.

 

[matchmaker]

Thanks for the reactions, I have slapped 10 grams around the throat, tommorrow I will see what it gives.

 

[the Town Sherif]

basically, you get a more stable racquet without messing too much with the current sw. you are basically depolarizing your racquet. if you want to know what that means, just ask travlerajm

 

[matchmaker]

basically, you get a more stable racquet without messing too much with the current sw. you are basically depolarizing your racquet. if you want to know what that means, just ask travlerajm

Yeah, I know about this polarizing stuff all right. I have already put more weight in the upper hoop, so it is already a little polarized and I just want to get more stability in the middle section.