B
bayousoft
Guest
Is there a benefit to placing small leather pads on the last 2 strings near the throat of the Pro Staff Original. I think I saw these on Sampras's rackets.
Steve Huff
G.O.A.T.
It adds a little cushioning and decreases the angle at which the string has to curve around, both to decrease the chance of breaking at that point. Navratilova used to put them around the top of the frame on her Yonex, so as the string set into the leather, it protected her strings when she scraped the ground. Maybe a little of that "Muscle Power" technology at work back then too.
coachrick
Hall of Fame
Back in the old days of no grommets or individual grommets or brittle string strips, the pads were a necessity for many frames. Don't think I would ugly up a current racket unless it had 17ga uncoated gut or some other condition that required a pad. The R-22(and others) from the mid-80s had individual grommets that would cut and allow the strings to contact the frame--those YYs back then needed a lot more than power pads to help them last! The power pad record probably goes to the pre-grommet POG or Sting OS or Trabert C-6...ahh, the good old days!!!
