Looking for an Open throat wood racket!

teachingprotx

teachingprotx

Legend
Hi guys ive been playing recently with some straight shaft woods and enjoying the heck out of them:) I would just love to find an open throat wood or wood graphite inlay racket but have no experience with them.. Does anybody have any suggestions? would prefer something 13 ounces or lighter (strung) 70 to 90 sq inch head and the more crazy flexible the better! thanks so much guys..
 
teachingprotx said:
Hi guys ive been playing recently with some straight shaft woods and enjoying the heck out of them:) I would just love to find an open throat wood or wood graphite inlay racket but have no experience with them.. Does anybody have any suggestions? would prefer something 13 ounces or lighter (strung) 70 to 90 sq inch head and the more crazy flexible the better! thanks so much guys..
Click to expand...

The Head Vilas comes to mind immediately. You can usually find them on fleabay.
 
A Vilas strung should be around 13.25 to 13.5 ounces at most. One of the better open throat woodies IMHO. There are others of course, but the Vilas is probably the best known of the lot.
 
How about the Prince Woodie frame teachingprotx? I bet you could find some of these and I've heard many players really like it (especially for serves and volleys).



prince-woodie.jpg
 
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FF thanks for the info !!! i was under the impression it was heavier...sounds interesting...any experience with any pk golden aces or the la grandes?
Borg- thanks for the response as well. that ad was awesome!!!!i would love to find a prince woodie midsize! but the 110 is just too big for me.:) i think pat cash somehow played a mid prince woodie, maybe specially made for him?
 
teachingprotx said:
FF thanks for the info !!! i was under the impression it was heavier...sounds interesting...any experience with any pk golden aces or the la grandes?
Borg- thanks for the response as well. that ad was awesome!!!!i would love to find a prince woodie midsize! but the 110 is just too big for me.:) i think pat cash somehow played a mid prince woodie, maybe specially made for him?
Click to expand...

Those mid woodys are both great suggestions. Snauwaert made a few awesome mid woods and fox also made a few like the ATP. The head vilas is one of the most challenging since it has a smaller standard head with a sweet spot that feels very small. Great racket if you have the strokes.
 
Madison also made a nice wood composite - model name was King Pro" and it looks very similar to the Pro Kennex range. Does anyone know of it?
 
Probably the least expensive, and easiest to obtain, would be a Kennex Golden Ace. Wood/graphite open throat rackets were my favorite as far as cosmetics go. I still hit with a Golden Ace occasionally. I have some Snauwaerts too, and they are nice. Spalding made a couple standard head size open throat wood composites too, but they're pretty demanding to hit with.
 
thanks alot for your comments guys!!!
the madison composite wood ,Virginia? sounds super interesting! anyone have pics?
- some others have told me that the pk non boron golden ace is alot like the rossi f200 but lighter and even more flexible. any truth in that description?
 
joe sch said:
Those mid woodys are both great suggestions. Snauwaert made a few awesome mid woods and fox also made a few like the ATP. The head vilas is one of the most challenging since it has a smaller standard head with a sweet spot that feels very small. Great racket if you have the strokes.
Click to expand...


Was there ever a Prince Woodie mid? I have never seen one. I have only seen the OS version. Supposedly, Cash's Woodie Mid was a paint job or was custom made for him. Can anyone confirm?

http://72.29.176.21/showthread.php?t=179798

The OP should have been at the street fair I was at on Sunday. There was a guy selling old sporting goods who had a table full of wood rackets. Among them were about half a dozen open throaters. A beat up Vilas, a few Dunlops that I had never seen before and a couple of Woodies. I almost bought a couple of them but for once, I JUST SAID NO. :) Actually, the guy wanted more than I wanted to pay in a mega-garage sale environment. I wasn't in the mood to haggle with him over $10 and I already have WAY TOO MANY RACKETS. So I walked. Maybe there is hope for a poor racket-holic like myself.

Also, he wanted $120 for a Cortland racket. He claimed they were sought after as collectibles. News to me. I must have missed the memo. I said something to him like "Are there actually people who will fork over $120 for a Cortland?" (He did not reply.) :)

Edit: I looked on fleabay and it appears most Cortland rackets usually sell in the $10 to $15 range so I'm not sure what that guy was talking about. I don't think he sold a racket all day long. (Price tags would be a good start. Some people have no clue.) :roll:
 
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well im back ..gathered up as much info as i could and went for a used pk golden ace..mainly because of its weight...im hoping its more flexy than my rossif200!!!! from my data seems to be the lightest wood comps out there.. plus the fellow who from tw boards who sold it to me was very informitive about the frame and made it very easy to deal with. in any event while shopping with my girlfreind i found a head vilas in the goodwill store for 5 bucks... man its a beast at least 14 to 15oz...crazy heavy.....
 
I have a KSM(never used), a Franklin and a Slazenger; all open throat, all 'conventional' wood size. Likely from the '70s and not top quality, given the type of 'factory' string in each.

BTW, I could post some pics if y'all tell me which photo-sharing site is the best for such things(free would be nice ;) ).
 
teachingprotx said:
Hi guys ive been playing recently with some straight shaft woods and enjoying the heck out of them:) I would just love to find an open throat wood or wood graphite inlay racket but have no experience with them.. Does anybody have any suggestions? would prefer something 13 ounces or lighter (strung) 70 to 90 sq inch head and the more crazy flexible the better! thanks so much guys..
Click to expand...

I have one it's called a Skyline and it's made in Japan. I got it at the Salvation Army store for about 3 bucks. I don't know the weight as I have not weighed it. I search the internet for info on it but can't find anything about a Skyline. Maybe it was a no-name brand back then that's why no info is on it.
 
So - Teachingpro, what's the strung weight of the PK Golden Ace? I have one of these in storage somewhere but have not hit with it for a couple of years.
 
joe sch said:
One of the last midsize wood rackets to ever be produced was the Snauwaert Mid Wood Graphite Composite racket and I have this mint never strung pair shown below. Very similar to the LaGrand and PK Golden Aces.

http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/..._woodys/snauwaert_mid_wood_graphite_comp1.jpg
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/..._woodys/snauwaert_mid_wood_graphite_comp2.jpg
http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/..._woodys/snauwaert_mid_wood_graphite_comp3.jpg
Click to expand...

The Meso Graphite Two there was also re-graphic'ed as the Brian Gottfried Graphite Mid or Tomas Smid Graphite Mid circa 1984-1985. The (black) Vitas Gerulaitis Graphite Mid was similar, but more flexible and had a solid black colored facing on both sides.

I would consider any of these variants as being the pinnacle of wood racquet performance.
 
just got my pk golden ace today much more head heavy than i wanted but oh well! does anyone know what the weight and flex is of the snauwaert la grand, thomas smid graphite,:) and the pk golden ace?:)
 
retrowagen said:
The Meso Graphite Two there was also re-graphic'ed as the Brian Gottfried Graphite Mid or Tomas Smid Graphite Mid circa 1984-1985. The (black) Vitas Gerulaitis Graphite Mid was similar, but more flexible and had a solid black colored facing on both sides.

I would consider any of these variants as being the pinnacle of wood racquet performance.
Click to expand...

Absolutely!

And like I said last time these were mentioned, don't forget the "Meso Graphite One", the best of the lot I reckon:)
 
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