Luxilon natural gut. Good, bad? Opinions?

mxvb

Rookie

"Made in Belgium" according to the package.
Maybe @TW Staff can check
I know it's on the package, but as far as I'm from Belgium and know the Luxilon people personally, they only make the poly in Belgium.
Nat gut has never been made here.
 

GN-001

Semi-Pro
Luxilon natural gut 125 mains with poly tour fire 120 (round) lasted just 1 week for me, 3 hours of hitting. Not as durable as I thought...I even have string savers and lubricants
 

GN-001

Semi-Pro
Just strung up Lux gut 125 again. Played a match and the gut broke in the second set.... 1 hours of match play. Had string savers. I love this gut for hybrid but I just cant get it to last. I hit quite flat but I guess the 4.5 players I play against hit really spinny and chewed up the gut.
 

frameshot

New User
Just strung up Lux gut 125 again. Played a match and the gut broke in the second set.... 1 hours of match play. Had string savers. I love this gut for hybrid but I just cant get it to last. I hit quite flat but I guess the 4.5 players I play against hit really spinny and chewed up the gut.
What other string did you use? Shaped polys saw right through the gut in my experience. Poly Tour Air is round and slick and seems to avoid the sawing effect.
 

ulunxtns

Professional
Just strung up Lux gut 125 again. Played a match and the gut broke in the second set.... 1 hours of match play. Had string savers. I love this gut for hybrid but I just cant get it to last. I hit quite flat but I guess the 4.5 players I play against hit really spinny and chewed up the gut.
If it broke so soon both times, either you got a bad batch or you didn't string it right. Federer/Djoko didn't break the gut in 1 hour, it's hard to imagine a 4.5 player hitting heavier balls than pros.
 

TennisJrDad

Professional
Luxilon NG is my go to gut. I find it usually outlasts VS and plays with a little more control as well.

Just strung up Lux gut 125 again. Played a match and the gut broke in the second set.... 1 hours of match play. Had string savers. I love this gut for hybrid but I just cant get it to last. I hit quite flat but I guess the 4.5 players I play against hit really spinny and chewed up the gut.
 

CVT

Rookie
This is an old thread, but I thought I'd comment since I've played with Luxilon NG quite a bit.

If Babolat is a bit more on the dry and frictiony side and old Wilson is more on the soft gummy side, I would put Luxilon in between but closer to the old Wilson. I would put the Volkl gut on the Babolat side.

I prefer the gummier type of strings in a hybrid, although the VS can also feel very good. I like Luxilon NG quite a bit, and it is one of my go-to strings for hybrids as one of the best price/performance natural gut strings.
 

GN-001

Semi-Pro
I have poly tour fire in the crosses, a slick cross string. I have broken 3 luxilon gut mains in the last week...and restrung it every time with the poly tour fire. The break happens in the middle of the stringbed so I'm not mishitting it. The last 2 breaks happened after some shredding but this one that broke in 1 hour broke right in the middle and the strings next it has very minimal shredding so I'm not sure what happened.

I also find it strange that Federer/Djoko doesnt break gut in 1 hour but I'm breaking mine so fast. I wonder if it's the humidity as it's often in the 80s here.

If I'm breaking Lux gut in 1 hour, I'm afraid to string up the 2 packs of VS Team 1.25 I bought along with the Lux
 
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ey039524

Hall of Fame
I have poly tour fire in the crosses, a slick cross string. I have broken 3 luxilon gut mains in the last week...and restrung it every time with the poly tour fire. The break happens in the middle of the stringbed so I'm not mishitting it. The last 2 breaks happened after some shredding but this one that broke in 1 hour broke right in the middle and the strings next it has very minimal shredding so I'm not sure what happened.

I also find it strange that Federer/Djoko doesnt break gut in 1 hour but I'm breaking mine so fast. I wonder if it's the humidity as it's often in the 80s here.

If I'm breaking Lux gut in 1 hour, I'm afraid to string up the 2 packs of VS Team 1.25 I bought along with the Lux
I can guess from the pics that your strings are breaking where you don't have any string savers.
 

LOBALOT

Legend

Why 1.25 with the gut?

I am not sure it will help but I would go 1.30 with gut.

Also, not sure on the thickness of your cross.

Also, weave your crosses very carefully. I start my primary crosses under (i.e. the ones outside the last main and thus plan accordingly when I start my crosses at the top) and what I do is go under that first main and then slide the poly all the way down the face to the bottom near the neck and then weave my crosses there and finish over the last main and carefully slide the cross string up the face and then insert it into the grommet. I then tension and straighten the cross as it is tensioned and have it as straight as possible before the "beep" indicating full tension.
 
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kkm

Hall of Fame
The humidity probably isn’t helping.

Federer and Djokovic probably never play with the same racquet for an hour. In match play they normally switch racquets every 7-9 games.

If someone is breaking 1.25 natural gut I don’t think that going to 1.30 will have a very different result.
 

mctennis

Legend
Go to thicker gut size- 16 or 15L. You cross strings should not to too much thinner than your mains, i.e., do not use an 18g cross with a 16g main. More than 0.05 difference and I think you can create a breakage issue.
 

LOBALOT

Legend
Go to thicker gut size- 16 or 15L. You cross strings should not to too much thinner than your mains, i.e., do not use an 18g cross with a 16g main. More than 0.05 difference and I think you can create a breakage issue.

Yeah that is what I saw too and why I asked. I like 1.3 gut with 1.20 cross depending on the poly.
 

Sardines

Hall of Fame
Luxilon natural gut 125 mains with poly tour fire 120 (round) lasted just 1 week for me, 3 hours of hitting. Not as durable as I thought...I even have string savers and lubricants
I use the same setup. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the beast that is natural gut. The QC is probably the worst of all strings because it's natural fibers spun together. However, why would you need lubricant on fresh strings? I only use lubricant on older strings, if they survive to the point where the silicone coating on the cross is worn. Using lube only creates more problems than that extra string movement it creates. I only use the dry type as the waterbased and wet types do attract more dirt, but they all do to some degree. That could be your issue. So I'd try to stop using lube altogether.
 

veelium

Hall of Fame
I have poly tour fire in the crosses, a slick cross string. I have broken 3 luxilon gut mains in the last week...and restrung it every time with the poly tour fire. The break happens in the middle of the stringbed so I'm not mishitting it. The last 2 breaks happened after some shredding but this one that broke in 1 hour broke right in the middle and the strings next it has very minimal shredding so I'm not sure what happened.

I also find it strange that Federer/Djoko doesnt break gut in 1 hour but I'm breaking mine so fast. I wonder if it's the humidity as it's often in the 80s here.
Yeah forget natural gut in high humidity, it just doesn't work.
Same for me when I play in the very high humid clay bubbles in winter, I just don't use NG there because it just breaks.
 

PFG1

Rookie
As previously stated on this thread, the main diff in Lux Gut is the "gummier" feel. IMO, it trends much more towards the feel of a multi. Whereas VS gut has a much dryer, cleaner feel. Thats the best way I can describe it.
 

Sardines

Hall of Fame
Yeah forget natural gut in high humidity, it just doesn't work.
Same for me when I play in the very high humid clay bubbles in winter, I just don't use NG there because it just breaks.
The bad combination here is high humidity, gut and clay, which sticks to the gut when moist and grinds through. Most gut are coated which staves off the humidity isse for a while. High humidity makes the clay grit adhere more to gut.
The most important thing for all to know is gut is the best playing, most powerful string, but it is also the most fragile and the QC is probably the lowest of any string.
 

lidoazndiabloboi

Hall of Fame
bumping this thread, to continue the discussion.

The last time I used Luxilon Natural Gut was back in 2020. It was recently brought to my attention, that Luxilon now makes the NG in Ireland. I see some posters comment that NG was never made in Belgium, that it was Ireland from the beginning, and others post the contrary. Has anyone been able to confirm this yet?

So I recently put in an order for the Lux NG with the recent sale. When it arrived, I noticed the packaging was different from before, having a more matte finish, and Made in Ireland on the back. The old packaging was a glossy shiny finish, and Made in Belgium on the back. While stringing the NG, i noticed the new Ireland gut had a softer touch to it, bended more easily, and less sticky of a coating. The old Belgium gut was more stiff and had a much stickier coating, making moving the crosses around while string more difficult. For reference, I strung my rackets with Lux Gut main, and Lux ALU Rough cross. When hitting, the new gut had a more plush feel, and the less sticky coating resulted in more string movement. The main strings had move all out of place, and did not snap back, in just the first session. The old gut was more crisp, slightly harsher. I felt the sticky coating made it hard to pull the ball up for spin. Much less string movement with this string.

Has anyone else noticed any differences between the Belgium and Ireland gut? Or is there absolutely no difference, and I am just making things up in my head?
Also, has the Wilson Gut changed their formula as well? I always thought the red packaging of Wilson gut to be horrible.
 

lefty10spro

Semi-Pro
bumping this thread, to continue the discussion.

The last time I used Luxilon Natural Gut was back in 2020. It was recently brought to my attention, that Luxilon now makes the NG in Ireland. I see some posters comment that NG was never made in Belgium, that it was Ireland from the beginning, and others post the contrary. Has anyone been able to confirm this yet?

So I recently put in an order for the Lux NG with the recent sale. When it arrived, I noticed the packaging was different from before, having a more matte finish, and Made in Ireland on the back. The old packaging was a glossy shiny finish, and Made in Belgium on the back. While stringing the NG, i noticed the new Ireland gut had a softer touch to it, bended more easily, and less sticky of a coating. The old Belgium gut was more stiff and had a much stickier coating, making moving the crosses around while string more difficult. For reference, I strung my rackets with Lux Gut main, and Lux ALU Rough cross. When hitting, the new gut had a more plush feel, and the less sticky coating resulted in more string movement. The main strings had move all out of place, and did not snap back, in just the first session. The old gut was more crisp, slightly harsher. I felt the sticky coating made it hard to pull the ball up for spin. Much less string movement with this string.

Has anyone else noticed any differences between the Belgium and Ireland gut? Or is there absolutely no difference, and I am just making things up in my head?
Also, has the Wilson Gut changed their formula as well? I always thought the red packaging of Wilson gut to be horrible.
Wilson is also made in Ireland and the 2 guts are now exactly the same. I find the product to be outstanding and I agree that when they made the gut in Belgium it was not good. My natural gut customers all love it except for a few who buy their own Babolat since it's a bit softer. Lux and Wilson are longer lasting and I find excellent snap back when crosses are a smooth poly.
 
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PRS

Professional
Interesting. I haven't bought any recently, but that's disappointing to me. I liked how the Luxilon gut felt and played different than Wilson or Babolat gut. I never thought it was sticky though, that's interesting.

If it's truly different, I'll need to try it out. Previously, my observation was that Luxilon gut was more durable, lower power, and better in a gut/poly hybrid.

However the main difference I noticed was that traditional gut users didn't like the Luxilon gut (due to not being as soft or powerful), whereas players used to playing full poly who wanted to try gut for the first time, whether in a hybrid or not, would prefer the Luxilon gut over Babolat/Wilson (for the exact same reasons).
 

LOBALOT

Legend
Well, I have at least 30 sets of the old Lux gut to get through before I get a chance to order and check out the difference.

Good to know.
 

McLovin

Legend
Sounds like BT7 all over again…

For the record, I did buy some during the recent sale. I don’t use it anymore, but I do strung for people who do. Will be interesting to see if they notice a difference.
 

Rabbit

G.O.A.T.
@lidoazndiabloboi i noticed the same difference. Lux guy does seem softer and more playable. It, IMO, is a great substitute for Babolat now. I’ve cut my players who use gut over to Lux and none can tell the difference - save no price increase.
Note that it’s colder I may use gut.
 

stapletonj

Hall of Fame
Wilson has been out of their branded gut for months now. Does anyone have any idea when they are gonna get some, or are they just gonna give that market to Luxilon (they are selling luxilon on their site)
 

veelium

Hall of Fame
Wilson has been out of their branded gut for months now. Does anyone have any idea when they are gonna get some, or are they just gonna give that market to Luxilon (they are selling luxilon on their site)
Wilson is the exclusive distributor of Luxilon and it's the same product (nowadays?).
 

Roforot

Hall of Fame
So I bought Luxilon gut when it was on sale a month ago at TW. Does it say on the package where it's from? Does it have a marking at the midpoint to help out hybrid setups?
So far, Babolat VS 16 was my favorite. Pacific Pro Tough Gut was only available in 15L; it's not quite as plush, but I do like it was cut in to two 6M pieces.
 
So I bought Luxilon gut when it was on sale a month ago at TW. Does it say on the package where it's from? Does it have a marking at the midpoint to help out hybrid setups?
So far, Babolat VS 16 was my favorite. Pacific Pro Tough Gut was only available in 15L; it's not quite as plush, but I do like it was cut in to two 6M pieces.
Ugh... Pacific Gut... we need a time machine for that gem to come back.
 

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
So I bought Luxilon gut when it was on sale a month ago at TW. Does it say on the package where it's from? Does it have a marking at the midpoint to help out hybrid setups?
So far, Babolat VS 16 was my favorite. Pacific Pro Tough Gut was only available in 15L; it's not quite as plush, but I do like it was cut in to two 6M pieces.
You bought a set of Luxilon gut, and you don’t know if the package has the COO or center mark?
The package says there’s a half set measurement mark (in bolder lettering above the COO)
The above is a little over a half set because I used half already. I never use the mark because I want to measure each length of string I use. The package also has an easy reseal strip to keep the unused string.
 
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