I have not tried gut/poly yet, because of the cost/not wanting to get addicted. I know it would be pretty special/magical feeling, but one of the lamest things about the 97s/my stringing situation is that I need a whole bunch of string to complete the mains; it's almost an extra foot of string on both ends to reach the tensioning gripper for the final pull, so unless I resort to shenanigans and other tools I cannot usually get 2 mains string jobs out of 1 forty foot set. The exception to this seems to be Zyex Monogut, which stretches to a truly outlandish degree, enough for me to do two mains jobs no problem, though I have not yet done it. I have been impressed with the peak playability more than the long-haul playability of the setup, as it's getting a little wild around 6ish hours, but I am impressed with the ongoing comfort because I usually can't enjoy poly for more than a few hours, and the Element is soft enough to allow some elasticity even as it goes 'dead' and is still smooth enough for the monogut mains to ride the rails and return to center. I think I went for a pretty big tension differential, 60 lbs mains to 50 crosses, and also dropped weight slowly and multiple times on each main because zyex monogut stretches such an absurd amount. I do notice that there is less control now than for the first 5 or so hours, but it actually feels like the crosses have lost more tension/changed character more than the mains, so I think stringing the Element at 54 or so, maybe higher, would lead to more control in the 'long run' if one's goal were to get the longest possible decent playing setup. I am not sure stringing Lux strings (even their softest, even just in the crosses) too much higher will be acceptable for me due to comfort concerns, so I am willing to string them low and maybe cut them out around 6 to 8 hours. I think the real wildcard in this string setup will be whether Zyex eventually notches while continuing to get more powerful/wild, but it feels as though it has stabilized in a decent place but the Element has stabilized several pounds too loose. this seems to me to be a function of the 17 crosses not being enough to 'hold' the mains as they loosen. I actually have seen a marked increase in 'control' just from putting on a tight 'worm' dampener, in essence creating more drag, mimicking another cross string to some degree. I'm excited to try this string combo asap on my other 97s, but life has been insanoflex and is standing between me and my tennis this last week.
hope some of this makes sense/is relevant; everyone's experiences with racquets and strings are so subjective...
EZ Ace Machine
"Paris, France, 1789. Under the rule of Louis the sixteenth, longstanding grievances between aristocrat and peasant were about to boil over. The pot in which these troubles boiled was kindled by the firewood of oppression and heated by flames that sucked the air from gasping peasants. Would the pot cool off? Would it merely simmer, or would it boil over, to stain the floor of history...forever!?!"
-Start The Revolution Without Me
