Older racquets vibrations so low

Taita87

Rookie
When I'm hitting with pt57a and pt57e I literally feel no vibration at all.
I tried a lot of racquets from angell to pro kennex to almost everything but whenever I pick up an I.prestige mp there's a different feel, so muted and with zero vibrations that no modern racquets I tried can replicate.
Is it due to material differences?
 

tennis347

Hall of Fame
When I'm hitting with pt57a and pt57e I literally feel no vibration at all.
I tried a lot of racquets from angell to pro kennex to almost everything but whenever I pick up an I.prestige mp there's a different feel, so muted and with zero vibrations that no modern racquets I tried can replicate.
Is it due to material differences?
In my opinion the stiffer materials today transmit more vibration. The racquets made many years used a softer Graphite along with an addition of fiberglass which dampened shock well.
 

BlueB

Legend
Things that dampen the vibrations:
Mass
Moving mass
Flex
Natural resonance frequency dissimilarity of used materials
Shear layers
 

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
The Pro Kennex Q Plus Tour 325 is a very clean feeling vibration free racquet to use. I think the Angell K7 Lime is very good as well.
 

joah310

Professional
as said above, high weight and low flex are probably the reasons why they are extremely solid feeling. Both the iprestige and the pro tours are nice and heavy along with a nice low flex. Though I believe head rackets aren't foam filled, I think foam filling also helps out a lot with the lack of vibration in a lot of the older rackets.
 

joah310

Professional
The Donnay Allwood Hexacore has very low vibration rating and it is very solid for a 300g racket.
An RA of 50 would definitely be enough to rid a racket of any vibrations. Not to mention the 102 head. Also seems like donnays are foam filled.
 

Taita87

Rookie
I have a q+tour 300 and 325, a gravity pro ar 320 grams, 2 tc 97 18x20 at 318 and 1 tc 95 18x20 at 320 grams.
No one of these racquets gives you that vibration free solid feel that the i.prestige gives you
 

joah310

Professional
I have a q+tour 300 and 325, a gravity pro ar 320 grams, 2 tc 97 18x20 at 318 and 1 tc 95 18x20 at 320 grams.
No one of these racquets gives you that vibration free solid feel that the i.prestige gives you
What kind of strings do you have in all of the rackets?
 

Taita87

Rookie
Poly... In the i.prestige i have a 1.5 Yeats old poly dead as hell, and still you can't feel a single vibration from the racquet, it's just plain and addictive
 
Don't want to derail the thread, but given I can't get hold of an i.prestige, how do you find the comfort in the Q+tour 300 vs the Gravity Pro?
 

Taita87

Rookie
They're both good, I would give the win to the pro kennex though
Even if you hit the ball with the frame the pro kennex has some sort of comfort you have with i.prestige. The i.prestige, however, it's just more solid and muted, no discussions.
 
Not sure if they'd match the older frames, but the new Pro Kennex Black Ace series must be worth a try, there's a 315 version and the RA is in the mid-50s
 

Boubi

Professional
All racquets vibrate....what you call lack of vibrations is a better dissipation of them. Stiff racquets have higher vibration frequencies but clear them faster. Therefore it's not sure at all That flex racquets vibrate less and cause less injuries
 

Taita87

Rookie
I don't know..I just know hitting with an i.prestige is different then hitting with everything else, trust me
 
It's the combination of weight and flexibility isn't it? As I understand it flexible racquets transmit less initial shock, but vibrate for longer, and at lower amplitude? Weight helps, as you say, to dissipate the vibration, so a heavy and flexible racquet ought to reduce both shock and viration I think. But some people do seem to find those low frequency vibrations annoying. I had a very flexible (but also fairly light) racquet that had horrible vibrations and caused me some arm problems, though I think partly because the flex contributed to the low power, which also led me to over-hit.

I'm currently using a Gravity S, which is pretty flexible and low-impact, but at stock weight (300g strung) there are certainly some residual vibrations. However, if you add weight (I've tried going up to 330g) the vibration noticeably decreases. But you need both weight and flex: I've a 360g+ Head Ventoris 660 that isn't exactly stiff, but is heavy and does vibrate quite a bit.

The Pro Kennex formula for many of their racquets seems to be to have realtively stiff frames, which won't vibrate for long, but with the kinetic material to dampen the shock. I haven't hit one yet and am keen to try, though I'm leaning more towards their slightly more flexible offernigs.
 

Taita87

Rookie
I have angell tc95 and 97 around 320 grams, but they are not vibration free. The tc97 (like prokennex) is almost there, but still pick up an old I.prestige for cheap used and you will understand what I mean..
I think the old european graphite and that particular mold (pt57a-e) really achieved that.
If only they managed to do a similar racquet with a 100 sq inch like the gravity pro with the same materials...
 

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
What was old is new again. All frames have a natural frequency when they vibrate. If their construction is uniform and homogenous, they will continue to vibrate until they frame can dampen the vibrations. If the frame is non homgenous or made so that the materials have different natural vibration frequencies, the dampening occurs MUCH faster. The iPrestige and many of the i.xxx frames were so constructed. Kevlar/Twaron etc when added in significant percentages to frames also did this. Anti vibration handles do this. Kenetic technology does this. Ports have this reputation tho I think it is their layup from the OLD Triple Threat composites. Foam filled frames and handles also do this. Threads about this have been on this forum for a LONG time.
 

esm

Legend
If only they managed to do a similar racquet with a 100 sq inch like the gravity pro with the same materials...
I think the bigger head size PT57 are the Lite Tour 690 and the Vamp Tour 690 - I think the Vamp Tour is also part of the PT57 family....
With the old Head system, the 690 should be much closer to 100sq inch to today’s measuring system. Lol
 

BlueB

Legend
Racquets today don't use as much high modulus graphite like the old ones did and uses too much epoxy.
The modern frames do not use too much epoxy, they are mostly pre-preg.
Unless you were talking about too much epoxy in the old frames.
 
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1HBHfanatic

Legend
Racquets today don't use as much high modulus graphite like the old ones did and uses too much epoxy.
^^^^
-agree here 100%
-todays racquets are faster and lighter = less material (n)
-with a bit of dampening material to ot scare away the people
-good for the bottom line (cost for them), but bad for the people who have to play with that garbage (i hate light racquets)
-yonex has started down this path, and i hate it!!
 

1HBHfanatic

Legend
The modern frames do not use too much epoxy, they are mostly pre-preg.
Unless you were talking about too much epoxy in the old frames.
-i think he is referring to less material overall, and just holding it together with what ever (glue or such)
-in any case, the stiffness factor has gone up, on modern frames
-heavier more dampened materials are being faced out
 

ZanderGoga

Semi-Pro
Racquet companies learned a long time ago that tennis as a sport requires way too much skill input from the user for technology to have much meaning, apart from quantum leaps forward like wood to graphite, or gut to poly.

So they gave up trying to improve their products a long time ago.

Instead, they look for ways to simultaneously cut costs while giving themselves a marketing gimmick. Kinda like Budweiser with "Beechwood aging." It's just a cost cutting, time saving corner, but it looks good in fancy script, so they use it.

Today's racquets are by virtually every measurable metric inferior to classic frames. But not one player in a thousand can tell, and those guys use pro stock based on classic frames. For the rest of us, overpriced trash gives higher profit margins.
 

cortado

Professional
Racquet companies learned a long time ago that tennis as a sport requires way too much skill input from the user for technology to have much meaning, apart from quantum leaps forward like wood to graphite, or gut to poly.

So they gave up trying to improve their products a long time ago.

Instead, they look for ways to simultaneously cut costs while giving themselves a marketing gimmick. Kinda like Budweiser with "Beechwood aging." It's just a cost cutting, time saving corner, but it looks good in fancy script, so they use it.

Today's racquets are by virtually every measurable metric inferior to classic frames. But not one player in a thousand can tell, and those guys use pro stock based on classic frames. For the rest of us, overpriced trash gives higher profit margins.
Is Angell any better in this regard?
 

Taita87

Rookie
Angell uses the same graphite that all others use. Unfortunately he said that it's impossible to buy the old graphite nowadays.
Only some pro stocks from austria actually are built like old racquets
 
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