Polarization, Recoil Weight & MgR/I demystified?

[José Fernando Barba]

No. I was getting closer to 20 out of curiosity but as I get closer and closer, I become more inconsistent with my timing. And then start adding some mass at the balance point until it feels good.

Closer down to 20 tends to feel better than higher for me in the event that I time it perfectly. But overall just not a stick I’d want to take into a match.

Hello Ryo! (With shenmue villager voice). I think that I more often start my swing earlier than later, maybe that's why I feel more comfortable in that zone. However, I still want to try to adjust above that number to see what my sweet point is.

 

[José Fernando Barba]

Do you play mostly singles/doubles and in what type of conditions? Fast hard court, outdoor clay? etc...

Only singles, hard courts at 1500 meters above sea level, with non-pressurized balls.

 

[José Fernando Barba]

Taking into consideration that the MgR/I evaluates how easy is for a racquet to come through in a vertical axis, why is twistweight not taken into consideration? Or, wouldn't it be better to use the spinweight value instead of the swing weight? Any thoughts?

 

[Grafil Injection]

TW is measured in the same units as SW, but is a very low number about 20 times smaller. This reflects the fact that spinning around an axis caused by an off centre hit is far more likely to happen than deflecting motion in line with the principle pivot point.

 

[Brando]

when getting unstrung specs should I assume 30g for strings?

Hi @iowaviking11, I'm late to the discussion and you prolly know it now; but in case not, assume 14-18g depending on the string type. If playing poly, a full bed is usually 17-18g. If playing a multi, 15-16g is a safe bet. Syn guts are the lightest and range from 14-15.5g. With all of these estimates, head size, string pattern, and the weight of the strings themselves all have an affect and should be factored in. (Of course, if you have a scale, you can weigh the racquet before and after stringing to get an exact #. )

 

[Brando]

Taking into consideration that the MgR/I evaluates how easy is for a racquet to come through in a vertical axis, why is twistweight not taken into consideration? Or, wouldn't it be better to use the spinweight value instead of the swing weight? Any thoughts?

My thought, @José Fernando Barba, is agreement that twistweight is key to racquet performance. More than affecting a frame's stability on off-center hits, it's best tuned to playstyle: higher for flatter hitters and lower for spinmeisters; higher for baseliners and lower for all-courters and serve and volleyers, etc. In my thinking, it's not an either-this-is-important-or-that-is thing. No spec stands alone. They all exist and change in context of one another.

If so, the question becomes, how do we maximize racquet performance by understanding how a change in one spec affects the others. For instance, when players say that X is their maximum weight or Y is their maximum swingweight, what they mean is that these are the maximums in context of the other Big-3 specs they're used to swinging. If we swung a lower weighted frame, we might very likely dig a higher than 'max' swingweight. Or if we lower the balance enough, we may find we can swing more weight than we thought.

Finding out how changing the combination of Big-3 specs changes the feel and performance of a racquet takes years of actually feeling it for yourself. For we fiddlers it's a lifelong pursuit. Hells, I just finished shifting weight from tip to 3 & 9 on a frame Briffidi SW1 revealed is twistweighted at only 12.9. Since I tend not to hit off-center, I didn't know. But, man, does the racquet perform better at 13.5tw; and maybe I hit more off center than I thought...

The point is, I used recoil weight as my guide to make the change, going from 170 to 171rw to keep the weight distribution in my wheelhouse so that I knew, even before stepping on the court, the racquet would still swing maneuverably for me. In this way, I maximized the performance of the racquet by adding twistweight for better contact without compromising its agility in the slot. To do so I had to add a little more weight at 3 & 9 than I'd had at noon. Could this have turned out to feel like too much weight? Yes. Did it? No. It felt better, and I'm glad I reached a bit out of my comfort zone to find out.

 

[galapagos]

Hey @Brando and @travlerajm could you help me out?
I am setting up my tfights 305s.
I tried 2 setups:

1. unstrung 320g/310mm/295 sw
2. unstrung 320g/310mm/305 sw

Nr 2 is overall much better but with both I have issues on serves - It is hard for me to find the loop and this free fall just before acceleration (sensation of fluid movement) Alternatively it is also difficult to setup to trophy position and then explode. (Sensation of loading and holding the power position)
. Now something is holding me kinda.

(I added 1g at 12 to nr 1 to see the middle ground between the two but the issue was still there. However groundstrokes were similarly good now and close to what I want.)

is there any theory where should I go next?
Ideally I would like to have the backhand of nr 2. Forehand of nr 1 (with this +1g) and fixed feel on serve haha !

Cheer!
Danny

 

[galapagos]

@Tranqville any ideas ? ;p

 

[Donmikan]

Hey @Brando could you help me out?
I am setting up my tfights 305s.
I tried 2 setups:

1. unstrung 320g/310mm/295 sw
2. unstrung 320g/310mm/305 sw

Nr 2 is overall much better but with both I have issues on serves - It is hard for me to find the loop and this free fall just before acceleration (sensation of fluid movement) Alternatively it is also difficult to setup to trophy position and then explode. (Sensation of loading and holding the power position)
. Now something is holding me kinda.

(I added 1g at 12 to nr 1 to see the middle ground between the two but the issue was still there. However groundstrokes were similarly good now and close to what I want.)

is there any theory where should I go next?
Ideally I would like to have the backhand of nr 2. Forehand of nr 1 (with this +1g) and fixed feel on serve haha !

Cheer!
Danny

From no. 2 remove all handle weight you added.

 

[Tranqville]

@Tranqville any ideas ? ;p

I have not demoed the 305s, and you are much more knowledgable than me anyway

 

[galapagos]

I have not demoed the 305s, and you are much more knowledgable than me anyway

I will demo soon 315g/315mm/305 sw to see if it’s a direction for me. Maybe it will give me some prestige tour vibes ha!
I won’t go below 315grams