Poly and Natural Gut Hybrid

[YenNguyen]

What's a good Poly and Natural Gut hybrid? .
I was thinking along the lines of:
Pro Hurricane and VS
Luxilon ALU Power and Wilson Natural Gut
Luxilon ALU Power and VS
For people that know better combinations please say so, and another question is whether ALU Power is better than Rough, or the other way around, and is Wilson Natural Gut better or worse than VS
Thanks for any answers.

 

[YenNguyen]

And also, forgot, does anybody have any experience using the nat gut as the mains? Is it better than Poly on mains and nat on crosses? And what are the differences between the two?

 

[ClubHoUno]

I much prefer Babolat VS Natty GUT mains and CoPoly crosses.

A basic rule to go by:

If you like full bed of poly and want a slightly softer feel - hybrid poly mains with Natty GUT in the crosses.

Most baseliners and people, who only comes to the net on clear volley winners most likely will prefer poly mains and Natty GUT crosses.

If you like a full bed of Natty GUT or prime multi, and want a somewhat more muted control feel, hybrid the Natty GUT mains with a poly in the crosses.
People with an all court game and people who play with touch and feel will often prefer Natty GUT mains and poly in the crosses.

 

[JackB1]

If doing a Nat Gut (mains) & Poly (cross) hybrid, would you string the gut the same as you would a multi or a little higher due to the added power in gut?

I have a multi/poly hybrid now at 56/52 and that plays pretty well. Should I do the same and string the gut mains also at 56? thanks

 

[dgdawg]

I use Signum Pro Poly Plasma 1.18 M's & VS. Team X's @ 58lb's. (mid on my nBlade 106's)
I've tried Vs. M and hated it.

 

[lawlitssoo1n]

I use Signum Pro Poly Plasma 1.18 M's & VS. Team X's @ 58lb's. (mid on my nBlade 106's)
I've tried Vs. M and hated it.

ur using a 18g/16g hybrid? if not, what guage is ur gut?

 

[dgdawg]

ur using a 18g/16g hybrid? if not, what guage is ur gut?

VS team is a 17g string.

 

[Standupnfall]

I love VS 16 @61 and Gosen Micro 16 @59

Great combo in a 95sqi racquet with some heft to it.

 

[jrod]

I'm surprised to see that no one has mentioned how costly this combo can be. In fact, depending on what poly you use and how you hit, it can be much more costly than a full bed of gut.

Why? Simple. The poly dies very quickly compared to gut. So, you can end up cutting the gut out after only a few hours play because the poly dies. When I started experimenting with this type of hybrid I quickly realized I needed to find a poly that retained it's playability for as long as possible. While I prefered Lux BBO crosses, it died around the 4 hour mark. I eventually found Weisscannon Silverstring (co-poly) which lasted about 4x longer than BBO. In addition, WCSS is a smooth poly and didn't notch the softer gut mains which I found to be a problem in very humid summer weather.

So, must haves for this combo to work for me are:

1. Long lasting poly/co-poly (preferably soft) to make more economical,
2. Smooth profile poly/co-poly to reduce notching of gut mains.

 

[JackB1]

I'm surprised to see that no one has mentioned how costly this combo can be. In fact, depending on what poly you use and how you hit, it can be much more costly than a full bed of gut.

Why? Simple. The poly dies very quickly compared to gut. So, you can end up cutting the gut out after only a few hours play because the poly dies. When I started experimenting with this type of hybrid I quickly realized I needed to find a poly that retained it's playability for as long as possible. While I prefered Lux BBO crosses, it died around the 4 hour mark. I eventually found Weisscannon Silverstring (co-poly) which lasted about 4x longer than BBO. In addition, WCSS is a smooth poly and didn't notch the softer gut mains which I found to be a problem in very humid summer weather.

So, must haves for this combo to work for me are:

1. Long lasting poly/co-poly (preferably soft) to make more economical,
2. Smooth profile poly/co-poly to reduce notching of gut mains.

Good points!

Question.......Does the poly go dead from just sitting strung in the racquet or from hitting?

 

[bsardana]

....

So, must haves for this combo to work for me are:

1. Long lasting poly/co-poly (preferably soft) to make more economical,
2. Smooth profile poly/co-poly to reduce notching of gut mains.

For both (1) and (2), try Signum Hyperion - either 1.18 or 1.24. They pretty much maintain their playing characteristics till the end. They will definitely pinch the gut but it will last a good time before the gut is gone.

 

[YenNguyen]

I decided to get Luxilon Power and Babolat VS, nat gut on mains and poly on crosses, and I was wondering, are you supposed to string the nat gut and the poly at different tensions or is it fine just to have it at one tension?

 

[YenNguyen]

Oh yeah, forgot again, what's the difference between VS 17 and VS 16 gauge or whatever its supposed to be?

 

[jrod]

...Question.......Does the poly go dead from just sitting strung in the racquet or from hitting?

Hitting degrades the strings resilience relatively quickly causing them to go "dead". However, over time the strings can eventually go dead even without hitting. I'm not sure how quickly but it's probably at least several weeks to a month, maybe more.

 

[jrod]

I decided to get Luxilon Power and Babolat VS, nat gut on mains and poly on crosses, and I was wondering, are you supposed to string the nat gut and the poly at different tensions or is it fine just to have it at one tension?

Lux goes dead really fast. If you have lots of $ or can't tell they've gone dead, you are wasting your money with this combo. It hits extremely well within the first 3-4 hours and after that it's pretty useless since the benefits of the poly are pretty much gone.

Poly is usually strung at 10% lower tension than you would any other type of string, including gut. However, since poly also loses tension much more quickly than gut, you might want to reduce the tension only 5% since you will lose an additional 5% within the first 40 minutes of hitting. I typically reduce the tension in poly crosses 2 lbs relative to the mains.

As for string gauge, well this again is personal. I use the thicker 16 gauge in the mains for added durability. I use ~17 gauge in my poly crosses. Again, one has to be careful about the poly crosses notching the gut and causing premature fraying. I use an untextured poly cross and occassionally resort to using string savers in humid conditions.