Prince ESP 98 Natural gut broken string after three hours

[Krajicek Serve]

Hi guys,

So I’ve tested natural gut in my frame (pacific tough gut 1.30 mm / Razor code 61/56 lbs). It played great, lots of power and control. I was very happy with this setup, until the string broke after just three hours of play. The broken main string was completely frayed.
I now ordered a set of Pacific tough gut 1.38 mm. I want to extend the durability of the natural gut, Should I go for lower tension and/or string savers? Anybody got some tips for improving durability in ESP rackets?
I really want to keep playing with natural gut due to severe elbow problems.

 

[neverstopplaying]

ESP racquets needs thicker poly strings - anything else will break in a few hours. There were many posts on this topic when Wilson and Prince 1st launched their spin effect racquets. You will waste your dollars on Tough Gut if you are hitting hard enough to generate the spin these racquets are desgined for.

Search for old posts by Ramon. He proposed ZX mains with thick synthetic gut crosses. I believe this was the most comfortable setup for these types of racquets.

 

[Krajicek Serve]

Thanks for your reply!

How about stringing gut at low tensions? I will probably lose alot of control. But will it improve durability?
Anyone got some experience with this? I mean I already ordered to natural gut so I’m willing to give it a try

 

[IowaGuy]

Hi guys,

So I’ve tested natural gut in my frame (pacific tough gut 1.30 mm / Razor code 61/56 lbs). It played great, lots of power and control. I was very happy with this setup, until the string broke after just three hours of play. The broken main string was completely frayed.
I now ordered a set of Pacific tough gut 1.38 mm. I want to extend the durability of the natural gut, Should I go for lower tension and/or string savers? Anybody got some tips for improving durability in ESP rackets?
I really want to keep playing with natural gut due to severe elbow problems.

Photo of frayed/broken string?

I use Tough gut mains 16L gauge with MaxPower 1.30 crosses, 57/52 lbs, in a RF97A racket (which is also fairly spin-friendly 16x19 pattern). I get 20-25 hours from this setup, and don't get hardly any fraying.

I hit pretty hard for someone in their mid-40's, with moderate spin, and routinely play with 4.5-5.0 guys in their 20's and 30's.

I'm not familiar with Razor code strings, is it possible that it's sawing into your mains? I don't get this with MaxPower crosses (which is very smooth).

MaxPower is pretty cheap, and has been recommended by others on this forum after extensive testing (SpintoWin). You might want to give it a try with your ToughGut, it works great for me!

 

[Ramon]

I used to play with the exact same racquet. Don't even compare it to a 16x19 racquet. This is totally different. When I played with it, I broke full poly in about 5-6 hours. This frame eats strings!!

Forget about using natural gut of any kind. Forget about using multifilaments because they will fray even quicker than natural gut. The only strings you should consider are monofilaments. Use a strong string in the mains like poly or Monogut ZX. I also recommend a solid core synthetic gut in the crosses so the mains won't notch and break prematurely. Monogut ZX mains with Gamma TNT2 crosses at 65 pounds became my goto setup. It lasted over 10 hours of singles (double that if you play doubles). Poly mains with syngut crosses will work too, and on this frame you might actually find it's still arm-friendly. One nice thing is that the strings will break before the poly is dead, so that takes care of ever needing to cut it out. Monogut ZX will be softer and you'll still get great spin. With a textured poly, the spin is insane.

 

[scotus]

Hi guys,

So I’ve tested natural gut in my frame (pacific tough gut 1.30 mm / Razor code 61/56 lbs). It played great, lots of power and control. I was very happy with this setup, until the string broke after just three hours of play. The broken main string was completely frayed.
I now ordered a set of Pacific tough gut 1.38 mm. I want to extend the durability of the natural gut, Should I go for lower tension and/or string savers? Anybody got some tips for improving durability in ESP rackets?
I really want to keep playing with natural gut due to severe elbow problems.

Natural gut would not last long in an ESP frame unless you hit like a granny. I cannot recommend it unless you can afford to restring every or every other hitting session.

You can try Babolat Elastocross, though. If you can get on with the feel, then your gut will last much longer.

 

[esgee48]

NG or ZX with Bab Spiral Tek crosses. If using NG, use string savers cuz ESP string patterns are designed to be string breakers. BTW, ZX cannot be strung above 60# and that includes pre stretch on the machine.

 

[Steve Huff]

Since you already ordered the gut, try a different cross string too. Black Code has fairly sharp edges, so no wonder it frayed the gut in short order. With those open patterned frames, the strings are designed to move a lot (to get more spin). That gut moving against a sharp edged poly means only one thing--it can't last.

 

[Ramon]

NG or ZX with Bab Spiral Tek crosses. If using NG, use string savers cuz ESP string patterns are designed to be string breakers. BTW, ZX cannot be strung above 60# and that includes pre stretch on the machine.

All I know is I strung ZX at 65 on a drop weight machine, giving it a full stretch. It played fine, it lasted long enough without a drop in playability like you get with poly, and it was very comfortable. It works fine with the natural color. I tried the red color and ended up breaking it in the machine and finally gave up on it after about the 3rd time. On this frame, stringing ZX any lower is going to give you problems with control.

 

[Krajicek Serve]

Thanks guys I will try string savers for now, I will try ZX in the future!!

 

[dnguyen]

High tensions is better for using natural gut. Recently, I had it strung at 45lbs and didn’t like it very much. It was Dunlop max 400i. I will break that string soon.

 

[Steve Huff]

That's why they make synthetic gut--for those who can't affort to play with a string that has a risky life span.

 

[KYHacker]

I used to play with that frame. I've played with several spin pattern frames including my current frame of choice, the Blade 98S. DO NOT use natural gut or syn gut as a full setup in these frames. It's as waste of money and it doesn't allow the racquet to do what it's designed to do. Do use either a full poly setup. In this frame, 15L poly will last between 6-10 hours. The best poly for the frame is the one designed by Prince Tour XC 15L or 15. However, by far the best setup for these frames is to use Klip 15L gut in the mains (it's firmer, crisper and more durable than the others, I've tried them) and a slick, round poly in the crosses. I got the best results with Tour XC 15L. With that setup, I could get 20-25 hours of quality playing time. String at 55-58 lbs and do not string the crosses at a different tension than the mains; if you do the launch angle becomes predictable. Also, adding a couple of grams of lead at 12 o'clock helps this frame play more predictably.

 

[dman72]

I played the tour 100 esp (traditional grommets) for about a year. For comparison sake vs my main racquet for the last 8 years:

In my NXG's, I always restring before strings break. I do a racquet every 3 months and the other 2 become backups. I use kevlar mains poly crosses. I think once I lasted 4 months on one frame before the mains finally broke. The last few weeks this one puny thread was holding on for dear life just above the sweet spot.

With the ESP 100, same setup, the kevlar snapped after 6 weeks. ESP frames chew up strings like crazy, basically less than half the string life of a VERY open patterned 16x19 OS frame in the NXG. I wouldn't put natural gut in an esp frame if it was for free, because it would probably break during a match.