Prince Natural Gut
- Thread starter Wondertoy
- Start date
techietennis
New User
O3 Tour with Prince Natural Gut Hybrid Set-up
I just put 17 ga PNG in my crosses at 60# with 60# 17 ga NRG2 in my mains. I have the hard grommet in both Tours and lead tape at 9 & 3. It definitely will not lose its tension as fast as my previous set-ups.
I also have to agree that the initial set-up is harsh compared to my all NRG or NRG/Syn Gut hybrid. The control and serve improvement is noticeable, but my arm is taking a (painful) while to get used to it. The increase in feel is noticeable as is the baseline improvement in my shot depth, pace, and location. There is a change in the volleys, but I have not figured out if it was me, my opponent, or the new strings.
I have put about 4 hours on the first racquet so far. I will probably get about 40 hours or so out of a set-up in my Tour, so I will let you know how it works out in the long-term.
I just put 17 ga PNG in my crosses at 60# with 60# 17 ga NRG2 in my mains. I have the hard grommet in both Tours and lead tape at 9 & 3. It definitely will not lose its tension as fast as my previous set-ups.
I also have to agree that the initial set-up is harsh compared to my all NRG or NRG/Syn Gut hybrid. The control and serve improvement is noticeable, but my arm is taking a (painful) while to get used to it. The increase in feel is noticeable as is the baseline improvement in my shot depth, pace, and location. There is a change in the volleys, but I have not figured out if it was me, my opponent, or the new strings.
I have put about 4 hours on the first racquet so far. I will probably get about 40 hours or so out of a set-up in my Tour, so I will let you know how it works out in the long-term.
abenguyen
Hall of Fame
he is talking about prince NATURAL gut not prince SYNTHETIC gut. they are different strings buddy
thomas martinez
Professional
BDE makes it for Prince and as far as I know, the natural only comes in 16g. It's the same as the BDE Perf. Ai Sugiyama and Jan Michael Gambill have no worries using it, and Paul Goldstein did as well before going to Babolat, then back to Prince, but strings with ALU Power on his 03.
Wondertoy
Professional
Thanks, Tom, I just received some natural gut from Prince and I am going to try a hybrid with gut mains @ 60 lbs/ PolyStar Energy crosses @ 58 lbs. on my O3 Tour MP and see how it plays compared to an all Energy set up. I knew Prince didn't make the natural gut themselves and was curious as to who made it for them. It's 16 gauge.
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thomas martinez
Professional
Er, try it the other way around first, gut cross, poly main.
Wondertoy
Professional
Yeah I was wondering about that....what's the advantage, more spin? Federer plays with the gut mains/ poly crosses....if 80% of the feel is in the mains.....can you please elaorate the tradeoffs, thanks.
diredesire
Adjunct Moderator
I'm not Tom, but My suggestion would be to ask yourself carefully what you are trying to achieve before sinking ~20$ into bare string costs. I find that both set ups have their merits...
The Poly main is obviously going to be more durable, and the gut cross will help soften the string bed up a bit. This may be something you don't really want with the energy mains. (It may get springy). IMO, if you really need the durability, this is about the best you can do with a cross. It's more arm friendly than a syn gut (although this isn't a HUGE difference), and it'll hold it's tension longer.
The Gut main/poly cross is kind of a new "phenomenon" in the string world, as far as i'm concerned. It gives the overall "feel"/response of gut, but the poly cross sucks a little bit of the resilience (resulting in less power) out of the job, which is right up many players' alleys. If you don't want to risk the cost of a set of gut, you can try both set ups with a nicer multi (NRG2, NXT, etc) and determine which style of set up you prefer.
I think in either case you are forfeiting some aspect/partial benefits of the main string. Namely, the ultimate control/very very low power of poly, or the liveliness and very very good comfort of the gut. I have found merits (as i mentioned) in both styles of set up, but you might want to ask yourself what you are looking to get from the set up. I think if you aren't needing the high durability of the poly, you might try the gut set up. It "deadens" the job a little bit, but you still retain excellent feel and pretty good touch.
diredesire
Adjunct Moderator
Yes, i've hit with it before, I should have mentioned i was generalizing there
It would still suck a bit of the power away from the natural gut, in that case. It simply won't deflect as much as another type of string... I meant to mention polystar versus other polys, but i guess it slipped my mind
Wondertoy
Professional
Well I'm trying the nat gut mains @ 61 lbs with PolyStar Energy crosses @ 59 lbs. I broke an initial half set of nat gut. It just snapped when the electric motor was tensioning (ouch!). Alot more powerful with very good spin. My slices are nastier. I may have to try Poly Plasma crosses to tone down the power level. I don't dare tension the gut any higher as it is so delicate.
thomas martinez
Professional
If you're a good enough stringer, you can get gut up at 40+ kilos no worries, and that is 125mm gut.
T.J. Planas
Rookie
Thomas: When did you have the occasion to string gut at 40 kilos? I'm not doubting that it can be done, just curious as to why. I can't imagine anyone wanting to essentially "waste" a set of gut just to experiment with a high tension like that.
-T.J.
-T.J.
RacquetDoctor
Rookie
I've strung gut as high as 76 for Kenneth Carlson at a tounament...He still beat the smack out of the ball, even at that tension
It was 16g in a pure control, but man that was tight...I worried that it would break, but it was just fine.
I've heard that Haas has gotten the tension up pretty tight for a thin gut, but not 40 kgs...
I think that Tom is right though, if you know what your doing, have good equipment, it could be done...Not in my stick, but it could be done.
Mark
It was 16g in a pure control, but man that was tight...I worried that it would break, but it was just fine.
I've heard that Haas has gotten the tension up pretty tight for a thin gut, but not 40 kgs...
I think that Tom is right though, if you know what your doing, have good equipment, it could be done...Not in my stick, but it could be done.
Mark
thomas martinez
Professional
Carlsson, Haas, and Mr. Flip are the high tension suspects. Flip with the 125. In 05, Kenneth was having problems with string breaking prematurely till we padded and tubed it at 80 something pounds with a prestretch. After that, he had no problems with stuff breaking. Then you've got guys like Sanguinetti down at all of 15 kilos. Horses for courses.
Richard Parnell
Semi-Pro
I have done Haas at 36kgs with 10% prestretch with VS 125. That means that each string is first pulled to 39.6 kgs and then back to 36 kgs.
All the best,
Richard
All the best,
Richard
