Racquet Idea

[eric]

I talked to a guy about specs/customizing racquets and he recommended every use lead tape, at least to try. I thought, why doesn't someone buy a light, easily customizable racquet that has certain permament specs u can't change (e.g. stiffness, string pattern) and lead it up into a completely different racquet? This could work well, especially when keeping track of weight, swingweight etc. while in the process. Comments?

Also, I was wondering how much difference lead tape makes in swingweight and balance. E.g. - take a random racquet - say 11.3 oz-320 g, 6 pts. HL, 335 Swingweight. If you put a total of 10 grams at 3 & 9, how much would this change the specs?

Thanks in advance

 

[eric]

..........

 

[LoveThisGame]

They called it the Topspin brand. Notice the past tense, at least in the U.S.

 

[MChong]

And another big problem with this... is the original swingweight would have to be really low to bring it to the specs that many prefer, around 330.

 

[raftermania]

Business wise, it wouldn't work. A rough estimate I'd say is 10% of the tennis playing population knows about racquet modding. 1% actually modify their racquets. and 1% is being generous!

 

[gregraven]

I've found that you're better off doing as much of the basic specs as you can in the actual layup of the racquet. In my experience, lead tape is good for fine-tuning racquets, but not nearly as good for making gross changes. It's difficult to explain in a paragraph, but perhaps the best way to put it is that carbon graphite plays better than lead.

 

[NoBadMojo]

i agree w. Greg..lead is for fine tuning..it isnt for a transformation...if you need to make a significant change to a frame <in general>, best to just change frames..racquets are usually designed the way they are for reasons, and layups are tweaked for performance reasons, and often leading up actually defeats the purpose of thoughtful design at times. i realize ther are exceptions among the pros. IMO.

 

[goober]

My rule of thumb is that if I have to put more than 20 grams of lead to bring a stick up to specs, it is not worth it.