Rotating Head Pallets/Minor Wonder Wedge

[leog]

I love my Head Prestige, but the pallets, which do not make a perfect octagon but instead are elongated on the same axis as the beam, bother me. I don't know why Head makes grips this shape, but it is not ergonomic and makes my one handed BH a bit shakey. If the pallets were rotated 90deg, they would fit my hand (and I believe, most players' hands) much better. This would give me a very minor version of the Wonder Wedge.

I'd like to take them off the racket (with a heat gun/hairdryer?) and try to put them back on at a different orientation; basically, rotate them 90deg so the elongation would be along the axis perpendicular to the racket faces (if you look at the bottom of most Head player's frames, ie, Prestiges & Radicals, you'll see what I mean about the grip not being an perfect octagon).

Will they fit? Anything to watch out for?

Thanks,

Leo

 

[Don S]

leog, I think in order to do what you want to do, which is basically rotate the pallet 90 degrees, you're going to have to do some doctoring to the handle shaft that the the pallet fits around and also you'll have to figure out a way to make both halves of the pallet fit onto the frame's handle. so you'll have to build up the sides and shave down the top and bottom of the racquet shaft, sounds like a lot of work to do something that you may end up not liking when you get done. What you might try is getting a smaller head pallet, widing the sides of the racquet shaft with whatever you think will work and slapping the smaller pallet on so that the two haves of the pallet don't touch each other and thus making the grip more of an octagonal shape. good luck with whatever you try.

 

[rich s]

Leo, I wouldn't recommend rotating the pallets 90 deg. too much is involved to support the pallets properly after they are rotated and they crack very easily if not supported properly because they are made of very light weight foam.

I would build up the "long" bevels with sheets/layers of balsa wood or bass wood (from a hobby store) or with strips of electrical tape to make the grip less rectangular and more octagonal. I would apply the strips of wood with 2 sided tape at first this way you can adjust the thickness until you are happy and then you can apply the wood with a more permanent medium like epoxy and sand the edges of the balsa wood to line up with the angled bevels adjacent to it.

my $.02
rich