Should I be using gut crosses instead of mains?

[levy1]

I need power and spin.

I am using gut mains and trying different synthetic crosses trying to duplicate the spin I had from the poly mains and gut crosses. Arm to sore at any tension.

Now I am trying to use gut mains and trying several synthetic crosses. At 63 I need power and would like spin.

Would I get closer to what I want with Gut crosses and synthetic mains?

 

[parasailing]

Like others have mention, the mains provide about 70% of the playing characteristics in the strings. No string will provide as much spin as poly. I too do not like the harshness of polys but have you tried some of the newer copoly strings? Polystar Energy is rather soft on the arm and produces a nice amount of spin and power. I am still working through the list of arm friendly polys.

 

[marosmith]

gut mains poly cross

 

[kiteboard]

vs team mains/prince syn gut crosses.

 

[levy1]

Like others have mention, the mains provide about 70% of the playing characteristics in the strings. No string will provide as much spin as poly. I too do not like the harshness of polys but have you tried some of the newer copoly strings? Polystar Energy is rather soft on the arm and produces a nice amount of spin and power. I am still working through the list of arm friendly polys.

Do you think it is softer then big hitter blue rough 17?

 

[TimothyO]

I need power and spin.

I am using gut mains and trying different synthetic crosses trying to duplicate the spin I had from the poly mains and gut crosses. Arm to sore at any tension.

Now I am trying to use gut mains and trying several synthetic crosses. At 63 I need power and would like spin (see TW Prof's spin research).

Would I get closer to what I want with Gut crosses and synthetic mains?

VS Gut mains + Low Friction Ply crosses in a soft-ish open pattern frame = power and insane spin.

I have a sensitive arm and have been following TW's low friction spin research very closely.

Currently I'm using VS 16 mains and Hurricane Feel 17 crosses at ~51/48. I've had amazing, idiot-proof access to spin even with my 90, 93, and 95 sq in frames. At 95+ it really kicks in almost on automatic pilot.

Last night hitting with my new Biomimetic 200 Lite (95 sq in) using VS/Hurricane Feel was a dream. Comfy and easy spin. Slices and even high spin lobs were super easy.

If your head size is 98+ you'll need to boost tension closer to the mid 50s to maintain control. And your frame better be softer (sub 64, below 60 even better) or you're in danger of building a rocket launcher.

 

[Erman]

Lux mains @ 48
Gut crosses @ 50

 

[TimothyO]

http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/COF.php

"Friction is important to spin, but not in the sense that most people think it is. In the past, two assumptions were the foundation for the conventional wisdom that (1) a rough string surface creates more spin by increasing the string's bite, grab and push on the ball, and (2) that inter-string motion would lessen that grabbing and thus should be minimized. So, to gain maximum spin, the goal was to use a string with both a high ball-string friction and a high string-string friction to create a rigid surface parallel to the stringbed.

As so formulated, both of these assumptions have proven incorrect. First, experiments show that for a tangentially noncompliant surface, the spin will be nearly the same for all magnitudes of string-ball friction for impact angles typical for tennis shots. For reasons explained below, both rough and smooth strings will produce the same spin on a laterally rigid surface."

...

"Second, recent experiments (Spin and Material, Spin and String Movement, Spin and String Pattern and String Snap-Back and Spin) have also demonstrated that sideways motion of the main strings during contact with the ball actually contributes to increasing spin. This sideways movement exerts a torque on the ball when it snaps back into position, thus causing topspin. "

...

"It is very interesting that the hybrid with poly crosses and gut mains is the combination with the lowest static COF. What is equally interesting is that if you change the combination to gut crosses and polyester mains, the static coefficient of friction is among the highest."

 

[Deleted member 59693]

I usually use a full bed of poly at 55/53 lbs. If I were to try gut mains what tension do you think I should go for with the gut?

 

[Specky]

VS Gut 17 Mains @ 53 and Technifibre Black Code Crosses @ 49 is the best combo of power, feel and spin I've found. No arm issues. 1 hour of hitting with gut/lux and my arm is done.

 

[TennisCJC]

Hi Domhas1, try gut mains at 56 and keep your poly cross at 53. I use Bab Tonic+ Feel 16G and it is great - good feel, power and way better than expected durability.

 

[Boricua]

http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/COF.php

"Friction is important to spin, but not in the sense that most people think it is. In the past, two assumptions were the foundation for the conventional wisdom that (1) a rough string surface creates more spin by increasing the string's bite, grab and push on the ball, and (2) that inter-string motion would lessen that grabbing and thus should be minimized. So, to gain maximum spin, the goal was to use a string with both a high ball-string friction and a high string-string friction to create a rigid surface parallel to the stringbed.

As so formulated, both of these assumptions have proven incorrect. First, experiments show that for a tangentially noncompliant surface, the spin will be nearly the same for all magnitudes of string-ball friction for impact angles typical for tennis shots. For reasons explained below, both rough and smooth strings will produce the same spin on a laterally rigid surface."

...

"Second, recent experiments (Spin and Material, Spin and String Movement, Spin and String Pattern and String Snap-Back and Spin) have also demonstrated that sideways motion of the main strings during contact with the ball actually contributes to increasing spin. This sideways movement exerts a torque on the ball when it snaps back into position, thus causing topspin. "

...

"It is very interesting that the hybrid with poly crosses and gut mains is the combination with the lowest static COF. What is equally interesting is that if you change the combination to gut crosses and polyester mains, the static coefficient of friction is among the highest."

In rice and beans, which produces more spin, gut mains/poly crosses or poly crosses/ gut mains?

From what source does your theory come?

Good day.

 

[Erman]

So does that mean I should use gut crosses for more spin. It seems to work that way and the strings last longer

 

[Torres]

http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/COF.php

"It is very interesting that the hybrid with poly crosses and gut mains is the combination with the lowest static COF. What is equally interesting is that if you change the combination to gut crosses and polyester mains, the static coefficient of friction is among the highest."

TW really ought to rewrite that paragraph and qualify it because quite a few people have been misled by it. Low COF of itself doesn't mean lots of spin - the material of the main string is a far more important factor.

Anyone who's played extensively with hybrid combinations will know that poly mains / gut crosses, produce much more spin than the other way round.

Poly mains / gut or multi crosses: the characteristics of the poly come to the fore much more and dominate the feel of the string bed. The main feeling on groundstrokes will be that of the poly. Stiffer and more spin. The characteristics of the gut or multi cross are much more 'in the background' and simply soften the stringbed and add a little power.

Gut or multi mains / poly crosses: the characteristics of the gut/mutli come to the fore much more and dominate the feel of the string bed. The stringbed feels more comfortable than the combination above, there's more feel and power on ground strokes. The poly crosses - you can feel their characteristics in the background - stiffen the stringbed and prevent a catapult effect and prevent the ball flying into the back fence. But they don't really contribute that much to anything else and there's noticeably less spin. Another downside is that directional control isn't quite as good because the gut / multi mains tend to deform much more on contact with the ball (particularly if this is strung at a low to mid tension) as they're sliding against slippery poly crosses.

If I was going to use gut or multi mains, I would have to have to prestretch it by fair amount to try and stiffen it up. I occasionally have spare racquet strung with multi mains, to use as a training racquet when I've played too much and my body feels like chopped liver. For competition, its poly mains and a multi or synthetic cross (currently BHBR 17 mains, and Mutifeel 17 crosses).

 

[mucat]

I have been using poly main and multi cross. It is such a dream setup. It has the softness of multi but with increased durability. And also the spin production of the poly but not the stiffness.

 

[Boricua]

I need power and spin.

I am using gut mains and trying different synthetic crosses trying to duplicate the spin I had from the poly mains and gut crosses. Arm to sore at any tension.

Now I am trying to use gut mains and trying several synthetic crosses. At 63 I need power and would like spin.

Would I get closer to what I want with Gut crosses and synthetic mains?

I am about to use Polystar Black Venom mains and gut crosses in some weeks from know whn the Revenge/gut loose tension.

They say Black Venom is soft, good spin and doesnt loose tension fast, like a better TCS, try it, could do the job with gut

 

[rdis10093]

Big yes, mains are the first thing to break, so that is where poly should go.

 

[levy1]

I am about to use Polystar Black Venom mains and gut crosses in some weeks from know whn the Revenge/gut loose tension.

They say Black Venom is soft, good spin and doesnt loose tension fast, like a better TCS, try it, could do the job with gut

Post your review. I would like to hear how it plays.