String Savers and Grip Heat Shrinks (Questions about them)

Joe12

Semi-Pro
Which string saver is best? It should not make the feel weird and it should not fall out of place. And of course it should aid durability. The savers should not touch the ball either.

And about shrink sleeves and grip sizes... I have a 4 3/8 size and I felt a larger one and it feels so much better. I need to enlarge my grip but I don't know what to do. I'll give you pictures of my hand and my racquet grips in 12 hours time. What to you need to install a shrink slleve? And how is it done?
 
babolat string savers are the best. alot of pros use them. they dont move around too much, and dont protrude as much. As for the grip heat shrinks, if you wanted to do it yourself, youd need to obtain a full size sleeve, take of the grip on your racquet, slip the sleeve on, and then somehow get something like a hair dryer to heat it up. I have a special heater specifically for it, but i dont know how effective a hair dryer might be. hope it helps.
 

AJK1

Hall of Fame
I had my Pro Shop install sleeves on both my racquets and they work fine. They come in two thicknesses, i got the ones that go up a full size. I went from 4 1/2 to 4 5/8 and it works a treat. I think they just shrink them on to the handle using a very hot hairdryer type thing. See if you can get a Pro Shop to do it, it looks a bit fiddly if you're not experienced doing it yourself. Cheers!
 

diredesire

Adjunct Moderator
String savers really are personal preference on which is "best", but there are plenty of good ones out there, some people don't like the raised pattern that string savers give, some of the best ones in my experience are the gexco string eyes. TW carries them, but you have to do a search for them, as i havne't seen them actually posted in a page on the site.

As far as heat shrink sleeves, just buy a sleeve and heat it up. It shrinks :)

If you don't have any tennis-shops around that are into this type of customization, check out a nice electronics shop near you. When i say electronics shops, i mean REAL electronics shops, not radioshack and the like. They'll carry various sizes of heat shrink tubing, and you'll be able to find the size you need. You may find dual walled sleeving that will bump you up a full size, if you look for it. A heat gun is the best way to shrink the sleeves down evenly/consistently, but a hair dryer (industrial/super high powered one) will do in a pinch. Like it has been mentioned, heat waves from a stove will also do the trick. If you have a nice even fire source (such as a powerful lighter, or a bunsen burner), this will also work, but move quickly and don't keep the heat source stuck on any spot too long, the heat shrink WILL burn.
 

Joe12

Semi-Pro
Is it that easy? Just get a hair dryer? Is it worth getting half sizes because they're all $2 and I might acidently go over. Does any of this process kill bevel feel? BTW Last night I put another replacement grip over my original replacement grip and then a Tourna Grip over that. Any more thoughts on string savers?

EDIT and the sleeves are removable if you screw up right?
 

Gaines Hillix

Hall of Fame
Joe12 said:
Is it that easy? Just get a hair dryer? Is it worth getting half sizes because they're all $2 and I might acidently go over. Does any of this process kill bevel feel? BTW Last night I put another replacement grip over my original replacement grip and then a Tourna Grip over that. Any more thoughts on string savers?

EDIT and the sleeves are removable if you screw up right?

A standard hair dryer will not work. It would take at least a 1500w dryer to do the job. I use a painter's heat gun. In a pinch, using heat from a gas burner on a cook top would work if you're careful. A single grip size increase will not effect the bevels very much. I've never used half sizes. An overgrip is so much easier to install and accomplishes the same thing. This is much better than adding multiple replacement grips and overgrips to try to achieve the same thing.
 

Joe12

Semi-Pro
OK Thanks. I'll get a few sleeves and a pack of Gamma String Savers (unless anyone has more suggestions)

How much does a replacement grip enlarge the size?
 

TheRed

Hall of Fame
Unique string savers are almost identical to Gamma's except for color. The babolat ones are different (they don't seem to raise the strings up as much) but I wouldn't say better. I've never had a unique string saver fall out on me and they are much cheaper than any other brand. Buy from TW but do a price search. TW will match.
 

Joe12

Semi-Pro
Joe12 said:
If you put a another replacement grip on, how much do you increase grip size?
How about this question? Lets say I have a 4 5/8 grip. If I put another replacement grip over the first one, what size would it be now?
 

diredesire

Adjunct Moderator
APPPPROXIMATELY 4 3/4, although i won't say it's definitive, grip thickness varies from manufacturer/grip to grip. Replacement grips are just about one full grip size up, where overgrips tend to hover around half a grip size. You lose a lot of bevel feel by adding 2 replacement grips, and you'll also get a lot of "squishiness", which may result in a loss of stability, although i know a lot of people that play with fattened grips with no ill effects.
 
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