Using 16g string for mains, 17g for crosses---is it OK

max

Legend
Just curious. Want to do a poly syn gut hybrid and the only syn gut I have is 17g.

Mains would be poly 16g; crosses at syn gut 17g.

Any problem with this?
 

1HBHfanatic

Legend
I never liked that setup, but again, its a personal preference
I got used to 17g poly mains, 16g s.g. cross for a long time
17g cross syn.gut. stretches and/or becomes too soft, to fast for me, i loose confidence on it??!!
but i do like 17g/18g poly/poly
 

fjcamry

Semi-Pro
I tried 17L poly mains and 17g syngut cross and also 17g syngut mains / 18g poly cross. I felt the stiffer 18g poly cross felt more durable than 17g syngut crosses because the syngut cross would get too soft early and loose feeling and tension (more dead quickly )


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am1899

Legend
With the same 16g main, the 17g cross (instead of 16g) should (usually) be softer. Softer string bed should translate to a bit more pop and spin, at the expense of some durability and potentially poorer tension maintenance.

Personally, one of my go to setups for customers is 17g poly mains and 16g nylon synthetic gut crosses. This usually softens up the poly string a bit - which most recreational players benefit more from (than having a stiffer, more control oriented thicker gauge poly main).

Bottom line, there’s nothing wrong with mixing gauges between mains and crosses. Sometimes it can be advantageous. Other times maybe not so much. Only way to know is to experiment.
 

MathieuR

Hall of Fame
When I do a hybrid I always use the "soft" (syngut) in the mains, "hard" (poly) in the crosses.

Else you loose the snapback in notime.
 
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