Very light Prince Original Graphite OS 4-stripe -- 324g?

[wedge]

I'm new to POGs -- I have a 1-stripe individual grommet frame that is nice and heavy (or was at least, I've since removed all the strings and busted grommets). But I recently picked up a 4-stripe OS, after reading that the 4-stripe versions are often a bit lighter and more playable.

This is a 4 1/4 grip, and weighs in at only 324g, which by my understanding is rather light for this racket. It had an old synthetic grip on it, so I removed that to get a better sense of the frame weight, and without the grip it weighs in at 310g.

Surely this is very, very light for a POG OS 4-stripe, or any POG for that matter? Granted it's a smaller grip size but I can't see how that would account for such a light frame.

No other odd indications on the frame, it's in pretty nice shape. It was purchased from a Japanese auction site, did Prince sell lighter POGs for the Asian market?

Curious to take it out to hit, but at least for now, wow it's just a totally different racket from the 1-stripe. It feels legitimately whippy, which tbh isn't quite what I was looking for. Any info would be appreciated!

 

[BlueB]

You've got a wonderful unicorn! It's not good, send it to me.

 

[wedge]

This stinks cuz I hate unicorns. And wonderful unicorns are the worst.

 

[Grafil Injection]

Strung that is very light, but with the correct leather grip it would be more like 332g which is just light.

Which 4-stripe is it? They changed the position of the copyright label and date from the outside of the neck to inside at some point, and I think the latter ones are lighter.

 

[wedge]

Strung that is very light, but with the correct leather grip it would be more like 332g which is just light.

Which 4-stripe is it? They changed the position of the copyright label and date from the outside of the neck to inside at some point, and I think the latter ones are lighter.

That definitely tracks. Copyright is on the inside of the neck indeed -- it's not a label but printed directly on, if that makes a difference at all.

Would you know the approximate weight of the leather grip that would have come with the racket originally? The original plan was to go up a half size with a shrink sleeve, but I'd like to be thoughtful about the grip I put on over it and try and come close to the original weight, perhaps with a lightweight leather or synthetic grip.

 

[Grafil Injection]

That definitely tracks. Copyright is on the inside of the neck indeed -- it's not a label but printed directly on, if that makes a difference at all.

Would you know the approximate weight of the leather grip that would have come with the racket originally? The original plan was to go up a half size with a shrink sleeve, but I'd like to be thoughtful about the grip I put on over it and try and come close to the original weight, perhaps with a lightweight leather or synthetic grip.

Yep, that's the second 4-stripe version. The first has the label in the outside like the 1-stripe.

The leather grips are high quality and thick, so around 22g.

 

[PBODY99]

@wedge
I have found the current Prince leather grip from TW to be a close match for leather grips I use on my frames in the 1980's.

 

[mixtape]

The POG OS with leather grips is fun to hit with. The POG mid (90) is another level of whippy fun.

 

[wedge]

Just by way of update, I put a 1/2 size sleeve on it which added 9g. As mixtape said, I def wanted to use a leather grip with this (it didn't come with one). And through a stroke of luck I remembered I had a vintage, barely-used Prince leather grip that I took off a Comp that I've been hitting with a ton and experimenting with. So, total static weight now is 344 with grip size near enough 4 3/8. I'll be very interested to try it out this weekend and see what the swing weight is like.

It's odd, I always assumed POGs were just these absolute 360g+ beasts, and was really looking forward to seeing what that's like. Then I got a wimpy 324g POG and was disappointed ... now it's a 344g POG and hopefully it's the Goldilocks POG, jussst right

 

[BlueB]

First thing I do with any POG is to remove the leather grip.

 

[Grafil Injection]

Just by way of update, I put a 1/2 size sleeve on it which added 9g. As mixtape said, I def wanted to use a leather grip with this (it didn't come with one). And through a stroke of luck I remembered I had a vintage, barely-used Prince leather grip that I took off a Comp that I've been hitting with a ton and experimenting with. So, total static weight now is 344 with grip size near enough 4 3/8. I'll be very interested to try it out this weekend and see what the swing weight is like.

It's odd, I always assumed POGs were just these absolute 360g+ beasts, and was really looking forward to seeing what that's like. Then I got a wimpy 324g POG and was disappointed ... now it's a 344g POG and hopefully it's the Goldilocks POG, jussst right

Early-mid 1980s POGs are of normal weight for the period, i.e. 340 unstrung, 356g strung. They do feel solid, but not much more effort to swing than other similar weight and size sticks, like the aluminium Pro for example. Late 80s POGs have lost 1/2oz and that continues through the 90s. Their feeling is similarly crisp, but the plough, stability (and probably power) has reduced slightly. Still more solid than most sticks today though.

The similar Spectrum Comp and Response rackets from 1986-7 have the full weight and I don't think they made 2nd lighter versions.

 

[Planar]

To me. It's playing very good with Luxilon 4G soft @ 51lbs.