lionel_101
Rookie
I ran into an unusal situation with a newer model 2015 Gearbox teadrop racquetball racquet a few months ago and yesterday as well. This might be something that could happen to some tennis racquet, but I don't know.
It is a 2015 Gearbox GB170 teardrop shaped racquetball racquet (2 of them). They were well used and had many hard wall hits with it. A friend bought both and gave it to me to restring. I noticed right away that the top of both racquets were not a teardrop shape, but flattened. I cut out the strings and the normal teadrop shaped returned on both. (thus I gathered the previous stringer had mis-strung the racquets.
I mounted one of them on my stringer (Gamma X-2) and proceeded to string it at 35 lbs (what he wanted), and restrung it exactly like all the other gearbox racquets that I do, including my own. The suggested range is 30 lbs +/- 5 lbs, so I was in the normal range. Every thing looked great as usual, but when I was done and loosen the supports, the top of the racquet flattened out almost 1/4" and what worse did not have the teardrop shape anymore.
I thought I made a mistake and restrung it again with the exact same results. Since it was like that when I got it, I assume that is what happens on this particular racquet. He played a lot of tournaments on them and even won a couple of them. He says that it hits and plays fine, but just doesn't like the flatten look and it distracts him.
I had the chance to see a new 2015 model teardrop racquet in a buddies bag and it to was flattened out at the top. What tops it off, the pics on sites that sell it, shows a nice teardrop shape.
Does anyone here might have a clue as to what is going on and what could cause this to happen and should the factory provide information that this could happen so restringers will not be surprises when it does and that it is normal and acceptable ?
It is a 2015 Gearbox GB170 teardrop shaped racquetball racquet (2 of them). They were well used and had many hard wall hits with it. A friend bought both and gave it to me to restring. I noticed right away that the top of both racquets were not a teardrop shape, but flattened. I cut out the strings and the normal teadrop shaped returned on both. (thus I gathered the previous stringer had mis-strung the racquets.
I mounted one of them on my stringer (Gamma X-2) and proceeded to string it at 35 lbs (what he wanted), and restrung it exactly like all the other gearbox racquets that I do, including my own. The suggested range is 30 lbs +/- 5 lbs, so I was in the normal range. Every thing looked great as usual, but when I was done and loosen the supports, the top of the racquet flattened out almost 1/4" and what worse did not have the teardrop shape anymore.
I thought I made a mistake and restrung it again with the exact same results. Since it was like that when I got it, I assume that is what happens on this particular racquet. He played a lot of tournaments on them and even won a couple of them. He says that it hits and plays fine, but just doesn't like the flatten look and it distracts him.
I had the chance to see a new 2015 model teardrop racquet in a buddies bag and it to was flattened out at the top. What tops it off, the pics on sites that sell it, shows a nice teardrop shape.
Does anyone here might have a clue as to what is going on and what could cause this to happen and should the factory provide information that this could happen so restringers will not be surprises when it does and that it is normal and acceptable ?
