socallefty
Hall of Fame
If you play with a hybrid string job of natural gut mains/poly crosses, do any of you like stringing the gut at tensions below 48 lbs and the poly below that?
Who plays with hybrid gut/poly strings at low tensions?
- Thread starter socallefty
- Start date
ej28405
New User
I play mostly 18x20 frames with 16g VS, 17g rpm blast and I could never go that low in tension. I’ve had stringers accidentally give me back a fresh string job that low by mistake. I tried it and it was a trampoline. My tension sweet spot, pending weather, is usually 56-62.
FIRETennis
Semi-Pro
You can go low tension with full bed poly depending on your frame but with gut/poly in most frames it becomes very hard to control if you drop the tension on the gut too much.
sovertennis
Professional
I use Klip 16g natural gut in the mains at 55 and Dunlop Explosive Red 16 in the x's at 50. Any lower than that and I lose control after only about 5-6 hours of play. As well, the strings start moving and the poly chews the gut.
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Deleted member 768841
Guest
I’m gradually lowering the tension, especially in my gravity pro. I have a 51/47 and it feels nice. The only problem was I chose black gut, which plays like crap 
I don’t want to go to low as not to have a rocket launcher but I would say 51 is quite low in my terms, especially for gut.
I don’t want to go to low as not to have a rocket launcher but I would say 51 is quite low in my terms, especially for gut.yes ive also had ****ty experiences w black gut. I have a gut/poly frame that was strung november last year at 51/47 that I just started playing with again and it feels fine. For reference, my main setup is VCT 16g/thin round copoly cross @38/36 in VCP100. Since my racquet is more control oriented, low tension stringbed is playable for me...just have to brush more to keep the ball in the court. VCT 16g with thin round copoly cross is my pseudo gut/poly setup and is definitely worth a try.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
With a K90 I've used 1.30 pacific/ any 1.25 poly at 45/42 with no control issues.
In my PS97s with 1.30-1.25 pacific / 1.25-1.20 poly, 48/45 was the lowest tension that I could acceptably play with. At 45/42, the pocketing/dwell time became too much for me. I'm now comfortably using 1.25 pacific/1.25 poly at ~51/48.
In my PS97s with 1.30-1.25 pacific / 1.25-1.20 poly, 48/45 was the lowest tension that I could acceptably play with. At 45/42, the pocketing/dwell time became too much for me. I'm now comfortably using 1.25 pacific/1.25 poly at ~51/48.
tennisbike
Professional
Did not strung with low reference tension but ended up low tension, measured by SM.
Two string jobs of gut/poly on Prince TT Warrior OS: 1st: Global gut/Isospeed Baseline 50/43 lb; 2nd Global gut/Max Power 130 55/50 lb. I remember gut/MP felt a little stiff when strung. But guess what, in both string job, the tension eventually level off/stablized at 30/30 lbs. The mod TT Warrior OS has good plow through and a weapon in my good days. In my bad days.. I say it trampoline badly. At this stage of the game, for me anyway, I feel in most case the racket and strings matters less than the operator, AKA me.
I am curious if anyone using natural guts track their tension over time. I get the feeling gut, being the king of tension maintenance is a myth, because even at low tension it is still elastic and has lots of power. Seems few people admit their expensive gut does not hold tension well. It is like Cadillac or Mercedes owners do not complain their car is crap, but Hyundai owners treat their car like crap and complain they have crap cars.
Two string jobs of gut/poly on Prince TT Warrior OS: 1st: Global gut/Isospeed Baseline 50/43 lb; 2nd Global gut/Max Power 130 55/50 lb. I remember gut/MP felt a little stiff when strung. But guess what, in both string job, the tension eventually level off/stablized at 30/30 lbs. The mod TT Warrior OS has good plow through and a weapon in my good days. In my bad days.. I say it trampoline badly. At this stage of the game, for me anyway, I feel in most case the racket and strings matters less than the operator, AKA me.
I am curious if anyone using natural guts track their tension over time. I get the feeling gut, being the king of tension maintenance is a myth, because even at low tension it is still elastic and has lots of power. Seems few people admit their expensive gut does not hold tension well. It is like Cadillac or Mercedes owners do not complain their car is crap, but Hyundai owners treat their car like crap and complain they have crap cars.
landcookie
Semi-Pro
If you're any sort of big hitter, I don't think you'd want to string gut under ~53.
I think it would be grip dependent. I don't have an extreme grip, so once my stringbed tension dropped below 45lbs, balls start to fly; I pretty much had to change my swing path to hit pure spin for balls to land in. Or lower ball trajectory and play higher risk tennis.
I think it would be grip dependent. I don't have an extreme grip, so once my stringbed tension dropped below 45lbs, balls start to fly; I pretty much had to change my swing path to hit pure spin for balls to land in. Or lower ball trajectory and play higher risk tennis.
2nd Serve Ace
Hall of Fame
You must be a net rusher. Hard to control that setup as a baseline player.
Dartagnan64
G.O.A.T.
Depends on the gut and the frame. Klip Legend plays firm for a gut and can be strung about 5 lbs lower than VS to give similar power. I'd never go much lower than 55 with Babolat gut but I've been doing 50 lbs with Legend for a while now. But I'm playing low powered player's frames with 18x20 string beds. If I was using a 16x19 tweener, I'd run Legend around 54 and VS around 58. In fact in my POG 107, I've got Legend in at 60 lbs with the poly cross at 55lbs.
So unless you specify the frame and gut type, the answers will vary wildly.
So unless you specify the frame and gut type, the answers will vary wildly.
Now you have me worried that I suck! I don't approach unless absolutely mandatory! I hit with a lot of topspin and have no problems with hitting long or accuracy. I've tried lots of different tensions and LOVE this set-up from the baseline. Plus my elbow doesn't absolutely kill every single day of the year. I hit a pretty flat 2hbh and that doesn't sail either?
MixedMaster
Semi-Pro
I've been a gut/poly user for quite a few years and every once in a while I get the notion to string below 50lbs and end out having to cut it out. Can't control it! I've tried switching from gut in the mains to gut in the crosses and nothing works for me. I can't envision a good gut working at that low a tension.