Wilson Blade SW104 lead tape and string setup

D

Deleted member 23235

Guest
For the people playing this racket what is your lead tape setup and string setup? thx

I don’t use lead... tried it but the swing weight stock was enough for me due to the length.

if anything I weighted the handle to make it more head light

my $0.02


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
D

Deleted member 23235

Guest
what string and tension do you like on it

lux alu @60
(level: 4.5
style: aggressive baseliner,... avg gs speed 55mph... maxing around 80mph according to sony sensor)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited by a moderator:

2ndServe

Hall of Fame
Complicated racquet to weight up due to - from memory - somewhat hammer (as in Wilson Hammer) like feel?

it is only 5 pts headlight, are hammers head heavy or even, granted a lot of players rackets are much more headlight? I don't know if the the extreme length messed with that number.
 
it is only 5 pts headlight, are hammers head heavy or even, granted a lot of players rackets are much more headlight? I don't know if the the extreme length messed with that number.
I wasn't suggesting it was literally hammer weighted, just somewhat less head light feel than a traditional player's racquet. This feeling is accentuated by the extra length.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
If I was going to put lead anywhere it would be the handle. It's got plenty of plow and stability stock. A little weight in the handle might make it a bit more HL and maneuverable.

The Prince Phantom 93P and Wilson Blade SW104 are the only two sticks I've played stock largely because the already have such good stability and plowthrough with nice balance.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
Late to this thread but would like to hear if there are any other users of the SW104 and what strings and tensions are being used.

I recently switched to the SW104 and have so far found the best and most intuitive response to be a full poly stringbed strung in the lower 40's. My two racquets have five grams added at 3 and 9 o'clock, and the bottom five inches of the grip are built up with two layers of a heat shrink sleeve, plus two additional layers just on the buttcap. Final weight is 356 grams, 32.3 cm balance point (10 points HL), swingweight of about 350.

One racquet has 1.25 black Cyclone strung with the center mains at 49 and the center crosses at 46. The other has 1.30 Solstice Power center mains at 47 and 1.23 SPPP with the center crosses at 44 pounds. I do my own version of proportionate stringing so the outer mains are about -10 pounds and the top and bottom crosses are -13 pounds.

I originally started with tensions in the lower 50's and worked down. I'm mostly curious what experiences people have with either thicker, stiffer strings at a lower tension, or much thinner strings at higher tensions.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
I tried both before settling on the SW104. In stock form, they feel very dissimilar to each other. The blade 104 is significantly lighter and because of that, the sweetspot feels much smaller and off-center hits are very jarring. The SW104 also has countervail, which I do not believe the regular blade 104 has. I have not tried the same racquet with and without countervail so I'm not exactly sure how it changes the feel, but the SW104 definitely has a more solid and vibration free, almost wood-racquet-like feel when hitting the middle of the sweet spot. The blade 104 had less of a pocketing feel and was more springy, but that could have just been differences in the demo racquet strings (synthetic gut in both cases). The SW104 feels stiffer overall, which I prefer.

I didn't notice much difference in length between the two. The SW104 seemed to give about 5% more ball velocity, but it is hard to know how much of that 5% was due to swingweight and how much due to the strings. If I had to guess, I'd probably say the vast majority was due to the racquet.

I'm about a month into using the SW104. I have 5 grams of lead at 3 and 9 o'clock and about 25 grams added to the handle area. It feels like I want a bit more swingweight for groundstrokes but even as it is now, it's almost a bit too unwieldy for higher 4.5 level doubles. Overall, for singles where I play an aggressive, attacking game, I usually try to not have a difficult volley and if I hit a poor approach shot and flub the volley off a good groundstroke by my opponent, I'm okay with that.

I'm 57 years old, USTA rated 4.5, and still can hold my own at 18 and over 4.5 singles. The SW104 has brought some extra reach and ballspeed to my game that has helped quite a bit. Oh, one-handed backhand as well, and I can hit a ton of top from that side as long as I have some time to get my feet planted.
 

2ndServe

Hall of Fame
I tried both before settling on the SW104. In stock form, they feel very dissimilar to each other. The blade 104 is significantly lighter and because of that, the sweetspot feels much smaller and off-center hits are very jarring. The SW104 also has countervail, which I do not believe the regular blade 104 has. I have not tried the same racquet with and without countervail so I'm not exactly sure how it changes the feel, but the SW104 definitely has a more solid and vibration free, almost wood-racquet-like feel when hitting the middle of the sweet spot. The blade 104 had less of a pocketing feel and was more springy, but that could have just been differences in the demo racquet strings (synthetic gut in both cases). The SW104 feels stiffer overall, which I prefer.

I didn't notice much difference in length between the two. The SW104 seemed to give about 5% more ball velocity, but it is hard to know how much of that 5% was due to swingweight and how much due to the strings. If I had to guess, I'd probably say the vast majority was due to the racquet.

I'm about a month into using the SW104. I have 5 grams of lead at 3 and 9 o'clock and about 25 grams added to the handle area. It feels like I want a bit more swingweight for groundstrokes but even as it is now, it's almost a bit too unwieldy for higher 4.5 level doubles. Overall, for singles where I play an aggressive, attacking game, I usually try to not have a difficult volley and if I hit a poor approach shot and flub the volley off a good groundstroke by my opponent, I'm okay with that.

I'm 57 years old, USTA rated 4.5, and still can hold my own at 18 and over 4.5 singles. The SW104 has brought some extra reach and ballspeed to my game that has helped quite a bit. Oh, one-handed backhand as well, and I can hit a ton of top from that side as long as I have some time to get my feet planted.

Thanks
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
Got some strings in to test.

uc


Still in search for that string that gives me the launch angle and ballspeed that is my preference. I'm currently using TourBite 1.30 and the launch angle is a bit low although the ballspeed off almost the whole entirety of the stringbed matches my expectations very well. I have about six hours on this stringbed and launch angle seems to be slightly increasing, while the elasticity still feels like it did at about the two hour mark. I've got a bit of notching so it looks like if I play it until it breaks, it has maybe another 10-12 hours in it.

I've also tried Cyclone 1.25, which is just too powerful and springy, so though the launch angle is about where I'm expecting, I get way too much ballspeed. I've tried three different tensions with this string already and none of them give me that really good fit.

I'm testing the 1.30 strings at the moment. The 18X19 and 1.30 makes for a really dense stringbed and makes it hard to get the amount of launch angle I'm looking for, but the 1.25 strings I've tried so far are too powerful. Using one of the stiffer 1.25 strings gives me too jarring of a response when badly missing the sweetspot, and for those balls that I can barely reach and hit off the strings near the tip, don't have enough oomph to make it back over the net as often as a thicker but less stiff string.

I'm going to try the Revolve Spin first. It's supposedly quite a bit more elastic than TourBite, though the TW playtest said it was lower powered. I'll probably string them up at the same tension and see how it plays. The color of the string is a perfect match with the color of the SW104.

Open to any and all suggestions.
 

rmered

New User
I use Luxilon Big Banger ALU Rough or Luxilon Original Rough at 52-54 lbs depending on the outside temperature. I have tried a few different strings from Solinco (Tour Bite and Hyper-G) but I never got the tension quite right. I either went way to high or way to low and never found the perfect tension. I have used Cyclone as well at 52-53 and it played good. I have been using Luxilon for a long time and I am having a hard time finding something I like better. I have also tried gut in the mains at 52 and ALU Rough in the crosses at 48. I also have one full bed of gut at 52. The gut and gut hybrids are softer on my arm, but I have confidence in a full bed of poly. I am a 4.0 and over 50 so my swing speed could be slower than what you are capable of generating. If I am playing tournaments, I will cut the Luxilon out after 6-8 hours of play.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
rmered, I'm 57 and USTA 4.5 rated. I posted a hitting video of me in the "Dunlop ATP ball" test thread in this forum section so you can get an idea how I play and can see how applicable my impressions about my setup may be for you.

Since I last posted in this thread, I've really narrowed down my preference for racquet weight and string/string tension. I have around 5 grams of lead at 3 and 9 o'clock, and have two 6" sections of the full grip size heat shrink wrap plus two more of the same thickness heat shrink wraps just on the buttcap. Grip size with a replacement grip (I thought the original Wilson grip was too thin and not impact absorbing enough) is about 4 3/4. Final weight is 355 grams, swingweight somewhere just under 350, with a balance point of 32.3 cm so 11 points HL.

With strings, I'm currently testing Hyper-G 1.30. I like it a whole lot! A bit less lively than Tour Bite 1.30, but a bit more spin. Diadem Solstice Power 1.30 is also very similar to Hyper-G, with again just a bit less power and a small bit more spin capability. I string the middle eight mains at 48 pounds, the next two outside of those at 44 pounds, and the last outer main at 40 pounds. I use 46 pounds for the middle five crosses, decreasing to 33 pounds for the top and bottom cross. This expands the area of good response, especially up towards the tip of the stringbed, and the lower tensions seem provide good cushioning and longer life for such a relatively thick string in the fairly dense string pattern.

I'm going to try 1.25 thickness strings in some similarly low powered strings, like Solinco Revolution. I mis-hit a fair amount so if I can get a bit more cushion when I really miss the sweet spot while still keeping the control I now have, I hope the thinner string will give me just a little bit higher launch angle that I'm looking for.

I tried 1.25 Cyclone but it was a bit too springy and lively for me. I've stayed away from the Luxilon strings because the don't retain that magical feel for long enough for me, and I'm too lazy to restring that often. I worry most that I'll get addicted to them...

What tensions and gauges did you try when you used Tour Bite and Hyper-G?
 

rmered

New User
Injured Again, 16 gauge on both strings. I first tried Hyper-G at 53.5 and it felt like a board. I then tried Tour bite at 50. It ended up being playable but felt stiff for quite a while. I never felt it had as much power as the Luxilon strings. Please keep in mind that I really like Luxilon and have great confidence in their strings so my opinions are biased in their favor. I later tried Hyper-G in the low 40's. I can't remember the exact tension. It was an overcorrection to cutting the first set out after hitting with it for 5 minutes. I could rally with the low tension but my first serve had too much power. I still have one set of Tour Bite and I may try your tension drop method on the outer strings. I have never done that. I hit a big kick serve (on all 2nd serves and some first) and volley behind it. The kick goes through strings pretty fast which is why I usually go with 16 gauge. I also do a lot of chip and charge on returns. I play doubles almost exclusively. If I a hitting a groundstroke from the baseline, I am hitting a slice and coming in or attacking the net person with heavy topspin. I rarely hit a flat or low spin shot. I have never added weight to the racquet since I play so much doubles. Just curious if you (or anyone else) has ever tried the Ashaway Kevlar / Mongut ZX combo in the SW104?
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
rmered, dropping the tension on the edge mains and crosses doesn't seem to soften the sweetspot nearly as much as it helps with mis-hits. Being older, I tend to have the most problem running down shots and end up catching a lot more balls high on the stringbed. This stringing method seems to help me get one or two balls back into the court that would otherwise dribble somewhere on my side, and reduces mis-hit shock. I think this stringing pattern may make the stringbed a little less predictable but that's just a guess.

I don't play doubles well - on my 55 and over 9.0 team, my miss rate on the first shot I get in a point is probably around 33%. If the ball goes over the net several times to my partner and then I get a volley as my first shot in the point, my miss rate is probably closer to 50%. I'm too much of a rhythm player and need the repetition of singles, and don't have those short angles and touch shots needed for doubles at the 9.0 level. The times I've had the most success has been with a tall and aggressive partner who wants me to just whack a groundstroke hard and then he charges the middle of the net. Doubles requires skills I don't have until I can figure a way to uncouple my swing timing with my footwork.

What is interesting is that I'm playtesting the Diadem Flash strings, which are just a round, firm, and control-oriented poly. I've used shaped polys for several years now but playing with the round poly was eye opening. My serves definitely didn't have the movement or hop, but I had so much confidence in my volleys. Round smooth polys just don't have the sensitivity to incoming spin, and the firm and controlled nature of the Flash let me be really precise with my volley placement and depth, much better than I've ever been able to hit with a shaped poly. In singles, I'm not going to win with my volleys so I'll stick with shaped polys, enjoy the added spin, and deal with the downsides.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
Oh, by the way, in the "in praise of" thread, travlerajm says that the hoop on the SW104 is not stiff enough to properly maintain the tension differential that is recommended.
 

rmered

New User
Thanks for that information!! Saved me $50 or so on string and possibly a racquet as well. I may use the money I was going to spend on kev/monoguy zx on a few more sets of Hyper-G and possibly try Diadem Solstice Power as well.
 

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
It's worth trying the Solstice Power. It has just a bit more spin capability and a bit less power than Hyper-G, but I have to say that the blue hue of Solstice Power really doesn't go well with the shade of green used in the Blade. I know aesthetics shouldn't play that big of a role, but every time I looked down at the strings, it just always caught my eye how garish it seemed.

uc
 
Top