Wednesday 26 December 2012

Yonex RDS003v1 + Poly/Syn Gut @ 54/52 lbs

String tension and racket tuning is inextricably linked. Adjust one and the other is affected. 

M's first RDS003 was done at 47/52 lbs. (link) It felt nice and soft until we adjusted the racket weight and balance. After that, the tension felt too soft. So, I strung up the second RDS003 tighter at 50/52 lbs with the same strings. (link) We fine-tuned the racket weights again and now the first RDS003 feels unplayable!

As usual, the same broken record by M is "I want MORE spin!". So I decided to increase the mains tension. The objective is to let the main strings' characteristics become more dominant. I also changed the synthetic gut cross string to the thinner gauge synthetic gut titan to try to "play it down".

Before:




After:



Synthetic gut Titan is a very soft nylon string. Everytime when I use it as a cross with a shaped poly mains, the titan would fray just from stringing. You can see the fraying very clearly in the last two cross strings in the picture below. 

Despite that, the string still lasts very long. The previous RD7 using a similar setup (link) has lasted about 15 hours of play and is STILL holding up tension and playability very well!



Playtest:
- surprisingly, the sweetspot moved downwards nearer the handle!
- off sweetspot contacts was harsher than the one strung at 50/52
- power level is the same as the 50/52 but spin excels in this racket
- we adjusted the weights some more and would give this setup another try before deciding to mod or cut



Strings:
Pro Supex Black Fusion 1.19mm mains @ 54lbs
Pro Supex Synthetic Gut Titan 1.25mm cross @ 52lbs




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