Comparison of Nylon and Poly Strings (with numbers)

I lost all my strings test data while trying to back it up! Comical isn't it? If I had not tried to backup, I would still have the data... 

The good news is, I have already studied the data (and charts) and understood its implications on stringing. Since I've gotten something out of it, it's good enough for me!

But someone asked if I could fill in the details of the chart I posted previously. (link) So I cut a little more slack when stringing up my racket and re-tested the strings again.

The poly test is done in increments of 5lbs between 25-70lbs.

The multifilament measurements are taken specifically only at 33-44-66-88lbs. The simple reason is because the multi string kept slipping from 40+lbs despite being wiped down with alcohol, clamps adjustments and jaws cleaning. 

Both strings are also allowed to stretch out for at least 30 seconds before the measurements are taken.

I think the data is still good enough to paint a clear picture of how differently they stretch.

Here it is:

Strings:

Pro Supex Maxim Touch 1.30mm

Pro Supex Big Ace Revo 1.25mm

Wilson Hammer 5.8 + Multi/Poly @ 30/30 lbs (16x17)

I have a very good impression of how Multifilament mains with Big Ace cross played. (link) But with so many different combinations of strings to test, I only strung it up once. 

With my ELT fever raging, I want to try this combination again to see how it behaves with ELT. Note top and bottom crosses are skipped.

My objectives are:
- How would poly feel as a cross at 30lbs?
- Can I still get ridiculous amounts of spin?
- What is the tension holding and durability?
- Would the comfort levels exceed this same combo at normal tensions?
- Would this be a trampoline or a completely powerless stringbed?

Playtest:
- I still do not like poly at low tension
- Power is low, but much better than ELT full poly
- Spin is normal. I could hear the strings snapping when I do a windscreen wiper forehand finish, but the ball does not kick high.
- Despite the very soft multi mains, there is a boardy stiff feel at impact with lots of vibrations. 
- Even with a skipped top cross string, contacts a little higher than the sweetspot felt very harsh, almost painful.
- Sweetspot is very small compared to ELT full syn gut.
- Directional control is the only advantage I could find. Aiming is as accurate as syn gut strung in the 50-60s.
- Overall, there is no comfort, little power and marginal spin.


27Feb2013 update:
- Played using this racket again today
- The stringbed feels softer and less harsh but vibrations were still huge.
- There was still very little or no spin with very low power. Many shots hit the net or barely got over.
- There was minor notching on the multi mains.
- I don't enjoy this setup at all. These strings play much nicer at 45-50 lbs.

Strings:

Pro Supex Maxim Touch 1.30mm mains @ 30 lbs

Pro Supex Big Ace Revo 1.25mm cross @ 30 lbs

Yonex RDS003v1 + Multi/Syn Gut @ 35/33 lbs

After trying (and taking!!!) my Dunlop racket, M also wants his racket done with Extra Low Tension (ELT) now! He is  abandoning his favourite Black Fusion poly main string and trying 16g multifilament!!! (link) 

For someone who always demands "I want MORE spin!" to switch to multi/syn gut at ELT says a lot about the potential of ELT.

M is a strange chap who likes as little variables as possible. "Only one change", he would say. So that we can clearly attribute the different results to that one single variable. Ceteris Paribus is his motto! Interesting!

Playtest:
- M is surprised that at 100 sq in, 35/33 lbs is so playable
- Control, spin and power are all there, together with heaps of comfort
- For me, at the receiving end, M's shots are much heavier. When M gets his stroke and timing right, the kick is incredible! It really throws my timing off!
- To ensure M got the right feel of how the newly strung Yonex plays, M brought ALL the rackets and rotated them one at a time! (The top 2 are mine)

26Mar2013 update:
- Power, control and spin are all still intact after a month of play.
- The most impressive aspect is how effortless it is to return hard shots. All that's needed is to hit as near the sweet spot as possible and the strings do the rest.
- Tension holding is still very good.

Strings:

Pro Supex Maxim Touch 1.30mm mains @ 35 lbs

Pro Supex Synthetic Gut Titan 1.25mm cross @ 33 lbs

Wilson Hammer 5.8 + Poly/Syn Gut @ 32/30 lbs (16x17)

Combined, both my playing partner and myself hit with the ELT full poly for less than 15min. It felt too harsh to continue. Or, it could just be that we loved our arms too much...

After some thought, I decided to convert this job to a ELT hybrid and see how different it would play.

Online, there's plenty of debate on re-using strings or converting strung rackets. Most issues revolve around how unpredictable the strings would play. Some fear racket damage. Perhaps I have been lucky so far?

After mounting the racket, I cut the crosses. If you observe the gap between the cut strings, it's clear how little snap there is when cut. Poly is a very stiff string.

Removing the cut crosses.

After inspecting the mains for any damage, it's back to regular stringing.

Somehow, the top and bottom cross seemed a little too near the frame to me. My previous rackets all played very well with both crosses skipped, so I skipped them this time too!

Playtest:
- I only hit with it for about 5 min, then passed it to M, who snapped the cross string with a backhand topspin!
- For that few shots, spin was better than with full poly. It was quite comfortable too.
- In fact, I could not tell any difference between this ELT stringjob and another done in the 40-50s. It played exactly the same to me!
- Spin clearly loses out to full syn gut at ELT
- Control is the only thing better than ELT syn gut

Strings:

Pro Supex Big Ace Revo 1.25mm mains @ 32 lbs

Pro Supex Synthetic Gut Titan 1.25mm cross @ 30 lbs

Wilson Hammer 5.8 + Full Poly @ 32 lbs

Since bidding farewell to my Dunlop Aerogel 200 (link), I was on a racket hunt again.

I chanced upon a 95 sq in used Wilson Hammer 5.8. I remembered this played similar to my Wilson Pro Staff Classic so I bought it. It was still strung with the original factory set of synthetic gut strings. I think the strings should be at least a decade old or more. 

Online forums claimed that very old strings often drop to about 30+ lbs or less. So I tried playing with it, wondering if it would play as comfortable as newly strung low tension strings. 

Nope, it did not play well at all. The strings are totally dead and vibrations are aplenty. Ball impact actually felt very stiff and incredibly low powered. Needless to say, I cut it!

Having tried synthetic gut with excellent results at low tension, I decided to give soft poly a try to assess the comfort and spin potential. My previous experiment (link) with low tension poly did not go well, but I was told it was because the tension was NOT low enough!

So here I am, working on a truly LOW tension full poly setup!

There was not much elongation during stringing. However, after it was done, when hitting the strings against my palm, I was quite surprised that the stringbed stiffness felt similar to poly or hybrid done in the 40-50s!

Playtest:
- It plays quite similar to full poly strung at 50+ lbs. The difference is more comfort, less power and less spin
- Sweetspot or near sweetspot hits are very soft and comfortable but contacts further away are still harsh
- Directional control is equally good as normal-tensioned poly
- Spin is very very weak, almost none despite my full upward swipe!
- Power level is super low. It feels like I am using a badminton racket to play tennis! Even hitting completely flat feels low-powered to my partner!
- It is very comfortable compared to full poly in the 40-50lbs. But against 30+lbs syn gut, this setup feels so harsh and full of vibrations!

Strings:

Pro Supex Big Ace Revo 1.25mm @ 32lbs

Wilson PSC 6.1 + Synthetic Gut @ 30 lbs

Since my fears about a trampoline stringbed did not happen, I thought I'll jump straight into the deep end! Go straight for 30 lbs with a full bed of synthetic gut! Do it "yourmailman" style! (Nope, no gangnam style here for me..... heh heh....)

It has been almost a two week break from tennis for me with my trip and the Chinese New Year celebrations. But I could not stop thinking about this Extra Low Tension (ELT) experiments. So now that I'm back, it's action time!

The thinnest string I have is 17g. I laced up my favourite and most familiar racket, the Wilson Pro Staff Classic 6.1 with the synthetic gut Titan. Now my fear is not trampoline but how much more spin am I going to get. Too much, and I know all my shots are going to just curl down inside MY SIDE of the court. Yes, it's that much and that drastic!

With the mains completed, I was "pinging" the strings to listen to the pitch. Surprisingly, it didn't sound too different from tensioning it at 50+ lbs! Maybe I am tone deaf?

Stringing is SO easy with ELT. There is zero clamps slippage. Threading the crosses is so smooth and fast. Even hard weaves are easy! And the string from blocked holes can easily be pushed apart with my fingernails!

At 30lbs, the string does not even stretch much. I have to mentally "re-calibrate" how much allowance to allocate to get the drop weight arm parallel to the ground. The extra amount of string to feed feels like I am stringing poly.

Playtest:
- Even at only 30 lbs in a 16x18, the stringbed did not feel drastically looser than my previous Dunlop AG200 18x20 strung at 35/33. It's very marginal.
- Spin is more than the Dunlop, perhaps due to the open pattern and 17g strings
- Power is very very good and the spin makes the power very controllable. No problems at all aiming for corners at baseline or service box. Out of 10 corner attempts, I hit about 8 which is similar to my kevlar/syn gut setup.
- I cannot feel any tension loss after an hour of hard hits. 
- No trampoline at all.
- Full marks for volleys again
- Passing shots that caught me off-guard or wrong-footed are easily returned DEEP with a light tap
- Service had pace. Visually, the ball was travelling faster than with my trusted and favoured kevlar/syn gut setup. 
- Spin serves were deadly. It touched my partner's racket face and bounced off weird angles!
- This setup is staying!
- Below pic is after one hour of play with no string adjustments done! Can you see the "ring of fur"? That's my sweetspot! The darker coloured cross strings near the fur is a result of the main strings movements. (Click on the pic for a closer look)

PS: My partner commented that with SO MUCH ball fur thrown in our faces at every hit, we better ensure the balls are FDA-approved and non-toxic!!! And we must start coughing out furballs like cats after every game!!!

15Feb2013 update:
- had another session with this racket
- we could not feel any tension loss. The racket played and felt exactly like it did the first round.
- perhaps due to the light rain and wet balls, there was no significant ball fur accumulating on the strings
- power, spin and control remains excellent
- one new observation was when I was returning hard flat shots, the stringbed depression felt a little too deep. I may up tension slightly next time and observe
- overall, i will still stick with this ELT setup

19Feb2013 update:
- played with this racket again after removing the fur and straightening the strings
- spin, control and power still feels equally good
- found another way of hitting topspin that can make the ball kick differently
- below's the before and after pics

21Feb2013 update:
- I straightened out the strings, removed the fur and played with it again
- Tension seems to have dropped a little but did not affect spin nor control
- Spin is still absolutely amazing! It is fun to see the ball curl and kick!
- My tennis balls are getting bald!

27Feb2013 update:
- After more than 10 hours of play, I can feel a significant tension loss.
- The stringbed depression feels so deep now that I have to be very careful where I finish my swing follow-through. Pull a little left and that's where the ball will go!
- The heavy spin is gone. Power is very low too. 
- Time to cut this out!

Strings:

Pro Supex Synthetic Gut Titan 1.25mm @ 30 lbs