Oldie: Wilson XT-80-L2 + Syn Gut @ 30 lbs

After getting no reply from Wilson, I decided not to wait anymore. I have no information on the specs of this frame. Not even the frame size! (link) Whatever it is, I decided to string this up with full synthetic gut at 30 lbs.

Here's some pics if anyone has seen or used this stick before...

There a marking "KAR" on the buttcap just above the "W" logo.

The inside of the above racket cover has a tag indicating it was made in Taiwan for Wilson.

 Since there is no tension differential, I used one-piece stringing.

I used the Wilson Hammer 5.8 which is a 95 sq inch frame as comparison. The XT-80 is only slightly smaller.

The strung outer frame width and length are respectively 25.9cm and 33cm.

It weighed close to 380g initially. I removed the original grip and wrapped two layers of overgrip to try to bring down some weight.

Frame size: 90-92 sq inch ?
Length: 27"
Flex: ?
Strung weight: 369g
Balance: 33.5cm (strung + 1 layer overgrip, no lead tape)
Recommended Tension: 50-60lbs
Grip Size: 4 1/4
Material: Unknown
Stringing Pattern: 16x19

Stringing Instructions (T=top B=bottom):
Mains Skip 7, 9, T-B
No Shared holes
Mains Tie 6B, Start Cross 7T, Cross Tie 5T-5B


Playtest:
- This racket played beautifully!
- Power level is very good. No problems hitting it deep with heavy topspin at all.
- Compared to my initial ELT PSC6.1 (link), this stringbed feels much tighter. Pocketing is not as deep and spin is slightly less. Now I am quite sure 30 lbs may be a tad low for the PSC6.1.
- This racket does not feel stiff. It is so comfortable I suspect it is foam filled. There is excellent vibration dampening built-in. Even frame-hits are not harsh. It's like a muted version of the Pro Staff 6.0.
- Directional control is excellent. It's as good as, if not better than hitting with my PSC6.1 strung at 60+ lbs.
- Volleys are very good, even slight off-center hits are placed quite accurately.
- I played a few games with this. The high balance point generates a lot of natural power during serves. I did not have to swing hard and I could see some good pace on both flat and spin serves. I got two aces serving at only 30%.
- The only downside of this frame is my wrist and forearm are totally exhausted after about an hour.
- Ball fur pic below.

16Mar2012 update:
- Played a set with this racket again.
- The stringbed still feels nice and tight. Absolutely no trampoline at all. Just plush softness!
- Control and spin remains excellent.
- What really excelled this session were spin serves. Slice serves were really wicked. When I hit the sidelines, the ball literally bounced then kicked sideways almost 90 degrees!
- Quite a few slice serves kicked off at a weird angle off the receiving party's racket face and flew out the sidelines.
- Topspin serves kicked up very high. I managed to kick some serves above the receiving party's ears. And it was still rising when they tapped the ball meekly back over to me.
- I was feeling off-form this session and my timing was just bizarre. Baseline shots where I got my timing well were totally punishing to the receiver as I watch the topspin kick the ball right towards their face!


19Mar2013 update:
- Control, spin and power remains the same. I cannot feel any loss of tension, control nor power.
- Spin serves were very good. Both my partner and myself can see the ball curl so much in the air even before the ball hit the ground. It has a psychological impact to my partner as I could see him mutter some expletives before attempting to return my serve.
- I was standing at the net feeding balls to another partner who wanted to practise some shots. With ELT, it is extremely easy to feed balls and volley them back. Total pleasure.
- There is just so much spin that my tennis balls get bald very fast. The top ball is new while the bottom two have had a few sessions.

- String movement is not that bad, even with my third hitting session with this racket. Ball fur pic below.

23Mar2013 update:
- Played with this racket again. After this session, I would probably have clocked about 6-7 hours with this strings.
- Tension holding is quite impressive. Stringbed remains tight and firm, yet very soft and comfortable.
- Directional control and spin remains excellent!
- The usual "surprise kick" from my topspin shots happened quite a lot in this rallying session. It's still fun to see my partner's shocked face at how high and fast the ball kicked after bouncing off the ground!
- I noticed some minor notching near the sweetspot.
- Power and pocketing is still very good.
- This setup could become permanent for this racket, or maybe I'll use a thinner gauge syn gut.

26Mar2013 update:
- Going into my 8th hour play with this racket and the stringbed still feels nice and tight. Tension loss so negligible I cannot feel any difference.
- The monster spin is still there.
- I can clearly see the sweet spot with the darker coloured strings in the middle. That's the spot where the mains slide back and forth the crosses, creating that darker shade.

15Apr2013 update:
- Although I did not post any updates for a while, I have still been using this racket occasionally.
- Perhaps, due to the repeated exposure to intensive sunlight, the syn gut strings are starting to turn dry and "crispy".
- String movement is lesser compared to freshly strung but is still more than ELT natural gut.
- With more than 15+ hours of play, pocketing is still better than at normal tensions, but seems to be less deep than freshly strung.
- The "rebound" power of the syn gut has dropped quite a bit as well but it remains very playable.

Strings:

Pro Supex Synthetic Gut Titan 1.25mm @ 30 lbs