Yonex RD7-UL2 + Syn Gut @ 32/30 lbs (Varied Cross)

Through some sheer coincidence, and a little dose of luck, I came to inherit a very good conditioned Yonex RD7. This would be the third RD7 I'm working on this month alone.

With rackets of this age, naturally the original grip has crumbled. Grommets would be worn. Any original strings would need re-stringing as well.

Even though I've already strung two RD7s for M, but upon googling, I discovered something interesting I never knew before. (Or perhaps I've not been paying attention....)

The weight and recommended string tension of the RD7 rackets are tied-in to the grip sizes of the racket. So different grip sizes actually means different racket weights and different tension ranges.

Below specs are extracted from this link:

Head Size : 95 sq in
Construction : 22 mm Flat Beam
Length : 27 in
Composition : High Modulous Graphite
Weight :
4 1/8   9.9 - 10.6oz
4 1/4 10.6 - 11.3oz
4 3/8 11.3 - 12.0oz 
4 1/2 11.3 - 12.0oz 
4 5/8 11.3 - 12.0oz
String Tension : 
4 1/8 45 - 55 lbs
4 1/4 50 - 60 lbs
4 3/8 55 - 65 lbs
4 1/2 55 - 65 lbs
4 5/8 55 - 65 lbs
String Pattern :
16 Mains /19 Crosses
One Piece
Mains skip 8T,8H
No Shared holes

Since I am customising this for a lady, I decided to start-off with a fullbed ELT syn gut. My past experience with dropping two pounds on the crosses seemed to play well. And Yonex did use to recommend a 5% lower tension for the crosses, so I will pull the cross to 30lbs.

To further maximise the sweetspot, I will also use a modified proportional stringing tension differential for the shorter few cross strings. I recall the top one-third of this frame tends to play a little harsh on M's sticks.

I'm doing this one-piece. So I'm leaving the last mains and starting on the second cross from the top.

Filling the last mains at 32lbs.

Pulling tension on the last string - the top cross.

Done.

Playtest:
- This is a polarised frame.
- Spin is incredible. It is so easy, almost natural to "whip" the racket with the bulk of the weight at extreme ends.
- Surprisingly, for something with flex 54RA, it still plays very powerfully! Deep baseline shots poses no problem at all.
- Whether hitting flat or with heavy spin, the racket and stringbed is accurate.
- M's rackets were both strung at 35/33 lbs and I could feel the racket flex when receiving certain hard flat shots. However, with this fullbed syn gut at only 32/30 lbs, the stringbed pocketing absorbed most of the power. I could not recall any instances of the racket flexing.
- Below pic shows the string movements and ball fur.

20Apr2013 update:
- This is the second session of play and the stringbed has already settled-in and stabilised.
- The varied crosses performed very well indeed. Contacts near the top did not produce any jarring vibrations at all. It was just a weak shot that barely got over the net.
- The RD7 has a decent swingweight. Coupled with ELT, my lady partner had no problems at all sending the ball from baseline to baseline with good control. This is not the kind of "trampoline power" one would expect from low-tensioned strings.
- The strings have gone through 3+ hours of use.
- This setup is staying!

Strings:

Pro Supex Synthetic Gut Titan 1.25mm @ 32/30 lbs
(proportional tension on short crosses)