But what if I skip some mains instead? How would that play? Would control be intact? Would spin increase more than reducing crosses?
I could not find any rackets with less mains than crosses. Add to that, being recently overdosed on boring and comforming modifications and stringjobs, I needed to break the mold again.
Below was the last pic in its 16x19 stock form before I started...
New holes were drilled to create the string pattern I desired.
Lots of paint chips but structure appeared intact and sound.
The original throat grommets were cut apart to allow me to choose which string hole to use.
After the throat area was completed, the top holes were drilled.
Then strung with very thick 15g synthetic gut to preserve control and durability! Unsure if the extra holes could hold up, I have never felt so much fear pulling tension before.
Fortunately, the mains completed without a hitch! Then the poly crosses. Hey! It's got ONLY ten main strings! Weaving was a breeze!
Conversion to 10x19 done. Hoop length and width measurements were perfectly in line with the original 16x19 pattern. Zero distortion achieved!
"Powerpads" were used at the throat to offer a bit more support for the third mains and to ensure the string stays away from the drilled inside edge.
At the newly drilled hole on top (2nd mains), tubing was used as I did not want to mess with the original grommets.
String spacing for the mains was planned to incorporate some "proportional stringing" in the drill pattern.
Put simply, the sweetspot area was designed to have a slightly denser string pattern than the outer mains. This adds control within the centre 6 mains while softening off-centre contacts around the peripheral.
Also, this ensures compliance with the ITF tennis rules regarding the stringbed (link), specifically, part "b", where:
"The stringing pattern must be generally uniform and, in particular, not less dense in the centre than in any other area."
Playtest:
- Sweetspot was really huge and forgiving, yet control remained very good.
- The typical high rebound angle of open string patterns was not felt here. Unlike my earlier attempts at skipping crosses (link) where the rebound angle became high and sometimes unpredictable.
- Volleys were extremely easy - in power, comfort and directional control. The large sweetspot helped too.
- Power was very good, and it came with more than enough control to direct it effectively and offensively.
- For serves, the spin was wicked! Compared to its former self, the extra power now meant the focus was on where to place it and how much to spin it. Less effort better result!
- Mains snapback was impressive. I could literally hear the strings crackling back and forth during ball impacts. When I pulled the mains aside and let go, it snapped back straightaway.
- Groundstrokes on both wings were good. No mis-directions other than my own mis-hits. Very impressive spin all around.
- Slices entered into "obscenity eliciting" territory for my playing partner. Hit one slice, get one !@#$%^)*.
- After an hour, a slight string buzz appeared. The mains still snapped back instantaneously when pulled and released. Not so with the poly crosses. It seemed the crosses had been the one doing the control work and became "fatigued".
- The above was based on about an hour with this setup. So far, it seemed that skipping mains generated better spin than skipping crosses. Very impressed and excited to test it out more against different players.
17Feb2015 update:
- From the start of the 2nd session of use, tension loss from the poly was very significant.
- While spin was still very good, control dipped badly. I had to focus very intently to be sure my shots landed close to where I aimed.
- I continued playing just to experience how long the mains would last and how it felt when the poly cross tension dropped further.
- At around the 3 hour mark (total use), a sweetspot hit snapped a main string.
- Overall, I was impressed by the spin and comfort this setup gave. Durability in terms of tension holding and string life was not up to my expectations, so I would be re-testing it with another string setup.
No comments:
Post a Comment