I cannot reconcile the thought of such a harsh racket (hammer5.8) playing so much smoother and comfortable than a Pro Kennex. It justs defies all logical thinking!
Rather than vacillating, I decided to act!
After taking the measurements, I stripped the overgrip, replacement grip and buttcap from the Black Ace.
Interestingly, the buttcap is entirely made of rubber. And it's quite soft, weighing about 9g.
What I saw inside the handle surprised me! It was not foam filled! The handle is completely hollow all the way up to the frame, just like the Dunlop Mfil300!
The other interesting observation I wasn't aware of, is the the Black Ace seems to use a grip pallet system. The pallet is held together by masking tape. You can see the pic below. I don't know if this is original as I have not used Pro Kennex rackets before.
To think that a completely hollow racket can feel and play so solid is very impressive. If you take another look at the racket butt picture above, the graphite looks "dirty". There is a lot of yellowish-brown speckles embedded together with the graphite. Could this be the secret formula for PK?
Whatever the case, I did a similar frequency-based vibration dampening for the Black Ace as the hammer and mfil300. Both hollow ends are filled then plugged with foam.
The specs (old/new):
Total weight(g): 339/345
Grip size: 4 1/4 / 4 3/8
Balance(mm): 322 / 320
Swingweight: 331 / 335 (estimated)
26Jun2013 update:
- The feel of the ball contact improved tremendously.
- It is not fair to attribute the improved feel entirely to the modification. Previously, the racket was gripped with the Wilson Comfort Hybrid Replacement Grip. (link) It weighed about 18g and muted the feel a lot. I know because I bounced a ball holding just the bare pallet, and it was so much livelier although the vibrations were magnified too.
- Over the past three racket overhauls, I noticed that any foam or extra shock absorbing grips tend to deaden overall feel. On the contrary, inserts inside the handle seem to reduce only harsh vibrations.
- Ball contacts are now much crisper. The feedback is cleaner, "louder" and stronger. As a result, there is absolutely no doubt now where ball impacts are made. There is a clear distinction between sweetspot and off-sweetspot hits.
- With off-centre hits now, instead of harsh vibrations, it is now mainly a "thud" and the ball departs with very low power. Previously, it was slightly harsher, not a stinging pain, but still a little uncomfortable.
- Overall, there is improvement but the change is small compared to the hammer and mfil300 as this is already a comfort-oriented frame to begin with.
- From the darkened patch of string wear, it seems I am hitting a little too high. The sweetspot is slightly lower. If I can move the dark patch about 3 cross strings lower, I think it would be perfect!
29Jun2013 update:
- Took this out for some rally and drills today. I feel the optimum balance and swingweight is still elusive.
- The racket feels very solid and stable no doubt. But some unknown element is missing. I cannot explain it. Could it be the very soft flex of RA58 that I am not used to?
- After the session, I dismantled the grips and buttcap, removed all the "stuffings" and restored it back to stock again.
- I did the calculations one more time and decided to do an extreme weight polarisation. That would add swingweight most efficiently and help to stiffen the dynamic flex of the frame.
- Specs after polarisation:
- Total weight(g) = 346
- Balance(mm) = 330
- Swingweight = 345 (estimated)
- I will update after my next session.
01Jul2013 update:
- I finally got the swingweight setup correctly, or at least very near to what I like.
- Once the swingweight is done, it becomes much easier to "diagnose" since a critical variable is eliminated.
- The unknown missing element is pocketing. There is very very little pocketing during ball impact. Almost none. Which explains my lack of "feel" and accuracy. I believe this has to do with the very soft flex.
- I have to re-think how to string this racket to "open up" the pocketing potential. That would make the racket feel "stiffer" during play.
- I managed to "move" the ball contact area slightly down. You can see the centre of the dark patch of string wear is now around the 9th cross string compared to about the 7th cross string in the previous picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment