Making a Racket Lighter?

Someone asked if I could somehow modify his racket and make it lighter. It was a vintage stick he had used since his younger days.

Although he could barely handle the weight now, playing just half hours with it intermittently, he remained deeply attached to them.

His story of how the sticks came to his possession was touching. And he was both willing to spend, and assume the full risk of possibly damaging one of the racket. Seeing how eager he was, I decided to give it a try despite low percentages of success.

He preferred to remain anonymous, so pictures and details would be limited.

The racket was so worn, I have absolutely no clue what make or brand it was. With the very head light balance, my suggestion was to try our luck to hunt for some embedded lead under the grip.

Before proceeding, I warned him:
(1) the foam pallet would be destroyed,
(2) modifying the weight would change the balance, feel and sweetspot location, and
(3) because of the changes, he would need to "rediscover" his strings and tension setups from scratch.

After removing the grip and destroying the already crumbling foam pallet, we were delighted to find two pieces of lead embedded in the graphite hairpin handle. 

We dug them out carefully and were surprised it weighed SO MUCH!

22 grams of lead! Wow!

A little weight was also trimmed from shaving the grommet and bumper guard. Some weight was re-distributed to achieve the balance he wanted.

Finally, a very thin 18 gauge string was used to re-string his racket. That saved another 3 grams compared to the earlier 15 gauge string, lowering the swingweight by approximately 3 to 5 points.

This was a rewarding endeavor for both him and me.