What type of string do you use?

[Coolhand Texas]

I've only seen a frame break from a mishit maybe 1-2 times. Of course, you never seem to be like most people, so you'll probably be number 3.

I have only seen it once, and that when it happened to my own racquet

[jacoblewis2008]

I always prefer Synthetic/Nylon as it has long life than other strings.

[Rob ITST]

Has anyone tried this:



Almost as soft as natural gut, but with many of the properties of poly. Works great in all sorts of hybrids, especially for people who want the spin of poly, but can't use it because of arm pain - I'm currently testing it in the crosses with natural gut mains.

[djarvik]

Whats the cost of this one? I sure would love to try

[Murderface84]

I have been using Luxilon timo at 50-55 lbs for like two or three years now, and see no reason to switch. Best string evarrrrr. I think it actually 'feels' great, although the best 'feel' I've ever had was with just straight babolat natural gut.

Never had such a dramatic instant improvement in playing as when I switched to Luxilon. It seriously almost feels like cheating

[Rob ITST]

Whats the cost of this one? I sure would love to try

About $15. Of course, you may be getting a set from Santa soon too.

[Murderface84]

Rob I had a racquet I broke on a mishit smash...my old Pure Drive basically exploded on me hitting an overhead, it was crazy

[Rob ITST]

Rob I had a racquet I broke on a mishit smash...my old Pure Drive basically exploded on me hitting an overhead, it was crazy

Was that recently? If the racquet wasn't very beat up, you could try getting it replaced. Babolat is pretty good about replacing broken frames.

best 'feel' I've ever had was with just straight babolat natural gut.

BTW: Anyone looking for the best feeling natural gut should stay away from Babolat now. Not too long ago, they changed the way they make their gut, and they sacrificed a lot of feel for durability. Wilson and Prince natural are actually made by Babolat, but are made the way Babolat used to make their gut, so stick with one of those. The Wilson is probably the best feeling now.

[costiiforzaa]

I have been using Luxilon timo at 50-55 lbs for like two or three years now, and see no reason to switch. Best string evarrrrr. I think it actually 'feels' great, although the best 'feel' I've ever had was with just straight babolat natural gut.

Never had such a dramatic instant improvement in playing as when I switched to Luxilon. It seriously almost feels like cheating

Grigor Dimitrov is using Luxilon timo at 50-55 lbs too.

[Rob ITST]

OK, so this Ashaway MonoGut ZX stuff is very interesting.

Feel, comfort, tension holding, and power are almost like natural gut - control, spin, and durability are almost like poly.... it's about as close to perfect as I have ever seen. If you normally use a poly/syngut hybrid, I would use this in place of the syngut. If you normally use a gut/poly hybrid, I would use this in place of the poly. If you normally use full poly, I would use this as a full setup, or just as the crosses in a hybrid. String this a little tighter than you would a poly, especially if not pre-stretching.

One catch: this stuff needs TLC when stringing, so make sure you have a stringer who is willing to put the time and effort into doing it right. If you string it yourself, make sure you follow the instructions that come with the string - if someone does it for you, make sure they follow the instructions. Another option is to pre-stretch the string for about 5 minutes, or until it stops stretching. It seems that doing so might eliminate the need to take any special care when stringing.

I'm still trying to find what I like best with this: what tension - whether or not to pre-stretch manually, with the machine, or both - whether or not to hybrid it, and what to hybrid it with. One way or another, I feel this string can be used by anyone, and if done correctly, will be an improvement over whatever it is you currently use.

[emate007]

If you normally use a poly/syngut hybrid, I would use this in place of the syngut. If you normally use a gut/poly hybrid, I would use this in place of the poly. If you normally use full poly, I would use this as a full setup

!
wtf, what kind of sorcery is this? I'll try it.

[Rob ITST]

Have you ever heard of Zyex? It was produced over a decade ago by Ashaway, as a multi-filament. It was, and probably still is, the closest man-made material to natural gut. The big problem with it was that it would come unraveled and break quickly. Either they figured out a new way to make it as a mono-filament, or they just simply decided to do so, and it's become one of the hottest topics on TT for the past 1.5 years. It's almost like a mono-filament natural gut. I'm actually embarrassed that it's taken me this long to jump on the bandwagon.

You can read all about it here: http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=414493

64 pages and over 1200 posts about it.

I normally string gut mains at 49lbs and poly crosses at 46lbs - I substituted the poly with the ZX, and the balls were flying a bit. I ended up doing both strings at 52lbs, and it seems about right. Since the stiffness of the ZX is much closer to gut than it is to poly (it's between gut and a soft multi, iirc), I don't see much reason to drop the tension on it.

You really do have to take your time letting it stretch, or pre-stretch the crap out of it (some guy recently said he pulled at about 80lbs for 5 minutes) to keep the tension from dropping. I set my machine at 30% pull speed, and let it pull for about 5 more seconds after it reaches full tension - I haven't noticed any significant tension loss yet.

Oh yeah, make sure you get the MonoGut ZX. The regular MonoGut is just a cheap poly, and it kind of sucks. It seems there have been a few people make this mistake, and it didn't work out too well for them.

[emate007]

Zyex
It's almost like a mono-filament natural gut.

Never heard of it, but it sounds like another 'perfect string'
I'm very skeptical about new and amazing strings, especially so if none of the millionares are using it.


some guy recently said he pulled at about 80lbs for 5 minutes

This is just silly I hope he was exaggerating.


You advised the string was a good substitute for both soft and poly strings, that's what caught my attention. Don't make no sense, gotta try it myself.

[Rob ITST]

some guy recently said he pulled at about 80lbs for 5 minutes

This is just silly I hope he was exaggerating.

Once you string it, you'll understand. Also, that wasn't pulling on the machine, that was manual pre-stretching. He estimated the 80lbs (based on his body weight), and said it took about 5 minutes of pulling before it stopped stretching. I just set my machine at 30% speed, and let it pull for about 10 seconds on each string

You advised the string was a good substitute for both soft and poly strings, that's what caught my attention. Don't make no sense, gotta try it myself.

I know, it sounds crazy. It definitely is as soft as any multi, and as durable as many polys - I'm not so sure about the poly-like spin though. After a few hours, I'm seeing some string movement that I wouldn't see with a poly. So far I've only tried it in a natural gut hybrid, so I need to try it in some other combinations to really make a judgement.

[ELTXETXU]

Hi!

Some time ago (more than 1 year ago) i broke very often, so i decided to string my raquet (Prince Ozone Tour MP) with a very durable string. The man of the tennis shop suggested me Babolat Pro Hurricane 130/16, and i am still playing with it :S. It seems imposible to break, and now it feels very uncomfortable.

So my question is: Someone could suggest me a good string, with good control, feeling, and also durable (but not so durable ), or at least tell me what i should take on count to choose a good string.

Thanks in advance