Monday 12 November 2012

Wilson PSC 6.1 + Kevlar/Poly @ 45/45 lbs (14x16)

Since I felt 35lbs was too low tensioned, I thought of increasing it to 45lbs for both mains and crosses.

However, there are two things I wish to address with this "re-string".

First, I could not shake off that nagging feeling of being potentially hurt by tennis elbow should it be harsh. After all, tennis elbow is NOT a minor injury.

Second, I only have one pack of Kevlar strings to experiment and I've already used half of it for this hybrid.

After much thought, without any solution in sight, I decided to "cross over to the dark side" and ventured into unorthodox stringing...



I mounted the racket onto my stringing machine and carefully removed the strings to re-use them! After all, both kevlar and poly are extremely durable. And I don't think they have even started stretching yet @ 35 lbs!

With the shorter length of strings, it is no longer possible to complete the original 16 by 18. I have to change my stringing method. 

I "opened up" the racket to 14 by 16. By skipping both the outer mains and outer crosses, I am able to "soften" the outer stringbed stiffness and yet maintain the stiffness in the centre to preserve control and spin. Best of both worlds!

Note the double tie-off I had to do on the same string (5Top) on the top-left in the picture. This is a no-no in conventional stringing...

While pulling tension, I also noticed that both strings stretched more @ 45 lbs than when I previously strung @ 35 lbs. The amount of string slack I had to provide and the amount the dropweight drops while the strings stretches is evident!

Playtest:
- 45lbs feels significantly tighter than 35lbs
- yet, it does not feel harsh at all, but it feels soft
- it is incredibly low-powered
- control and spin remains excellent only on good hits
- the sweet spot seems to have either disappeared or been reduced to nanometers! (I think Woody is more forgiving!!!)

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