Everyone of us has a racket which we love so much. My current love is the MX 80 3U. I have the luck to own two which have the same weight and nearly the same balance. Now I ordered two more MX 80 because it's my go to racket for tournaments. The dilemma: The first of the new MX 80s is 2g lighter than my current two but has the same balance point The second new one is same weight but the balance point is closer to the butt cap. Nearly 7 mm. So I'm thinking of ship them back to the mailorder to get two others which can be more close. I can compare them because I stated the weight of my currents in use as they were new, unstrung and with plastic on the grips. Now my questions: 1.What are your experiences of getting identical rackets. Must we live with these tolerances? 2.How does these tolerance effect your game during tournaments? 3. What's your opinion, does 2 g or 7 mm are noticeable? 4. How do you buy rackets to get 2 or more identical rackets for your bag as back ups? 5. State your current tolerances and your impressions! In our century, with all these technologies, measuring instruments and good quality managements why it's so hard to produce identical rackets?
LOL, if you took that time you used to measure your rackets and used it for training instead, you'd be a much better player. but when you do train, make sure you never sweat on your grip, because that extra sweat will increase your racket's weight, change the BP, and alter the friction level of your grip, AND THEN YOU WILL LOSE! OH NO!!!! Don't forget to restring your racket every 5 points if you want consistent results.
It really depends on how sensitive you are with your equipment. I've always been conscious/obsessive about my equipment. When I was playing in Middx Div 1 far too many years ago, I used to have my identical AT700's (4U G5) set up with BG80 strings with the following setups in my bag. 3 @ 30lbs 3 @ 29lbs 3 @ 28lbs This meant that I could always pick the right racquet to suit the playing conditions of the hall and shuttle. I'm now less fussy, I just have the same AT700's with BG80's @ 27lbs. I always use the same ultra tacky Gamma white grips with the wrap 3inches up the shaft so I can use a short handle i.e. hold handle at the cone on my serve. I've been gripping my racquets like this for over 30years, as it helped me get more control as a youth, so that isn't going to change. I also need to wear a sweat band on my right playing wrist and my watch on my left. Two pairs of socks too, very short shorts and a fast-wicking shirt. Anything else doesn't feel right. Now that's weird.
You make me laugh. I like your sense of humour. But I know that two rackets with too much tolerance make me insane. My previous rackets were low end and had a different balance points. I could feel the good one and the unloved stepson. So I played every time with my loved one and sometimes I had to switch during games to the stepson because of string breakage. The conclusion: I needed 3-4 rallys to adapt to the unloved twin and lost points because some sharp dropshots get in the net. I'm not joking. I feel the difference and I'm sensitive. So I can lost points and if it is in the end of the third set or second set and a third set is the result I'm a little bis angry why the manufactures can't make rackets with tolerance like +/- 0,2 mm and +/-1g which is not noticeable for me. Especially it is a huge difference if you buy a 305mm or 295mm racket. 10mm can make a even balance racket feel head heavy or a head heavy racket feel even balanced. I can't understand these fluctuations because a Big Mac in Shanghai tastes like one in Berlin.
be very careful. the plastic wrap on Victor racket handles are HEAVY. mine i think was around 1.8g. so please take that into account when comparing weight.
I know that victor does double time plastic wrap around the handle. I was careful. I weight my rackets always in same condition. Exclude temperature and air moisture.
It depends on how you look at it. For me, an identical type of racket with different tolerances, can make a win or a loss. Sometimes, a racket just doesn't meet your requirements that day. It may be little, but noticable. A switch in the same racket with just other specs could save the day. Another way solve it is adapting the string tension to it. If you feel a racket is a little less powerfull, use a different string or tension. For testing I prefer the same specs, but when I know the specs, it's time to optimize it. Even when you send it back and they are willing to replace it, it's no warranty that you receive a racket that's closer to your current. Maybe your current racket is the one off spec! Calculate the risk! To me, a offspec is an opportunity! I wouldn't want to play with exact the same racket when I know I cannot play with the racket that day.
Whilst I do have the same racquet twice so that I won't need to make major adjustments when one string breaks, I don't pay too much attention to how close in specs they are. Mine also have a difference in string tension because I only let them restring when the string breaks or when it's really loose, if you don't string for yourself it's costly so yeah.
Lolz, I can surely sympathize with you. . I'm one of those who can detect a 3mm bp shift or a 1g weight difference. . Having just gotten my mx70 2 weeks ago that was exactly 2.0g heavier than what I had asked for, I've been trying to analyze and digest the way I play compared to my mx80 which has exactly the same bp 293mm but exactly 2.0g lighter. Measuring the mx70, I find that the extra 1g is in the head frame and the other 1g is in the handle. From previous experience, I've found that the head mass is much more important than the handle mass. So I added about 0.7g of black hockey tape to the mx80 frame at 11 and 1 o'clock positions and voilà, it swung and hit and played (almost) exactly like the mx70 (except for the difference in shaft stiffness of course). .........So, the take home message is: head mass is critical in determining how it swings (more so than bp), and you can always make a racket heavier but you can't make it lighter.
The hockey tape is a good idea. If a racket is too light and more headheavy some tape on the wood is an option to adjust. The problem can be solved quickly and fixed. But what about the other combinations? too light and too head light too heavy and head light ... and so on... Does somebody tried to drill some very small holes (2mm driller) into the wood to reduce the weight in the handle area? Or does somebody make some experience with electric tape in the headarea too fix the balance and weight? What are your experiences and ideas of modding a racket slightly? What is possible with different strings and their weight in the head? Which thick string (0.7 mm) performs close to a thin one (e.g. 0.65 mm) too mod a racket?
no way a human hand is able to detect a mere 2g difference in weight. It's impossible especially when the racket is constantly in motion!!
Statically, some people can't, but some people can, like me. But dynamically in acceleration and swinging, definitely yes. Because the head mass is at the end of the lever, the slight 2g is magnified thru the force of angular momentum which will be very easily noticeable the faster you swing. ........ 1-2g may not seem like much, but a 3U racket head is only around 38-44g without strings. So that's around 2-5% change. And this change is magnified even more during acceleration and speed. ....... I've done quite a bit of testing and experimenting with athletic tape, and most recently with my mx70 and mx80 rackets that have identical bp but one being 2g total heavier, 1g more being in the head. So I'm speaking from experience. Why don't you try it yourself with a bit of tape and a digital scale and see for yourself. ........ Oh and btw there is also a very noticeable difference in power and speed with 2g.
Don't worry, it's not tht important. Dont stop doing it as long as it works for you. It's just tht my logic tells me our hands are not sensitive enough to detect tht miniscure weight difference. Once you add the weight of the shaft n string, the 2g is relatively negligible. 10 grains of rice weighs about 2g, if someone put 200 grains in your hand n 210 in another blindfold, n you then swing your arms hard. Can you tell which hand has more grains?By adding tape to the racket, u not only alter the weight but also change the chatacteristic
I meant to say, you also change other characteristic. The tape may act as a sound and vibration dampening device. You will no doubt hear it and thus may lead to belief it actually feel differently. Thts just my logic. It's not abt 2g.
Yes, adding tape to the head will change the characteristic of the racket but isn't that the whole point, to change the swing weight? If you're concerned that the shaft is now more flexible because of extra head wt, don't forget that for any one racket model, there's only one shaft stiffness while there's a range of racket weights and head mass due to unavoidable small variations in manufacturing.
Nah, it's doesn't dampen the sound. As a matter of fact, you get louder sound from the harder more powerful smashes! . You don't have to use tape; you can use lead weights instead and still achieve the same results.
And your rice grain analogy: you have to keep in mind that the extra 1-2g in the palm may not be much but at the end of a 2.5ft lever like a racket that is then swung will be very noticeable. Also don't forget a shuttle only weighs a mere 5g: for sure you can tell the difference there.
Am I the lucky one that has two SW35's that are the exact same everything ? unfortunately my Mx80 is a bit heavier than my SW35's but has slightly less BP, so therefore is similar....
Just had a quick read through these posts. Visor is correct, adding 2g of lead tapeor any other typeof weight to the top of the racquet head is easily noticable. Quite often, when I've neglected my frayed strings by not restringing them and three racquets have ended up with snapped strings, I borrow a friends headlight racquet (since everything feels headlight after you've played with an Armortec 700 for 7years+)...and I add between 2g and 4g of lead weight to the top, and sometimes more to make things feel closer to home. Anyroad, the net result is a shift in balance due to the weight at the top of the head and you will require greater force to move it. The resultant effect is that the force you apply through the moment arm (distance between your hand and shuttle contact point) with the greater mass at the head will give you more power too.
