How do YOU apply grip to your racquet?

Discussion in 'Grip' started by SPaterson, Oct 26, 2006.

  1. SPaterson

    SPaterson Regular Member

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    (Sorry for the long title, I couldn't think of a better way of wording it to refer to applying grips rather than how someone grips their racquet with their hand!)

    I thought this might be an interesting question to ask regarding people's habits and preferences when they grip their racquet. I did a quick search and couldn't find a thread dedicated to it, so made this one.

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    How do you grip your racquet?

    I have a rather odd preference;

    • I like thin handles, G5. (Even though I have reasonably big hands.) I sand a handle down if necessary to achieve this.
    • I use single-sided sticky tape ('Sellotape') wrapped up the handle like a normal grip sticky-side up - so I have a secure sticky handle to use. It leaves behind no adhesive on the wood because it's one-sided. It has to overlap a bit to be secure and stay in place, obviously.
    • I then wrap an over-grip over the handle just upto the ferrule.
    • I use any old (preferably black) electrical tape to secure the top of the grip to the racquet. It's very neat pulled tight. Because the width of the electrical tape is large, I just use scissors to cut it along the middle. I don't like frilly securing tape that comes with grips/overgrips, they don't usually go on as neatly, plus I just prefer plain colours.

    This means I have a very thin grip, not exactly 'comfy' but I love it personally. I can 'feel' more, less vibrations are absorbed, they're not excessive but I prefer some vibration as it helps me to feel how clean I hit the shuttle.

    How about everyone else? How do you apply grip to your racquet(s)?
     
  2. adameeyw

    adameeyw Regular Member

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    hi... as for me, i hold at the end of the badminton handle. I'm using rubber grip and same as you, electrical tape wrap over the top of the handle pulling it tightly. Mine it's fatter cause, i like fat grips. haha...
     
  3. mettayogi

    mettayogi Regular Member

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    Electrical tape - why it doesn't occur to me?
    I use tape that comes with overgrips, and usually have problem keeping it flat flush around the cone even if I pull it tight. Yonex tape seems to be better than Balboa or Victor in this regard.
     
  4. jerby

    jerby Regular Member

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    I like a medium-thick grip, but with a good feel on the bevels (not a roudn grip)
    the bets for me is a (sotx #3) grip without the original (sotx's are usually bad)grip, then three non-overlapping overgrips on the wood. pretty square (ok, octangular or something) and some cushioning.
    I use a wilson pro (nice and dry) overgrip wrapped 1 inch up the shaft. a nice white grip, with white E-tape.

    I'm trying to reduce the wrapping-up part. I lose grip on my racket is gripped that high, can't cope with it at my current game-pace, dunno why
     
  5. pedro22

    pedro22 Regular Member

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    I usually buy racquets with G4 size grips and wrap it up with YY Super Grap. I cut off the tip of the grip tape with the adhesive because I found it sometimes pulls off the original grip when replacing the grip tape. I overlap about half the width of the tape when wrapping to get a thicker grip.

    I do this routine about once a month with my main racquet once the tape loses it's tackiness. I've read the reviews on the Wilson Xtra Tack so I ordered some to test. Hopefully this Wilson grip will last longer than a month for me.
     
  6. chickenpoodle

    chickenpoodle Regular Member

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    G4 grip.
    rip off the oem grip and apply one layer of yonex supergrap directly to the wood, with half overlap, so essentially the supergrap is double-thickness.
    wrap it up over the cone, and about a centimeter up onto the shaft.
    cut the excess, and finish it off with a strip of the tape, and i'm done!
     
  7. morewood

    morewood Regular Member

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    I cant play with anything with a thin grip for long as end up with arm pain for a couple of days afterwards. So depending on the initial grip size I either apply one close wound rubber over grip or two overgrips the inner one being wound tight the wrong way and the outer overgrip being wound less tight the right way and finished with electrical tape or a similar colour to the over grip used (red currently).

    I have regripped several other racquets for people and the variations for keeping/altering the grip size to suit are fairly diverse.
     
  8. Dummey

    Dummey Regular Member

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    Yea, SOTX's original grip aren't to die for, but since I didn't know this at the time I... applied two layers of yonex supergrip over my stox original grip, going from bottom up leaving hte cone bare. For a while I loved having a handle where my nails wouldn't dig into my palm (i have pretty big hands), the downside was that the feel was horrible. I have since gone back to a single grip over the original.

    Thinking of using a combination of prince microtrac and head extreme soft (since Dink is such a fan of them) to get the same effect, but without the indents. Has anybody tried to grip their rackets from bottom up, then an overlay of top to bottom or vice versa, and has it really affected anything?
     

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