hey guys, anyone have this problem? My rackets have paint chips on the shaft area close to the cone? is there something wrong? but im not sure if the lagy who made my grip scratched it while cutting off the extra bit of grip with a pair of scissors. but what i see is those chips are not like anything a scissors would make cause they are circular... anyone met with this?
The cone, structurally, is not an integral part of the racquet. You can actually saw your cone off (length-wise) to reveal the cone-shape wooden handle. The cone however, if well designed, can be used for thumb and finger control. The paint at the cone peels off easily.
I had this happen to a few of my racquets, and seem to only happen on head heavy racquets (Ti10, mp100, AT700) that were heavily used. This seem to be caused by a small crack in the wooden handle right where the shaft inserts into the handle, causing the shaft to wiggle a bit within the handle, which cause excess movement in the cone/shaft junction, which cause paint to flake off in that area. this often is accompanied with a slight creaking noise when you swing the racquet.
If there is no hairline crack it is probably paint coming off, in which case it is not something to worry about. If the hairline crack encircles the shaft then you have a problem. If it is just a round chip on the surface of the shaft and not a fine hairline crack around the shaft, then it is harmless.
