Some photos of some old racquets belonging to an old coach I met : 1) A Flight Commander 2) Dunlop Maxply 3) Black Yonex
Before you ask, the Flight Commander is a Slazenger used by Wong Peng Soon & Ong Poh Lim in the 50s, the Dunlop Maxply was used by most players in 60s,70s while the Yonex was used by Hartono before he switched to Carbonex 8.
The yonex in the first pic is a cab3! The other one I think should be a B9000 (Slim Stainless) but not 100%...will have to double check at home.
The wooden heads are really quite beautiful and elegant. The craftsmanship needed to turn such a light piece of wood into a thin, strong frame must have been amazing. Wondered what they were like to play with?
the Carlton tapered shaft. kind of evolution technology that time...... oh man.... this kind of thread is age revealing!
they aren't as heavy as you might think. I have a number of them & they are ok to play with. Biggest differnce if the "type" of flex the Metal shafts have compared with grpahite. Must be something to do with when the shaft gives, how much it gives & how quick it returns.
I have only heard from a friend of his dad's Carltons....man, I am speechless. ...and they are in pretty good condition too from the pics (it must've been stored away in a lock box.
Yonex Japan occassionally produces a limited volume of wooden racquets to sell as collectibles (apparently they still have the facilities to do so). The last time I saw a few of the Yonex shown above for sale in Nahar's in Pertama Complex in KL ,a few lots away from Racquet World. I think they may make some more racquets if there are requests.
Another old classic from the 80s a Carbonex 15. My fave in 70s was the cab3 wood, in the 80s the cab15. Reason why so few remain of the cab 15 was because it was very fragile and broke easily. it distorted after 1 or 2 restrings.
al racquet This is the best find of all, found it in the garden of the family home . used it when I was a little one in the early 60s.It was China made and called "Wild Duck". Basically it is a long piece of hollow aluminium extrusion welded by an al plate at the throat which has seen broken and caused the racquet to be distorted. Must be a frontrunner of the Carlton series.
Seriously? Yonex Japan would still occasionally produce wooden racquets if there is a demand (for collection, naturally)? The original wood (made of beech wood?) racquet craftsmen must be septuagenarians by now at least!
I have one of those Cab15's bought from ebay a few months back. Will try to take some pics of some of my dinosaurs& upload them here.....
The last Yonex wooden racquets were produced around 1980, 30 years ago.If the workers there were about 30/40, they would be about 60/70 now. But knowing the Japanese they would have reduced the craft to a series of processes captured in a staff manual for continuity instead of allowing craftsmen to take it to their graves.Equipment may just be modified joinery machines. i think the basic ingredient is not solid timber but laminated plywood.Maybe just like making acoustic guitars.
Correcting myself: Slim stainless is Pink B9000 Brown one is B9100. Sorry for making mistake! OK give me some time.....