There is a point. By following my earlier suggestion of only accepting results from racquets with “original grip only but with any string”, we can firstly eliminate the influence of the weight of overgrips reducing the BP value. Which hopefully tells us that the change in BP is mainly due to the strings ignoring differences in QC. Now, if you had 30 BP entries for a racquet say ranging from 280 to 290, then the higher BPs are probably due to thicker gauge strings and vice versa. But the average of these 30 BPs would have catered for the distribution of thin and thick gauge strings, unless of course, everyone uses the same gauge strings for the same racquet – which is unlikely. But even then, would it really matter? When someone tells you that their Arc10 measures 287mm would you assume your Arc10 with the same strings would measure exactly 287mm? No, because there are so many factors involved. You would probably expect some diversity, so my view is, don’t be too precise about it otherwise you’re missing the point of the exercise which is to plot a point on a graph... but enough to get some meaningful information. If you only have a few BPs for each racquet, then maybe it’s not so meaningful. But as the number of entries increase, there will be a convergence towards a common BP or at least an average BP can be interpreted. And that average BP may not be how the racquet came out of the factory, but is a good realistic representation of BPs of “in use” racquets. Afterall, very few people who know what we are talking about here, would use a racquet as it came out of the factory. Excellent work OP, I think you’ve hit on a great idea! If people are still concerned about string weight (I personally don't feel much point) then you could note the string type in your survey as well.
just for fun.. i took out my armortec 700s, 2 strung for playing and gripped, 3 for keeping Unstrung, ungripped weight, BP and headweight 91.75g 306mm - 41g 92.28g 307mm - 40.8g 89.89g 314mm - 41.4g Strung with zm65, gripped with 1x karakal super PU, 108.3g 298mm - 44.43g 107.7g 297mm - 44.93g
didnt want to unwrap the 4ug5 vt80PG that i had in storage, so here are the measurements of the other 3 that i play with Strung, Original Grip + 2 overgrips weight, BP and headweight 97.65g 300mm 42.90g (4UG4, strung with Nanogy98 0.66mm) 97.92g 300mm 42.85g (4UG4, strung with Gosen R4x100 0.63mm) 102.43g 299mm 43.65g (3UG4, strung with 66 Ultimax 0.66mm)
In my opinion, I think the data should be measuring dry weight (no grips or strings attached) to get the optimum data. The grip and string weight is different from everyone. I do think tension changes the weight of the string/racket head because the weight of pre-stretching the string/ is different from the weight of the string being stretched. Why not we just take a ruler and a weighting machine to the nearest sport shop that sells racket and start measuring three since all new rackets(except for the antiques one) are not strung and have dry weight and bp.
Yep. And I do measure the dry ones at the store for my data collection purposes. Although there is that pesky grip tape still on, weighing approx 1g and shifting bp by 2mm.
I understand. And leaving the string on also makes it easier to collect more data points. However it should be specifically stated string or not, and what string. Definitely no overgrip or factory grip removal, as it would have too much confounding effect on bp and total wt.
@vajrasatvva Holy macolies! Those are some high head wt rackets. No wonder you have a sore shoulder. Your FB head wt is probably only 32.6g dry in comparison.
Just string with stock grip is fair cause not all of us have the patience to buy an unstrung racket, take it home, do measurements and then take it to get strung . And definitely no stock grip removal. I picked up a Legend II on a trade and it had a towel grip on the bare wood and with bare wood, the BP was either 333mm or 335mm. I'm waiting on some Victor replacement grips to arrive so I can get a better measurement. The only RKEP replacement grips I have are the King Grips and they weigh 19 grams!
And calls for some more detail , they sound like the Dragons? In any case I agree with R20190 on the string weight. For a range of 0.5gr. and the purpose of this topic it's not a very significant difference. Furthermore if we stick to middle of the U range for weight, take 3 or 3.5gr. for strings so say 3U = 87.5gr unstrung and 91gr. strung then we can attribute all extra weight to grip modifications, unless we have some of those with athletic tape and other cr*p on it . But I guess to keep it simple as, a strung or unstrung with only stock grip should get enough data points. I don't think the stock grip is all that heavy btw, think I still have one ArcSaber grip lying around and iirc it only weighs ~8gr.
Not sure if you have sorted out what details you want added yet with regard to condition of the racket before weighing but these are all with factory grip only and bg65ti stringed. For this reason I have not input them on your site @tadhashi but have left you the detail below for your use. [TABLE="width: 500"] [TR] [TD]RACKET NAME [/TD] [TD]WEIGHT[/TD] [TD]LENGTH[/TD] [TD]BP[/TD] [TD]FLEX[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]VOLTRIC 80[/TD] [TD]91g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]310[/TD] [TD]3(55mm) [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]ARCSABER Z SLASH[/TD] [TD]88g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]303[/TD] [TD]4(58mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]ARCSABER 11[/TD] [TD]91g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]306[/TD] [TD]3(54mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]VOLTRIC Z FORCE[/TD] [TD]91g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]320[/TD] [TD]2(53mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]VOLTRIC Z FORCE LTD[/TD] [TD]91g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]320[/TD] [TD]2(53mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]VOLTRIC 70[/TD] [TD]88g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]307[/TD] [TD]3(55mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]FLASHBOOST[/TD] [TD]76g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]297[/TD] [TD]4(59mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NANORAY 800[/TD] [TD]92g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]292[/TD] [TD]2(53mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NANORAY 700RP[/TD] [TD]88g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]299[/TD] [TD]3(54mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]ARCSABER I SLASH[/TD] [TD]91g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]287[/TD] [TD]5(61mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]ARCSABER 9FL[/TD] [TD]88g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]303[/TD] [TD]5(60mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NANORAY 600[/TD] [TD]86g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]294[/TD] [TD]5(60mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]VOLTRIC 60[/TD] [TD]87g [/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]304[/TD] [TD]5(60mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NANORAY 700FX[/TD] [TD]88g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]300[/TD] [TD]4(58mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NANORAY 600[/TD] [TD]86g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]294[/TD] [TD]5(60mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]VOLTRIC 50[/TD] [TD]93g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]314[/TD] [TD]3(56mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NANORAY 500[/TD] [TD]87g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]300[/TD] [TD]4(58mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]ARCSABER 7[/TD] [TD]91g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]306[/TD] [TD]4(57mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]ARCSABER 8DX[/TD] [TD]91g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]302[/TD] [TD]4(58mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]NANORAY 300[/TD] [TD]88g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]292[/TD] [TD]4(58mm)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]ARMORTEC 900P[/TD] [TD]89g[/TD] [TD]680[/TD] [TD]313[/TD] [TD]3(54mm)[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
Must be from Direct Sports? 680mm? I think you can fill them in as strings only but I'd leave out the flex of the ones you have not used and change the length to 675 or 674 ... Some measurements are wildly different from ones reported here but I guess with enough entries it should not be a problem.
Sorry I just assumed racket length Just measured four of them all 675 so I am assuming that is the length of all, so if that can be corrected. Yeah you are right I lifted the measurements from direct sport. I buy my rackets from them and their measurements are always spot on. I know this because I have checked it out whenever I have bought a racket. For an unrelated reason I have also weighed these rackets and bp'd them(from yonex stall at uk tourney) and these measurements are correct apart from the flashbooost was not there but I am assuming if they measure every other one spot on then why would they get that wrong?? What measurements are wildly different?? I lifted them because I take original grip off and replace with towel grip, this changes the racket severely, for instance my weight of ZFORCE goes to 99.5grams and bp 212 but the figure originally stated was correct before grip change. I will say, I have a couple of SPcoded rackets and they are both on the lightest end of the u range, in uk all rackets I have received/measured are on the heaviest tip of the u range. Maybe that's why difference? I have tried all of the rackets above and concur with the accurate measurements of the said website with regards to flex. I have not entered them in at the site, it would take to long sorry but if I did most of my rackets end up about 100g in weight so seems to me like the measurements entered should be factory grip and strings only for good feedback.
I think the majority is pretty spot on. I entered a Z-Slash yesterday at 301mm and 93gr. (handle still in plastic) for example but for something like the FB, that stood out at the time I read it on their website shortly after release, Visor measured it dry at ~300mm and Direct have it at 292 strung? That is a pretty massive difference and I can hardly imagine what I-Slash at 287mm must feel like, that's about 277mm dry. But you're right, it's hardly rocket science so must be true measurements and if either was an anomaly it should get filtered out with enough data entries so no big deal. Just happened to have seen some of their recent squash racket measurements and they were clearly manufacturers specs which are well known to be completely rubbish but maybe it has been updated by now as they were pretty new models at the time. Looking for my ArcSaber stock grip so I can enter 8DX ... it was ~300mm strung with BG65 and stock grip (no plastic) but had since modified the grip. Now that it's unstrung I can restore it to nekkid state (guestimating ~290 bp)
Yeah I also read, think it was Paul Stewart review that BP for his FB was 307mm. So if someone decides to enter my details please scratch the FB as I have not any personal experience/measurements with it.
Very good discussion. Update on "grip/string" question, as sensibly demanded over the weekend. Thanks for the lively discussion on it. The survey now offers combinations of string/no string and original/factory, thin, multilayer grip-on-grip. I realize that this is a survey among the most engaged, indeed, or those with interest in the nuts and bolts. So, I wasn't surprise about a response from one I mailed earlier the week that he/she may have a huge collection, but hasn't a clue how to measure the BP. So, I've spent some time over the week end to make it BP measuring splendidly easy. Comments on the picture very welcomed. Put a ruler on the desk. Put the shuttle's head aligned to the zero mark on that ruler. May want to fix it with some tape. Read the centimeters.
Found some notes on more I had measured for a previous experiment All had an yonex over grip over factory, one no string will state all others had bg65 (regular) arc 10 92.8g 310bp 3 zforce 99.5g 314bp 2 zforce 96.5g 314bp 2 vt 80 98.7g 298bp 3 vt 80 no string 93.5g 289bp 3
As a note all at that time were gripped with factory and yonex overgrip wrapped LCW style (no tape) balanced on ruler side and measured. To play the Voltric 80 felt much head heavier than arc 10 and had a higher bp before gripping. Go figure!
