I would think that they're at least over 100g in weight probably in the region of 110-150g. Any 'woodies' care to 'chip' in? ubootsg
pix of a couple more oldies Yonex Carbonex 7: Carlton 3.7X: The Carlton was a hot favorite of a lot of attacking-style players during the 70s due to its weight (s.steel head & shaft) high-tension (s.steel head could take the higher tension stringing than its contemporaries though the strings would wear out the grommets quite fast and need replacing with each re-stringing!) flexibility (the slightly flattened middle of the cylindrical s.steel shaft helped to give it some flex) ubootsg
Can anyone help me with my racket? It is a Carlton 3.7S. It has the aluminium coloured head like the photo of the 3.7x above, a black shaft and black cone. But there is no taper on the shaft. I read briefly on Google that the models in the 70's were - 3.7x, 3.7s, 3.7, 3.9. Q1: So what is the difference between the various models? 3.7x is the pro model, and 3.9 is the cheapest one? Q2: Was the 3.7s from 1979 too? Q3: Did Lim Swie Keng use 3.7s as well? Or only 3.7x? Thanks! I was in primary school then I didn't know too much except that they were very expensive. Worse than Blacken.
Hi Featherbeater! With regards to your questions above, if my memory serves me correctly: Q1 - 3.7S had a black shaft, the 3.7X had a chromed shaft, and the 3.9 was entirely in chrome I think. It was slightly heavier than the 3.7s, did not have the flattened middle in the shaft and was a slightly cheaper model as well. Q2 - They were all produced in the mid-70s, by the mid 80s Cartlon had already started producing the carbon-fibre and carbon-graphite Classic series of which I also used in competitive play then. Sadly I don't have any examples of those left as I'd either broken them in use or had given them away after I stopped competitive play. Q3 - My memory is sketchy here - I remember Liem Swie King in the advertising pics and posters that Carlton produced to market the 3.7 series, but whether he stuck to using the 3.7x specifically I do not know. As to prices then, I remember the Blacken being priced about S$28+ then the Carltons were priced above 30 for sure. Warmest regards, Lee
Thanks for the reply Lee! So besides the taper in the shaft, can we say that 3.7x and 3.7s are identical in construction, or was one higher spec than the other? What purpose does the taper in the shaft serve? Really appreciate you sharing your memories of the 70's. I remember the stretch of shophouses near Cathay where I used to go to stare at the stuff and buy second hand novels. Those were the good times!
Hi Yong! You might want to take a closer look at the shaft of your 3.7S. I think it might be tapered too albeit very slightly. Just do a visual comparison of the diameter of the shaft where it joins the head with the diameter where it joins the handle, there should be slight difference of about 2mm. I'm not a trained designer but I've a technical background and worked with metals. The taper would help to take a little bit of weight off the head-end of the shaft without sacrificing much loss in strength and rigidity there when the racket is being used. the middle is where all the flexing/bending occurs, subjected to all the stresses incurred when the racket is used. The base-end of the shaft attached to the handle is foundation and pivot end of the racket, naturally a 'bigger' diameter would help to give it more strength than the other end. By your mention of the Cathay vicinity shophouses I gather that you'd be reffering to the row of sports shops facing the Bras Basah Road, leading up to SJI, which was where I attended Sec. school. There were lots of Sports shops and 2nd-hand bookshops competing for business from the schoolkids from all around the area. Besides, SJI, there's also RGS, SAC, RI, ACS, VS, CHIJ as well. By the way are you still playing regularly and do you use your Carlton at all? Rgds, Lee
Hi Lee You are absolutely right! The shaft is 2 mm wider at the cone, and it does taper all the way to the head. I do play weekly with my kid but not with the 3.7s. I have a Blacken SP with the Yonex holographic sticker on the cone, which I think might be from the late 80's. Part of the reason is because it looks so nice I can't bear to use it. I know this sounds strange.
Hi again. You should take a look at this thread, someone here has a very impressive collection of "woodies": http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/90418-Rackets-for-collection-purposes-only Rgds, Lee
Just want to add some information the Calton. I was using the 3.7X around in the mid / late 1970's. By the the late 1970's Yonex started to came up with carbon fibre shafts, from 8300 to 9300 (wood frame), to 8500, and weight started to go down from from L to 2L and 3L. Not long after that (1980 or so), Calton came out with the 3.7S, which used carbon fibre shaft, which my double partner of the time used. If I remember correctly, the 3.7S was noticeably lighter than the 3.7X!
Interesting! So the 3.7s is Carlton's answer to the early Carbonex trend. It does feel a lot lighter than the regular 3.7 which if I'm not wrong has been around since the early 70's if not even longer. Do you know when did Carlton introduce the 'long triangle background' logo on the T-joint? Was it in '86?
Borrowed this photo from the internet. Do you know which year Carlton changed to the logo with the long tail?
Play with it back in the 70's. They weren't as heavy. Had the Dunlop and Yonex, both strung with natural and the good thing is that singles or doubles than, we use the same racket, string, tension and it was really up to our strokes and skill than to stand out.
Hi there! By the 'long tail' are you referring to the logo of the racket with the red T-joint? AFAIK it's just a slight modification of the '3 shuttles' logo to blend in esthetically to the design of the T-joint. I've 2 Carltons I used from the late 80s from the one-piece frame Classic series, the Composite Classic and Procomposite Classic, that still had the '3 shuttles' logo on them. the previous range of rackets made by Carlton in the early 80s also had the T-joint still, including the Carbon Classic, Boron Classic & the Morten Frost Classic were also embellished with the old '3 Shuttles" logo. I used these 3 models when I was still playing competitvely then. By the time the early 90s came along I had stopped using Carlton for a while I didn'[t relish the thought of using Carltons NOT made in England anymore. The next Carlton I did use next was in the early 2000s, probably from the Powerblade or Airblade range and I wasn't particularly fond of them. I guess my memories of these 2000s era ones were quite vague simply because they didn't play very well and felt somewhat generic and 'robotic' in feel. Well, that's just sharing my idiosyncretic impressions of what the older Carltons were like for me. I apologize for the rambling!
I concur. I still regularly with wooden rackets, thrice weekly, all doubles games though, but I must say that unless I face a player of superior skills to mine I can still put up a pretty good fight with someone of equivalent skill level when I use my 'woodie'.
I see, so the long tail was a 'stylish' variation that happened sometime in the 80's. Thanks for the update!
I took a second look at the pic you included earlier. I recall the now that the T-joint 'Classic' series of rackets incl. the Boron Classic, Carbon Classic & Morten Frost CLassic had that stylized 'long-tail' 3 Shuttles logo as well. These came out towards the 'tail-end' of the 70s and into the early 80s followed next by the one-piece Classic series as I mentioned in the earlier part of the thread.
Ok now it's getting interesting as we have narrowed it down to late 70's- early 80's. Along with the long tail, the rackets also had the words 'Made in England' printed on the shaft. Before this, the shafts were blank like the 3.7x shown earlier in this thread. Thanks again.