A tidbit on hybrid stringing...

So with Aerobite being a thing, and having dabbled with hybrid setups myself, I've come up with a few bits of information for people.

1. Use the mains for control, and the crosses for power
2. The mains should be fairly rough or rubbery to provide control on shots. This works better than rough crosses because you'll have an easier time overall putting top spin on a shot. Rough crosses with smooth mains can make drop shots a lot more difficult.
3. Thickness isn't the main factor; thin strings are likely to provide more repulsion, so it's likely you'll end up with thinner crosses.
4. The elasticity of the strings needs to be close. This means the softer string should be strung tighter. Again this is likely to be crosses. With my experiments, +2 was sufficient to provide a good hitting feeling with BG80/LN#1. A square tension can feel mushy with hybrids.
5. Some strings are too soft to pair with some other strings; Aerosonic will have a difficult time surviving paired with BG80 mains, simply because BG80 is very coarse and Aerosonic isn't particularly durable.
6. Mixing 'the same string but different gauges', i.e. Li Ning No.5 with Li Ning No.1, or ZM69F with ZM62F, is unlikely to provide a significantly better result than one or the other alone. If it feels better, it's likely you've got a better tension ratio between mains and crosses.
7. Strings with Titanium Hydride coating tend to make good crosses (Yonex TI strings, Li Ning #1/3/5/7, possible the Zymax Fire strings), as they're resistant to being damaged by the mains.
8. EDIT: Don't be fooled by gauge; the crosses can eat the mains. LN#1 is likely to outlive anything you put as its main, including BG80. Aerosonic chews through the thick main in Aerobite.

Some of the benefits include:

• Keeping a solid feeling with lower tensions (if you're using something like BG80 or 80P as mains) you get a much harder feeling string bed.
• An increase in repulsion without sacrificing all of the control as with a string like NBG98
• Don't need very high tensions to retain good shuttle control

Some hybrid setups tested with success:

• Aerobite (kind of obvious, no?)
• BG80/LN #1
• R4X 110/LN #1 (Duckfeet)
• BG80P/ZM62 (Swsh)
• BG80/66UM

Feel free to add more information. I've been toying around with this and monitoring what people have said about hybrid combinations, and this is just my general list of concepts to consider when putting together a hybrid setup.

If you contribute to this discussion and list your hybrids, please format them as:
Mains/Crosses MainTension x CrossTension
Example: BG80/LN#1 24 x 26
This just keeps it easier to read!

Added and removed some info in this post!

 

What tensions did you try out, and how long has it lasted?

I would absolutely expect AS to snap very quickly past 27lbs with BG80/P.

 

Li Ning No.1 is a fairly hard feeling .65mm string, so I think it works with BG80 if you put +2 on the No.1. I think AS would feel too soft with BG80 anyway. I've strung some BG80P, it's fairly rough, you can feel the vectran, but yeah it's not quite as bitey as BG80.

 

Not that I know of, hence the recommendations to try it out.

 

In my experience, doubtful the 98 would offer anything AS doesn’t

 

Thinner one on mains? I've not used GT5 but I'd be under the assumption BG80 is the grippier string of the two, and would want to be on the mains.

I don't know how well BG80/GT5 would work, I feel like GT5 is more balanced than some of the pure repulsion strings, and might be better off as the main with a repulsion string cross (like AS, 66UM, No.1)

 

I mean, you could give it a go you'd have too much grip across the racket and not enough to put good top spin on I think. Would give you floaty shots I reckon.

 

Man I tried AS again tonight, it's such slippery rubbish. Gonna cut it.