Hybrid Racket Stringing for Great Feel and Control - Gut and Synthetic Gut

I used to be a purist and either stayed with gut or high grade nylon but had never tried the mix.  A few years ago after realizing that my gut breakage was getting out of control during the stringing process I decided to change things.

Getting Crossed Up

The problem was not on the mains.  Running gut that way is easy but I am using heavy gauge gut for durability and savings.  My choice is  Babolat Tonic+ Natural Gut 15L.  I kept breaking the string while doing the crosses because fishing two pieces of heavy gauge gut through a modern frame hole at one of the junctures required using an awl.  I found that the hole size might be the same as the old wood frames, maybe, but there is no give like wood offered.   So rather than creating some space in a wood hole the hard synthetic frame of a racket meant that I was just crushing string.  I was breaking the gut on the mains while stringing or shortly after I began play because I was grooving and crushing the gut mains with the awl.  Solution - Gut for mains and synthetic gut for crosses.  It's easy to fish synthetic past a gut main in a juncture hole without the need for using an awl or at least not over-using it.

Focus on the Mains for Control

If you look at the frame and visualize how the ball strikes it and the path of your swing you'll see that the mains do the grabbing and the crosses act as the support like trampoline.   The mains run opposite of the racket face across the ball and therefore present the frictional and rotational impediment to the ball and so impart the spin while the crosses run in the same direction as the racket face path across the ball.

The crosses simply hold the mains in place, though I'll admit if I used an abrasive string on the crosses as well it would also help with grabbing the ball for imparting spin but with gut on the mains my primary concern is not damaging the gut so I want relatively smooth crosses.  This is telling when you have loose mains that move too much where the crosses rarely move.   I want a string on the mains that has enough texture to allow me to get all the spin I'm entitled to without high tension.

So here is my solution that has worked out perfectly.    String the mains with thick gauge gut at a tension that will initially seem taut but when the usual relaxation of tension comes with use and time it will drop right into the perfect control range.  So if I like a 50lb feel I string it at 55 lbs and within a few weeks of mild use and sitting it works down to an ideal tension.

What to use on the Crosses

The crosses are another question.  I tend to use 16 gauge crosses with high grade synthetic gut to again maintain longevity and look toward a solid platform for the gut strings to do their magic.

On my first attempt I used some 30 year old Prince Synthetic that I had plenty of from my days of outdoor teaching that required a great string not subject to moisture.  This or a string like this is my normal cross string.  It works.  It holds tension well enough.  I string the crosses a few pounds lighter than the mains because the stretching seems to be much less pronounced.  Also, the working strings for me are the mains and they need to grab the ball for spin so I want some tension and less movement.

Longevity as a side benefit

One more great benefit of a non-abrasive nylon cross string is that the wear of the gut strings at each crossover is almost non existent and instead the wear is focused on where the ball contacts the strings.  I get a whole season out of a set of gut now where before I'd get a month or two.

If you like playing with gut but not the price or misery of early breakage you might try a good hybrid combination.  One concern is that your mains need to be in the 20' range to get two string jobs out of one set of gut.  You can also buy half sets of Babolat gut that are 20' in length.

Regarding this Article 

This is my own version of how things work and maybe you'll find a different take from the string masters out there though I have been stringing rackets since the 70's it's not my main effort and I haven't pretended to keep up on all of the new research into string interactions with the tennis  balls.   Based on my results and the fact that I am older and don't want a case of tennis elbow I think gut offers the spin and control options that might only be available in a hard on the arm synthetic strung at higher tensions.  Therefore consider this advice as specific to solving those problems.  If you come up with any other great solution please share it in the comment section.