Customizing racquets
Adding lead tape is the easiest and probably the best way to modify the playability of your racquet. Lead tape usually comes in rolls or strips ½ inch wide, with markings for every 0.5 grams in weight. (1 inch of tape = 0.5g weight, most of the time)
Determining the ideal amount and placement of the tape, requires quite a bit of experimenting. Here are a few very general guidelines:
- Tape at 12 o’clock – increases power, moves sweet spot up a bit
- Tape at 3 and 9 o’clock – reduces twisting on off-centre hits
- Tape at 6 o’clock – adds weight retaining the racquet’s original balance (minimal difference in balance)
What is racquet “balance”?
Balance is an indicator of a racquet’s weight distribution along the frame. The balance position of a racquet is referenced to the mid-point of the frame and is expressed in points. For a standard 27 inch racquet the mid-point is 13 ½ inches from the butt (or from the tip…). One point (in balance-speak) is 1/8 inch. So, if a racquet’s balance point is 13 inches from the butt end -> we have a 4 points head light racquet (4 x 1/8 =1/2 inch).
The balance defines how the racquet feels when you pick it up and hold it. But you don’t just hold a racquet when you play, you swing it, most of the time. Whether you hit the ball or not, it’s a completely different story… So here comes one last thing – the swingweight.
Swingweight
Swingweight is what you feel when you actually swing the racquet. It’s the moment of inertia of the racquet.
Two racquets of the same weight and same balance can have very different swingweights. Imagine two completely identical racquets. Now you load one of them with lead tape at 12 o’clock and at the butt, and load the other one with the same amount of lead in the throat area (of course you wouldn’t use tape at the butt-end, but that doesn’t matter now).
You would get 2 racquets that weight the same (we added the same amount of lead) and have the same balance, but would have completely different playing characteristics.
The swingweight of the first racquet, the one with the lead at 12 o’clock will be much higher – “the racquet will have more power”.
Some other racquet facts, in random order:
- A larger frame generates more power, has a bigger sweet spot and is more resistant to twisting
- A heavier frame generates more power and has a bigger sweet spot
- A stiffer frame generates more power, has a bigger sweet spot but transmits more shock/vibration to the arm
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