What strings would go well with my racquet?

[mexicanhatdancer]

I have a K-Blade 98 and I'm considering doing what Flavia Pennetta does with her K-Blade which is Luxilon Big Banger Alu with Wilson Natural Gut crosses.

Problem is, I dont wanna spend $42 for the Wilson strings. And i dont really know which ones would be good to replace it at a relatively low price.

I'd appreciate all the help

[PBODY 66]

From gut, go to a multi of your choice, with a non-lux poly.

[ClubHoUno]

I had 4 K Blade 98 last year, and I know some pro players use a poly in the mains (often some kind of Luxilon string) and then natural gut in the crosses - but in my honest opinion, natural gut in the crosses is a TOTAL UTTER WASTE.

What you look for in a hybrid with a poly in the mains and a softer string in the crosses is for the soft cross string to loosen up the stringbed slightly, but you never really get to feel much from the cross string.

90% of all the feel, power, spin and a good deal of the control comes from the main strings, so I would look for a Prime Multi as your go to cross string in a hybrid with a poly in the mains.....

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE natural gut - and I use it in 4 of my racquets, but ONLY as s main string in hybrids with a poly in the crosses or during the 3 coldest winter months here, in full Natty gut job.

I did however try Natty gut in the crosses and Luxilon alu BB power in the mains last year, both in my K Blade 98 and in my 4 Babolat Pure Storm Tour GT. While it played nice for 2-3 hours, after that I rapidly started to lose all control and it got worse and worse. So Luxilon Mains and Natty gut crosses is good for 2 hours, then it plays like crap in my personal honest opinion.

Somehow the poly in the mains, when it dies, makes the Natty gut in the crosses overtake all the power, because the Natty gut in the crosses lives on, while the Luxilon in the mains has passed away long time ago.

When you do the opposite, Natty gut mains and poly crosses - the hybrid for some strange reason keeps on playing well even after the poly in the crosses has died, because the Natty gut mains lives on and the dead poly in the crosses just tames the power and livelyness of the Natty gut in the mains,and which makes this hybrid very long lasting unless you break it of course.

I still like to use a good thin spinny poly in the mains, and sometimes I just do a full job of a CoPoly at VERY LOW TENSION, 52 lbs with SIGNUM PRO TORNADO 18 in the mains and SIGNUM PRO HYPERION 17 in the crosses. But I still want to try a softer string in the crosses, and therefore I started to test Prime Multi strings and ended up buying the best Prime Multi Babolat Xcel Power 16, which is in my view the best Prime Multi on the market (better than X-One and NRG2). Xcel Power holds tension well, feels crisp, not too much power even though It's called Xcel POWER and stiffer than a Natty gut string, so in Factor I prefer the feel of Xcel POWER in the crosses with a CoPoly in the mains,and compared to when I used Babolat VS in the crosses.....Believe it or not. This is why I say that Natty gut used in the crosses only is a total waste of gut and money.

However Natty used either as a full job or in the mains is like heaven on earth. NOTHING beats Natty gut here. But Natty gut in the crosses - here I prefer the cheaper Xcel POWER multi actually and honestly.

I just bought 20 sets of Babolat VS TEAM Natty gut, so It's not like I don't have enough Natty gut to experiment with

Luxilon strings are GREAT and used by a lots of pro's, but they die fast and are not mean to be played for more than 3-4 hours, then cut out.
The never CoPolys are better at holding tension and elasticity, so instead of going down the expensive Luxilon route, and only have a good performance string that last you 4 hours, then consider another CoPoly with better tension stability.

Your main poly string should always be in as thin a gauge as possible, because this give you extra control, power, feel and comfort in a poly.

As your main CoPoly string, I would try Signum Pro Tornado 18 gauge, Tecnifibre Black Code 18 gauge, Signum Pro Poly PLASMA 18 gauge or WeissCannon TurboTwist 18L gauge and then skip the Natty gut as your cross string and instead get a cheaper (but still quite expensive) Prime Multi like my favorite Babolat Xcel Power or either of the Tecnifibre Prime Multis - X-One or NRG2.

Since the Prime Multi is for the crosses, and the crosses contributes mainly to comfort and control - go for a thick 16/1.30 gauge here. This stiffens up the stringbed a bit more compared to a thinner gauge multi and keeps the stringbed from playing like a ROCKET LAUNCHER, once the poly in the main strings startside to die.

If you want to try natural gut, which I certainly think you should - and if you're a female player, you get lots of extra nice power, spin, feel and comfort from using natural gut - I would suggest my own currently setup, which I use in 4 of my racquets, a NATTY GUT Babolat VS TEAM 17 @ 62lbs/28kg in the mains and a CoPoly Signum Pro Hyperion 17 @ 58lbs/26kg in the crosses.

[ClubHoUno]

This is a small note, I keep in my Mobile phone, so I never forget what to do, when I have to choose the correct tension in my hybrids, so It's free advice for you and everyone else

Hybrid Advice for you!

When you hybrid a poly string in the mains with a softer string in the crosses - use the thinnest possible gauge for the CoPoly in the mains and consider going for a CoPoly of the never generation with a TWISTED and edged surface like for instance Signum Pro Tornado, Tecnifibre BlackCode and WeissCannon TurboTwist for extra control, spin and comfort.
Use a thicker gauge for the softer string in the crosses for extra control, tension stability and durability.

When you hybrid Natty GUT in the mains with a poly in the crosses, go for the thinnest possible Natty GUT string, that your wallet can accept. If you don't break string often, consider my favorite Natty GUT string - Babolat VS TEAM 17, best gut string ever made in my view.
The poly you use for the crosses in this hybrid should NOT have an edged or TWISTED surface, because you don't get the spin from cross strings anyway and the TWISTED or edged shape of the CoPoly in the crosses will cut faster into the Natty GUT in the mains thus shortening the overall life of the Natty GUT hybrid. Instead ALWAYS go for a SMOOTH surfaced poly as cross string in a hybrid with Natty GUT mains and preferably of a thicker gauge, because the thicker gauge will not cut into the main Natty GUT strings as fast as a thinner gauge would.
You should also consider using Babolat Elastocross String savers, which will stiffen the string bed up slightly but more than double the durability of the hybrid (I use anything from 48-60 string savers in all my racquets with Natty GUT in them)

GENERAL RULE regarding string tension in hybrids !

You should always look and aim at getting a Constant StringBed Stiffness (CSBS) in your racquet.

Therefore you always string the soft string in a hybrid 2-4 lbs HIGHER than the stiff string in your hybrid - NO MATTER WHERE THE SOFT STRING IS PLACED IN THE HYBRID.

So when you hybrid a poly mains with a Prime Multi crosses, string the poly 2-4 lbs LOWER than the Prime Multi.
When you hybrid Natty GUT mains with a poly crosses, string the Natty gut 2-4 lbs HIGHER than the poly.