View Full Version : Older Frames and Quality Control: A Recent Observation

louis netman
03-26-2006, 07:06 PM
I recently aquired half a dozen, new, unstrung player frames of the same model made by Dunlop, manufacture date approx 1997. These frames all weigh exactly the same (327 grams) and have the same balance. I'm impressed!!! :-) I did the same with three recently manufactured frames from the same company. They spec'd about 13 grams apart and had balances that were a point to 1.5 pts off...:-(
I'm wondering what my observations would be 10 years from now....

03-26-2006, 07:09 PM
I'm just curious, what were the old and new frames from Dunlop. If I had to guess I would say Revelation Select Pro and M-Fil 200.

03-26-2006, 10:36 PM

I remember a mate of mine who owned a tennis shop had to match two Prince Graphite Pro mids and two Wilson Ceramic mids back in, if my memory is correct, the late 80's. The variation in specs was extreme and out of about 25 racquets there were only 4 or 5 that matched the published specs. On the other hand, in a consignment of 200G's (the originals) there was only about a 2g variation between any of them. Some companies have always been better than others when it comes to quality control (in my experience: Snauwert, Fischer, Volkl) and some notoriously shoddy (in my experience, Wilson and Prince). In 10 years time, I don't think it will be any different.

lucky leprechaun
03-26-2006, 11:52 PM
They don't make them like they used to that's for sure. But I understand the general idea. Use half as much graphite and glue than usual, charge twice as much. People would get weird look on face....and so, start the commercials! telling people how its lighter! better! super thin core! it's pizo-electro super duper technologically advanced aircraft grade kevlo-graphite. People buy into it like tennis lemmings one at a time, and gladly fork over $200 for half the same material they used two decades ago. Actually I take that back, they probably substitute more sawdust or something in today's material after all, the less you use, the more people are willing to pay for it. Less is more and 9 out of 10 doofuses agree. There's a reason why mid 80's POGS and stuff like wilson ultras are still around useable today, I guarantee no i.s12 in the year 2036 will show up on **** unless brand new.

lucky leprechaun
03-26-2006, 11:56 PM
**** = e*b*a*y
Okay now that the stupid computer has censored me, let a human figure out that, in this case, you don't censor. Stupid computers they're dumber than graphite (*&(*jdsflkje3. Okay I'm going to bed :evil:

louis netman
03-27-2006, 08:26 AM
In addition to the observation in this post, I have A/B'd early (but new) & new (current) versions of a couple of frames that are still in production, with exact same setups. My conclusion: the newer versions lack something....very difficult to describe.... quite unsettling, nonetheless...Theory: cheaper materials in the newer models...