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Silicone handle weighting

I have customers who like the racquet they already have, but need more mass to help them hit bigger shots. Even though I’m adding mass, I often have to keep the balance the same, which means some of the additional mass has to go in the handle region. Rather than start out with fishing weights inside the handle, I fill the handle with silicone, using lead tape for fine tuning.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when using silicone to increase racquet mass. First, if you are doing more than one racquet, you have to be able to measure how much silicone you are injecting, so you aren’t making work for yourself later on when you try to match the racquets for weight, balance, and swingweight. I use large disposable calibrated syringes, but whatever method you use, you will probably need to experiment a bit before you know how much silicone to add for any given weight increase.

Second, racquets with hollow handles are also going to be hollow all the way up the shaft, throat, and even into the hoop. If you just pop off the butt cap and inject the silicone, there’s nothing to stop it from running down into the racquet, where you don’t want it. To prevent this, inject the pre-measured amount of silicone from the butt end of the racquet (after taking off the trap door or removing the butt cap itself), and then tape the end of the handle and stand the racquet upright. The silicone will run to the bottom of the racquet, where you want it, and form a smooth, professional-looking insert. After curing, you can remove the tape and replace the trap door or butt cap.

I then re-measure the weight, balance, and swingweight of the racquet, and calculate where on the hoop to place the lead tape to counter-weight the new mass of the silicone.

Aside from the obvious benefit of playing with a heavier racquet, racquets modified this way have nothing inside the handle to come loose and start rattling. Also, my clients tell me that the racquets play and feel better because of the vibration dampening properties of the silicone.

5 sets of Ashaway MonoGut 16L to:

R. Casey Maus, Star Stringing, Cathedral City, CA

Editor’s note: If you can’t find or don’t want to use a syringe, you can insert cotton balls into the handle to the maximum depth you want, and then add the silicone by weight, using a scale to monitor your progress. If you’ve stripped the racquet before injecting the silicone, you’ll have to make the appropriate adjustments to get the total weight where you want it.

From the July 2005 issue
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