Dunlop Explosive Poly Max 16 vs Gamma Asterisk 16

Measured, side by side

Bars are percentile against all 791 strings, and the marked side is the one that measures better, which is not always the one you want. A firmer bed is worse for your elbow and better for your control, and no measurement knows which of those you came for.

Which one wins, by problem

Each string's standing on the site's rankings, out of every measured string in the database. This is where a comparison stops being arithmetic and starts being a decision.

• More spin and shape

  Explosive Poly Max 16559th

  Asterisk 16545th

• Easier on my arm

  Explosive Poly Max 16203rd

  Asterisk 16172nd

• More control, less launch

  Explosive Poly Max 16592nd

  Asterisk 16601st

• More power and depth

  Explosive Poly Max 16263rd

  Asterisk 16238th

• Plays the same for longer

  Explosive Poly Max 16255th

  Asterisk 16194th

• Lasts longer before it breaks

  Explosive Poly Max 16503rd

  Asterisk 16561st

• Best feel and touch

  Explosive Poly Max 16258th

  Asterisk 16226th

Swapping between them: what tension?

Bed stiffness is published at one reference tension, so the only honest conversion is to scale it. These are starting points from 52 lb, not prescriptions. The calculator takes your own tension.

Hybrid: what if you used both?

Estimated, not measured. No hybrid combination has been tested as a bed. These figures are the two strings' own lab measurements weighted by how much of the bed each one actually is. Treat them as a guide to which way a pairing moves, never as lab data.

Open this in the hybrid builder

Which goes dead first?

Estimated from tension loss, which is the only thing the database measures about ageing. This is when the bed stops playing the way you strung it, not when the string breaks.

Both strings in full

Add a third string Explosive Poly Max 16 in full Asterisk 16 in full