Gamma Asterisk 16 vs Prince Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex

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

  Asterisk 16545th

  Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex611th

• Easier on my arm

  Asterisk 16172nd

  Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex198th

• More control, less launch

  Asterisk 16601st

  Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex586th

• More power and depth

  Asterisk 16238th

  Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex230th

• Plays the same for longer

  Asterisk 16194th

  Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex139th

• Lasts longer before it breaks

  Asterisk 16561st

  Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex702nd

• Best feel and touch

  Asterisk 16226th

  Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex215th

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 Asterisk 16 in full Synthetic Gut 18 Duraflex in full