Head to head

Gamma Asterisk Tour 16 vs Kirschbaum Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25)

Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Asterisk Tour 16 is 11 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Gamma

Asterisk Tour 16

Nylon/Zyex · 16 ga

Kirschbaum

Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25)

Nylon · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16229th pct
16634th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2533rd pct
2225th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9274th pct
9378th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.416th pct
3.518th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.42440th pct
0.41130th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.12586th pct
0.11781st pct

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.

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.

Coming from Asterisk Tour 16 at 52 lb

String Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25) at 51.0 lb 23.1 kg

Coming from Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String Asterisk Tour 16 at 53.1 lb 24.1 kg

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.

Asterisk Tour 16 mains / Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness31st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss31st pct · 1 measured
Energy return75th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential17th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite39th pct · 1 measured
String friction84th pct · 1 measured

Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25) mains / Asterisk Tour 16 crosses

Stiffness31st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss28th pct · 1 measured
Energy return75th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential17th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite31st pct · 1 measured
String friction83rd pct · 1 measured

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.

Asterisk Tour 16

~30 hours of play

Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25)

~33 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Gamma Asterisk Tour 16 Nylon/Zyex16find16225923.40.4240.125
Kirschbaum Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25) Nylon17find16622933.50.4110.117

Add a third string Asterisk Tour 16 in full Touch Multifibre 17 (1.25) in full