Head to head
Gamma Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) vs Tourna Synthetic Gut Armor 16
Synthetic Gut Armor 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is stiffness, where Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) is 8 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.
Measured, side by side
Bars are percentile against all 788 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.
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Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)204th
Synthetic Gut Armor 16150th
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Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)189th
Synthetic Gut Armor 16238th
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Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)533rd
Synthetic Gut Armor 16495th
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Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)187th
Synthetic Gut Armor 16236th
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Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)48th
Synthetic Gut Armor 1644th
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Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)232nd
Synthetic Gut Armor 16143rd
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Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)162nd
Synthetic Gut Armor 16214th
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 Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) at 52 lb
String Synthetic Gut Armor 16 at 49.8 lb 22.6 kg
Coming from Synthetic Gut Armor 16 at 52 lb
String Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) at 54.3 lb 24.6 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.
Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) mains / Synthetic Gut Armor 16 crosses
Synthetic Gut Armor 16 mains / Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) crosses
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.
Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18)
~38 hours of play
Synthetic Gut Armor 16
~39 hours of play
Both strings in full
| String | Gauge | Price | Stiff lb/in | Loss % | Power % | Spin | Bite COF | Friction COF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) Nylon | 18 | find | 165 | 15 | 93 | 5.6 | 0.463 | 0.082 |
| Tourna Synthetic Gut Armor 16 Nylon/Polyester | 16 | find | 172 | 14 | 93 | 5.9 | 0.475 | 0.081 |
Add a third string Synthetic Gut 18 (1.18) in full Synthetic Gut Armor 16 in full