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Head to head

Head Rip Control 17 (1.25) vs Wilson Natural Gut 16 (1.30)

Natural Gut 16 (1.30) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is tension loss, where Natural Gut 16 (1.30) is 11 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Head

Rip Control 17 (1.25)

Nylon/Polyolefin · 17 ga

Wilson

Natural Gut 16 (1.30)

Gut · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
1385th pct
931st pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
1812th pct
121st pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9492nd pct
9597th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
4.235th pct
4.030th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.48974th pct
0.49275th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.11781st pct
0.12485th pct

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.

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 Rip Control 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String Natural Gut 16 (1.30) at 70.0 lb 31.8 kg

Clamped. The proportional answer was 77.3 lb, outside what most frames are rated for. These two are too far apart in stiffness to match by tension alone.

Coming from Natural Gut 16 (1.30) at 52 lb

String Rip Control 17 (1.25) at 35.0 lb 15.9 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.

Rip Control 17 (1.25) mains / Natural Gut 16 (1.30) crosses

Stiffness3rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss7th pct · 1 measured
Energy return95th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential33rd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite74th pct · 1 measured
String friction82nd pct · 1 measured

Natural Gut 16 (1.30) mains / Rip Control 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness3rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss3rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return95th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential31st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite75th pct · 1 measured
String friction84th 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.

Rip Control 17 (1.25)

~36 hours of play

Natural Gut 16 (1.30)

~40 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Head Rip Control 17 (1.25) Nylon/Polyolefin17$11.0013818944.20.4890.117
Wilson Natural Gut 16 (1.30) Gut16$67.509312954.00.4920.124

Add a third string Rip Control 17 (1.25) in full Natural Gut 16 (1.30) in full