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Head to head

Pacific Classic Natural Gut 16 vs Wilson Natural Gut 17

Classic Natural Gut 16 leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Classic Natural Gut 16 is 23 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Pacific

Classic Natural Gut 16

Gut · 16 ga

Wilson

Natural Gut 17

Gut · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
1002nd pct
810th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
156th pct
155th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
97100th pct
9598th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
2.87th pct
2.23rd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.42239th pct
0.38616th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.14993rd pct
0.17396th 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 Classic Natural Gut 16 at 52 lb

String Natural Gut 17 at 64.5 lb 29.3 kg

Coming from Natural Gut 17 at 52 lb

String Classic Natural Gut 16 at 41.9 lb 19.0 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.

Classic Natural Gut 16 mains / Natural Gut 17 crosses

Stiffness1st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss6th pct · 1 measured
Energy return99th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential6th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite34th pct · 1 measured
String friction94th pct · 1 measured

Natural Gut 17 mains / Classic Natural Gut 16 crosses

Stiffness1st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss5th pct · 1 measured
Energy return99th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential4th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite18th pct · 1 measured
String friction96th 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.

Classic Natural Gut 16

~38 hours of play

Natural Gut 17

~38 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Pacific Classic Natural Gut 16 Gut16find10015972.80.4220.149
Wilson Natural Gut 17 Gut17$67.508115952.20.3860.173

Add a third string Classic Natural Gut 16 in full Natural Gut 17 in full