Solinco X-Natural 17 (1.20) vs Volkl Synthetic Gut 17

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

  X-Natural 17 (1.20)278th

  Synthetic Gut 17280th

• Easier on my arm

  X-Natural 17 (1.20)216th

  Synthetic Gut 17187th

• More control, less launch

  X-Natural 17 (1.20)521st

  Synthetic Gut 17572nd

• More power and depth

  X-Natural 17 (1.20)291st

  Synthetic Gut 17207th

• Plays the same for longer

  X-Natural 17 (1.20)215th

  Synthetic Gut 17213th

• Lasts longer before it breaks

  X-Natural 17 (1.20)611th

  Synthetic Gut 17415th

• Best feel and touch

  X-Natural 17 (1.20)274th

  Synthetic Gut 17200th

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 X-Natural 17 (1.20) in full Synthetic Gut 17 in full