How a HEAD Tennis Racquet is Made -- Behind the scenes in Kennelbach, Austria! 🤗🇦🇹🎾
2020 ж. 30 Сәу.
278 917 Рет қаралды
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From scratch to hitting with it on the court, we follow the journey of how a racquet is made!
* This video was filmed before the Covid-19 pandemic *
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Wow! All these steps, processes and craftsmanship just so Zverev can smash em to the ground 😂😂😂
Nice!
what's more amusing is that after watching such amazing video, all you think of is zverev and smashing
because he's still just a kid... hopefully he will be a little bit more adult and respectful to the resources he's using and little bit more a person to look up to. Thiem is probably a good example how to behave.
@@HG-Tv23 i heard thiem doesnt want to contribute to a fund to help low ranked players through the pandemic. But at least hes a class act on the court. I like his channel too
Dad's Freetime Classic Gaming well, I wouldn't pay lower managers either from my salary. It's on the tournaments and the tennis association to set the rules! Not on the better ranked players! Think about it - wo makes money with the tennis stars... and who wants to have good players coming after the higher ranked players. The tournament directors and sponsors and the tennis association sets the rules for all this. So I don't blame Thiem for not participating on that fund. He worked his way up and shows high class in all of his actings. Great example for all of the younger players - especially for zverev!!!
Great! Where can I buy a new HEAD racquet that’s made in Austria?
Chris, What an awesome assignment! Congratulations!
Great job TW, looking forward to see more, perhaps with other brands too
Excellent video...absolutely love this. Great upload, thank you 👉♥️💯👍
Huge respect for Head !!
Awesome video! Thanks to HEAD & Chris!
Chris, I so admire your passion for tennis. I’ve played for 40 years, strung racquets for 30 years and just been obsessed with the sport and the equipment for as long as I can remember. This was an awesome video, I really enjoyed the insight into the head R&D site.
Fascinating video - excellent content, really interesting to see the effort involved.
Wow...what an experience to see. pretty much from the farm to the plate. Thanks for sharing the content.
Fantastic video. Thank you TW and Head for the look inside the Head prototype lab.
fantastic video, always respect the process.
So amazing to see this. Truly. Thanks. I’m in total love with my 7 i.prestige Mids from 2001. They still play like NEW
Great video, Chris! Now I understand a lot more about why racquets have some tolerance.
just awesome! and a great forehand chris
The pro stock laboratory suppose. Tanks for the great video 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
The graphene fibers are just left in the yard outside the building :-)
one word. amazing.
0:07 ''before we HEAD in''
Nice one
... to the HEADquarters ...
@@aprianang i wish i could HEADout and hit a fresh racquet.
Now we know. :) Great video; thank you for the information!
I'm playing Pro Tour 630 over 30 years, and it's the best racquet ever
Awesome vid..thanks TW!
It's just a shame that Austria is not the place of manufacture for racquets off the shelf. It used to be special buying a Head racquet with Made in Austria inscribed on the racquet. So, what you see here is not what you get. And we all know about QC control issues of mass production. That's just the fact of cheap labour and companies trying to maximise their profits, rather than caring for producing a quality product. And this is perhaps why some of the much older Head frames are still considered classics today with some of the molds still being used by the pros with their pro stock racquets. Nice review Chris, just a shame some more transparency wasn't shown as not everybody watching understands where consumer racquets are made. Cheers. 🎾🎾🎾
You can always buy a Bosworth Racquet.
@@davidpayumo23 There are a few custom manufacturers, where the racquets are readily available and quality very high, the level of customisation depends on the company. My comments specifically related to this video, where it's still disappointing to see that some racquets get tested in their Austrian factory and likely where all the pro stock frames are produced. Obviously, because quality control is paramount for the pros. Yet, the consumer, those that actually pay for the products, get stock that is often dubious at best. I have no issues with China being the place of manufacture. The issue I have is the level of quality control, where too many variations exist. It never used to be that way. It's not just Head that has this issue and not just me that says it. There's a common consensus about this within the tennis community, forums etc. Of the big manufacturers...it's Yonex that stands well above the rest for quality control. Again, that's the general consensus. They can manufacture in Japan and still make their profits. That says to me the other big companies could so similar. However, as they don't, it demonstrates what they value most....bigger profits and marketing to sell more, without the concern for their product being of a high quality and most of all their customers. Pity that.... Cheers. 🎾🎾🎾
Point of tolerances is an aspect of all mass production. Back when Head and many other tennis manufacturers had mass production plants in Austria, Belgium, Germany, England [UK], they still had variations, tolerances. Remember the WPS made in Chicago, Illinois, USA & St. Vincent, Bahamas have a decal showing weight 11.6 oz. - 12.3 oz. Is this variance and tolerance acceptable for You?!
I still have my Fischer racquets, proudly made in Austria. Also my Dunlop 200G made in England. The most amazing racquet I have ever held in my hand.
Amazing!!
The video I didn't know I needed in my life. What an awesome experience.
Very nice video! Thanks TW
I would kill for the opportunity to do what you've just done, playing with a brand-new racket straight off the line 🤩
I love this kind of video. It’s so cool to see how they make such great racquets.
Really cool experience, Chris. I go waaay back with Head racquets (Professional "Red Head", Arthur Ashe Comp 1, 2 and 3). Great products.
Prestige mid 93 is 🔥🔥I now know how it was made .Very interesting 👍👍
An Aeropro Dirve would beat your prestige 93 any day.
Great Video!
Wow. Awesome content. @TW Wish HEAD actually made blacked out sticks for the Graphene Speeds. That would be so cool as well as a smart marketing strategy. Plain colors are now the new trend setters such as full black/white sticks
I think the raw graphite looks incredible, they could paint it with that same color just to smooth over the imperfections and it would look amazing. Like an industrial design rather than overly stylized racquets of today. Love it!
I would add a clear coat and minimalist logos. I love the look!
So dedicated to perfection. I returned to head after a hiatus and cheated with Volkl. Now I’m finally home with Head Speed pro. Loooove it! All four of them. :)
Loved this. The amount of hand crafted steps is somewhat like in guitar manufacturing. Even in the cheaper and more "standard" ones the handcrafting is a relevant part. That makes every racquet (or guitar) unique and finding the one you love is always special.
I play Prestige 93 (mid) - and have many other head rackets including Edge and Ashe.
Impressive!!!
great video!
"We like our rackets well done". Nice.
Interesting stuff, would be ace to work there!!
Which models are manufactured in Austria and where to buy it? Thank you
Excellent! I assume skis are made the same way.
I prefer medium rare. Facisinating video. I had no idea that's how the mold was made
Does the Nylon tube stay inside the prepreg and racket the entire time or is it removed at any point?
fantastic
Talking about the string tensions recommended by the manufacturer. Is the upper limit just a suggestion? can we exceed this limit without damaging the racket? Example: I use a multi (Head Velocity 17) with 57 pounds on a Head Speed Pro. The limit suggested by the manufacturer is 57, but I need a little more control, so I would like to string at 60 lbs, but without the risk of breaking the racquet. I don't want to use polys. Can I?
I have a speed mp , wish to visit this factory someday
Thanks sir
How do they change the weight distribution if it's a uniform material throughout? Do they just change the shape of the mold?
It depends on the layup I would think. They can add less or more prepreg to different areas of the racquet. I noticed him adding more prepreg to the handle of the racquet made in the video and also other weights, so as to make it heavier in the handle perhaps. There's so much variation that can be achieved by how it's laid up, it's kinda crazy. They do also add other things to the racquet beyond the fibers, I think they couldn't reveal that in this video for proprietary reasons. Like in my Volkl V Cell racquet, they describe how they added more V Cell material to the middle areas of the hoop which would affect the weight distribution.
I wonder how their made in China for the mass production market?_ would imagine there is a lot more mechanical input into shop models.
Or it's still manual and this is why the quality controls are shit
Chris did they let you keep that frame?
Great!
That was not how i imagined it. very interesting!
Me too. I imagined lots of Chinese people in sweatshops. Now I feel good about buying a head racquet. 😊
Just FYI, the first prototypes of this style raquet, were built in the Head plant in Boulder Colorado; I know because I built them in the late 70's.
Kind of funny, those produced their are destined for the pros only, and most general consumers won’t be getting one made there. Yet the video is released to the public and us non-pros viewers can only drool 🤤 BTW, Chris did you get a PT10 or a PT57A as souvenir 🤣 All the best and love your reviews Chris!
We have the racquet that was made that day at TW and it is strung up and seeing regular use. As a souvenir I got something entirely different and a racquet I cannot talk about (sorry). I can say the guys at Head really did their homework and one of them gave me a new old stock racquet that I played with a LONG time ago, are really tough to get these days and I now have it strung up and take it out for a hit every now and then. I also got to see the original mold for it which was VERY cool! Cheers, Chris, TW.
True, that facility on manufacturers custom and prototype frames. Also pro-stock frames, though different than public commercial offerings, are also manufactured in the Head manufacturing plant in China. The codes are TGK not PT since. They, along with most all manufacturers opened their own manufacturing facilities in China, closing their facilities in Austria, Belgium, Germany, England [UK] etc. many years ago.
TGT 339. ......@@tenniswarehouse
Love the video i still use a head radical the agassi model made in europe such a great racquet which i love.Sadly head makes most racquets in china which i dont believe are the same quality so i will not be buying any head racquets in the future.I think i will try yonex next as they are still made in Japan.
it makes you wonder - if yonex can still make racquets in Japan, why can't the west still make racquets in the west?
I love my old head prestige youtek mp and my current heat prestige graphene touch mp
Is this double tube in the handle where the 2 ends of the rod meet in the mold what HEAD traditionally refereed to as "twin tube"?
Good question...I have thought that way too...hopefully TW answers
That clear is a single tube. Prince developed the patent for twin tube design, which uses two tubes, one on top of the other. Thus in the handle there are four spaces instead of two.
@@newtonfirefly3584 brilliant response Newton, thank you!
Head hasn't used the twin tube design for a long time. Those old radical twin tubes were some of the best players rackets Head ever made outside the Prestige line of course.
God this looks just so efficient
How do they get so heavy with such thin slices of fibers??
Actually, the first Head prototype and production racquets were built in the Head plant in Boulder Colorado.
How do we buy the Austria made racquets ?
Ralph looks like the gym bro version of Chris
😂😂😂 So true!
Hey Tennis Warehouse, put these guys in touch with me, I went to school for Advanced Composites Manufacturing and could work in this plant 😁
Do they not paint it? no varnish?
I have never seen you guys review Head’s intermediate “Challenge” line. Do you think the Challenge Pro (295g) offers a good intermediate player’s experience, or is it pretty much recreational trash? The look and specs of that racquet seem pretty appealing. Would love to know your thoughts, thanks! :)
We don't review racquets that we don't carry, and I don't believe we have ever had those Challenge racquets in our inventory. That said, I am sure the racquet will play okay for someone kind of learning the game. The problem we find with racquets like those, is that the materials aren't quite as durable as the more performance frames, and also they typically do not have grommet/bumper guard replacements, so it will only last so long. We carry a lot of performance frames on our website, for pretty good prices, that we would recommend over something like that, especially for an intermediate. For example, we got back in some older stock Head Graphene XT racquets, and they were the high end performance frames from a few years ago: www.tennis-warehouse.com/SearchResults/#/?opt_perpage=20&opt_sort=relevance&opt_page=1&searchtext=head%20graphene%20xt%20racquet&facet_set=facet_set_RACFILTER. The Instinct MP, Speed S, Speed MP are all great choices. I would also consider the Prince Textreme Warrior and Textreme Beast racquets, very good quality for good values. Troy, TW
Tennis Warehouse thanks so much! Do you guys ship to Europe as well? I presume demoing the racquets can’t be done for Europe?
make one for wilson rackets please
I like HEAD tennis!!!!
Was this made before the Cona Vius? Im guessing yes but just to be sure
Yes, as listed in the description of the video, above. Troy, TW
Would love to see how old wooden raquets were made!
All that planning, crafting, and expertise... Fascinating! And yet no Head racquet could withstand Djokovic mashing it against the upright at Wimbledon on his way to losing against Alcaraz!😮😅
I love HEAD
HEAD makes great racquets but their quality control is the pits. I liked my Gravity Pro so I bought three more and guess what? Every single one has a different swing weight. Not to mention the significant difference in grip size (which were all supposed to be 4 3/8).
Wilson does a better job
Yonex is acknowledged to have better QC than either Head or Wilson.
david tran I had bad luck with Wilson. I have two RF97’s with a 10 swingweight point difference. For an additional fee, TW will sell closely matched retail racquets. The only way to get spot on is to do the matching work yourself or get something from the Head Pro Room.
Yes, it is somewhat just the way it goes with mass production, and is why we offer those matching/customization services. We have seen pictures of the lead tape placed underneath the bumper of Federer's personal frames, by Priority One, and there is slight differences in the exact locations, and amount, so just goes to show his personal frames don't come exactly matched from the factory either. Troy, TW
Alexander Cortez yea, I just commented the same thing. Bought two prestige MP with 15g swing weight difference. Disappointed...
I want to see the PT113B being made😉
zachary wan it is just like a radical mp. They just don’t sell those radicals to the public and try to make you believe it is a speed.
No PT series made any more. They have been TGK for more than a decade. Also produced in their factory in China. Only custom, prototype models made in this plant in Austria for many years.
Newton Firefly it is ok. Get China to mass produce those Djoker pt346s. Head should Stop wasting materials from this planet to make sticks are trash. Focus on the good ones for gods sake.
Michael P honestly when I heard it wasn’t made in Austria, that was the deal breaker:/
zachary wan to me is the fact they stopped selling the real radical MPs all together. I couldn’t care where they are made. I have old radicals from China and they were fine. Why stop selling them ? Head hate money or what ?
I am surprised that they are not wearing gloves while handling the prepreg. The fat of your finger can cause slight delamination and so change the characteristics... But to be honest 90% of the companies using prepreg does it wrong... Nevertheless it is very interesting to see how a racquet is made.
Nah! Always handle then with disposel gloves
Ralph needs to physically sort out some of those talk tennis posters
Did you get to keep the racket?
Yes we have the racquet at TW and it still gets plenty of use. Cheers, Chris, TW
Tennis Warehouse how does the racquet play? Is it a bare version of one of their models or did you get to choose it’s specs? 😃
"Pay attention, it's still hot" - Immediately goes and touches racquet with his bare right hand xD
Your comment LMAO
Really...??? So pointing and touching are now the same thing...? Work on yer observational skills, I understand why the other guy here is laughing at your comment. 2 + 2, does not = 5.
Butch Head guy when he doesn't like a racquet design: COOLER, two veeks!!
LOL
good stuff. My last Head was made in the USA.
Is Your frame from the nineties, eighties or seventies? Mine also. My first was a Head Pro red (aluminum). More recently received a Head Prestige Pro from the nineties, made in USA, designed in Austria.
What Chis Edward?
I'd like to see how the truly mass produced rackets are manufactured. You can buy pretty good tennis rackets for around $50.00.
I do have to interject, most racquets that are priced at and around $50 are not made of the materials the more expensive racquets are made of and are made in a different way and often are "fused" together. It is a noticeable difference if you play with a premium racquet vs. a big box racquet. With that being said, you definitely can find some good deals on high quality racquets by shopping older models, etc. however usually a $50 racquet isn't going to provide the best playing experience but will do the trick if you're just looking for a racquet for a couple sessions. Michelle, TW
Everybody likes HEAD.
KOOL: the German guy had a Good Sense of Humor i have a Head TXP
Maybe because he is austrian and not german ;)
Ralph...head of Head
1:04 bruh how long was that camera man in that cold room?
just 10 seconds longer than them? whats the problem?
Neo No problem at all, just wondering how long he was in that room because they made it seem like it was pretty cold
amazing. Time to move and beg for a job!
Im surprised that this process is not automated
Water skiing is warmer.
Impressive but still not at the same level as Yonex......and what we see here is not the mass produced made in China frames....
Is there a yonex video you could point me to
It all about feelings. Feeling$ are more important than jobs. "Designed in Austria. Made in China."
@@matthewbrooks4168 Made in Japan > Made in China kzhead.info/sun/dMl8kc-NgpFnfas/bejne.html
How a head PROSTOCK Tennis Racquet is Made -- Behind the scenes in Kennelbach, Austria! 🤗🇦🇹🎾 :)
@@matthewbrooks4168 kzhead.info/sun/jLqsXbetrF-inX0/bejne.html
Respect to the cameraman who had to be in that cold room for an extra couple seconds to get the shot of them coming inside
Ha ha, we made sure we took our time! Cheers, Chris, TW
Coming out of the mold, it looks like a newborn baby!
AGASS1 & NO1E driver
Where is the graphene? I want to see how the graphene is added and how much of it
Yeah. I wonder too.
No graphene or other such forms of graphite used in custom and pro-stock frames
I wonder who is the head of "HEAD"
After waiting this video I went buy head racket . But made in China? So bought yonex which is made in Japan👏
How does that soft flimsy piece of plastic harden into a racquet?
It's not plastic, it's carbon fiber with resin. When the resin gets hot and cools down again, it gets hard and stabilizes the carbon fiber tube.
"You can have an university degree, but this guys have experience". Experience over education is the Austrian way. Yeah Head-on!
I’ve been playing with Head racquets for almost 35 years and all made in Austria. Love it but recently I bought couple new Head racquets (2021), I have to returned them all. Don’t feel the same racquet made in Austria anymore, because they all made in China. Sorry to say that.
No wonder they only emphasized Research function. Seems like only Yonex maintains their own fty.
The end of your nazi dreams
Head was passed around a lot. Founded in America, then sold, then sold again and again...
Thanks for the video at least for nostalgia's sake. May have been a dream come true to Chris, but a flipping nightmare for the rest of us who have to deal with the atrocious QC of Chinese made off the rack Head racquets.
You have QC issues from Your Head made in their own plant in China?! Sure, all mass production items have variance. Remember the WPS made in Chicago, St. Vincent, Bahamas have a decal showing weight 11.6 oz. - 12.1 oz. ? Is that variance tolerable to You ? Later production in Taiwan, then China had and have better methods and techniques to improve, reduce variations and tolerances.
@@newtonfirefly3584 You're right. Wilson has had QC issues ever since I remember, Head was slightly better but when Babolat came on board, it was the QC disaster of the century!! I play Yonex made in Japan and it has the best QC in the market with only the slightest of variances. They put all other manufacturers to Shame.
@@a2casius Interesting statements. My first graphite composite midsize frame [switched from wood, standard head size (did have steel, aluminum, fiberglass frames in the seventies) ] was a Yonex Rexking R-22. A very solid playing frame which was very light for me then having a static weight of S-L = 12 oz./340 g. Am not aware of variances and tolerances of their frames then or until today. My point about the WPS is the stated weight variance on the frames, though am not certain of the normal or average. This was and is not a QC issue, rather a normal mass production due to the process. It seems when Wilson moved manufacturing to Taiwan from St. Vincent, Bahamas, the weight variance was no longer printed, rather the mean, average or median as became normal or was normal. This continued through today with manufacturing moved to China. Remember, each manufacturer established their own plant in each location, not a contracted existing facility. What actual information do You have to support Your claims against Head and Wilson and for Yonex regarding QC ?
@@newtonfirefly3584 Personal experience. I'm a racquetholic. I buy about 15 racquets a year on average to customise and test and sell off if not happy. Have done so for at least the past 10 years. I spend a lot of money but the hands-on experience and knowledge is totally priceless.
@@newtonfirefly3584 Yonex QC : kzhead.info/sun/dbyxm7eBeZaNnIU/bejne.html
Designed in Austria, made in ...