Solinco Confidential Soft 18g Tennis String Reel
About Brisbane
This city stands on the Brisbane River, upstream from Moreton Bay, and is the capital of Queensland. It began as the Moreton Bay penal settlement in the 1820s, moved from Redcliffe to the river site in 1825, and later expanded into a port and administrative centre repeatedly shaped by major floods.
THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
Solinco Confidential Soft in 18 gauge, supplied as a reel: 656 feet, 200 metres, sixteen or more restrings.
At 1.15 mm it is the thinnest gauge in the whole Soft range, and thin is where the bite is — more grip on the ball, more feel in the hand, more spin off every stroke.
Buying the thinnest gauge in the largest format is not a contradiction.
A thin polyester is a short-lived polyester by design, so the players who choose it are exactly the players who get through it, and a reel is the format that answers that rather than fighting it.
The construction is Confidential Soft’s five-edged profile over a low-friction surface: the edges grip the ball, the surface lets the mains slide and snap back into line, and the spin comes out of that return rather than out of surface texture.
The softening formula adds comfort and pop, which is what makes a thin, aggressive string tolerable across long sessions, and the tension maintenance holds through them.
Brisbane is subtropical, with humid summers and outdoor play available for most of the year — a volume of hitting that makes a reel a sensible unit rather than an indulgent one.
Specifications
| Type | Co-polyester monofilament, softened formula |
|---|---|
| Gauge | 18 / 1.15 mm |
| Profile | Five edges over a low-friction surface |
| Reel length | 656 ft / 200 m |
| Approximate racquets per reel | 16 |
| Colour | Electric Pink |
| Best for | Maximum spin and feel, accepting a shorter bed life |
| Stringing note | String lower than a synthetic gut; allow the bed to settle before judging tension |
The 16, 16L and 17 sit above it in the range for anyone who needs the hours back.
LET Solinco Confidential Soft 18g Tennis String Reel SHOW YOU Brisbane
String: Solinco Confidential Soft 18s Tennis String Reel: If you would gather in, please. The Story Bridge is Brisbane's grandest piece of engineering: a steel cantilever carrying traffic high above the river between Fortitude Valley and Kangaroo Point, designed under John Bradfield of Sydney Harbour Bridge fame, built through the Depression years, opened in July 1940, and still the longest cantilever bridge in Australia. It is named for the public servant John Douglas Story. Largely Australian steel and local hands, which made it a symbol of Queensland self-sufficiency. Since 2005 visitors have climbed the upper chords — one of only a handful of such climbs worldwide. Questions at the end, please.
String: Solinco Confidential Soft 18s Tennis String Reel: Moving along, and do keep together. South Bank Parklands occupies the curving south shore opposite the central business district, on the grounds of World Expo 88, the fair that changed how this city saw itself; the parklands opened in 1992 once the pavilions came down. The centrepiece is Streets Beach, a free man-made lagoon of white sand and turquoise water facing the skyline, with Aquativity, the Wheel of Brisbane, and the kilometre-long Grand Arbour under its magenta bougainvillea. It runs on into the Queensland Cultural Centre — state gallery, modern art, museum, performing arts. That is the tidy version.
String: Solinco Confidential Soft 18s Tennis String Reel: Now. I am going to depart from the script and I am not sorry. City Hall, completed 1930 on King George Square, the most expensive building in Australia in its day — the Million Pound Town Hall. But the tower. Ninety-two metres, Italian Renaissance, modelled on the campanile of St Mark's in Venice, the tallest thing in Brisbane until 1967, and there is still a vintage lift that carries you to the balconies behind the clock faces. The concert hall beneath the copper dome is circular. The Museum of Brisbane is upstairs. Three years of restoration to 2013. I could stay here all day.
String: Solinco Confidential Soft 18s Tennis String Reel: Back on script, and back on time. Mount Coot-tha rises about 287 metres on the western edge and gives the classic panorama: the towers, the coils of the Brisbane River, and on a clear day Moreton Bay with its islands, and the Glass House Mountains to the north. The name comes from an Aboriginal term associated with the mountain's native honey, long a resource of the Turrbal people. At its foot are the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, established in the 1970s, and the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, the largest in Australia, with walking and mountain-bike trails through open eucalypt forest.
Jackson Phillips here. Owner of TTT. We are working hard every day to bring you the most useful product reviews in the business. Our goal is putting the right product in every hand. If you have time, shoot me an email at jacksonphillips@thetennistactician.com and tell me exactly what you think of your purchase. The more feedback we get, the better we can serve. Thank you for your patronage. And Burn, Laugh, and Learn.