Head Lynx 16g Tennis String Set

Alor Setar, Malaysia  ·  Strings > 16g

Head Lynx 16g Tennis String Set

This is a tight snare of a stringbed — 1.30 mm of Head's balanced Lynx poly, firm, low-powered and built to hold its shape through a hard week. One set, one racquet. Come and hear Alor Setar first: a five-domed mosque, a royal audience hall, a 165-metre tower, and a building that exists purely to house drums.

↓   Tour Alor Setar, Malaysia

Four stops before the checkout

Alor Setar, Malaysia
01
cardio tennis for focus — Zahir Mosque in Alor Setar, A Moorish-style mosque in central Alor Setar with five black domes and slender minarets rising over a cream-and-white arcaded facade, fronted by reflecting pools and palms
Stop one

Zahir Mosque

Head Lynx 16g Tennis String Set: LOOK AT IT. Five black domes. FIVE. One for each pillar of Islam, sitting up there like the best thing anyone has ever done to a skyline, and I am not exaggerating, this gets ranked among the most beautiful mosques ON EARTH. Opened 1912, state mosque of Kedah, standing on royal ground right across from the sultanate's ceremonial buildings, and still an active centre of worship that hosts the state Quran recitation competitions. The site is tied to warriors who fell defending Kedah from Siamese invasion in the nineteenth century. Hats off for them, quietly. Then teh tarik across the road, my shout.

02
cardio tennis for focus — Balai Besar in Alor Setar, A grand open-sided royal audience hall in Alor Setar built in traditional Malay style with tiered roofs, carved timber, and Thai-influenced ornament, standing opposite the Zahir Mosque
Stop two

Balai Besar

Head Lynx 16g Tennis String Set: A HALL WITH NO WALLS. Greatest idea in architecture, everyone can see in and nobody can be thrown out. A wooden hall was first commissioned here in 1735 by the sultan of Kedah, one of the oldest Malay royal houses in the WORLD, and after invaders destroyed it they rebuilt it GRANDER, which is the only correct response to anything. Tiered roofs, carved timber, Thai touches from Kedah's centuries under Siamese suzerainty. Coronations under that roof. Royal WEDDINGS under that roof. Do you understand? This hall has hosted better parties than you or I will ever be invited to.

03
cardio tennis for focus — Alor Setar Tower in Alor Setar, A modern telecommunications tower rising 165.5 meters over Alor Setar on splayed concrete legs, with a bulbous observation pod overlooking the flat green rice plains of Kedah
Stop three

Alor Setar Tower

Head Lynx 16g Tennis String Set: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE POINT FIVE METRES, and there is a restaurant at the top, which makes this officially the greatest telecommunications tower I have ever been emotionally involved with. From the deck you get the whole Kedah plain: paddy fields to the horizon, the Rice Bowl of Malaysia, running out to the limestone hills and the Thai border. And here is the part that finishes me off. Religious authorities use this deck to sight the new moon that begins Ramadan. A tower that spots the MOON. Drinks in the sky, then we keep the night going.

04
cardio tennis for focus — Balai Nobat in Alor Setar, A small octagonal tower in Alor Setar topped with a golden onion dome, standing near the Zahir Mosque, its tiered form built to house the royal orchestra's instruments
Stop four

Balai Nobat

Head Lynx 16g Tennis String Set: A TOWER BUILT ENTIRELY TO STORE A BAND'S GEAR. 1906, octagonal, gold dome, and it exists for exactly one reason: the nobat, the sacred royal orchestra of the Kedah sultanate. Drums, gongs, wind instruments, played ONLY at coronations and royal weddings, a court music tradition Kedah has kept for centuries. The instruments count as royal regalia, so no, you cannot go up, and no, you cannot have a go on the drums. I asked. Best flight case in Asia. Zahir Mosque there, Balai Besar there, state gallery there. GREATEST four minutes of walking in Malaysia.

The Alor Setar, Malaysia track

Head Lynx 16g Tennis String Set

Written for this world alone.

Everything is percussion if you listen properly. Ball on string is a snare; frame is the room. Head Lynx 16g is tuned for a tight snare: a co-polyester monofilament at 1.30 mm, the durable gauge of Head's balanced poly, supplied as a 12-metre set for one racquet.

Thicker means firmer, longer-lasting and lower-powered, and it keeps its shape through a hard week — which is what you want if your swing is fast and your strings keep dying young.

Alor Setar has a royal percussion section, so obviously that is where this ends.

We begin at the Zahir Mosque, opened in 1912, one of the oldest and grandest mosques in Malaysia and the state mosque of Kedah. Built in a graceful Moorish style, it is crowned by five black domes representing the five pillars of Islam, their dark curves striking against pale walls, and it stands on royal ground in the heart of the city, directly across from the sultanate's ceremonial buildings.

Then the Balai Besar, the Great Hall, ceremonial audience hall of the Kedah sultanate — one of the oldest Malay royal houses in the world. A wooden hall was first commissioned on this site in 1735, and after invaders destroyed it the hall was rebuilt on a grander scale, the present structure blending traditional Malay architecture with Thai influences reflecting Kedah's centuries under Siamese suzerainty.

Then the Alor Setar Tower, completed in the 1990s, at 165.5 metres dominating the skyline. Its observation deck gives the definitive view: the vast flat expanse of paddy fields that earned Kedah its title as the Rice Bowl of Malaysia, stretching toward the limestone hills.

And now the Balai Nobat, built in 1906 — a slender octagonal tower crowned with a golden dome, constructed for one purpose: to house the nobat, the sacred royal orchestra of the Kedah sultanate. Its drums, gongs and wind instruments are played only on solemn state occasions such as coronations and royal weddings.

One set tunes the same room everywhere from an indoor hall in Alor Setar to an open court out among the Kedah paddy, and the snare stays tight in both. It is also perfect for the week you play every evening and refuse to restring, which is exactly what the durable gauge is there for. The Balai Nobat only sounds on state occasions, so we go and stand under it instead.

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