View Full Version : Any BLX Six.One 95 users have this problem?

10-26-2012, 02:58 PM
I string for my college team, and this is pretty bewildering, as three of our players use the new model of the BLX Six.One 95 18x20. Two of the players approached me with their racquets and complained of butt-caps coming off entirely or feeling loose, and asked if I could fix them.

After taking the grip off of one example, all it took was a little wiggle and the butt-cap came off completely.




Now granted, these aren't the best images since I took them with my iPhone 4, but the second and third pictures show how many different sections there are in the mold of the handle, while the first picture shows the section that broke off... Along with the staples to hold the butt-cap in place.

One of the guys got two of the butt-caps reattached at the ITA All-American tournament, and it appeared that they used some kind of epoxy to reattach the butt-caps to the handle. Both broke off again, so this is a more stubborn problem than I thought it would be. His other two racquets started to exhibit signs of similar defects, and we had to ship three new racquets overnight before his Futures tournament.

Now another player has two of his racquets showing the same fate, and one of them is the example pictured. This makes six racquets from two different players with the same defect, with more that worry me of having the same problem.

Any ideas as to why this is happening? Two of the guys had the model before this current one without any problems; I can't imagine how much different they could be in handle design. Bad batch? Defective design?? Poor Wilson quality???

Thanks in advance for any thought!

10-26-2012, 03:02 PM
Looks like a potential manufacturer error. Contact Wilson or the retailer they bought them from.

10-26-2012, 05:50 PM
Design defect. Apparently, Wilson changed the handle design, using a 2 part polyurethane pallet, which I presume is used to dampen the handle.

Advise your players of the design defect. The racket should be sent back to Wilson, so they know this amplifeel handle design is a failure. In order to FIX it, you cannot glue it back on. Glue doesn't provide the friction needed to keep the buttcap in place. You need a mechanic lock: staple it back on. Place the staple in one of the green X's in the picture, not at the RED X's.


10-26-2012, 05:54 PM
This handle design reminds me of aluminum baseball bats. The button designed to reduce the shock to your hands.

And instead of a staple, you can use a THIN nail. The nail MUST pierce thru the black of the handle. It can pierce thru the graphite. That's okay. And in case you're wondering if this is bad for the racket, the K90 has a metal rod going thru the entire handle.

10-27-2012, 07:52 AM
Thanks for the words guys! We've already fired off emails to Wilson about their blunder, but I don't know how long it'll take before they finally listen and do something about it.

Honestly, I'm surprised they hadn't thought of the consequences of using a two-part pallet, then stapling the butt-caps to the very small part on the end... It's just asking to be broken!

I wanted some more eyes on this to make sure I'm not just guessing what happened; thanks again!

I wonder if anybody has pictures off the handle of the previous BLX Six.One 95 model?

10-28-2012, 06:11 AM
I've seen this happen with a head prestige frame. Luckily those pallets are replaceable. In my friends situation, he often holds the racquet with 1 or 2 fingers hanging off the end of the racquet. As you can imagine this puts a lot of extra stress on the butt cap. I would be willing to bet that your team mate plays the same way. Never the less, it still qualifies as a manufacture defect.

Is your college sponsored by Wilson? If it is than talk to the head coach, assistant coach, or who ever is in contact with Wilson. But the best way to contact wilson directly is over the phone. If those two methods don't work you could try and go to a local pro shop and explain your situation. If you talk to the right person you could trade them those racquets for brand new ones off their shelves. You might have to pay shipping fees though.

10-28-2012, 07:35 PM
I had the butt cap off on my ps blx 95 and I was confused when I saw this too. It hasn't given me trouble yet but i was going to add lead and theres no opening? Same thing you were saying though, how could they assume a two piece design in a high stress area like there would be a good idea.

10-28-2012, 10:20 PM
It's a simple fix on Wilson's part. All they need to do is use longer, thicker staples. Looking at those staples inside the buttcap picture, one of the staples broke off, while the other obviously wasn't long enough. It was long enough to pierce the buttcap and polyurethane, but it didn't pierce the inner shock stop device (that's what I'm calling it, because it reminds me of the Shock Stop in my aluminum baseball bat.). Alternatively, they can use a nail gun to lock the buttcap to the graphite so it cannot break off.

The 2 piece pallet's a clever design. They just have to modify a few things here and there. This amplifeel handle is there first attempt, so it'll take tweaking after they discover the problems.

12-17-2012, 04:58 PM
Just thought I'd give a little update as to what's been going on with the defective Wilson Six.One 95s and their handle design...

Had two more brand-new Six.One 95s suffer the same fate; this time, it took less than a month before these broke.



These pictures show one of the broken handles and where it cleanly broke off, just as UCSF2012 correctly analyzed from previous photos. Looks like the design is faulty, and the choice to staple butt-caps to the smaller of the two-part polyurethane was a poor one.

This makes eight racquet replacements since the year began. I really do hope Wilson straightens this out before all their players lose confidence in their equipment. I have one of the new Six.One 95 users revert back to his old BLX Six.One 95 model; took a glimpse at his un-gripped handles where, thankfully, they had the old one-piece handle.

If anybody else plays with these racquets and had the same problem, I'd like it if they chimed in.