Oehms Alu Pearl Rough 1.25 is a uniquely shaped string Made in Germany. Besides strings, they manufacture leather grips. I played it for a month, and this is my verdict.
Strung at 22kg full-bed on my Diadem Elevate V2 FS98, my impressions during all warm-ups were that its stiffness level was soft-to-medium, meaning that it can be used by players with shorter and slower swings than mine without comfort issues. Plenty of strings will only perform from a certain level of pace and offer no sensations below that.
Trying to find the best suited adjective to describe its feel upon ball contact, “buttery” was not the right word. “Evoke Tennis” on a guest “Trash Bin Tennis” YouTube/Review episode absolutely nailed it: “gummy” is the word. It doesn’t have a slick and shinny surface. It feels something between “papery” and “jelly” with pronounced edges/shape, definitely not very close to a round-shaped string.
You can check out Oehms Alu Pearl Rough on their official website.
Pros and cons of Oehms Alu Pearl Rough
+ very easy access to both top-spin and under-spin
+ more than adequate power delivery, harnessed with topspin
+ comfortable sensation returning very fast n’ flat incoming balls and slight mishits
+ could play good defense with it, slicing and driving
+ could hit attacking my most preferred early, flat and heavy forehands both down the line and cross-court (at least that’s what my hitting partners said)
– after the 5th hour mark, snapback effect with my fingers got very slow, in my case (not a string-breaker) the strings didn’t stay out of place, notching where the mains and crosses meet was of the typical polyester depth
– the stringbed started feeling much more powerful during the last two sessions
– one may not me impressed from the get-go and may need more than one try to enjoy it in order to consider a full switch to it
Summary
On a 98 sq inch, semi-open 16×20 pattern and 62-64 RA frame like the Elevate, I would still use it on the same tension range of 22kg. For 60€ for a full 200m reel, the median recreational level player can save money, restring more frequently, keep the stringbed fresh and the joints freshier!
You can watch me hit with the strings on my YouTube channel.
Sidenote 1: I would pick the 1.25 gauge for the best possible durability regardless of the string spacing and headsize.
Sidenote 2: Sonic Speed Power Wedges 1.15 and 1.19 didn’t work well for me (Diadem Nova and Pro Kennex Ki5 295). If you want to give it a try, pick the thickest 1.24 gauge. It’s very low-powered and thus requires a lot of swing speed to deliver. I pick Alu Pearl Rough over this one.
