Tolerances will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model. That being said, the reading you go when you put the head on the shaft and rand it through to measure at 45″ should be close to the playing frequency with no grip. If you measure with the grip on the number will change, but we have always felt the true reading is without the grip.
On the ProLite HL, we have been asked over the years what Grafalloy did to make the HL a higher trajectory shaft than the original ProLite. Simple: made it more flexible. The profile numbers in our database show it clearly:
ProLite R Flex 257 315 430 345
ProLite HL R Flex 247 301 407 300
ProLite HL A Flex 238 291 399 306
These numbers represent the butt frequency, zone A, zone B and tip frequencies in that order from left to right. We do use a 200 gram weight for the butt, A and B zones, and a 50 gram weight for the tip. You are using a heavier weight, which will make the number lower. Clamping dimension should be 5″.
The averages for ALL R flex and A flex wood shafts in our database are below:
R flex 248 301 400 310
A flex 233 284 377 298
Looking at these numbers, the Prolite’s are not too far off the averages. the low butt frequency in the A flex group was 213 and the high was 249. In the R flex group, the low was 223 and the high was 265. So there can be quite a range. Most of the shafts were closer to the middle of the range.
Probably more information than you wanted, but hopefully it is helpful.
Britt Lindsey
Just a comment Dan, there isn’t a standard for various shaft frequencies. An A Flex from grafalloy might be a L flex with UST, or a R flex with Aldila.
There are also a variety of cpm charts out there that give different results. Also I believe Britt mentioned previously that they use a 200 gram weight. That in itself would slow the oscillations giving a lower cpm reading.