My practice is and has been for years to apply the tape, install the grip and poke a hole in the tape via the vent hole in the grip butt. Consider this though: way back when grips were leather wrapped over a listing, a plastic cap was shoved into the butt end and either glued in place or - some caps had an expandable rubber plug that was seated by turning a screw in the cap. Then a dime-size cap was either snapped or glued into the recess. Those shafts were sealed. They rusted. Why? maybe in the Wilson's the rubber tip plug leaked. Maybe there was moisture in the shaft to start with. Maybe it was a karmic event ;-) Your shaft rusted in a year? Something beside what you did caused it. TFlan
From: vectorgo...@aol.com Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:46:33 -0500 Subject: ShopTalk: grip tape To: ShopTalk@mail.msen.com Greetings, When it comes to installing grip tape, I have always left a vent hole, mainly because it's easier to get the grip to seat and stay seated because there's somewhere for the air pressure to go. I guess I've also felt that there would be some amount of ventilation to allow moisture to escape. But after recently seeing how rusted the shafts were on a set I built about 1 year ago, (the worst rust I have ever seen) I'm considering sealing the tape over the butt in hopes that there will be no access for moisture. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter? Thanks, David
