Information about Tetting Hercules

[Cannon]

This is some research I did for a customer which applies to a question asked on the GripBoard.  

Hercules is kind of the "white whale." We have never seen one come for sale since the last one we sold through CPW in 2015.

 

I'm not totally sure how many are out there, but can speculate based on emails from the Tettings, things Warren told us directly, and our sales at CPW. My guess is about 100. CPW was Warren's main way of moving these and we sold 60. I know people could get them directly from Warren, but unless you had his phone number from the GripBoard or his short-lived Thor website then I'm not sure how many people would have done that. Also, I know Warren's spring manufacturer and based on how springs are ordered he likely had to get a round number like 100-150 something like that. Finally, also in 2015, Warren notified us that he was out of stock on these springs and it didn't make sense to reorder them because they are so hard to drill. He would go through multiple drill bits making each gripper. They would break off in the spring and it was a huge hassle.  

 

To muddy this up, there are at least 3 versions of this gripper. A true biggest Hercules has a 0.5625" spring which is 9/16". Weightlifters Warehouse briefly stocked a "Hercules" gripper but advertised the spring as 0.523" which is like 17/32". I'm not aware of that being an actual spring size so it's possible they typo'd the number or just had it wrong, but they always advertised it as 0.523". Here is an example from Wayback Machine.

 

"Hercules" disappears from their website around 2015 so that is compelling timing that matches with Warren telling us he will not make any more. They never sold as much Tetting stuff as CPW (once we were selling) so my big assumption here is that they had the spring size typo and they sold roughly 30-40 which accounts for the ones not sold by CPW or Warren directly. Finally, after Warren passed away, one of his sons was selling "Hercules" grippers on eBay but they had a much smaller spring. 

 

This is my basis for believing there are only roughly 100 true 0.5625" Hercules grippers out there. These are a really unique piece of grip history!

 

[Cannon]

1 hour ago, Cannon said:

This is some research I did for a customer which applies to a question asked on the GripBoard.  

I worded this funny. I had done the research already and emailed the information to a customer. Then the same question was asked here so I’m reusing the information and posting it here. 

[Cannon]

I did also want to address nutritiongeeks.com. Many of you know they sold Tetting grippers as a "T-series" for quite some time. Most actively from about 2010 through 2014. There are many references to their T14 being the equivalent of the "Hercules" however it often had another coil and a 0.500" spring (not the larger 0.5625").

There is one case of GripBoard user RichAZ ordering a T14 from Warren with the 0.5625" spring. But this reads like a custom request and it's no surprise it appears to have taken place in 2015...when Warren was known to have the 0.5625 springs. RichAZ describes that nutritiongeeks.com series went up to T14 (0.500 spring) but at some point one of the higher spring levels was deleted. As a result everything slid down one to fill the gap and the T14 became the T13. In 2015, RichAZ still wanted a complete line-up of 14 grippers so he had the custom gripper made by Warren. There were actually 2 and they were both supposed to have T14 on one handle and "2400" on the other. Warren made both grippers wrong so one had two T14 handles and the other had two 2400 handles. 

So those two grippers made in 2015 would technically be true 0.5625" Hercules grippers. But my understanding for any other T14 grippers sold by nutritiongeeks.com is they would have maxed out at 0.500" springs and sometimes had 2 coils even if they were attached to the name Hercules.     

[Alawadhi]

On 6/29/2023 at 5:58 PM, Cannon said:

This is some research I did for a customer which applies to a question asked on the GripBoard.  

Hercules is kind of the "white whale." We have never seen one come for sale since the last one we sold through CPW in 2015.

 

I'm not totally sure how many are out there, but can speculate based on emails from the Tettings, things Warren told us directly, and our sales at CPW. My guess is about 100. CPW was Warren's main way of moving these and we sold 60. I know people could get them directly from Warren, but unless you had his phone number from the GripBoard or his short-lived Thor website then I'm not sure how many people would have done that. Also, I know Warren's spring manufacturer and based on how springs are ordered he likely had to get a round number like 100-150 something like that. Finally, also in 2015, Warren notified us that he was out of stock on these springs and it didn't make sense to reorder them because they are so hard to drill. He would go through multiple drill bits making each gripper. They would break off in the spring and it was a huge hassle.  

 

To muddy this up, there are at least 3 versions of this gripper. A true biggest Hercules has a 0.5625" spring which is 9/16". Weightlifters Warehouse briefly stocked a "Hercules" gripper but advertised the spring as 0.523" which is like 17/32". I'm not aware of that being an actual spring size so it's possible they typo'd the number or just had it wrong, but they always advertised it as 0.523". Here is an example from Wayback Machine. The most likely thing is that they were rounding 0.5625 and these were true Hercules grippers.

 

"Hercules" disappears from their website around 2015 so that is compelling timing that matches with Warren telling us he will not make any more. They never sold as much Tetting stuff as CPW (once we were selling) so my big assumption here is that they had the spring size rounded and they sold roughly 30-40 which accounts for the ones not sold by CPW or Warren directly. Finally, after Warren passed away, one of his sons was selling "Hercules" grippers on eBay but they had a much smaller spring. 

 

This is my basis for believing there are only roughly 100 true 0.5625" Hercules grippers out there. These are a really unique piece of grip history!

 

Nice! I would like to add (sorry if I missed it) that the Hercules gripper had three variations. It had a double pin, a single pin and a glued one.

[Cannon]

46 minutes ago, Alawadhi said:

It had a double pin, a single pin and a glued one.

Yes, all in a very short amount of time. I think glued is the most rare. ONE TIME he delivered those to CPW because he was sick of breaking drill bits. The double pin is also rare and my understanding is he did that briefly because the handles were drilled poorly and rocked on the spring leg. A majority of them are single pin. 

[Cannon]

Major update.

I was able to speak with the company who provided Warren with the 0.5625" Hercules springs. Warren ordered 100 springs in June of 2012 and then 36 springs in June of 2016. So best case scenario, 136 Hercules grippers is the max. There are likely less that have survived for a multitude of reasons. Whether all made it to production, were damaged in production, subsequently lost, etc. But 136 is the max. 

 

[liftyzig]

I had a single pin Hercules that I sold, just posted this video I took of it before I sold it, figured it's worth sharing.

 

[deadgrip]

16 hours ago, Cannon said:

Major update.

I was able to speak with the company who provided Warren with the 0.5625" Hercules springs. Warren ordered 100 springs in June of 2012 and then 36 springs in June of 2016. So best case scenario, 136 Hercules grippers is the max. There are likely less that have survived for a multitude of reasons. Whether all made it to production, were damaged in production, subsequently lost, etc. But 136 is the max. 

 

I had one - traded it, got another one and ain’t letting this one go lol

pretty crazy you were able to get the amount though..

[liftyzig]

13 minutes ago, deadgrip said:

I had one - traded it, got another one and ain’t letting this one go lol

 

I have pretty much the same story!

[deadgrip]

21 minutes ago, liftyzig said:

I have pretty much the same story!

So it was you who paid the $700! lol

 

well thanks for proving what I said that it’s someone trying to get it into their collection!  Well done sir.  Hold onto it.

[insane.warrior]

One of the Herculeses with two pins is shown in this video.

And as a bonus: WT gripper with a rotating handle 

 

Edited April 25 by insane.warrior

[deadgrip]

2 hours ago, insane.warrior said:

One of the Herculeses with two pins is shown in this video.

And as a bonus: WT gripper with a rotating handle 

 

 

John Wood has some serious rare Tettings… as well as super collection of barbells and dumbbells- im talking museum level.