I've always found that to be the case, especially as I started to hit a bit harder. Just another example of different players having different experiences / interpretations of their experiences, perhaps. It may not indicate anything about the string, or even the stringer. This stuff is somewhat subjective. I used to keep them in their cases, now I keep them loose in my bag. My bag lives in a cupboard in my bedroom.
That's true. It can also be related to how and where we hit the string bed etc. I am curious to find out how it feels to me now. Ah, that's different to me. I keep mine in their cases in my bag, and I keep my bag next to the door of my bedroom as there is virtually no environment change there. Very constant conditions. I wonder if its related. My bag (yonex 10029) has a fair amount of padding too which may help with insulation. Sorry, I am gradually ruining this thread. Back to zymax string discussion time methinks.
Doubt it. I've always had the same result regardless how I store them. I should mention that I'm not measuring the tension, just going by feel. There are four things that I've found help mitigate tension loss: Find a good stringer. Restring frequently. String at a slightly higher tension than I like best. After one session the tension has dropped to where I want it. Use a string that holds tension well. Those first two also help with general stringbed quality. Strings don't just lose tension, they lose quality. They cut notches into each other; they fray; they become less responsive as more internal friction is generated in the stringbed. There's more to a fresh set of strings than higher tension. It's also higher quality.
I don't measure tension either. It doesn't matter to me as long as it feels right when I hit the shuttle. I tend to follow all 4 of those points except for when I know I won't be playing for a while when I don't put the tension up since it will stay feeling too high when I next play. I like my strings best when they have bedded in properly and formed very light grooves with each other. Just feels the best to me. After that point though its pretty unpredictable so I tend to either smash till my strings break or cut them out. The strings just lose all their feel and touch, but that's just my experience. I know other players who are far better than me and cannot tell the difference between different strings as long as they are at the same hitting tension. Can't understand it but I guess its very subjective.
Actually the first 2 weeks is when the tension drops the most. You probably just don't feel it until there's a huge difference after 4 weeks. Even with a string that's supposed to have good tension retention, it's going to drop a noticeable amount.
Over the first 2 weeks, the tension drops little by little to start of with, just enough to notice but not enough to impact play much then after 2-3 weeks, I can pick up the racquet and it is noticeably lower tension and it feels a pound or two looser than when it was first strung. I usually sting a pound higher than I want to play at for this reason.
No doubt tension loss is greatest just after stringing. The higher the tension, the greater the stress (and the strain) on the strings during shots. However, I wonder whether loss of elasticity becomes more significant that tension loss after a while. Just cut some 3 month old (& very dead) ZM67s & found the tension to still be pretty good.
I am really confused by point 2. How is the stringer struggling with the string at 24lbs? Is it snapping? I have had no problem stringing zymax at 28lbs, although it does enjoy snapping at that tension if you so much as think about mis-hitting. My machine is a calibrated crank machine if you were wondering if that could be a factor. My main problem with it is threading through blocked-by-string shared holes. It is very fine so you can't push it through without it collapsing on itself. Instead cut it to a really long, thin point, down to a few cores and it is relatively easy to sneak it through and then pull the few cores that get though with pliers to get the whole string through. I usually string with zm62 at 24lbs for my own rackets (or zm65 or VS850 if I am busy and don't have as much time to string). I have never snapped it whilst stringing, even when I used to use it at 28lbs (follies of youth), prior to messing up my shoulder. zm 62 is by far the most crisp, zm 65 feels fine just not quite as lively in my opinion and slightly less powerful, zm 67 is fine, but nothing special. I prefer BG80 and VS850 at that string diameter. My favourite though was the old zm62, that was so fragile but so powerful and crisp Tension drop wise I can't really comment. They feel best when brand new but beyond that I don't notice tension drop unless it drops substantially, which zymax 62 and 65 don't.
By the second point, I think Gollum meant that his stringer's machine is not set up to grip something so fine.
That would make sense. I hadn't thought of that. It can be a bit of a faff adjusting the clamp so that it doesn't crush BG65 ti or cause zymax 62 to slip. If he can't get it quite right my solution would be to have a "fat" set of clamps for use with thick strings and another set adjusted for the thinner strings. Or just use a set of Yonex flying clamps which grip anything, although you would then need a starting clamp or another method for doing the first main string. There's a guide somewhere on badminton central on how to do this. If it is the string gripper than I guess it uses a different mechanism than mine and I have no idea of a way round the problem. Other than making the gripper more grippy
I asked again, and apparently: The thin strings cut/dig into each other, which makes it hard to get the tension right. Zymax 65 seemed okay, but couldn't really smash as I had adjusted to lower tension. Will see how it goes as I readjust. Hopefully next time it will take less than 3 weeks to get a racket strung.
I strung up some of mine and my friend's racquets with the different zymax strings yesterday and I haven't seen any evidence of this cutting/digging with any of them. I strung 2 with 67 (one twice so 3 times), 2 with 65 and one with 62. I ended up buying a reel of 65 because a few people want 26lbs+ and 62 doesn't seem to be great at those tensions in terms of durability. I am new stringer ofc but I do know what a good string job looks like and feels like and aside from the first job (and second which I cut out because of a mis-weave) I have had very consistent results on the other 3. On two ns9000X s which I strung with 65 the stringbed difference was 4 hz and the other racquet I strung the 62 in at 24.5x26.5 lbs has no grooves or cuts anywhere from stringing. The only difficulty was making the knots big enough not to slip into the grommets so I'm not sure what problems your stringer was having but I don't believe his excuse myself. In fact it was easier as the shared holes were much easier to do than the 67 and 65. I haven't had a chance to play yet except for some hitting of a shuttle against the wall for a few minutes to make sure the racquets felt ok and to see how the different strings felt to me so I could decide what to put in my main racquets and inital impressions are exactly as others have said that 65 feels exactly in between 67 and 62. I don't think I am going to be playing for another week or so but I'll give my friend's racquets back to him and ask him to let me know how the strings feel to him as he is playing in a couple of days. He is a much better player than I and will tell me if my string jobs were good or not and what differences he can feel between the strings. The 65 took 26x28lbs easily and the 62 seemed to take 24.5x26.5 well as well. With one of the end pieces of 67 I clamped it into a fixed clamp and pulled it and it got to 36.5 lbs before it started to stretch to the point it frayed and 38lbs when it broke so it is clearly pretty strong. Will try the test with 65 as well and see how it does.
I think you should maybe try another stringer as I found zymax 62 really easy to string with on both a z force and different yy cabs. As its thin it goes through most shared holes easily. Also as its rough I found clamps and the gripper had plenty of grip. Prestretching should reduce tension loss. I dont see how the strings being thin could make it hard to get tension. Also 3 weeks is a long time to string a racket. And just in case anyone is wondering I found the string to be great 9/10.
Yh, it really was incredible easy compared to the other strings I have strung with. No problems at any point using it except knots and even then just needed a little imagination and a couple of extra half hitches.
Yes, unfortunately I think you're right. He seemed really good at first, though! Maybe he's good within certain limits. It's also a very convenient arrangement, as I just drop it off at a club night. Well, it was convenient until it started taking so long to come back...
I am also confused by the stringer saying it is too thin and it digs in to itself whilst stringing. I have never managed to dig in, get it to snap or go horribly off tension. I have only ever snapped bg68 ti whilst pulling a string and that was when I first started stringing and it kept twisting up horribly. I'm also confused as to how he knows that the tension is wrong. I guess we won't find out either without watching him string. Having said that I am always wary as a stringer of stringing any other rackets than my own with zm62/thin strings in general unless I know the person knows a bit about strings. Nearly everyone I know thinks the sign of a good string job is that it doesn't snap for a fair length of time after stringing. Even if they mis-hit it horrendously... Educating some people otherwise is a futile activity.
I still think that stringer needs to adjust the tension head gripper a tad tighter to properly grasp the thinner zm62.
I found it strange too, but to be fair I'm getting this information second-hand. I've never even met the stringer; I just pass rackets to a player who works next door to him.
