i'd like to take a poll from the stringers out there. do you prefer your tensioner, be it a crank, drop-weight or electronic to be on your left hand side or right hand side? and why...
I would prefer it on my right hand side. Mostly because I am dominantly right handed, which is common sense. I could probably try doing it on my left hand side too for a comparison, or to develop ambidexterity
of course if i have to poll, that means there is a reason for the left and for the right. but i want to hear more discussion before i reveal the reason. or somebody else (probably Pete since he almost know everything) who already knows can tell us...
Before commenting on this, I walked over to my crank Eagnas Combo 810 and tried to imagine what possible advantage there would be from having the tensioner on the left hand side for a right hander. But the first thing that struck me was that the crank system on my machine cannot be made to work on the left hand side. With the positioning of the rack and pinion gears and the crank handle of the tensioner mechanism, it can only be operated in a right handed fashion (unless I am missing some easy way to reverse the stock setup). When I ultimately switch to a Wise ECP (electronic constant pull) tension head, then the machine could be easily operated left or right handed. With ECP, I can imagine that with the tension head on the left, the racket head is positioned closer to the dominant right hand and thus string and clamp manipulations would be slightly easier and faster to manage. For right handed people with ECP, I think left handed positioning of the tensioner would be preferred. For crank machines that can go either way, I think right hand positioning would probably still be preferred by most right handers just so as to make spinning the crank and working the stiff release mechanism easier. Since crank is what I have right now and I am right handed, I voted for right hand in the poll.
ok. so here is why i think there is merit for having the tensioner on the left hand side (or non-dominant side, so left for right handers and right for lefthanders). and that's because of cross weaving. the best practice for weaving cross is to weave not the next after the tensioned string, but instead the next-next string. this is due to the ease of weaving the cross string according to the displacement of the main string. also called soft weave. the next string from the one being tensioned is hard weave. this is less easy to weave. the next-next string from the one being tensioned is soft weave. this is much much easier to weave. for right handers, we prefer to weave from right to left. but if the tensioner is on the right, then it naturally means that we need to weave left to right, which is the opposite of what's most comfortable. however, if the tensioner is on the left hand side, then everything seems to make sense. the tension is pulling the string on the left, the next string (which is already weaved) goes left->right, and then we weave the next-next string, which is right->left. i recently started doing this, putting the tensioner on the left. it takes a little bit of getting used to so my current flow is slightly slower than my fastest flow before. but i am slowly getting better at it.
For those of us the in the dark ages and using cranks, having the crank on the opposite side of the dominant hand would let you use your dominant hand to move your clamps. If you can work your clamps one-handed, the swap might shave some time off.
1) try prince neo1000. The crank can be switched from right or left. 2) from my experience, i hard weave from right to left on the next string while the string still on tension head. so it has to be right to left. 3) my friend who is a lefty, soft weave (like Master Kwun) and string tennis with prince neo1000, has his crank on the right. The issue has always been when you are first trained to string a racquet, the crank is always on the right. You learn the hard weave first. You got used to it. Then you figure out weaving next next string "feels" easier. Then it become not as natural. Just like driving on right side or left side of the street. Once you are used to it, it won't matter.
I have my crank on the right side, but the lever on the back (left handed side; it's a shuttle express) and sort of stand over the top of the machine and i wind it.
Not especially (I'm about 5'7) ... it's just the way i first started and it felt more natural that way. I have my machine on a table, so it's not too high. Generally i pull the string into the gripper with my right hand, slide the plates up until they start to grip with my left and then reach behind the crank and pull tension with my right ... which takes less time to do than to read.
We should just get that crazy machine with two tension heads - I can't remember who makes it, but it's as big as an upright piano.
Why can Master Kwun use @$$? I always get XXXed when I type @$$. Also, the DVD is on the way, please edit the klippermate video so it is in one piece. Thanks!