VIDEO: Walter Mak strings a racket in 11 mins 30 seconds!

***kwun*** · 04-10-2012, 11:27 AM

I went to visit Walter in Royal Badminton Academy last night and took a few videos of him stringing. in a span of 2 hours we managed to setup all my equipment, Walter strung 5 rackets and then pack everything up. most ppl cannot even do 3 racket within that span of time.

Walter previously managed 12:30 but he was determined to break that record. and break it he did. the fastest time was 11mins 30secs and he will practice to break that 11mins mark.

anyway. enjoy the video:

**Mark A** · 04-10-2012, 11:58 AM

He should do a Babolat X-Feel... has fewer strings, but is still technically a racket

.

**a|extan** · 04-10-2012, 11:59 AM

wow... whats the guinness record for this? or the bc record for this?

***kwun*** · 04-10-2012, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Mark A

He should do a Babolat X-Feel... has fewer strings, but is still technically a racket

.

interesting you mentioned that. Walter actually starts bottom cross from 8. so technically he is stringing one more string than people who starts at 9. would've saved another 20seconds? hm...

***kwun*** · 04-10-2012, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by a|extan

wow... whats the guinness record for this? or the bc record for this?

i was told that a person down south can do 9mins with no shortcuts. maybe we will get a video one of these days.

**Mark A** · 04-10-2012, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by kwun

interesting you mentioned that. Walter actually starts bottom cross from 8. so technically he is stringing one more string than people who starts at 9. would've saved another 20seconds? hm...

If we're looking for shortcuts, he can use the minimum possible tension to minimize puller travel. (This could be construed as cheating, though

).

***kwun*** · 04-10-2012, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by Mark A

If we're looking for shortcuts, he can use the minimum possible tension to minimize puller travel. (This could be construed as cheating, though

).

9 is standard though. so that's not really a shortcut.

we should have a standard of having the similar string and tension, BG80@26lbs seems to be the standard now. and then also string need to have no misweave, and then they need to pull every string.

we can have different classification, say, BG65@29lbs, or something else, those will be slower.

also NSP and OSP as well.

**phili** · 04-10-2012, 12:27 PM

Fake! You fast forwarded the video as you can see at the end!

**SpeedStringing** · 04-10-2012, 12:59 PM

Hello BC and stringers of the badminton community,
I'd like the thank Kwun for taking out to films this. It was fun but I've never felt so much pressure from stringing. Glad to answer any questions, and hear any constructive criticism from you guys. I hope it helps other fellow stringers increase their time, but at the same time maintain the quality of the string job.

**SpeedStringing** · 04-10-2012, 12:59 PM

taking his time out* :P

***kwun*** · 04-10-2012, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by phili

Fake! You fast forwarded the video as you can see at the end!

the reel was going at Walter's pace and couldn't slow down!!

(in reality, it was my fault, editing video in the middle of the night is not good...)

**phili** · 04-10-2012, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by kwun

the reel was going at Walter's pace and couldn't slow down!!

(in reality, it was my fault, editing video in the middle of the night is not good...)

Don't beat yourself up :P

I got one question though; why didn't you straighten the cross while tensioning? I was told it's quite important.

**drew tze en** · 04-10-2012, 01:51 PM

I'm not a stringer but I like the way Walter strings this racket. If I started stringing I would use this method but probably not at that pace

**SpeedStringing** · 04-10-2012, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by phili

Don't beat yourself up :PI got one question though; why didn't you straighten the cross while tensioning? I was told it's quite important.

I'm not sure what methods other stringers use, but I found that pushing the strings below the position of the grommets before every tension, yields very good results in terms of having the string look straight after each tension

**bsmith** · 04-10-2012, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by SpeedStringing

Hello BC and stringers of the badminton community,
I'd like to thank Kwun for taking his time to film this. It was fun, but I've never felt so much pressure from stringing. Glad to answer any questions, and hear any constructive criticism from you guys. I hope it helps other fellow stringers improve their time, but at the same time maintain the quality of the string job.

SpeedStringing, I was very glad to hear you emphasize the need to maintain quality even as we all try to improve our speed. As you and Alan both found out, stringing against the clock is a lot of pressure and not much fun. It is a good exercise for our very best stringers to go through sometimes as it shows what is humanly possible in this regard.

But in the final analysis, I think each of us needs to settle on a good blend of speed and attention to detail. For me, I think I am more of the Pete LSD style where I take my time and do the job in an enjoyable fashion.

Of course, if I could string faster and still find it enjoyable, that would be ideal. I would string more rackets and experiment more with different string types and tensions.

You and Alan's examples made me realize that I can likely improve my speed quite a bit without hopefully losing my "Zen" mentality to stringing. Keep up the good work. Your video was very impressive.