Simple question, do people here use the pre stretch feature throughout the whole stringing process when stringing a racket? I read the manual and it only suggested using it on the tie off strings which I have been doing, but thinking about it, it's better to use the pre stretch throughout the whole process to maintain tension on the racket for longer right ?
Same as yan.v: Yes. leave it on all the time. consistent tension & minimizing tension loss is a top priority/borderline obsession for me (I'm not a speed stringer).
I had to post quickly for my last post, so I'd like to add something. When I have to string at higher tensions (28-30+), I sometimes disable pre-stretch and I pre-stretch manually before stringing the racket to minimize the tension on the frame and minimize the chances of breakage. But like Darth, I pretty much always leave it on as I feel it gives a better quality string job overall and the strings retain tension better that way.
using pre-stretch gives a truer tension. it does work and i have had client who come tell me why the string feel looser when i happened to have it turned off. it is true that without pre-stretch the tensioner pulls faster, but we should value quality over speed.
Thanks all, I've stung 4 rackets with it off so far, one of the guys mentioned his strings were moving quite a bit, will leave it on from now on
I'm going to buck the trend here and say I've never seen the need for it. I always hand-prestretch - hard - and, wondering if this was enough, I did a comparison with a WISE prestretch. I couldn't tell the difference: same note to begin with, and tension losses stayed neck-and-neck. Once the WISE's "tugs" are more than one second apart with prestretch off, I think you've got everything you're going to get out of the string. There is also the issue of the prestretch possibly taking the string past its creep limit (and, as has been said already, extra stress on the frame). Maybe Alan can tell us how many pros insist on prestretch, but I don't think it's the majority.
How much pre-stretch on the Wise is needed to be effective? It goes from 10-25% from what I remember but I've only tried using 10% so far, and an extra 2lbs pull doesn't sound like a lot when stringing around 26lbs. I was thinking of trying 15% on my next stringing job that uses pre-stretch.
this depends on the string and the tension. If im using bg65ti then i will use 15% pre stretch as this is the figure i have found that takes the creep out of the string. If i change it to 10% the wise constantly pulls the string still. If im stringing at 30lbs then i tend to to use as little pre stretch as possible. On the last 2-3 strings on the crosses i tend to turn the prestretch off as i found the head is weaker here.....also when it pre'stretchs i found that the wise pulls the string quicker than when prestrectch is off....so it tends to be a little more gentle to the racket on the last few crosses. I tend to let the wise tension the un prestretched string for a little longer tho so it can take as much creep out as possible on these last few
So with thicker strings more pre-stretch is required? I also noticed that the head of racquets are weaker when doing the last few crosses, anything above 30lbs and I can usually see the head of the frame bending!
some strings are just renowned for stretching more than others and bg65ti is one of these. I strung a friends racket with bg80p the other week and i think that this string doesnt require much if any prestretch. Prestretching is also taking out a lot of the elasticity in the string and obviously a string only has a certain amount so it inevitably takes it closer to its breaking point. Yes i have found the head can move distort quite a lot towards the top......just the way they are built....thinner at the top rather than at the t joint.
Since I've now got a testing-free window and a lot of the same string (for once), I've decided to do a prestretch off vs on experiment. Just got my first PS racket off the machine and already noticed that PS has helped with the frame shape: racket came out exactly 675 mm long after stringing (whereas my non-PS frames at the same tension tend to come out 1-2 mm short). I've got a pretty good grounding with the NS30 now, so I feel competent enough to do a PS comparison. Results to follow.