guys it's quite funny that all stringer have different meaning of 20 lbs. i have three rackets which stingers clamed they were all strung at 20lbs but i was sure that they were in different tension. how do i know? coz when u hit a bird, sound will be generated right? they all sounded different. some with higher tone some with lower! so how can i keep all my rackets in my ideal tension? what should i tell the stringer? thx red00ecstrat
always use the same stringer. the actual face value of the tension is immaterial imho, it is what you are used to. ie. if stringer A strung at 24lbs for you once and you like that tension, then always go back to stringer A for 24lbs.
I agree with Kwun, although for some level of standardization, it would be nice if most stringers could stay within +/- 1lbs variance of tension with eachother. It's also partially a reason why many professional players string their racquets at tournament sites by the tournament stringers. Because those are the stringers that will string their racquets in the event that they snap strings during the tournament, they realize their string tensions will most likely be different than whoever strings their racquets back home. So this way they can at least test out various tensions before and during the tournament, to figure out what is closest to their optimal best. Their personal stringers back home might string their racquets at a certain tension but it might be required to have the tournament stringers tensions +/- a few pounds different to get the same feeling. Again, it's not just the stringer though that affects variances in tension, there are many other factors as well. Also if you're just really curious to just which stringer is most accurately tensioning your racquets, you could always purchase a string tension measurement device. There are various different kinds offered online, and maybe even available locally. You might not like what you discover though!
I thought I would also add that I've accepted the fact that most stringers will not provide perfectly equal tensions so I don't judge my racquet tension jobs on tension accuracy alone. Because you can easily experiment with various tensions from any given stringer to find out which of their advertised tension is optimal for you. I focus more finding out which stringer provides the most consistent, and durable stringing job. In other words, which stringer can most accurately reproduce the same tension over and over again. And which stringers' work hold that tension the longest. A good stringer will reproduce the same tension endlessly, and their tension will last as long as possible given normal wear and tear on the racquet. Poor stringers will make you wonder if the tension was the same as it was the previous time you handed your racquet to them. Also after a few hits, or hours even, a poor stringing job will noticeablely lose tension.
