Hi folks, I need your expertise in verifying whether this is an acceptable string job. The top is missing a cross and the bottom has one more cross than usual. Is this harmful to the racket? I appreciate the help.!
You have certainly gotten it correct in terms of "verification". Now in terms of harmful impact, you would need to be careful about consistently hitting the string bed's sweet spot - if the shuttle makes contact slightly higher than that, the chances of the main strings breaking near the top is very high. I personally would restring it. Or let the stringer know and ask the person to rectify the situation.
Not harmful - the bottom part of the racket is stronger and won't mind having the extra cross - but you will be more likely to break the string at the top because of that missing cross. I'd make sure the stringer puts that top cross in next time.
i don't think that's a big deal. it will play fine. i have seen many rackets with patterns that has more gap at the top. certainly not something that would require re-string. don't waste strings. just play with it and have fun!
In one of my early stringing jobs (for myself) I accidentally missed out the top cross, but I played with that racquet regularly for at least a year and it actually felt great to use the whole time. I've seen other players that miss out cross strings at the top and bottom on purpose because they prefer it that way.
