Fellow stringers I have a slight annoyance. When I clamp the string and then disengage the gripper on my tension head, the clamp moves a few mm which is starting to irritate me. The string isn't slipping, just the clamp moves. It's not such a pain on the mains but when stringing the crosses, the movement pushes the mains out of alignment. Any thoughts?
It's usually not too much of a problem unless you have a lot of play/movement. You could replace the clamps or the bases - which I have done before, it helps but you still end up with a little amount of play. When you tighten the next string, it will move the clamp back in the opposite direction, which causes you to lose a little tension in the process. To compensate, after you tighten the fingers on the clamp but before you tighten the base push the base towards the tensioner slightly to take out the slack. Then tighten the base.
It is not an issue as far as tension loss goes until you tie off - any movement of the base will be pulled the other way when you tension the next string. When you do tie off, clamp the string first - as close to the frame as possible - then push the base as far as it will go before locking it. When you do the crosses, push the clamp teeth as close to the mains as possible before clamping. That way, when it (inevitably) rocks back, the main "push" in the opposite direction with be minimized.
