I wonder who else feels that their strings are extra playable just before a string pops? By extra playability or enhanced playability I mean extra power on clears and smashes and great feel on drop/netshots. On more than a few occasions has the string snapped after a series of super smashes or deep clears. The smashes are thunderous in sound too It's gotten to the stage where I can feel the racquet is about to break within half an hour of continued play. It's like I don't need to put in as much effort as normal but get even better results. The last I recall these circumstances were on CBG100, BG66, BG88ti and BG68ti. Happened both in extremely cold and hot weather. String usually snaps on mains 30-40% down from top and a little off centre, either slighlty towards left or right.
No, not true, the older the string the worse it's performance. The racquet is at it's best when it has freshly strung string; anything over a month old becomes soft. A newly strung string has maximum elasticity, an old string minimal. Try to cut your one month old string and then restring with the same string and at the same tension. There is a difference, everytime. If your newly strung string plays better after a few days than when new, then this is probably due to grossly uneven tensioning, which takes a few days to even out.
My preference is for new strings. If the strings are about to break, I get very little return out of them. In fact, I'll change the strings before they break now because it's no use to play with the racquet.
I wont actually say its "more playable", but i do agree I feels a little more powerful near the end of the strings life. I tend to think thats the result of tensionloss because of stringdamage. I could be very wrong, though. Edit: BTW:I always play with BG-66, and kinda feel the same thing with this string, Dont no if thats with other strings aswell.
I agree with Neil Nicholls, that is try string your racket 1 to 1.5 lbs less and see what happens. Many players are not "comfortable" with newly strung rackets ( assuming that the rackets are properly strung), becoz the tensions are not "right". Too high .. or too low.
i prefer strings when they are freshly strung, have sat for 24 hours, and after 2-3 hours of usage. then they feel great. as they age, they get worse.
I too prefer fresher strings, but what I mean is that they are 'extra playable' during the last moments of its life
Well the longer you play with the strings, the more "in tune" you feel with them. If you dont restring often (say only once a year) then your tension will gradually reduce, and you will change to like it. When it is restrung the change is huge, so may not feel as good because you are not used to it. If you use moderate tensions (upto 22lbs) then the likelyhood is that they will last a long time, so this effect will be greater. Using higher tensions mean the string will break more often, so the effect is reduced.
but James, it is something different that he can feel before the strings break, so before the restring
I did think that, but couldnt come up with a reasonable explanation bar divine intervention! It may be due to non-feel factors, eg. maybe you think it might be time to restring, you can see the strings fraying, or just hit a few bad hits. These may then make you think "they are going to snap" which they will eventually.
I agree. Since string tension tends to drop significantly within the 1st 48-72 hrs, many players tend to put 1-2 lb more than the desired range. Therefore, it takes time to get the string to settle in, and let the player to get the "touch feeling" about it. With my personal experience with BG85 (@22*24lb), the best service time is usually between 2nd session and going on for 1-2 weeks. After that, it's usually down to the last week of life of my string, and sometimes, it just feels dead.
Yes Neil gets my point. I like higher tensions, the highest I have had on my racquets are 24 pounds, but stringers around here are reluctant to string more than 22 unless I take it to a pro shop. At £15 pound minimum a pop, it lasts about two months usually on 22 pounds tension which I think is reasonable. I have tried lower tension but to be honest anything lower than 21 pounds feels too soft, no feel. My personal theory would be as the strings fray and thin out, it creates extra or unequal stress on the strings...secondly, the lower tension creates a larger sweetspot. The strings wear thinner and thinner and subsequently more stress each time I hit the sweetspot and eventually it will give in. The increased sweetspot and momentarily increased tension is what gives me that extra feel. Hardly scientific but until someone else provides me with a better theory I would still be happy to have the ability to feel when my strings will snap I think it is rather cool that the string is giving me its all with its last breath
Actually I like strings when they are newly strung. I don't change to like lower tensions...financial constraints forces me to stick to it
I thought the point of this thread was that you felt it had more feel + power when strings are old? But you dont like more feel and power?
My strigns feel the best after 2 hours of playing after restringing. The first 2 hours feel really bad, but after the strings settles, it rocks...........for an hour or two .
My strings are over 1.5 years old (BG68ti's on MP66 and playing 7 hours a week). I have been noticing less power and the strings seem quite loose. Is it worth getting it restrung then?? My friends raquet is 20lbs and that seems to have tighter strings than mine, so i have no idea how low the tension is on mine.I thought lower tension = more power or something?? Thanks for any help or suggestions