With more of the recent talk about skipping last or 2nd last crosses potentially for more power, anyone try to skip some mains too? If yes, which and how many mains did you skip? and does it make a difference? If no one's done this, I'll test this out. I'll just bring my string clamps to a badminton session, take a few hits with regular string pattern, put the clamps on to remove 1 or 2 mains on each side and retie, and test the racquet again.
This could be very risky. You remove 2-4 mains (1-2 on each side), result into now the crosses provide significant more tension than the main. Say each piece of string has a tension of 25lbs, then 2-4 main less means additional of 50-100lb difference btw main and cross. If you really want to test it, carefully calculate the tension ratio between main and cross, and do a fresh string job based on the new pattern. Just remove 2-4 mains right on the spot, can put the racket in danger, just like continue competitive play, with a snapped string.
if you have less strings in your racket, wether mains or crosses, what's going to be different? afaik only that your stringbed will feel less stiff...why would you want that? why not string lower? afarid 24lbs doesn't sound as cool as 25lbs? anways, I foudn the difference to be quite minute, but that's me..
I would agree and I think yonex voids your warranty- I don't think skipping the mains or crosses are included in yonex's warranty. I'm just guessing not sure.
If they want to, they surely can void the warranty. They specified the racket has to be strung with yonex string pattern and within the recommended tension.
Thanks for bringing that up! guess I should remove some crosses as well to equalize the total cross:main lbs ratio. Yeah prob best to do fresh stringing on 2 identical racquets, one with less main and/or crosses... if i can bring myself out of my laziness to string racquets, I'll likely do that.
quite interesting! that raise another question... suppose less main and/or cross strung at 27lbs feels like 25lbs, will that feel different than a racquet strung at regular string pattern at 25lbs?
if u string the racket (main and cross) every other grommet, i assure u that you get more repulsion, a sweetspot bigger than O3 and tumble the shuttles like no tomorrow. I can't assure u how long this new pleasure would last u tho lol.
yeah true... though i could careless cuz: most of my yonex racquets are: 1) not CD version 2) not purchased within 6 months or have receipt 3) all strung above recommended tension thus no warranty regardless... Also, not all my racquets are all yonex, jumping the bandwagon and gradually migrating to SOTX now.
that's certainly interesting, tennisrackets now-a-days love to market and "open stringign pattern" for slices.. so it might be very true you get something different...but will it be significent?
Hmm talking about yonex recommended tension-for a ns9k what's the highest tension you go that will not void your warranty??
Not sure, but judging by the modern yonex racquet (eg. since the AT series), it'd 24lbs for 4U and 25lbs for 3U. Not sure if 2U NS is 26lbs though
According to Yonex, it is 24lb. My guess, you can get away with 25lb because the tension will drop in a few days. Also, claim for machine calibration error.
Yes, all my rackets are strung with 18 mains. Since I never use the other 4 mains, I dont see the point of having them. I had the rackets like that for so long that I don't know if 24 mains would play differently. At a guess I imagine 24 mains would make the string bed less bouncy which could translate to lower power. The effect on skipped crosses could be similar - ie slight increased bounce. I am perfectly happy with the power I have got, and I am not going to mess with the strings any more. So I will leave the field open for you all to explore. In any case, string bed bounce (clearance power) and string bed stiffness (smashing power) are 2 indpendently controllable variables that can be configured without resorting to unusual string patterns. If people explore enough, they may even find the way to manipulate these variables. Then they will wonder what the fuss is with all that obsession for power.
Ok, so i sort of test this out. Racquet I used was a SOTX D600, Ashaway MP ti, 27x30lbs, 1 extra cross at top and bottom. I had a couple of sessions with this, then cut 1 cross from top and 3 cross from bottom, and 2 mains from both left and right side, then tried the racquet again. The tension does seem significantly looser, however this tension felt too loose for me (feels like ~24x26lbs or less), so I didn't feel any power increase. Also, it lost a lot of the "crisp" feeling (perhaps cuz of the decrased "felt" tension), so now feels like a much softer string.
Picture of skipping side mains. Here is a picture of skipping the side mains (Kason TSF 109 strung with Gosen Nano @28-30lbs. Skipping a top and bottom cross is ok, but not recommended. A mis-hit on the top or bottom will instantly cause a string break. Benefits of skipping 4 strings will be less drag. Tension is not a problem, I strung mine at 28-30lbs and sometimes 30-32lbs, depending on the string and racket frame type. The string bed will not feel repulsive or bouncy at all. A good example would be Ashaway MLXL (0.73mm) with Kason TSF 300A @ 30-33lbs. Skipping 4 string would not be a problem.
string at 20/22 (# of main/cross) The racket 20/22 (main/cross) plays excellent, smash is powerful and crisp. I really don't notice the difference. Never broke string on the sides from miss-hits. I've been stringing other peoples rackets with the 20/22 and no one notices. 3 months ago I did try 20/20 (main/cross), couple of miss-hits at the top (12 O'clock position), made me change my mind to add the top cross and bottom cross. Skipping the two mains does make stringing the racket easier, avoids the string crossing/twisting at the shared grommets. (only stringers will know what I'm talking about) However, I do know some pros that skip the top and bottom cross and plays just fine. (cuz they don't miss-hit too often). Hope this helps. If you decide to try the 20/22 or 20/20, let me know how you feel about it. Thanks.