Hello to everyone, I'm new here on badmintoncentral, it's great to finally be a part of this and meet you all. Just got into stringing and experienced a few issues I would appreciate your advice on, purchased a 2nd hand machine from my friend (1 month old, pro's pro 2 for £80). Started stringing on my old steel racquet, which can be seen below: http://www.amazon.com/Carlton-Smash-Badminton-Racquet/dp/B000FW038C aluminium head apparently, never knew that lol. Used 20 for the mains and 22 for crosses. The 2nd racket I did was my first carbon racket, an old carlton carbon, not really in use anymore, I did 22 for mains and 24 for crosses. Didn't have any grommets to replace the top ones that are quite badly damaged and I know I got the weaving wrong, that's my own inexperience, I know how to do it properly now, the problem I am actually worried about is possible distortion to the head shape, so wanted your opinion if they looked ok or not? I brought both rackets to the shop where I use to get my rackets strung at, who said for both jobs the head shape had been distorted because the tension was not done properly (I told her that my friend did it for me and wanted her advice on whether he did a good job and if I should get a restring now with her or wait for the strings to break, I had no intention of getting the restring, just wanted her opinion since she is experienced and more than likely she would have said let the strings break) The old steel racket she said should not have been strung any higher than 20 pounds because of the aluminium head because the head would cave in ( i didn't know this), is it true? or just some BS to get me to string with her again? Regardless I knew the head shape was messed up on that racket as it was my first ever and I had clashed (being the poor beginner player that I was at that age) so the first racket I am not bothering to post up a picture of. However her comments on the 2nd racket were that it's head was squashed and shorter than it should be. She held up an isometric shaped yonex next to my carlton to prove this but I couldn't see it still, also I wasn't completely convinced as I had drawn an outline around the racket (after its original strings had been removed and before restringing) on some A3 paper and the shape still matched after stringing. Perhaps it was always disfigured because this racket is kept and used by parents, they leave it in a hot conservatory most of the time, maybe this warped it? Please look at the pictures and tell me what your thoughts are. My other question is, when you go to a stringing shop and ask for let's say 24 pound tension, do they string at 24 for mains and 26 for crosses or would the actual tension of that be 25 or 26 tension, I don't really know/understand. I am a bit confused because actually i think my machine needs calibration. I noticed that when I strung my first racket at 20mains*22crosses, the sound the racket made and when I pushed/felt the strings it felt a lot tighter than when I go to my stringer and ask for 23, it felt more like when I asked for a racket of 24 tension. Also when I did the 2nd racket (carlton carbon) at 22*24 it felt even tighter than a racket I had which I had asked a stringer to put on 25 tension. I thought perhaps it was my technique when tensioning, but I think I am doing it right; place the string in the gripper, support the bar and let it drop slowly, if it drops past horizontal, I then tighten the string a little by turning the string gripper around it's axis (it is attached to a circle shaped central piece which allows you to move the position of the gripper a full 360 degrees, I assume that's what it is used for right? tightening the string? because being 2nd hand I didn't get operation manuals.) Anyhow then I lift the drop weight back up some, say to 45 degrees or bit more, and redrop. I am purchasing a calibrator, but would love your advice, and very very sorry for the long post!! Also I'd really like to say a really really big thank you to all the members who post on these forums, reading around here has helped me incredibly and I feel like I am getting the hang of it relatively quickly. I really want to say a big thank you to Mark A, Pete LSD, Master Silentheart (especially you who works so hard to respond to so many people experiencing problems, and definitely a big thank you to Sir Dinkalot whose videos have also taught me a lot! Alright that's it, thanks guys for any help you can give, the other racket in the pictures 3 + 4 is an olympus carbon racket I had that pro string for me a while back, I placed the carbon on top of it in picture 3, might help you make a judgement.
1) Welcome to the world of stringer. 2) In general, AL head should be able to take up to 20lb without any problem for experienced stringer. And yes, the AL head is distorted and nothing you can do at this point. 3) Your Carlton has 22mainX23cros string pattern. That is fine. What is the tension for the Carlton? I assume it is 22X24 lb as you said? Also, the head shape looks fine to me from the picture. 4) When you ask a shop to string a racquet, you should always state what tension for main and cross.If not, it is up to stringer's interpretation of 24lb means. To me, I usually plays safe. When a player ask me for 24lb, that means 22X24lb. Some stringer will say average of 23X25 is 24lb. Only a few will use 24X26 lb = 24lb. 5) often time, string bed feel tighter when it is freshly strung. Also, your machine is different than other person's machine. Also, many stringer only calibrate the machine once every 6 month. The tension might be of by then. So, make sure you have your machine calibrated properly every 3 ~4 month for crank machine. For you, it is OK to calibrate the tension on the first time only because drop weight machine only need the initial calibration. 6) Your tensioning procedure is fine. One advice, leave the string on the tensioning head for about 10~15 sec to settle down. This will make the string even and act as pre-strech. 7) Make sure you mount your racquet securely but not over tighten it. That part will take a few try before you get a hang of it. That is usually the biggest problem for me is to get use to the mounting mechanism when I go to a shop with different machine. Please add LB and Neil N on your next thank you list. Best wish. PS: Guys, please ad anything that I miss. And go easy on my spelling...
Point 4) I second Steve's "interpretation" of specified tensions - whenever I'm asked for X lbs, I take this to mean (0.9X)/X lbs (i.e. subtract 10% for mains). In my view, the crosses will be 25 lbs if you pull them at 25 lbs, while the mains will only come upwards from their initial tension. If you split the difference you're likely to end up with MORE tension than you asked for, and if you're operating at the limits of the racket's structural limits this can be disastrous. As Steve said, it's also the safest option, so always specify this to your stringer.
I always go for the 2nd choice, as 23x25 = 24. If a new player comes to me, and can't specify his preferred string/tension, I always use BG65 @ 23lb as my 1st recommendation, unless I know him is way too advanced for this. Then, I ask for feedback from him, to determine whether an up/downgrad of string/tension he prefer next time.
Yes you're absolutely right SilentHeart, LazyBuddy and Neil N thanks for your help. I'm gonna play it safe with 22x24 after I calibrate the machine thanks for the extra tips guys, appreciate it.
