I would appreciate the advice of the stringing gurus in this forum. I visited the Yonex showroom in Bangkok recently and had this AT700LTD strung at 24lbs on the Yonex ES5Pro string machine. I thought the tension felt much higher than 24lbs (probably 26-27 lbs in terms of Singapore standards) and love the 'dead' feel. May I know what stringing method is this and would the tight tension/dead feel be due to the stringing method or 'pre-streching'? Many thanks.
This is one-piece stringing, because there are only two knots. Yes, I experienced something similar when I had my AT700 strung with bg65power in Japan. Same tension, 24lbs. The stringer used one-piece stringing to string the racquet, but the tension felt like 26-27lbs.. Yes, same stringing machine too, Yonex ES5PRO. I had my MP40 strung with MPXL at 24lbs, two-piece stringing with a black-knight stringing machine, and the feel of the shots are so much different.. It took me a very long time to get used to the 'dead' feel of the AT700. I had it restrung however with prototype strings at 26lbs a few weeks ago.
thanks jhirata for your reply. I am aware this is a one-piece stringing job. perhaps i should rephrase my question. i am trying to figure out why this one-piece job is different in "feel" from the one-piece jobs in singapore. is this racquet strung correctly? i did check with a local stringer and he reckons the 'dead feel' is due to 'pre-stretching'.
Did the stringer in singapore used the ESPRO stringing machine as well? Electronic machine? Crank machine?
Its looks a little unusual, maybe its just the angle of the picture, as the bow in the crosses seems to be downward which would suggest a top to down method, although this wouldn't be possible with a one piece method. Is it normal to begin crosses at B8 for this racket, thought it was B9?
Correct me if I am wrong, I think the cross is too many. You don't actually need the last cross. some stringer did also like that here, they said just to maximize the left over string. I thought the pressure will be much higher by adding the last cross stringed.
The ES5PRO is an electronic stringing machine, not a crank machine. Is it strung properly ? Yes it is because it can be used properly, but the Yonex warranty will be voided by using one-piece stringing. The proper Yonex stringing patterns are all two-piece stringing. I have heard from quite alot of people that racquets strung using one-piece stringing usually maintain the string tension longer, and the durability increases somehow. I found this quite true. I had my at700 strung with bg65power at 24lbs as i said earlier. I kept using them, hitting hard all the time, but they didn't break at all for seven months. I had my MP40 strung with bg65power too, at 22lbs ( one-piece stringing) two years ago. Those strings never broke, so I just decided to cut them.
You're not wrong - the bottom of the AT700 pattern goes, upwards, "share, share, single, share" while this one goes "share, share, share, single, share". I don't think it will lead to any appreciable extra stress, though, as the frame is thicker and stronger at the throat anyway; an extra cross at the top, however, would give me pause. Sealman, going from a crank to an CP-electronic will ALWAYS fell tighter, so your experience is absolutely par for the course. The finished tensions on electrics are roughly 10% higher than those of crankers.
yup, i believe Dink wrote something about this a while ago, electronic constant pull machines normally produce higher tensions than cranks. can't remember which thread it was in though.
There are 3 things making the string bed stiffer here. 1) as many of you pointed out that ESPro is a electric constant pull machine with pre tension. If the string is set to pre tension 5% (which is usually) you will feel it is 1 or 2 lb tighter than normal crank machine. 2) It is strung with BG66 which is thinner and usually feel tighter than other strings (except BG85 and NBG98) 3) It is strung with 23 cross. The additional cross will make the string bed feel tighter too. If your have an AT700 that is strung exactly same pattern and tension by the same machine and stringer, then I am out of idea.
Smiley faces Looks like there are "smiley face" (downward curving) crosses as well, which also lead to a loss of finished tension. The stringer should really straighten crosses as they are being pulled; Dink illustrates this well in his "pre-electric" video.
Yes, I strung at 700ltd with BG 85 @ 21 lbs at yonex officail shop - central world plaza many times. The shop use ES5pro. and it comes with very stiff when compare to strung with other. I also feel "dead" on my first 2-3 times playing also. I need to wait the string until it "completely stretch".
the string bed feels alittle numb & i'm wondering if it's still possible to remove the addition cross at B8.