String 'notes'

Discussion in 'Badminton String' started by AhNgaU, May 29, 2002.

  1. AhNgaU

    AhNgaU Regular Member

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    Hello.

    I was wondering has anyone found out what 'notes' of the string, correspond to what pound of string. When you bounce one racquet on another, it will produce a sound, and from that you can see which racquet has higher tension strings right... i believe i can tell the note of my racquets, but cannot correspond it to any pound in tension.

    I believe this is possible (every 'note' corresponds to a certain wavelength of sound), anyone tried this?

    thanks
     
  2. trapped-never

    trapped-never Regular Member

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    Interesting but probably too expensive to realize

    Well, I do not have musical education but I will try to write a few comments.

    The sound you will get definitely would not be a sine wave. It will be quite complex acoustic signal with relatively wide bandwidth. The best solution would be to use some similar algorythms as the ones used in voice recognition software.

    Since the spectral patern will be dependent not only on string tension and racket frame but probably strongly on string type and degree how the string is "worn down" it seems to me unpractical to build database for so many input combinations.

    Is there any expert able to say more about the measurement limitations?
     
  3. AhNgaU

    AhNgaU Regular Member

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    Very interesting "trapped-never."!!

    Shouldn't the actual 'ting' sound of the racquet should work out to a sine wave? But the ACTUAL 'tak' that you hear off the shuttle off the string, will be dependant on the frame/string type/wear/string width etc? (again, i'm not sure)

    I was just thinking, in terms of just pure tension-wise, it just would not make sense if a racquet, call it X, had a higher 'ting' then Y, that Y has an actual higher tension... well if it's possible, I've never come across it before.

    The first thing to test whether one racquet's tension is higher/lower than another, is to test the tone of the strings right? That's all i'm basing my question on hehe.
     
  4. Mag

    Mag Moderator

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    The pitch of the string is a fairly clear note, and you could use an acoustic guitar tuner to ffind the main frequency. So in that sense you are correct: the tone can be measured using standard consumer equipment.

    However, matching the pitch to a tension value is nigh to impossible. The pitch depends on string thickness (very variable between brands and makes), string length (frame designs vary, and different models have different measurements), and of course string tension.

    So as you can see, just because the pitch of one racquet is higher than another doesn't necessarily mean that the tension is also higher! It could just be that the string is thinner, or that the frame is smaller...

    If you were to use only one type of string on one type of racquet, then the pitch is useful... However, only in relative comparison, so that you can say that racquet A has higher/lower tension than racquet B. You see, it is almost impossible to obtain a correct reference value for the tension: what is 24 lbs tension to one stringer might be 28 lbs to another, due to variation in stringing methods and technique.
     
  5. trapped-never

    trapped-never Regular Member

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    Good points Mag and AhNgaU

    Yes I agree that for purpose of testing wheather your newly strung say Ti10 and BG65 has required tension you probably can use standard acoustic tuner.

    The methods I was thinking about are a bit "not of this Earth".

    Another factor that may have significant influence is temperature. Strings change its ability to stretch with temperature. I guess that given racket in 15deg_C will have higher tension than the same one in 30deg_C.
     
  6. Yong

    Yong Regular Member

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    Very interesting !

    Mag’s comment :
    : So as you can see, just because the pitch of one racquet is higher than another
    : doesn't necessarily mean that the tension is also higher! It could just be that
    : the string is thinner, or that the frame is smaller...

    So the strings of a racket X with a smaller frame are tighter compared to a the strings of a racket Y with a bigger frame, which is probably the reasen that racket Y needs to be strung with higer tension for same play feeling (assumpion)

    When this having in mind, I should say that the sound of the strings says more about how it feels to play with a racket rather then the tension.
    Maybe we should change to a sound index and go to racket stringers asking them to string it to a particular note ! (at a temperature of ?? degrees :rolleyes:
     
  7. AhNgaU

    AhNgaU Regular Member

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    Ahh good point Mag/trapped

    ahh I understand now. I just thought about the strings in a piano. All makes sense. Thinner strings of course higher pitched sound. Maybe someone would like to make a huge enormous database, stating all the popular racquets, and the combo's of strings hehe, not likely, so many different combo's of string/racquets. oh well. Funny thing is, i was comparing my AR-110 with BG-85 with my friend's one, exact same racquet/strings. So I'd guess it'll work that way =).

    thanks for all advice anyway hehe.
     

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