Sorry if this has been discussed somewhere, but I would like to know what factors I need to look for in order to know if I got a good stringing job or not (Just kind of interested, as I read a post which talked about a "mediocre" stringing). If you could direct me to another post which has the answer or help me out, I would be very thankful. Thanks in advance!!!
you can check for correct pattern, no damaged strings (nicks and scratches), strings are nice and firm (no slacks and straight) and minimal overlapping of strings on the outside of the frame (as illistrated by the photos below).
Another often overlooked thing to look for is that the overall racquet length must be the same before and after stringing.
Second! Frame crossovers are a subtle but important detail - a good stringer will have learnt/been taught to avoid these where possible. Also, look for mis-weaves (although these can happen to all of us) and large knots - these point to inexperience.
How come no one mentioned overall tension? If the feeling and your expected tension has tons of difference (i.e. asked for 25lbs, but the string bed feels like fish net), then...
Large knots bad? The best starting knot can be very large, the larger the better. Small knots used as starting knot are not true starting knot and will adversely affect playability.
Here's a bad stringing job. Note that the frame is no longer symmetrical - this is a lot more obvious looking at the actual racket than it is in the picture. This was after restringing at 3lbs below the manufacturers maximum recommended tension. Seems like a lot of crossovers too, but I'm not sure about that.
Yeah, not going back there again. I sent my new racket away to get strung by a real professional mail-order stringer after that. I'm not going to get the bad racket restrung now, but I'm wondering if I should just cut the strings to protect the racket. I'd quite like to keep it strung so I can have it as a backup, but could it be damaging the frame like that?
In my very limited experience in stringing I would probably add that check if its a one piece or two piece stringing job (whether there is two or four knots). My understanding is that a two piece stringing job is better. Also, the it's easy to get a large amount of tension lose on the last cross which I try to minimise by putting an extra pound on the last pull and making sure my last knot is reasonably tight before releasing the clamp. I don't consider myself a good stringer (mainly because I am so slow) but I good believe I do a good stringing job. I don't quite understand how bad some stringing jobs are. Such a warped frame when stringing well within the max recommended tension is not so good. I was removing a broken string from a racquet last night and had to use pliers to remove the string as the knot had slipped into the gommet and was jammed in there. Don't know how normal that is but I would think the knot was too small in the first place.
is it considered a bad string job if the tension loss seems very extreme? I had my racket strung at 25 lbs with bg 65 but the tension fell ridiculously fast. Not only that but the tension fell too much i think. it feels like i'm hitting with a racket strung at 20lbs. i know that bg 65 tension is supposed to fall fast but is it supposed to fall that much (around 5 lbs worth?).
bg65 should fall by around 2lbs after a couple of weeks (maybe 6-8 hours or so worth of play) and should stablise after that. losing about 5lbs sounds fishy.
Not sure about this part. However, I know some stringers actually prefer smaller knots, and on purposely let it sink into the gromment. They claim that can protect the gromments from being damaged by the larger knot.
