I noticed on all the Arc Z-Slash racquets I've strung that the grommets are very tight. Shared holes at 16H and 12T, and even the tie off at 6T are difficult to feed the second string through and quite frustrating. Just wondering if anyone else has exprienced this ?
I strung 2 x 9900 and didn't notice tighter than normal grommets. I'm looking fwd to getting the Z-slash.
A good diagonal cutter and good pair of pliers is your best friend They have never failed me when it comes to shared grommets. No need for an awl. Just make sure you cut the string at a very very steep angle and feed it through small bits at a time with the pliers.
Er... yep! Never a truer word... I strung mine (twice) last night and it was a real pain in the arse. The first time, I tried to tie the crosses off in the red and black area of the throat and couldn't get the string through; I ended up using the awl and snapping the main. Second time around I tied ON in the yellow area of the head and tied OFF in the yellow area of the throat - no problems. I'm convinced this racket has a "handedness" when stringing... The single pass grommets at the top were also annoying - I would encourage stringers to loop old bits of string into these areas before tensioning so you can pull them to one side and get you crosses through - there isn't much room to poke the awl through. Having said all this, though, I am very impressed at how strong the frame seems - this racket looks like it could go into the ow 30's with no problems. This works brilliantly with monofilament tennis string, but badminton string usually loses this point after one push. You can dip the fresh point in nail varnish or superglue to keep it sharp - works well, just make sure it's dry before you try and push it through.
i did hear from a stringer who strung for pros, he would remove the grommet and put it in warm water then put the grommet back in and stuff a temporary string with the first string. when the second string need to go through, he would cut it diagonally (sharp) and while he pull the temporary string out he'll feed the second string in. I've never used the warm water method but I've used the temporary string method. It isnt a bulls eye, one-hit but it's last resort. hope it helps
If it is a brand new racket I would open up the difficult shared holes at 8T,10T, 12T and 16H. This helps when I either angle the string upwards or downwards putting in my crosses in those difficult shared holes. I havent had any problems stringing Arc Z's or 9900's. Easy schleezy.
