How tight do you guys push the shoulder supports against the frame? For stringing the cross top down, there are a couple of us who come to the conclusion that the top shoulder supports should be looser than the bottom shoulder supports. The bottom supports should be very tight (sink into the frame so to speak). For stringing the cross bottom up, it's the reverse. What do you guys think?
For Haribito, Shuttle-House and Victor stringing method, the top and bottom shoulder supports may be engaged with equal pressure. Is that correct?
I have done bottom up, top bottom and now haribito. I applied equal pressure on both bottom and top shoulders, very tightly. I hate the frame moving when pulling the last 3 crosses.
A very crappy/ordinary Epsilon 6-points drop weight machine. Nothing worth mentioning. But it's good enough for my needs.
The function of shoulder supports only work when you are stringing the main. Let us name the 4 shoulder supports as L1, R1 (the top) & L2, R2 (the throat), when you pull the string from the right top, the racket frame is pulled away from L1 and since the string is straight through the grommet of the frame R1 is only idling and it doesn't exert any action(pushing/pulling) to the frame. After you finish stringing the racket you will see the frame is not even touching both supports L1 & R1. From my humble observation your concern is irrelevent at all.
Ah, let me clarify further. My concern is with the shape of the strung frame versus an unstrung one. Starting the cross from the bottom or the top will squeeze the frame like a balloon. Assume equal pressure applied by the shoulder supports on the frame. Stringing the cross from top down will squeeze the top part of the frame. "(Hence), after you finish stringing the racket you will see the frame is not even touching both supports L1 & R1." However, the bottom part of the frame will bulge outward slightly. The reverse is also true for starting the cross from the bottom top. To resolve this cosmetic issue, a couple of stringers (myself included) comes to the conclusion that varying the pressure between the L&R 1 and L&R 2 will bring the shape of a strung frame much closer to an unstrung one. Okay, too much rambling . . .
