Basically, the new Victor BS10 I bought didn't come strung, so I decided to string the 850 at 24lbs. Found this local chap who does stringing at a local shop. He did it for me for fairly cheap. He's supposedly done hundreds of badminton rackets and actually plays semi-pro himself (trains almost every day). Anyway, I thought I'd post pics for you guys to tell me if it looks about right. Compared to my 8DX, the strings go narrower at the utmost outer top sides (more arrow like then straight). My Head racket looks close to this, but I have no idea if these things are meant to be straight vertically every line or not. Because I know nothing about stringing, could you guys tell me if you think this looks about right based on photo's? Obviously you can't measure tension. Thanks!
The strings narrowing is the stringing patten being different on the Yonex and Victor rackets. Look at both, notice how the Victor one has lots of grommets in which two string go through. Now look at the 8DX, it has lots more grommets with only one string going through each. So narrower string on the Victor isn't a problem at all. It also has the correct number of mains and crosses which is good. Knots look fine (from this distance) and haven't sunk into the grommets. No idea if the racket is the right shape or length but it looks ok from the pictures. As for correct tension there's no way anyone could tell from a picture. Now on to the slight problems. It looks as though the main strings have not been straightened out and the cross strings aren't arrow straight. It looks as though the stringer hasn't tidied up the racket after stringing it. This could lead to a slight loss of tension during the first week as the strings straighten out, or you could straighten the strings out yourself before you play with it. Not a major problem and the stringer probably didn't tidy it to save time. A "pro" stringer probably would have done this as it looks more professional. One of the biggest tests is how well it plays! Overall it looks ok to me, maybe the more experienced stringers have something else to add that I have missed.
Thanks for the insightful post Sevex. Could you roughly explain where you think the strings aren't arrow straight and why you think the main strings haven't been tightened out? Thanks.
He means the strings themselves are not straight, this isn't a big deal, basically the stringer didn't sit there after he was done stringing and move the strings so that they were perfectly straight. The strings get moved a bit when they are clamped so immediately after the stringing they are typically a bit messy. I personally don't bother straightening them out either before I return them to customers. They are no more out of place than after a good hard game... I think the word "problem" is a bit more than intended.
Just an addition, I've actually gone through every line with a ruler vertically and horizontally making sure it's all straight now lol.
It doesn't make much difference, the first time you hit a shuttle you're going to mess them up a bit. As for losing tension because they aren't straight... negligible if any.
You are correct, the word problem was a slight over emphasis, I did try to correct it by saying it wasn't a major problem. It is more of a cosmetic than playing "problem" . I always straighten the strings out, because I am perhaps slightly too obsessed with things being "perfect"
Well, sometimes the stringer will put in an additional cross string. But it isn't really that big a deal, although I believe that Victor recommend a 22x23 pattern, one of my SW35's has a 22x22 the others have 22x23 it just depends. You can also get 22x24 for SW35
The Victor OSP has room for a 23rd cross, and I always use it (tie the mains off at 7 and use 8 for the extra cross), but it's not a big deal. Seems to have been strung well based on what we can see.
OMG, the weave is backwards!!! it's up,down,up,down... but your stringer did it down,up,down,up. Better get it restrung unless you want all your birdies to fly backwards.
