had a long conversation with David from Badminton Alley and he recommended a couple strings that has a rough texture. the roughest from Yonex is BG85, from ashaway is PowerGut65, and from carlton is the X-Elerate X67. and also the victor VS850 from my personal experience has the roughest texture of any victor strings. fortunately for me, when i talked to David on this past saturday was when he just got the shipment of carlton xelerate67 strings. so i caught him at the right time. fortunately for me, i actually have 4 carbonex 8600ti so i'll be stringing all four strings at the same time, probably next saturday. then play with all four strings at the same time on the same day that i strung it, probably next saturday. with my experience with 3 out of the 4 strings, the victor vs850, carlton x67, and yonex bg85, are all stiff strings or at least they give a hard feel when you hit with it. even though there aren't any specs on the package of the ashaway powergut65, it is safe to assume that it's also a hard/stiff string. here are the thickness of the strings vs850 0.68mm bg85 0.67mm x67 0.67mm powergut65 0.70 david mentioned that there used to be a string so stiff that when you string it onto a racket, you have to pull the crosses slowly or else it will shave a layer off of the string, but that string is no longer made. anyone knows the name of that string?
nevermind with carlton X67, it's so so bad. Bg80/85 are hardfeeling strings, powergut65 is soft, but nothing is as soft as x67, it feels like it's strung 2lbs lower than 80. For a rough feel I lked bg66UM better, I also liked apacs Lurid Power
rough as in the feel of it when i touch it, when i slide the string thru my fingers. it's more of a control string, the vs850. and it allows me to cut/slice the shuttle when needed. i am not too concern about whether the string is hard or soft, tho if it's stiff, it's a plus. my only concern is the texture of the string and so far the strings i've listed are the strings that i have come across that feel hard to the touch. i'm actually excited about the carlton since i've never played with one at my preferred tension without the stupid carlton paint. i just gotta wait till the vs850 is worn on my carlton vapour trail vanquish, then string the x67 on that racket so i can compare. i no longer remember the feel of strings strung on the carbonex 8600ti so i won't use that racket anymore. maybe i should get a bunch of carlton ignite rapid since i bought one and it does feel really good hitting with it, and it's only $59.99USD each!!!
i did a comparison with the vs850 and it's a bit more powerful/repulsive than the vs850, but it's nowhere near as responsible when cutting/slicing the shuttle as the vs850. texture wise it's definitely not as rough strung both without prestretch, both loses tension at the same rate.
update: ashaway power gut 65 versus carlton xelerate x67 both strings strung on Wilson BLX Force, 82-86g, head light, flexible shaft, @ 24lbs. no prestretching power gut is by far the roughest string, therefore, it was really stiff, and painful to string. the carlton has ridges on the exterior, but it's half as rough. surprisingly, they are both more repulsive than the vs850. the power gut is a wonderful string because i got superb control on soft shots and very repulsive on hard shots, plus, it's not as heavy as the carlton x67. the carlton x67 is very repulsive, so much that i am considering restringing another set but up the tension by 2lbs. with the carlton string my shots were way off because it was so bouncy. even though clear shots took no effort, but the control characteristic is completely out of the equation, horrible. i do believe that the carlton stencil ink has something to do with how stiff the string is, and possibly because it's been sitting on the racket for a while, so it's a bit dryer than normal. thinking about the way the powergut performed i might consider that string instead, but i'll have to play it with the vs850 side by side to be able to compare further. overall i like the way the powergut feels, and i haven't given up on the carlton string yet! shocking thing was, at about an hour after stringing the carlton, which was strung AFTER the powergut65, the carlton tension dropped. i don't know how much since i only banged on the stringbed and realized that the tone had dropped already. maybe the carlton string just doesn't hold tension?
i have felt a sample of it and it's not rough enough, but it doesn't have that feel where it seems dry so it's rough.
you should try zm62! it's not as rough as vs850, but still slightly rough... but because it's a very thin string, it "cuts" into the cork very nicely compared 24lb to my usual vs850 string at 25lb, it has significantly more crisp repulsive power, control, and feel... definitely give it a try if you haven't yet! if it lasts for a few months for me and retains tension well (likely better than vs850 ), then this will be my new go-to string!
i have tried the zymax62 and it is definitely the thinnest and most controlling string right behind the luxilon supersense i just strung this week. as you say because it's thin it does cut into the cork very nicely. however, when i had it strung on my muscle power tour, i still wasn't able to generate much power, probably because even at 24lbs, it becomes decently stiff. it still doesn't hit as well for me as the vs850
I've recently tried the Pro-Kennex strings from Taiwan - the Pro Flex 85. When you run your hands along the string you can feel how they bite into the shuttle. If you're a fan of control strings with strong hold (shuttle sinks into string bed before repulsion), then you might want to try and get your hands on some of the Pro-Kennex strings. Had a try at three of them and write a bit of them on the blog. Here's a picture of the strings close up so you can see the texture of the string.