Stringing Top Down

Indeed - Yonex have changed their "policy" twice as far as I know.

When I first started stringing - 2007-ish - it was bottom-up. Then, two years later, it was top-down. Now, as far as I know, it's bottom-up again.

The question is what made them do it. Twice.

 

I'm pretty sure I've read it here (BC) somewhere that at one of the Yonex sponsored tournament, their stringers kept breaking rackets (high tension of course) stringing top-down... then they started stringing bottom-up and no more breakage

 

The Yonex machine has a quirk in that it can't mount rackets for top-down as well as it can for bottom-up - the 12/6 supports can't reach far enough for the lower shoulder supports to contact the bottom of the frame in the optimal place (between B12 and B8).

Here's a picture of Alan K's mounting - perfect for bottom-up:



but it's not possible to get the top-version.

 

What support position is ideal for top down then?

 

In my experience, the top supports are just above the racket mid-line, and the lower supports are around B10 (second-to-last shared hole on the above racket).

 

"Will it break?" is a question that can't be answered, really.

Does it have a greater chance of breaking? Yes. But that's never stopped me doing top-down.

(Also, the modern Babolat rackets only have 20 mains, so there's nearly 10% less stress than on a normal racket.)

 

This is exactly what I found last week - you can straighten the crosses while they are being pulled, but they still end up being curved after the string job is complete and have to be straightened again.

On the other hand, the rackets did not lose contact with the side supports the way they do with top-down, so there advantages and disadvantages to each method.

 

Any recommendation when stringing from top down? E.g. do you keep same tension throughout the crosses?
the reason why i ask is because i have seen Someone reduce 2lbs for the first four crosses.

 

Here's a little light reading for you : http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/8079-Proportional-Stringing-Method

I have fooled around with various tension differences. But in my limited experience, the best result comes when the tension is the same from start to finish.

Techniques vary from person to person and machine to machine. The only thing that counts is the final result: Is the customer happy or not.

 

I was at the annual IART Racquet Stringing Symposium last year. Most stringers there are tennis stringers, but there were a few badminton guys there. They were tournament level badminton stringers, and all recommended bottom-up, but none could tell me why. "Just because" is what they said.

All theory seems to support top-down, as it directs the stress to the strongest part of the racquet, the throat.

 

We string on a Bab Sensor with badminton kit with mounts the racquet quite evenly across the frame, this helps spread the load and makes for good top-down stringing. My colleague who has strung more badminton strings all racquets top down except newer Yonex frames. I do the opposite. I side with the theory that the racquets are stronger in the throat, the load is intially strongest on the first cross, therefore we should start at the throat. We rent out a lot of racquets and I have seen both Yonex and Forza frames that have broken at the neck. Customers says it just happened. Only explanation I have is the result of top down stringing, especially since Forza design is similar to older Yonex.

 

That sucks they couldn't give you an answer, they should have someone Who could give you an answer.

 

I believe before 2005 there was No recommendation, top down down up, but at the 2005 world championships a stringer was going top down on a Korean players racket at 34 pounds, three times in a row broke racket maybe 5 crosses before finishing, went bottom up No problem. To me when I saw the top down pattern the bottom of the racket looked fatter and the top looked slimmer, not the natural way the frame looks. Going bottom to top to me looks more like the frame should look like when you first get it without string. But what do I know, a washed up stringer....

 

IME, high-tension top-down makes the racket look... eggy, like it loses the iso-corners at the top. Bottom-up leaves the racket closer to its empty shape.

 

Exactly!!!!!!

 

There is chatter about top-down playing better but if this is because of the shape change, I'll pass.

There is also the issue of machine compatability. I reckon bottom-up is safest with most machines, particularly the fixed-tower ones and ones with limited 12/6 travel.

 

Hi Guys, very interesting stuff. I'm a tennis stringer and in tennis top-down is the way to go!!! There is no one who would doubt it.
Now I have a few badminton clients and I'm searching the "right" answer to this question. It looks like the majority of youtube stringers do the bottom-up thing. But from the theory of tennis stringing I think I will string the next badminton rackets using top-down-method.
Being no badminton player I'm unable to test the difference. Hoping to get the answer sometime.