Hi to all. First of all, my rackets should be stringed at 28-26 with AeroSonic. And here is my story. I always go to one badminton shop which use to be perfect to me until one day they changed a stringer. It was about one month ago, I restinged one of my racket on Monday at 28-26 as usual, it was perfect. Then, on Friday, I went to their shop again to restring my another racket at same tension with same string, but I found that they have a different stringer, after stringing, I found that the actual tension was significantly lower than the one stringed on Monday. Also, I tested by that mobile APP, usually the result should be 27lbs and this time, the result was 23lbs, same as what I felt. I went to that shop for 2 further times, and there was no improvement. They have only one stringing machine and that was definitely a good one. So I suppose the problem was on the stringer. May I ask what possibly happened and if I want to effectively talk to that stringer, what shall I say? As what I know, both stringers are licensed, and the new one supposed to be even better as his license was given by a major brand in badminton field.
Go there again and tell the stringer exactly that story. There is no need to change anything about that story - you're the customer, the shop should have the biggest interest in keeping you happy. Either the new guy is giving you a lower tension on purpose (you wouldn't believe how often this happens to make the clients happy about the "great durability") or he's making significant mistakes in his process. My money's on the first option. And by the way, it's common to name the tension for the main strings first. So it would be 26/28 lbs. in your case. A decent stringer will know how to handle the numbers the other way round, but better be safe than sorry.
Many thanks. Actually the last time I went there, I've already told the story to the shop assistant, however, unluckily, that guy was not the stringer and he was the only person in shop, what I did was writing "26lbs main, 28lbs cross, FULL" on the order to show my requirement on the accuracy of string tension. The next day I went to that shop earlier on purpose, when I reached the shop, my racket was still on the machine, and the number indicated on the stringing machine was correct, that's why I hadn't argue with the stringer because it looked nothing wrong. But my tension was still not satisfactory. I think I will talk directly to the stringer about my concern. Because it looked nothing wrong, I think the stringer will surely tell me he is correct, so what will be the possible problem which cause the tension lose in restringing while the parameter setting of stringing machine is correct? The stringing machine is Victor 7032, I found it in the shop promo video. I think I should bring the correct 26/28lbs to that shop and show the difference next time, this may be the most effect way. Some of my rackets can go up to 32lbs, so if the problem is not solved, I may order 30/32lbs, but for some of my rackets which can only do 28lbs, that will be a problem because they may not happy to restring such a high tension on a 28lbs racket. By the way, thank you for your suggestion on string tension expression.
I watched the number on machine, it was correct, at least, in the last few mins of stringing, it was correct.
Maybe there is also the option that the first stringer strung the racket to hard and the new stringer string it right.?
In theory, Yes. However, although this shop is currently the shop I will only choose, I also restring my rackets at different places before, the difference between 23lbs and 27lbs is obvious. Based on my personal experience, 25lbs is a critical value to many models of strings, many strings over 25lbs will give a significant difference on performance. ----That's why sometimes I would encourage some people who stick on 22 to 24lbs to try 26lbs or more, many of them will find a new world (because their skill and power meet the requirement of playing 26+lbs rackets). Also, because currently all my string are the same, it is not difficult for me to judge the tension simply by pressing the string with both fingers at sweet point of the racket, I know it is not very accurate because some rackets have smaller frame, but generally I can tell out whether it is 23 or 28.
If you had entered all the details properly in the mobile app, then that's an accurate reading of your stringbed. And that means your second stringer is not doing a good job. You already let him have 2 tries already? If I were you, I would specifically request only the original stringer to string your racket from now on. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Then I'm running out of ideas as well tbh. One final thought - is it possible that he doesn't pull every single string but instead does double pulls to save time? Apart from that, I think it's time to look out for a new stringer/shop. I take it that the old stringer is no longer working for that shop and there are no other stringers available there? Then call it a day and check out some alternatives. You obviously don't like the jobs he's providing, so no reason to keep on riding a dead horse.
I've seen this problem before, and I knew the shop stringer well. We couldn't actually figure it out in the end - she tried checking calibration, pre-stretch, single pulling everything (she used to double pull the starting mains), one piece pattern, sturdier knots, you-name-it. However, she persistently got relatively experienced players saying the tension felt 2-3 lbs under. She resorted to telling them to order a higher tension when stringing with her. Given that most racquets were not warrantied past 24 lbs previously (when the problem occurred), a customer asking for 28lbs and thinking it is too loose will not complain if he asks for 31lbs and gets the same tightness as he believes is 28lbs; they are both beyond warrantied tensions. In the end, now she just warns people that 1) they might need to ask for a higher tension 2) their racquet warranty will be voided if they go above whatever rating it says. I mean, if someone is asking for 26-30 lbs, they must understand that a racquet is more likely to collapse in general, especially in a clash. The only thing that we could figure is that the spring calibrator was not accurate enough. In your case, perhaps the shop is not checking the calibration of their machine at all, or the calibration tool is not adequate. Note that spring calibrators should only be used to check calibration - the actual re-calibration should only be done with an approved calibration gauge e.g. https://www.coleparmer.co.uk/i/shimpo-mf-100-analog-mechanical-force-gauge-100-lb/9395360. Most shops will not have this as they are supposed to send the tensioner back to factory if it is mis-calibrated as re-calibrating is not supposed to be done by the stringer...and the gauges are also pretty expensive!
There is perhaps another possible scenario: Your original stringer had strung your rackets at a higher tension than you asked, and also perhaps as also mentioned, the machine calibration may be off, and he had compensated for that by stringing higher. The second stringer may not have been aware of this and previous stringer had not passed on the info to either new stringer or the shop owner
