You're an active BC member and have never dealt with Squash Eric before? I'm seriously shocked! It's about damn time to change this since he's supposedly the best guy in the whole www to deal with. Here you go: rkeptrading@gmail.com And while you're at it, make sure to also order some RKEP EX3 socks. The best sport socks in our part of the galaxy.
I'm a blasphemer I know, I asked him about a racket price once, but I didn't know if he had a store etc. I also might sink the money into the better dropweight machine. Might also upgrade it with a WISE. So how many restrings do people usually do before they touch other people's rackets? 10? 20? 100?
DO IT! It's more than worth the extra money! But save your money for thev WISE right now. There is always room for an upgrade later on. You get almost the same consistency with a proper technique and a drop weight. I did around 10 rackets of my own until I felt somewhat comfortable before I touched other people's rackets. You will feel when the time is right. A good sign would be if you get down to around 90 minutes to finish the racket and without major faults (weaving mistakes etc.).
Most important are knots. Without a decent knot you can weave, clamp and tension properly, but if you mess up the knot, your whole work is rubbish. I wouldn't say that any number of jobs will guarantee proper technique. If you know a lot theory, you will produce average to good results on the first times. My first job was 12kg x 13kg on a cheap Yonex racket. To be honest my mentor strung at sudirman cup in 2003 and I did a lot theory before I strung a racket.
I've been watching lots of videos from people on YouTube and I have someone to teach me too; what knot should I use? I know it's a Parnell but I've seen a few variations. Two piece haribito right? That's what everyone says.
Ah that makes sense. I gave Eric an e-mail about ordering a bunch of stuff from him, I couldn't quite justify everything and had to cut back a little bit. As much as I want 400M of string from him, I already have 200M of LN No.1, and I don't have a client base yet. Maybe in the future I'll order a lot more from him But yes the Ti70 seems like an awesome starting place for stringing. I really didn't want to spend £60 on a reel of BG65 or £70 on 65Ti. Maybe when I have customers. A shame I couldn't order the NS66 with it.
I have a few packs of ns66 like stringing it is fine but like there's something wrong with the string, the yellow coating comes off right away and breaks
Then I may have dodged a bullet I also ordered a couple of packs of Yonex Aerosonic, some towel grips... and yes, some socks.
So another thing I've been wondering about dropweight - how do you know what tension you're stringing to? The Penta Premium machine says it'll do up to 102lbs, but I think that might be a pinch high for badminton.
Start with the absolute basic: The standard Yonex 2-piece pattern and go bottom up. Works on each an every racket, is safe also for highest tensions and is fairly easy since you it's very straight forward when it comes to clamping. As soon as you have this one safe and feel comfortable with it, start experimenting with other patterns like different 1-piece variants (Victor, Haribito etc.). I don't see any advantage in going top down on a 2-piece pattern, it just feels like the racket shape gets more oval towards the top on isometric head shapes. Regarding knot, I would also start with a simple (single) Parnell knot or a Wilson pro knot. Both are fairly easy to tie, and do a perfect job when it comes to holding everything together. Same here: Start experimenting when you have a safe base to start from and that lets you get the job done. Sooner or later you will find a combination of pattern and knots that you like best and that will then become your standard. But make sure to still sting Yonex rackets which are still under warranty with their recommended 2-piece bottom up pattern. Everything else will cause trouble in case of warranty issues. Oh, and congrats to your first order from Eric! Now you can feel like a real BC'er!
A real BC'er eh? Hahaha. Anyway, the rackets I'm going to practice on are: Yonex Voltric 0 (4U) - it needs a restring anyway Yonex Arcsaber FD (5U) - it needs a restring anyway, gonna leave this til I've done a few jobs Yonex TR1... This is gonna be my main practice racket. It's a 115 gram training racket with a thick old frame, only Yonex racket I've seen rated for 30lbs of tension. Those are all cheap rackets, I wouldn't be too upset if they broke. My N50 III and my soon to arrive ZF2 on the other hand, I don't think I'll be stringing myself for a while. Just go bottom top? How many knots do I need to stop the string pinging back through the grommet? 1? 2? Anyway, 200m of RKEP 70Ti to practice with, and 200m of Li Ning No.1 for when I'm good. I have a former pro player and experienced stringer to teach me too, so it should be a pretty gentle process overall. I really am confused about how you tell the tension on a dropweight, but maybe it'll become clearer when I get the machine.
Just wait until you have the machine in your hands. Setting the right tension will be the easiest part of the job. What helped me a lot was the video in here: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...3-VIDEOS-How-to-string-Yonex-badminton-racket He has such a relaxed flow and also shows a some nice bits (like using the small pieces of scrap string on 76 or more hole patterns). And regarding the standard Yonex flow, just take a look at the first to posts in here http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/111058-Badminton-Stringing-Pattern-all-models or at these clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF8XJQcl0lY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bMZpAWrusE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjuJ2NfsZVA The third racket I strung was my own VT80, followed by my own TK9000 and it worked out fine. There is truly no reason to be scared as long as you work carefully and think about what you're doing.
Doesn't the ZF2 have a different pattern? I can't find which pattern it is. Same as the Z-Speed I think.
