I used to play in Malaysia when I was younger and man does the air get really heavy when you're drenched! But on the plus side, I never saw a plastic shuttle when I lived there!
I never break strings any more. I end up either a) cutting them because they've lost their flavour, or b) cutting them because I'm being snowed under with test strings
the only plastic shuttle i own is the one i hang from the ceiling in my living room. not a staged execution, but for my kids to do swinging practice. plastics are perfect for this purpose and this purpose only.
At my training place, we use feather's for drills, and plastics for games. Also, the school tournaments use plastics only. I guess I'm kind of use to it, though I prefer playing with feathers, I don't often get the chance. Also back to the main topic, how do you guys break your strings?! With the exception of Mark, the majority of BC members seems to average about 2 weeks to a month. I have no idea how you guys do this, even when I try to break my strings (don't ask why) during rallies, without purposely mishitting and such, it doesn't seem to do anything. My strings last me about 3-5 months before they lose their 'feel'.
That's normal, I used to break my BG-80 @ 26 lbs every 2 weeks, and I rotate through 3 racquets. I have since changed to NBG-99 and it's much more durable and retains tension a lot better. It's similar durability to BG-65 but doesn't lose tension nearly as fast. I can get about 1-2 months I think, but I don't play as frequently anymore
I would like to know this as well. I always enjoyed reading SS's post so is this advisable and has no ill effect?
Which part of Canada you are talking about ? In Vancouver humidity is constantly between 40-60%. And because of the difference between plastic and feather you want to change to feather, I guess you end up spending way more money on birds than strings. I'll measure the weight of the feather and plastic birdie tonite with my digital scale. People always talking about plastic killing strings but what is the logic if they weight the same. A lot of people (playing for years) don't adjust their strings when they move at all and some people don't even know the strings broke because it is a mis-hit.
I am facing similar problem when I use BG65 Titanuim at 25lbs. The string keeps breaking every 3-4 week right at the sweet spot. I use Victor Arrow Power 990 and Victor Thruster 550. My aggression level is around 45% and tend to play slices and smashes regularly. Is there a better string option I can go for?
So the average string life is like a few weeks? I play with BG66UM and it lasts for months. Perhaps even 4 months as I seldom get it restrung. I play twice a week 2 hrs each time. I got it strung at 24lbs with my stringer. Now that I have my own machine I had to set it to ard 30lbs to get the same string bed ping pitch. The one my string strung doesn’t lose much tension whereas the one I strung has lost more. I’m in Malaysia and only use feather btw. So I’m wondering if you guys are doing slice shots more since it’ll cut the strings faster.
If the string wears down in the middle and notch before breaking and you are not satisfied with the amount of time you get out of it, you use a too high tension and too fragile string for your requirements and expectations of durabilty. You can't await performance and economy at same time - impossible. Especially statesments about time are very inaccurate. 3 weeks of playing every day for several hours can equal easily 4-5 month of 2 times per week for 90 minutes. Another thing which leads to inaccurate statements of time is your amount of rackets. 3 rackets evenly played triple the time of a durabilty statements. I have some clients who go thru a job faster than others, even with same setup. Especially players who slice often, will wear down their strings faster. From my own perspective, I discovered that the tension ratio also plays a significant role for the durabilty. Especially when strings of the same direction move too easy, one part (horizontal or vertical) need to work more which cause a faster wear down of the strings and more lost energy which also lead to more brute force intake. For plastic players I can say that the stroking of a plastic and a feather is very different. I can clear effortless a feather shuttle with a loose grip. For plastics I need more force and need to grip tighter. Often said it is like it is: Stroke a feather, punch a plastic. The weight of both shuttles is the same. The cage of the plastic is not solid and compress more easy, which cause a higher loss of energy which you need to bring in with force.
