Covid-19 SIP Racket Stringing videos, let's learn together!

Discussion in 'Badminton Stringing Techniques & Tools' started by kakinami, May 5, 2020.

  1. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

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    OWA is pretty much required for natural gut. Gut "settles" very quickly and if you don't OWA you end up with permament bent crosses.

    Especially if they've asked for polyester mains. Which they will have.
     
  2. Alex82

    Alex82 Regular Member

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    Stringing with my other Yonex machine a simple Carlton racket:


    If I have time, i will do a video of a Babolat racket with a 20x22 pattern. And also a one piece stringing, which name I don't know. Maybe some version of haribito.
     
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  3. tjiew

    tjiew Regular Member

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    I miss that machine so much. I learned how to string badminton racket for the first time using that machine.

    Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
     
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  4. Alex82

    Alex82 Regular Member

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    To learn stringing on this machine is a privilege. I still love it. Actually it is my second machine, mainly for tournaments or if someone will wait for his racket. The other is in the living room :)
    I will never sell my ES5Protech, even if it is just standing around.
     
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  5. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    Stringing tennis synthetic gut and the stringing with polyester ATW =)


     
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  6. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

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    Absolutely amazing - somebody bought a JS8SP?!
     
  7. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    The pull speed of the PT8 is really incredible.
     
  8. Alex82

    Alex82 Regular Member

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    It's not the fastest. I set it to 14. 18 is possible. But 18 is too fast.

    Yes, why not? Good racket (better than some Yonex Nano*). I heared sometimes, that this one breaks easily. But my customers never had problems with it. One of it have a few ZF2 and a JS8ST. Several ZF2 broke, but none of the JS8ST.
     
  9. Dekkert

    Dekkert Regular Member

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    Yes indeed. I even sometimes went further and pulled the whole string through the first shared grommet before weaving. Some shared grommets are so "difficult" that just pulling through one of them is enough to get the string twisted.
     
  10. Dekkert

    Dekkert Regular Member

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    Nice video clips of the different stringing methods! I learned the toshi knot (or the Gudgeon knot, as I recently found out ;)) from AK himself during the 2012 All England. Although appearently I always did it different. I always went through the first loop itself also (making it a hitch), and then with the second loop I went through both loops, before doing the last one going through both loops. It always worked however. Great knot for starting and ending.

    But I wanted to ask everyone which stringing method you think has the most benefits? I'm stringing myself for 10 years now. I never really did much of testing different methods. In the beginning I read everything I could on this forum and looked on Youtube. Of course there have been many, many before me who asked which method is the best, but the answer was always "there is no best method". So I just did what seemed best to me. I have a Pro's Pro Challenger Pioneer drop weight machine from the beginning (with the base clamps with locking system, but sadly no release button) and I string my rackets as follows (my own rackets with BG80 @ 14,5 kg (32 lbs) sometimes even more.

    • I string 2 Piece Top Down.
      I also learned to do a one piece stringjob as some rackets require that (some Forza rackets with just 4 shared grommets) and I hate them for it! I did the Haribito ATW from Kwun's video.Compared the 1P vs 2P and found that 1P loses much more tension and quickly. Seems logical as one long piece of elastic string loses more tension than 2 shorter pieces of string. Doing 2P you can also have different tensions for mains and crosses. Using 1P you can't, as it will even out very quickly.
      For 1P I can only see economical benefits for the stringer (less string needed per stringjob) and less knots where strings often break when using extreme high tensions.

    • Main = Cross for tension.
      In the beginning I did +2 on the crosses. Later I did a comparison and liked the feeling of M=C better. And I figured that the mains get tensioned extra because of the crosses, so you would need +2 on the crosses. However, the crosses are shorter than the mains, so they don't need to be tensioned as high, or higher than the mains for an even stringbed. So these two theories even eachother out. I don't know if latter theory is actually correct. However, I don't have issues with deformed frames and I like the feeling of it.
      Of course when requested, I do whatever the client wants.

    • While tensioning a main, I first weave the next one to give the string more time to get tensioned. Often you can see the arm drop a tiny bit. And when doing the crosses, I first pull a few times on the cross while being tensioned to get out slack from friction and to straighten them.

      IMPORTANT (for drop weight machines): I ALWAYS adjust the arm so it is completely horizontal before clamping the string and release it from the gripper. Even if it is just a tiny adjustment. If you have the arm horizontal and you'd move the weight up 1 kg, the arm drops only a little bit. So in my opinion having the arm off only a little bit can cause huge fluctuations. That's why it is important to have the arm completely horizontal to get the best and accurate stringjob,

    • I double pull the first two crosses and the last two mains (with Yonex loop).
      I do put 1kg extra when double pulling and do that twice on the first crosses. I once saw a post here of someone who measured double pulls with a digital scale and you loose quite a bit of tension when doing double pulls, especially when double pull crosses.

    • I start and end with a Gudgeon knot (FKA Toshi knot) and always minimize tension loss by manually tension the last outer part of the string by pulling the loops out and arching back. It is a great compact knot that is bulky enough. When using thin strings like BG66UM or AB I like to do three main loops on this knot.
    To this day I'm still wondering why Yonex recommends doing the crosses bottom up and for tennis they recommend top down. I've heard and read that you build up stress on the frame in the direction you are going. I would think that the top part of the frame at 10 and 14 o'clock are the weakest parts of the frame. Bottom part is thicker and why did Yonex bulk up the 10-14 o'clock parts on the Voltric 70/80?
    So IF both are true, wouldn't you build up stress towards the weaker part of the frame?

    Always wonder WHY. Even if you can't find the answer. Liam Nolan just commented at this recent stringing clip from Yonex and he expresses it best. Have a look.


    So what is your prefered way of stringing and why? ;) CHEERS!
     
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  11. Dekkert

    Dekkert Regular Member

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    And what is you most annoying racket to string? Mine would be those darn Carlton Razor rackets with grooves instead of wholes on the 3 and 9 o'clock positions. Horrible to string. Had to do it a few times for someone. Luckily only at 10 kg. But while the cross string is being tensioned, the string would often just slip out of the groove. Imagine if the client wanted 13+ kg?!
    And you also had to remember how to mount the racket and start your crosses, as there was only one way possible. There weren't many stringers around that were willing to string those rackets.
     
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  12. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    Board at home again!!

     
  13. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    Stringing bottom up for badminton I think the frame is weaker at the bottom, in 2005 at the World Championships, a stringer was stringing top down, a Korean player wanted 34 pounds and he broke 3 rackets in a row, then he went bottom up and no problem, i think that is when Yonex started to recommend bottom up. As for tennis I think it is the opposite, plus the frames are much more durable than badminton

    From Tennis Industry Mag
    So our approach at tournaments is to stringtop-down” whenever possible. This is due in great part to the simple fact that these racquets are being re-strung almost every day, and the stringing force moving in the direction of the shafts of the racquet will help the integrity over a longer period of time.
     
  14. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    Unfortunately for me I love to string so there is no racket I don't like to string, if I find it difficult, I actually enjoy it even more, call me a masochistic but I like it =)
    As for what is best string method, I would say like everyone else, whatever best works for you. I have been so closed minded I only use my modified Yonex pattern tying my mains on 9 and start crosses on 8, I never liked 1 piece but have been interested in trying different methods, Haribito, Haribito Pro, ZZ pattern things like that, but I think the best playtester would be you because you know what you are doing with the string as well as you can feel how it plays, unfortunately for me again, I am a sh*t player and am only good at stringing and Master Debating, take out the De =)
    Thanks for giving props to the Gudgeon Knot, he was a legend I never met, and it would have been an honor for me as a stringer to meet. I hear so much about him from the UK stringers and at every tournament I strung with them machine #2 was never given out, it was always reserved for Andy Gudgeon, so for Mark Lawrence and Tim Willis to respect him so much and I respected those guys a lot, to never have a machine #2 at a tournament must have meant he was a legend himself, and to call the knot by his name, I hope to keep his legend alive, I thank you for that! His son Matt is also grateful for recognizing that knot for his dad. Arigato!
     
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  15. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    Please respect the Gudgeon Knot, or at least recognize it has a name. Arigato!
     
  16. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    An old video
     
  17. Dekkert

    Dekkert Regular Member

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    Then it would be interesting to know where and when the rackets broke. Do you still remember that? Was it at the top (10-2 o c'clock) or at the bottom (8-4 o'clock)? And did it happen when starting the crosses, or when he was nearly finished stringing? My Armortec 500 is one of my spare rackets, so I like to string them a bit higher than normal, as I don't use them that often. I string that one at around 33-34 lbs top down. Never any problems.

    That would suggest top down is safer for tennis rackets. If it is because of the quantity of restrings. wouldn't it then be just as recommendable for badminton rackets? If top down would be safer because the racket frame is build significantly different to badminton rackets, than it would be nice if Yonex could clarify that combined with data from tests and let the science prove it.
     
  18. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    if you look at the shape of a tennis racket, it is like a badminton racket upside down. the "bulge" (2/10 o'clock in tennis, 4/8 o'clock in badminton) is the weakest part of the racket during stringing. therefore, top down for tennis, bottom up for badminton.
     
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  19. ckyew

    ckyew Regular Member

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    Thanks to AK for alerting me to this thread as it’s been awhile since I’ve been on BC. It’s still so good to be watching how everyone strings differently and there’s so much to learn and pick up from.
    I’ve done a few videos myself so I’m going to shamelessly and post it here
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7iCVRDygUwDKK96dZiVr-4pRraRTS1q4




     
    #39 ckyew, Jun 1, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2020
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  20. Alex82

    Alex82 Regular Member

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    Tastes are different :) For me I get a better feeling with 0,6 - 0,9 kg (1,3 - 2 lbs) more. Also a lot of my clients feel the same. But I string always with prestretch.
    I often tried M=C. They all come out of the machine in a really good shape. But when I saw the customers playing with it a few months later, the shape was rounder. And i hate rounder shaped rackets (tastes are different). Maybe it also depends on the machine.

    That was me (https://stringing.info/2018/03/29/nur-jede-zweite-saite-ziehen/). I always double pull the last two mains without increasing the tensions (except the tension is below 10,4 kg (23 lbs)).

    I get a lot of rackets which strung bad or strung by a bad stringer. Most of them have cracks at the bottom between grommet B6 and B11. Rarely they have cracks at the bottom part (except the cracks at 12 o'clock position). So for me the lower part is the weakest.

    I do a lot of testing around and not simply accepting the "rules". Sometimes I get angry looks about it or sometimes some people became aggressive if you say something against the "rules".

    I also read something, that they normally strung bottom up. Then they started stringing top down on an All England Open (don't know the year, but must be around 2005 (in the height of Taufik)) and they get a lot more broken frames. So they changed back to bottom up. I only broke 3 rackets while stringing (which has no cracks before). All of them were Talbot Torro rackets. Horrible German rackets! When i started stringing, i played with a very cheap Head Nanopower 500. The racket was very good to play for around 30 Euro. Head says in her stringing pattern, that you have to string 50/50. I strung them several times 50/50. The rackets broke relatively quickly. Later i strung them normally bottom up and they lasted longer. Maybe this not depends on the pattern, maybe it's that I'm getting better. But that is still in my head. So no 50/50 stringing in Badminton ;)

    I love to string such rackets. Its not just doing it, you must think about it. Its a break in the workflow. And sometimes it is very good if you have to think.
    I hate to string the Babolat rackets with 20 mains. I don't like their knot positions or the possibilities where you can place the knot.

    The Armortec series were strong, except of the sunken/weak grommet holes.
     

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