How much will this stringing mistake change my game?

Discussion in 'Badminton Stringing Techniques & Tools' started by MarketWizard, Oct 3, 2021.

  1. MarketWizard

    MarketWizard Regular Member

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    One of my buddies at the badminton club strings my racket and charges a fee for it. He's always done a great job but this time, I noticed that on the cross strings, he forgot to alternate the up/down weaving (sorry I have no clue in the world how to describe it. I don't know the vocabulary) so basically it runs parallel to each other rather than alternating with the weaving pattern. This was done on cross string number 6 and 7 starting from the top (sorry again I'm not sure how strings/grommets are counted), so kind of between the center and top.

    So my questions:
    1) Does this risk my racket from any damage and should I avoid playing with it until it gets fixed?
    2) If no, will this even be noticeable when playing?
    3) Am I perfectly within my rights to ask for him to redo it without charging me, and not looking like an ass? Mind you I do pay for my own strings and supply them to him for him to string my racket with, so I'd pay again for the strings at least.
     
  2. Ballschubser

    Ballschubser Regular Member

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    Don't think that this will do any harm.

    Don't think if he only have one or two of these misstakes.

    He took a fee, so you have the right to get a proper strung racket and ask him to redo it, but when he did such a misstake he is most likely not an experienced stringer and he will have to invest a lot of time into stringing a racket (I need still ~90 mins). Maybe a compromise, ask him to either redo it or if you have the feeling that you can play with the racket, ask him to half the price for the next string job when you keep the racket this way.
     
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  3. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    a misweave is not fatal. but it is not good either.

    from a physics point of view, it creates an imbalance in the force applies to the racket head. It is not fatal in these days and age of carbon fiber frame, but there imbalance is there.

    How do I know? when I was a little kid, I had a racket with steel frame. steel is much more deformable than carbon. I had a racket strung by a shop and there were a few misweaves. after a week or so, the racket head shape was deformed.

    carbon fiber is more springy and will bounce back to normal shape once the string is gone.
     
  4. MarketWizard

    MarketWizard Regular Member

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    If there's an imbalance and it's altering the racket head, won't this affect the feel of the shots?

    As soon as I took the racket out of the case I could see something wasn't quite right. I couldn't put my finger on it but the shape just seems a bit different from before.
     
  5. s_mair

    s_mair Regular Member

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    No, this will not damage you racket. As @kwun said, there will be minor imbalances from the missing weaves, but this will not be crucial.

    There are two sides to this:
    1) "real" differences: In a blind folded test, I am 100% sure you would not be able to notice the weaving mistakes
    2) mind games: You already know that there is a flaw in the string job. So it is very, very likely that your brain will play games with you once you hit bad shots. Personally, even if I know perfectly well that a weaving mistake will not break my game, I just don't feel confident knowing to play a "fautly" racket.
    Besides, I can't imagine how this would lead to a visibly deformed racket, so it looks like the mind games have already started there. ;)

    I think you are heading for a good compromise. Since you will provide the strings, I'd say it's perfectly fine if he does the stringing for free. If you really want to play it hard, you could even ask him to pay for the wasted set of strings (which I would clearly do if it was strung by a professional shop!), but since you are buddies and you plan to get your rackets strung by him in the future, I'd say it's fair to look for a compromise there.
     
  6. SnowWhite

    SnowWhite Regular Member

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    If I notice I missed a weave while stringing (doesn't really happen anymore, but it was less rare early on), I always go back and fix it. If I notice it when a racket is already finished and the knots are tied, well...

    If it's my own racket, I really don't care. It's not going to make a difference in how it plays.
    If it's someone else's racket, I have always cut out and restrung it (only happened a few times though). I'm not stringing their racket as a favor, they are paying for it. I'm not a professional stringer, but I have some professional pride and personal responsibility.

    Although when it happens to me, it was usually that I missed a main in the weaving, so instead of it going over under over, it would go over over over i.e. it would skip three strings. I don't know how going parallel wouldn't be immediately visible.
     
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  7. Mark A

    Mark A Regular Member

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    Tell him you want it done again; if he won't, assure him you not only won't go back to him, but will advise others about the error.

    Yes, I was a complete fascist when it came to stringing mistakes - I once noped one of Shin Baek-Cheol's TK9000's because of a crossover. When Paul and I had a mountain of MAS rackets to wipe after they changed sponsors without telling us.
     
  8. MarketWizard

    MarketWizard Regular Member

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    Threats are a bit extreme, and if he doesn't do it again, he's smart enough to know that anyone in my position would tell others. Anyways, I'm not even worried about him not doing it again. I'm sure he will. I just wanted to know what the badminton stringing mistake etiquette is for friends charging a stringing fee.
     
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  9. Ballschubser

    Ballschubser Regular Member

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    We are talking about some club people who string for low budget to help out people who broke their string. Honestly, most club stringers will invest more time into stringing your racket than it is worth the few bucks they get for it. If I compare my time investment for stringing a single racket with what I would get at my daily work for it, it would be more economically to buy a new pre-strung racket each time.
     
  10. MarketWizard

    MarketWizard Regular Member

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    Damn son you bringing in the big bucks. $180 for 40 minutes at your job? Lol
     
  11. Ballschubser

    Ballschubser Regular Member

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    I need 90 mins.... it depends a lot on the machine (manuel vs automatic pulling) and experience...and the average racket, not the newest yonex pro rackets.

    I pay 10 € for a string job at my club, the price is really a joke compared to the time investment.
     
    #11 Ballschubser, Oct 4, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2021
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  12. kakinami

    kakinami Regular Member

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    Hoes come and go, friends are forever. Just felt lik sayin it.

    I think stringers, most are creative people, saying that we, most, value our work as artists. Without people like us your racket is more difficult to use without string. If our creativity is criticized or we make a mistake, it is something we shouldn't do or have done, as an artist we think of our creativity as perfect, in our own eyes and a mistake is unacceptable in an artistic point of view. If you have pointed this out to your friend, and if he is your friend, also keep in mind, stringing rackets is a thankless job, but without stringers again a racket is difficult to use, most stringers do this out of the kindness of their heart, if you have ever tried to string a racket starting out it isn't an easy thing to do, my first racket was 2 hours and 45 minutes, in my prime stringing for people like Andy Murray or Serena Williams, I have never heard a thanks for your help after they have won a tournament.

    That being said if you showed him his work and he is your friend, he should re do the racket, he made a mistake and he should own up to it. You being his friend if he doesn't re do it for free should accept his friendhip and support him as a thankless stringer doing a job to help people keep their rackets in a playable form by putting string in them so you can use them. If he is your friend and he does it for free, maybe like most stringers, Although I am not one of them, a thank you beer might be a good thanks and support for your stringer. I might prefer root beer.

    Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
     
  13. stradrider

    stradrider Regular Member

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    I think just "like" is not enough.... Great post, Alan!!!
     
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  14. s_mair

    s_mair Regular Member

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    That is THE best idea yet. By far. Make it beer or chocolate or just anything - the effects of small gifts like that cannot be rated highly enough.

    And a great post apart from that as well, thanks Alan! A bit sad to hear that even the really big stars don't manage to show their gratitude to the "basic workers" behind their success. I've just watched the Netflix documentation "Schumacher" and it was so impressive to hear how his former mechanics at Ferrari admired him because of his whole attitude. Being the first one in the garage and the last one to leave, being always open for communication and knowing names and some background of literally everbody in the team and then sharing and celebrating the final success with everybody. That's how you get a team to perform at their best and give everything they got without actually having to force them to. The attitude of great professionals.
     
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  15. Rimano

    Rimano Regular Member

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    Others have summed it up better than I could ever do, but as hobby stringers who also have a normal day job, I feel there's not enough appreciation for the time spent on this.

    Just a side note... Just realised I done this exact misweave on a racket... Been recently rushing my string jobs because of lack of free time. Luckily out of the recent 5 rackets, the one that has a misweave is my own racket. Also doesn't normally happen to me... Since I normally check my crosses after every pull.

    Sent from my MI 8 using Tapatalk
     
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  16. s_mair

    s_mair Regular Member

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    these things just happen from time to time. What helped me to reduce weaving mistakes big time was to install proper lighting. I'm using one of those softbox lamps (https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B016Q1NWLA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and it does a darn good job for the small price.
    Also, weaving one-ahead makes it a lot less likely to make mistakes.

    But still... I've discovered a weaving mistake on one of my own rackets recently second to last cross at the bottom) while I was cutting the strings anyways. Didn't notice it at all while I was acutally using it - on the contrary, I thought that the job was playing extremely well. Sooo... we're back a the mind games again.
     
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