Victor TKFE String Pattern

As far as i know its best to use 4 knot.
As 2 knot, if the stringer are not good enough, there is a risk ur frame might deform.
Also i feel like 2 knot are not easy to get my prefered tension & losing tension much faster than 4 knot. But maybe due to frame deform risk, the stringer wouldnt dare to stretch the string with high tension.

As for pattern, i cant say anything as idk about it & just trust my stringer to use whatever pattern he see fit.

 

Yes it use 2 piece of string.
Also, once my racket are strung with 6 knot
My guest the string snap during stringing & still continue the job as it is. It still playable tho with stupid 6 knot.

Last, long ago i saw friend of my friend had his racket a very colorfull string. When i borrow it & see it, its not 2 string combo but all leftover string combo. There is small part of BG80, other small area BG66, some other LN1, & so on (idk how many piece of string there) as there is so much knot almost every 2 hole had 1 knot. Didnt play with it tho but i guest he just being cheap dont want to invest on string.

Just go with 4 knot friend

 

So you are not a stringer. Why would you answer stringing related questions like this one? And with such confidence too?

My advise: If you have a stringer that you trust, then just hand him the racket and the string and let him do the rest. He knows his equipment and his process and knows best what to do. The TKFE has a standard 76 holes pattern so there is truly nothing special to watch out for.

And regarding the never ending 2-knots vs. 4-knots discussion: It doesn't make jack sh*t of a difference as long as the stringer knows what he/she is doing. There is zero extra risks in terms of deformation when doing a 2-knots pattern.

 

Just sharing my experience, not the absolute correct answer. Others might feel different.

Idk about other country but some stringer here are nothing more just a job. A hired employee, get short time training how to use the tool, & did the job not knowing much about badminton. & Most often this kind of stringer just did 2 knot & their job never satisfy my preference. Tho some people i know say 2 knot are for lazy stringer but i didnt say it here cos im not stringer. Lazy or not, i dont much care but 2 knot job so far never please me.

While other hand stringer i like mostly use 4 knot & i dont need to ask for the knot. It will be 4 knot with the tension i ask & if i talk with them, most likely they also play which makes them more or less know or respect what they are doing.

This exactly like what u said.

 

Have you had any reasons to doubt his abilities yet? Do you disklike how his jobs feel on the racket? If not, what keeps you from trusting him?

It is more consistent and has less risks to introduce errors in the process.

It's a pattern that will surely work. Nothing wrong with it. But same goes for a standard Yonex 2-piece (4 knots) pattern.

 

Over the years there have been several different patterns that Victor recommended for their rackets. At times even different patterns from Victor Taiwan and Victor Europe. So again, there is no magic hidden in any pattern.

Nothing wrong with trying the electronic machine. Give it a try and see how it feels. But let the stringer just go their job and don’t force him to do a pattern that he is not familiar with.

If it’s that important to you than you can post pics of the strung racket (string bed, knots and outside parts of the frame) in here. There are always some hints if he is doing some major no-nos. But don’t make a judgment only based on 2 or 4 knots for example.

 

Else, you could buy a machine and string yourself. No worries about trusty or not, it will be you and only you

 

My best advice is that if your stringer is an experienced stringer, just let him do his job.

For most ppl, there isn't any noticeable difference between 1-piece and 2-piece stringing in either feel / playability or durability / structural integrity of the racket at normal tensions.

In previous generations of Victor racket, the official stringing pattern from Victor was a 1-piece pattern, and their rackets were designed to accommodate only a 1-piece stringing job as there was only one tie-off hole on the bottom of the racket on either side (left / right) - most rackets have two tie-off holes on the bottom (#6 & #8)

Tie-off holes are the wider holes that are designed to accommodate two strings like the shared holes on the corners

You can see the pattern here on page 2
https://ca.victorsport.com/file.php?f=2015123013093083747.pdf&type=file&id=3412

But the problem is most stringers, even very experienced ones do not know how to 1-piece stringing. Victor Europe even recommended two piece stringing on Victor rackets that were designed for 1 piece stringing but they recommended using one of the crosses as the 2nd tie-off on the bottom - see the file here:
https://dancewithbirdie.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/stringpattern.pdf

I think this is wrong. In my opinion, if the racket was designed for 1-piece stringing, you shouldn't force a two-piece job on it unless you have no choice like in the case of hybrid strings.

In any case, as far as i know, newer Victor rackets like the Thruster F now have two tie-off holes and on each side so they accommodate standard 2-piece stringing just fine.

I use two piece stringing on my Thruster F Enhanced as i used Aerobite strings or any other hybrid strings. For standard strings, i use 1-piece stringing (I can do the old victor pattern, but i prefer the "around-the-world" Haribito pattern). It is all personal preference, but i feel 1-piece is better as there are fewer points of failure / lower tension loss (i.e less knots). also as an added bonus it uses less strings.

If you are going from a crank lock out type of machine to an electric constant pull machine, the constant pull job will feel tighter but it is not a big deal if you been using the same stringer as you already found a tension you like.

 

You still can but it will have to either force the string thru a single pass grommet (might not be a big deal for thinner strings but can be a bit tricky with thicker string) or as Victor Europe suggested, use a different hole to tie off (the 2nd cross string in this case). I also seen some off brand rackets where they don’t have any tie off holes (all top and bottom holes are single pass grommets) - that really makes life difficult for the stringer

hybrid strings are strings like yonex aerobite that used different strings for the mains and crosses so for those you will need to use two-piece stringing.

the popularity of hybrid strings is probably why you won’t see any major brands like Victor go back to having rackets with only a single tie off hole on the bottom left / right side as you need two per side (typically hole #6 & #8) for two-piece stringing.

 

1-piece stringing is considered the more advance technique. It is definitely more work both in terms of planning and during the stringing process as you have to measured out right length for the short end when preparing the stringing job; this length can also vary greatly depending on which racquet you are stringing and where start the bottom crosses. You also need high quality tools for 1-piece stringing as well - a good starting clamp js essential for one piece stringing

With all things being equal, you should actually experience less tension lose with 1 piece vs 2 piece as you are only tying off at two locations.

if you are experiencing more tension loss with 1-piece stringing the 2-piece stringing from the same stringer I would say that either the stringer is not very experienced with 1-piece or just not a very good stringer in general (poor technique/ attention to details, etc. Again, 1-piece stringing is the more advance technique and it is easy to mess up if the stringer is not properly trained or has much experience doing it.

if you get a racket back with 6 knots I would find a new racket stringer!

 

Also as far as frame deformation goes, in my opinion, 1-piece stringing better distribute the stresses on the frame when doing the crosses as you start 1/4 way down / up the frame and work your way down or up, leaving the other 1/4 to do at the end when most of the frame is already tensioned. On a two piece string job, you start on bottom and work your way up. That is one of the main reason yonex switch their official stringing pattern for their rackets from top down to bottom up as rackets were getting thinner and thinner and doing top down was putting too much stressed on the (thinner) frame - generally the bottom part of the frame is thicker so it can better handle the stresses from starting the crosses on bottom. (I still prefer top down for top piece stringing on my own racket as strings at the top of the racket is tighter)

 

i would try different strings to see what you like. Aerobite are a nice blend of good power and control
In general you always string the crosses around 10% (2-3lbs) higher than the mains maintain the shape of the racket - I don’t factor in the thickness