update: I have somewhat narrowed my preferred range to 27/28lbs (ending). I wonder how the other experimenters are doing. Strings, I've have settled on BG66. in spite of what others have posted, I haven't broken a lot of these. ( maybe a total of 3 or 4 in the last 8 months - that is usually 3 times a week total of 15 hours/wk). could be the others slice a bit???
Low tension is easy to play with because it is very tolerant of any misalignment of a racquet's balance point. In fact one way to test if your racquet is optimally balanced is to string it to very high tension of say 27/30lbs. If it plays better than your previous lower tension, then your racquet is probably close to its optimal balance point. If not, then you must have done something to your racquet and/or your racquet was not correctly qc'ed in the plant. If you play with low tensions all the time you will never know if your racquet is optimally set up.
Currently in the middle of different-string testing, soon maybe alsom racket-testing. So I'd keep my 23lbs. 23 seems to be on the verge of losing power, but will equal out and be great for me. Already used and abused BG80, 68ti seems to play good, after 1 session...
My string tension tends not to go down at all before breaking. Probably because my coach strings by hand.
Hahaha. I think it's awesome. He strings really well, and very balanced. He learned way back in China as a junior. I'd love to learn how to do it, but I just don't think it's very possible to learn well. One advantage is that you can repair/string on the fly. So he'll be out on the court sitting watching a match of one of his players, and he'll be stringing a raquet at the same time.
That's good to know however, there's no way he can be consistent with variable string tensions. Also he can't string that high, has to be 18lbs. or less.
He extremely consistent. My raquet is strung at around 26-28 right now, done by him by hand. The only tools he uses are an awl, one of those roller things, and occassionally a clamp. He strings his own raquets to around 30.
I guess I'd have to see it to believe it but saying a person stringing by hand is "extremely consistent" is hard to believe. Even an analog machine is not extremely consistent. Regardless, more power to him and you.
I'm sure he wasn't always that consistent. It must comes from years and years of stringing that way. He taught one of the people who used to play how to string. You have to be really patient, and either be rich or have a lot of old, crappy raquets, 'cause it's guaranteed that you'll break quite a few before you learn how not to.
I heard someone said before that they go by the harmonic of the string 'tone' So, my conclusion, hand stringers are hidden audiophile nuts
There is a simple way to learn how to play with high tension. I used this method quite successfully with ladies who are beginners and boys who are intermediates who initially couldn't handle high tension of more than 25lbs. They now play with 27lbs to 31lbs tensions, very different from the 20lbs they were playing with. The method is a combination of timing and a change to a "swatting-a-fly" action when hitting the bird. This increases the speed the shuttle is struck, which actually increases the speed of the shuttle and changes the feel and sound to one that is crispy instead of soft and soggy. Try it and you will be surprised.
I was swatting at flies a while back, and here are my experiences. At first, I was using a rolled up piece of newspaper. This method worked well against flies that were resting on a solid surface, such as the wall. THis is because the newspaper would "smush" up against the wall, increasing the surface area available for crushing. I would hold the roll about 4-5 cm away from the fly, them BAM! a quick wrist action would be sufficient to finish the job. However, the problem was that an agitated fly would never be stationary long enough to swat with this technique. Instead, it would be buzzing around, generally annoying me much more. What I ended up getting was a piece of cardboard from the recycling bin. THis would be the equivalent of a racquet with higher tension, because of the higher levels of stiffness. However, I couldn't hit the wall with this tool because of risk of damage and/or the risk of smearing bug guts all over. So instead, I was taking longer, more powerful strokes through the trajectories through which the fly was flying. It was a bit like swinging a baseball bat, except using only 1 arm. With this method, the fly would be dead at impact.
this is a skill about as far removed from hunter-gatherer as it gets... Though I don't really agree on should 'learn' to play with high tensions... in december-january when it started I was playing 21lbs or soemthing. now I'm up two 24-25lbs, and I don't feel this is the max.... why should I train to play 30lbs just because it's 30 lbs? as I advance my tension also increases..it's not the other way around...
dunno if I already asked this (directly?)? But since when is high-tension playing a goal to train for? I (accidentally) strung a racket at (what I guess is about) 26lbs..I didn't like it..feel is great, and power when in position is good. but a forehand drive/clear when out of position is hard, nevermind a backhand... learnign things just to play with high tensions sounds reversed. you string tension increase when you advance. but increasing your tension doesn't make you a better player...
All this talk about advocating high tension is overrated. High tension does more bad than good. It puts too much stress on the racket frame and the string will break much faster too. Not to mention more stress on your arm. Though I prefer 28-30lbs., I've recently dropped to 26lbs. and I now don't break strings on the first mishit, there's less stress on the racket and most of all, the world is a better place. OK, maybe not the last part.
