So the guy that is stringing uses a 6 point drop weight - that much I know. He is the stringer for a club a couple hours north of where I am, and that I go to sometimes. While he is a good guy - that doesn't mean his stringing technique will be. I know that knots on the outside of the frame aren't a good thing, but besides that I'm not sure. What questions do I ask? What are some signs? He said he could get my racket this evening and have it tomorrow morning for pick up - is that too quick? For reference, I'm using an Astrox 88s originally strung at 26 with BG80. Thinking of asking for 27 to factor for string creep (is that something I should do)? Or should I just ask for 26?
Honestly, the only sign that matters is whether the other customers are happy with him. If he is the stringer for a club, then those people trust him. Ask for the tension and the string that you are used to. That is the only way you’ll be able to fairly judge the job. Sometimes you gotta take a chance and trust people.
Is the racket symmetrical? Is there frame damage (paint dents around the machine support points)? Is there any apparent damage to the string (check nearest the frame - this is where the string is clamped)? Are there any misweaves (over-over-over instead of over-under-over)? Are the knots sinking too far into the grommets? Is there a lot of string outside the frame, particularly leading into the knots? If you've used that string and tension before, does it sound the same as it did the previous time? Bad technique manifests as frame damage, string damage, departure from desired tension, too-small and.or too-loose knots, mis-weaves excessive string around the outside of the frame.
Wow this is a lot. While English is my native language I can’t understand what any of this looks like. Is there a resource that shows me what a mis-weave looks like? Or what “excessive string” looks like? Etc, etc.
Everything is pretty clear for ... a stringer ! I can add more things to the check-list if you want. Grommets checking is missing in the list IMO.
I would like to go a little bit against the other comments... While I do agree with every single point in Mark A's recommendation I would yet suggest that you will not overthink it. The worst you can do is start worrying about every small detail in the stringing job. That would be a good suggestion if you were trying to employ a stringer in your shop... However (especially if you are in an area with very limited amount of stringers) most of these details will not help you find the best option unfortunately... The worst that can happen is you misunderstanding some of the things and start telling the stringer he needs to do something stupid because of YOUR luck of experience. In my opinion you only need to look at three points of Mark A's post. You don't want a damage to the racket or to the string and that there are no mis-weaves. Anything else is not as critically important especially if you are not so experienced and going for your first stringing job... I have seen stringing from a player who has participated in world championship some years ago and who is a very good player. While his stringing had many flows - lot's of good players used to like his job. Look at the other rackets the stringer did for your friends, try playing with them. If there is nothing extremely bad there and it plays well just go for it. Try to make a good contact with the stringer, talk to him, make him feel you are interested in badminton and respect what he is doing instead of looking for mistakes and nagging about small things...
They were written in order of importance... perhaps I should have made that clear . 1. Damage. 2. Misweaves. 3. Pattern/knots. Cardinal, mortal, and venal sins, respectively.
Updates: 1. No damage 2. No misweaves - I think? 3. 4 ending knots, like the original tying. In different positions but idk if that matters. He didn't clip the ends so they are a bit long but I think it's just aesthetics.
About getting the desired tension - I picked up one of my rackets which have been restrung yesterday. I wanted 24 lbs, but when I got home I could feel it's pretty loose and I'm sure it's not even at 22, when compared to my other racket (also strung at 24 a month ago). What do you do in situations like this?
Knot tails are at the bottom of the list of problems I always cut mine flush with the frame so they didn't rub in the bag.
That's the thing - no two stringers will get it the same result even if using the same machine. And different machines will give you different results even perfectly calibrated. It is almost impossible to get the same result, I don't know if the pro stringers using best, say, Yonex machines and doing it exactly the same can all get similar results - may be but I don't believe it... Your new string feels like 22 but are you sure? May be it's your old stringing was 26? If you know what I mean... The best you can do is to try to find what is the perfect tension for you with the new stringer. If you like 24 and it feels 22 than order 26 next time. If he is a good stringer he should get consistently same result every time but only compared to his own jobs. That is, just get 26 from now on and it should work well. If his stringing is all over the place and different every single time than it's a problem and this would be a good reason to keep looking for a better stringer...
We usually have a good, consistent stringer - but this time it was stringed by one of the young players working extra in the shop. But I get your point. Next time, if it’s this guy again, I’ll add a couple of pounds to the order.
Something else to consider - one stringer's "30 lb" might be different from another's. I used to take 30 as 29/30 but I knew some stringers who went "one up one down" (29/31) and some who'd do 30/31. Give a main and a cross tension and make it a moot point .
For me, a good stringer gets the tension right, or very close. I always use stringster app after I get my racket restrung to check the tension. A good stringer gets the tension consistently right.
I have used that app after I strung rackets and they maybe 50% of the time come out reading the tension i strung it at.
Was it the same stringer each time? Since I changed to my present stringer, the app consistently detects the correct tension I asked for. Before, it was quite a mess depending on the stringer. I assume it is more the stringer's fault than the app's.
Stringer seems to work fine... sometimes. A friend racket is always read as 10.5 kilo... no matter which string and what tension. A very old, worn out BG65 @ 10.o kp job? 10.5; A fresh BG65 @ 12 kp job? 10.5; You could hear the difference with your ears... A fresh Aerosonic @ 11.5 kp job? 10.5... and I saved the best for last: The Aerosonic job, telling stringster it's BG65? 10.5!
I am a stringer and I have tested this multiply times. I have strung 3 NS9900 at 31 lbs with NBG95. After all was done I can hear all are the same ping but when it come to stringster all 3 are different lbs even thought they are strung back to back with not difference in stringer, string, pattern, or anything else. I personally would not rely on something this inconstant.
