I have just created my BC account to become part of the community that i have watched from aside. Glad to be here. So my concern would be: I have bought a stringing machine to finally take in into my own hands. I have strung my own YY rackets on occasions with YY 4-knot without questioning. So I am not entirely a newbie to this art. But with this purchase I also did the research on a lot of the other stringing methods and patterns. Victor 2-knot(old and new), Lining 2-knot and 4-knot, Haribito basic and professional, ZZ 4-knot, and on and on and on...... To be frank I am a little bit overwhelmed. As I am from Chinese descent, i also made use of the Chinese sources and set out to try and 2-knot pattern that is not a big brand standard. I am gonna describe it briefly: 1. Start with mains; 2. with the short side, just go back and forth until mains are done; 3. on the long side, do last main before second last(as with YY and victor) and go into third cross counted from botton (here the writer recommends preweaving the last two mains+plus the 3rd and 4th cross, as each pair of main+corss use a shared hole, this will avoid using an awl if you pull the mains first); 4. continue with the crosses up the racket head and tie off; 5. on the short side, do the bottom two crosses and tie off. [for 76-holes +2lbs on 8 crosses counting from the 5th from bottom] This pattern seems very "clean" to me and is (so the writer) inspired by several different more well-known patterns. First, what do you all think of this method. Second, my actual qustion: is there a a method that is by design BAD(e.g. harm the racket or string), or can i calm down and go with any one of them as long as i do everything correctly. Many thanks in advance and sorry for the long text and possible mistakes in my English. I'm German, we're not known for good English. XD Stan
First of all, welcome to BC and congrats for making the best decision of your badminton life. Second, don't let yourself get overwhelmed by all the possibilities. There is no need at all that you need to know and test all of those pattern since there is no magic pattern that will make your string jobs "better" by definition. It's important to develop a consistent routine and flow and not be tempted by many of the shortcuts that you can see on so many stringing clips all over the internet. If you feel that your rackets are playing fine and that you get good an consistent results with the good old Yonex pattern, then there is no need to change anything. I'd say that 99,9% of pro-player rackets are done with that pattern, so chances are it's not a bad pattern at all. However, there is nothing that keeps you from trying new patterns that spark your interest. When you try different pattern, you might come across one that just feels good to you. Maybe you like the workflow, maybe you notice that you prefer to have less knots, or that you really like a clean look on the outside of the racket. If that's the case, then you should repeat that pattern a couple of times to really get a feel for it. That's the great thing about stringing - there are almost endless options from which only a few can be counted as plain wrong and bad. So stringing is in fact a little bit like art. And there is lot of room to develop your own style. this basically sounds like a pretty standard 1-piece pattern with some strategic pre-weaving. It's a functioning pattern so if you want to give it a try, just go for it! There are some practises that are just plain bad. Doing the mains side to side, only tensioning every second string, damaging the frames with tools, not tying the knots properly... but very few (none?) of those have to do with the pattern. It's all about doing proper work and not start cheating. #selfpromotion Who says that?!
Thank you Simon for the thorough reply. I couldn't have missed your YT channel when doing my research, so it's nice to have a experienced stringer like you responding. I am pleased to know that it ultimately comes down to a good practice rather than the patterns. I feel much more assured to try out a few methods and see what works best for me. So again thank you a lot. I am excited to get going
Ohhh have I gotten myself into some problems here Just a quick question, what's your take on +2lbs on the center crosses only? I've read that Victor method does this aswell.
I do +2lb middles on mains and crosses. Steeping down 1lb for a couple of strings either side. Seems to make the sweet spot sweeter and the off-centre shots more forgiving. Originally saw it on the 1 piece pattern for MX60 which played so nicely I kept doing it. The Germans I know have better English than me (Or is that "I"?) and its my 1st language. Sent from my SM-A315G using Tapatalk
some do it, some don't. It won't change the world. Personally, I take the easy route and keep the tension the same on the whole racket. Makes it less likely to make the mistake and forget to change the setting. Theory is that these tension differences on certain strings only will distribute to their neighbours over time anyways, so the effect will most likely not be permanent.
and just a side note there - I'm still below 500 jobs on my clock. There are others around here who are doing twice that in a single year, so I'm more the stringing nerd than being extraordinarily experienced.
Swamp german checking in, we're in a similar boat Agree completely with what was said here, most pattern are fine, and I do YY on virtually all rackets I string, apart from some experiments. The difference between stringers is in good practice, not cutting corners and not rushing. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Check out some pointers on mounting rackets by s_mair's YT channel, soft wave (pre-weave by one), and check out some knots by Kakinami. There is also a useful video about conquering the shared hole somewhere. Focus on getting a quality job done, and you'll be fine. My first stringjobs took me 3 hours, quickly going down to under an hour by number 10. Ended up around 35 minutes with focus on doing a quality job. I'm around 400, now, in 5 years! So slow!
I've made a playlist to collect all the clips that I found useful over time (including some of my own of course...): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYrw9BAzfs6fJn8KltcIg98q6SaUY0sHV OMG that is hilarious! Should we start a chit-chat thread where we can collect these kind of stuff on an international basis?
Firstly, disgregard any one-piece vs two-piece nonsense - it makes absolutely no difference. Two-piece is easier, just use that. Second, make sure that, when doing the mains, one side does not get more than one string ahead of the other - that is as close to perfect symmetry as we can get. Third, do the crosses bottom-up - Yonex has done our homework for us, here, and determined that it reduces substantially the chance of breaking the frame. That's it - get the string in with the least complication and the most balance, and enjoy.
With all due respect, I passionately disagree with that statement. I always get into bigger fights with shared holes and other nonsense when I use 2-piece (because I must, not because I want to!). I’m always faster with my usual 1-piece.
My god, I haven't come on BC for two days and missed so many messages. I've done 5 Rackets so far trying the 1-piece pattern. getting more and more into form. The shared holes are totally fine for me after receiving my string puller. I could wait for it for my first two string jobs. Gosh that was awful. My first one took me a good 2 hours. My neck was hurting so bad after that XD. Now down to an hour.
My biggest challenge so far was with the string twisting to hell sometimes. Soon I realized it always happens when pulling the string with it rubbing against another. (primarely where the mains are blocking the hole for crosses at to racket top.) Now I make sure to pull it through a hole like that whilst getting the other out the way.
I hate it when that happens. Which strings are you using there? There are strings that are more prone to twist like a bunch of boas in a swinger club (hello Aerosonic/Aerobite!).
I'm testing a few different strings atm. VBS 66N, VBS 68, Zymax 66FP. The Zymax is definitely the worst one when it comes to twisting. On another note, I've asked this in another thread. I've had two rackets come out 2mm shorter after srtinging. Or 1~1.5mm wider on each side. Is that tolerable or should I cut them and restring? I guess I have to stretch the racket a bit further when mounting.
I'd say that 2 mm deviation in the total length is not the end of the world. This will not be dangerous for the racket and I'd even expect it to get less over time once the string starts settling in. @thyrif has put a lot of effort into measuring and comparing differen approaches in terms of tension ratios main/cross and mounting details to see which one produces the "closest to original" head shape: https://badmintoncentral.com/forums...how-do-you-want-to-deform-your-racket.188125/ In the end it was the same tensions for main and cross strings with the extra of re-tightening the 6 o'clock support after tensioning the first two mains. Normally, you will see that there is a certain gap in that support after pulling the first two mains. This will lead to a slight stretch of the head at that point but ultimately result in a well balanced result.
Hello i posted this on the string thread but didnt get any replies so thought i try here sorry for stealing your post The photo below is my 88S PRO , just wondering if it was strung correctly because the new grommets of the 88s pro thank you and once again sorry!
