Thread title says it all. If you come across any sort of bad stringing practises, this is the place to post it. I'm going to start it with a racket that I got from a clubmate to string it which has made me speechless. At the first glance it appeared that one of the grommets was somehow capped. It turns out that there was a steel nail that was pushed through the grommet along with the strings and clipped flush with the frame on the inside: I'm not sure if I even want to know why anyone would do such a thing to a badminton racket...
Wow that's a new one! I guess the stringer didn't know how to get rid of excess slack when tying off? I think I've only had one really awful one, which was from a clubmate who always insists on getting a single string repaired whenever possible, despite what it could do to the playability of the racket or integrity of the frame. When I got it (after telling him a repair was not possible) I pulled out 8 knots from all around the frame! Apart from the that the usual thing is badly crossed strings on the outside, there's a JJS pic on here somewhere that had me scratching my head as to how someone could get it looking so bad!
Same here. The maximum number of knots on one single racket is currently also at 8 (two of them were tied on the outside of the frame). And you wouldn't believe how much I had to argue with the owner why I would only restring it completely and not do another repair.
Recent one: A guy I strung for in the past claimed he needed it done right away, so he went to sportchek to get it strung, paid almost double what I normally charge. This is the result:
Correct me if I'm wrong. I string a racket 2-piece. I cut the middle cross string. I tie up the ends (of course I clamp it 3-4 strings away from the cut and tighten up). Then I put in the 2-4 missing strings in the middle. I over-tighten all pulls to compensate for the knots. The result would leave 8 knots and if done properly be fairly playable. I think more than 75% of recreational players wouldn't be able to tell the difference TBH. Now. I almost never do repairs, and only if it's in the end of a string near the edge (say the top 2-4 crosses). And only if the person requesting it know the implications. #JustSaying... (I think the knot on the outside is hilarious).
One I've seen: Knot was glued with superglue, because it was slipping after being cut too close. I couldn't pull the strings out, finally had to pull out the entire grommet with knot and everything using tools... Then I could see the glue and the half knot...
I haven't been able to see a lot of pictures on this forum lately. Might be a problem with Tapatalk. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Hm... but can you see this specific picture? Cause I can't see it neither in Tapatalk nor in the browser.
I can't. The only pictures I see in this thread are the ones you posted. That being said, based on people's comments about knots on the outside of a racquet done from sport chek, I'm starting to wonder if that's their official stringing pattern that they teach their stringers. I see it pretty frequently. Definitely seen it enough that I don't want a photo to remind me. Haha Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
You should see the side. On the mains, they went T9 -> T10 -> T12, instead of the proper yonex pattern T9 -> T12 -> T10 I dont know if you can see it, but the tie off on the top, the stringer frayed the string...
Out of curiosity, why do they say to skip the second to last mains? I've always just followed along but never really understood why. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Simply to have less slack string on the outside of the frame to reach the tie off grommet coming from the end of the final main. This should help to have a better tension retention over time. But to be honest, I would say that at least 40% of the string jobs you get to see around here are done without that "Yonex loop". And the rate gets close to the 100% for rackets that were strung at local sports shops which are mostly more into tennis.
Oh, I see. Clamping at t10 is definitely easier. For T12 I have to do it in the middle of the string instead of close to the frame. But @s_mair I get that it would be easier to keep tension there with less distance for the knot to lose tension, but is there a reason the knots have to be close to the throat. Is that because the knot locations put stress on the frame? Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
I don't see a reason why a knot will put a significant amout of extra stress to the frame. I guess the reason for having them more towards the throat is simple - you will end up with only two strings in one hole. It's perfectly fine to tie the knot at one of the shared holes like B10 (and some stringers even prefer it to get the knot away from the sweet spot strings) but you will have to deal with having three strings going through the same grommet. EDIT: And thinking about it, this would only work on certain one-piece patterns. Else you would have to thread the cross with already having a knot blocking the grommet.
