The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
This week has been a pretty cool week for me as I discovered the ‘Time Lapse’ feature on my iPhone XS. I had a bit of fun playing around with it whilst stringing. Ideal for providing a (very) quick video demo without boring people to death!
I’ve averaged 3 rackets per night so far this week (racketball, squash, tennis and badminton), with the number looking to exceed 30 for the week with me stringing at a tournament this weekend.
There have been some interesting sites! For those who know me, I’m a stickler for presentation and accuracy. Some of the common mistakes I’ve encountered this week with rackets provided by new customers include:
A new model Nick Matthew racket which had been strung the wrong way round (short side on long side), meaning that the strings on the outside were not in the designated slots, a feature on most new Dunlop rackets to keep the strings tucked in. If strung like this, the strings will be exposed around the frame and will scrape on walls and floors, leading to premature breakage – as was the case with this racket.
Strings in above mentioned Dunlop racket were green Pointfore strings, not the Tecnificbre strings the customer thought had been put into it! Sneaky sneaky!
Missed loops on a couple of rackets
Crossed strings on outside of rackets – have seen a lot of this recently, including on factory strung rackets
Grips – too many things too mention… I’m itching!
A fair bit of the above is probably just lack of attention to detail from the previous stringer, nobody’s perfect. However, it amazes me how the Dunlop was strung so badly. The Dunlop even has tie off instructions at the tie off grommets – so it’s very difficult to get wrong. It’s not often that rackets give you pointers on how to string them, so use the advice when given!
Anyway, always good to see where other people are going wrong as it’s a reminder for me to keep my eye on the ball – we all make mistakes. Attention to detail and patience are valuable commodities in stringing. Always string the racket as if you were stringing for the World No 1.
The first 2 images (see red circles) show how the strings sit outside the slots, exposed to scraping on walls and breaking very quickly.
The third image (see pink circle) shows the racket after I've strung it - strings neatly in the slots provided, hidden from contact.
The strings on the Yonex Badminton racket look pretty smart (Yonex BG80), and apparently they played really well too.... Until the racket was chopped in half by the player's over zealous doubles partner...Ouch!
