Don't throw away that awl just yet
 

OK, so I don't get a lot of Head racquets to string. A local shop was behind the 8 ball and asked if I could string some for them. They gave me 8 demos, 7 Head and one Wilson (Blade 16X19).

I strung the 16X19 Head Graphene Speed MP first. Well, about to the end of it I noticed something didn't look right. Then I started looking and damned if it didn't have shared grommets. You will need an awl. :)

The Wilson Blade 16X19 looked cool, BTW.

Several Head frames have shared holes. I don't understand why they brought back shared holes to tennis racquets.

I prefer to use scrap string to keep a section of a shared hole open to thread a 2nd "string" in the same hole later without worrying about having a crossover, instead of using an awl.

^^^^^^^^^^
Yeah, that's a good idea. And yeah again, I think of the 7 I strung, 4 had shared grommets.

Good to know, guess I won't be considering those Heads when it comes time to buy new racquets.

I would never throw my awls away anyways because I use them when I replace grommet strips.

Not sure why you need an awl for shared holes on the Head, though it comes in handy sometimes. I have not strung these Head Graphene, yet, but most of the time the holes are large enough to squeeze a second string through, like a tie off hole.

I recall there were a couple of Prince TT rackets that had shared holes but they had something like a double barreled grommet.

Rabbit, I guess you had to start over on 4 rackets?

I'm pretty sure Rabbit used the awl to widen the shared hole enough to squeeze the 2nd string through.

To enlarge a standard grommet hole if it's not a tieoff and I want to tie off on it, or to enlarge a grommet hole to avoid it being blocked, I use an awl.

But for shared holes it's not really necessary to enlarge them since they're already large enough to accommodate two strings, and it would be difficult to enlarge them anyway unless one had a very large awl.

The scrap string is to keep a specific (upper or lower) section/channel of a shared hole open, so a string can be run from the top of one shared hole to the top of the next shared hole, or the bottom of one shared hole to the bottom of the next shared hole, and not the top of one shared hole to the bottom of the next shared hole, or the bottom of one shared hole to the top of the next shared hole, which would eventually result in a crossover, since once a string going through a shared hole is tensioned, it is virtually impossible to shift its position within the shared hole without going back and undoing at least some of the work you've done.

virgin grommets can be tight and depending on the gauge of string, i've had to use an awl to stretch the opening just enough to accomodate 2 strings before. with some stiff poly string, it might not be necessary because i can cut the string an angle making the end a needle point.

Out of curiosity, I decided to look up the stringing instructions for Head Graphene Speed MP. It's not even updated on the Head site. The only racket in the latest Stringing Instructions from Head is the YouTek IG Prestige S.

I usually like to look up new rackets I come across so I don't overlook skips and shared holes. After that, I pretty much remember and don't have to look it up again.

Though one racket has been a thorn in my side, Babolat Pure Storm Tour/Team. I sometimes get the last main grommet and the last cross grommet on the same side confused. If I don't correct myself early enough, I have to start over. Those two holes are so close to each other, and there are no markings that tell which ones are for mains, like on other rackets.

Pre weave the top crosses before you tension the two outside mains on each side and you don't need any special tools.

The shared holes on the new Head racquets are already somewhat flared on the inner side, and on the outer side they have two "channels" for the two strings that are supposed to pass through the hole.

The Head Graphene Speed MP 16/19, Speed S, and Speed REV, the Instinct MP, Instinct S, and Instinct REV, Radical S, and Prestige S all appear to have the same string pattern, so I think it's safe to say that the instructions for the Prestige S would also work for the Graphene Speed MP.

Stringing the Babolat Pure Storm racquets you'll skip only hole 8.

When I bought my Exo Tours brand new, I did not use an awl but I did use a very small allen wrench that came with my stringer. After a few times stringing each racket, they no longer need any tools since the grommets have enlarged. I used Irvin's method of preweaving the mains but the crosses still had this problem.

If you're stringing two piece 50/50 you're going to have problems with the crosses at the top but on one piece or top down if you pre weave the crosses there is no problem with crosses and the bottom crosses usually don't present a problem except for the tie off on some rackets - again pre-weave it.

Starting back in the '70s, there have been times 'we' would look at each other and exclaim, "There was NOT a stringer in the room when this racket was designed". Many racket designs don't take the actual stringing process into account. IF the companies realize that many stringers are actually the folks SELLING the rackets, they would consider the difficulty of stringing their products. If a racket is a pain to string, the sales person/stringer is less likely to recommend it.

Having said that, in some cases, a single hole that accommodates two strings would (often) be more structurally sound compared to TWO holes in (close) proximity.

Personally, I think Volkl had couple of decades of the best stringing patterns in the industry(notwithstanding the Catapult experiment ;).

I also prefer to use a scrap piece of 16g poly instead of an awl. Too easy to accidentally damage the string with a awl.

You can say that again. When two holes are close to each other it is also very hard to move a string blocking a hole if there isn't some aid built into the grommet to hold the string off center.

EDIT: This is a problem I run into when string a Prince racket with 2 piece 50/50. Prince usually skips 7&9H and the outside mains at 10H ties off at 8H. When the knot is tied the string from 6H to 8H is dead center on 7H but the string from 10H to 8H is off center of 9H depending on how the knot is tied. You need to be careful you don't have a crossover there on either side.

Head has yet to update the Stringing Instructions on thier website to include the new Graphene series.

I know now to skip T8 on the Pure Storm. But T8 and T9 are so close together, it's easy to miss T8, especially when the holes are not marked.