Strung my first Babolat - question please

[anubis]

I strung a new 2013 APD last night, it was my first Babolat stick that I ever strung. I'm used to stringing Head and Wilson racquets.

The pros: the stiffness of the racquet meant there was NO flex during stringing. The frame stayed rigid the whole time. The head remained the same shape during and after the job. I didn't have to alter the tension on the mains or crosses to maintain integrity, very nice.

It's also nice to string a 16x19 frame. I'm used to 18x20, so the 16x19 goes by a lot quicker. And with an open pattern, its easy to get my fingers in there to make adjustments.

The con(s) (just one, really): The tie-off points for the mains (on a two piece job) are at T6 on either side. Yet, you finish the mains at T9, this means you're skipping over T8 and T7 to tie off at T6. Well, the main there blocks hole T8, which is the start of the crosses. This means that while pulling the string through T8 to string the first row of the crosses, that is rubbing up against the tie-off that's sort of straddling over T8.

Due to the tension of that tie-off (since you've actually tied it off), you have no play, no wiggle room. you can't really move it away from T8 to make way for the string. So you have to pull very slowly, for fear of burning a hole through the string.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation, but perhaps someone could give me a pointer so as to not damage the tie off for the main? I didn't yet, the string job was successful, but still I don't like that much friction when pulling the first cross.

Thanks!

[Irvin]

The string fro 6H to 7H hold the tie off string away from 8H so there should not be a problem. if you pre-weave the top two crosses 8H isn't blocked at all.

[Steve Huff]

When you prestring the top 2 crosses like Irvin says, pull some tension on that last main with your hand while looking through (at racket level) the would-be blocked hole at the head. This allows you to see the small gap on one side of the string that's blocking the hole. Also, at the bottom, even though the hole is blocked, the woofer grommets hold the string up, to it's usually pretty easy to get past that blocked hole when doing that last cross.

[anubis]

Originally Posted by Irvin

The string fro 6H to 7H hold the tie off string away from 8H so there should not be a problem. if you pre-weave the top two crosses 8H isn't blocked at all.

Thanks Irvin!