Which Technique is "Best", If Any?

[TimothyO]

Originally Posted by ced

Timothy, that wouldn't be Ed M., would it ?

Yup! He strung both of my Tours today in fact with VS mains and Focus Hex crosses.

He does absolutely amazing work. He is truly a craftsman and student of stringing. We live in the same neighborhood and he's my favorite stringer even though he tends to string tighter than other guys. Sometimes I use others since my family gives me gift certificates to various shops or he might not be available but he's definitely the man. Dropping off and picking up a frame is never quick. I love chatting with him about all things tennis.

He's also a good hearted and collects frames for kids who might not otherwise be able to afford them. We've given him a number of frames as our kids have grown up and he re-strings them and hands them over to a charity.

One of Ed's wife's relatives (Pam F) lived across the road from us and we were friends. I often walked her kids home from school with my boys and my wife was in a neighborhood ladies' club with her. Pam and her family have moved to FL but stay in contact when visiting.

Today Ed told me about a shop in Atlanta that sold both Dunlop tires AND wooden Dunlop frames. The frames were in a barrel and customers simply rumaged around to find something they liked. The guys manning the shop had no interest in tennis and knew nothing about the frames that HQ sent them to sell.

Today I also asked Ed to string one Tour frame at 57/52 and the other at 52/49 as an experiment. I hit with them tonight and the 57/52 frame was clearly the winner. Far more spin and control. Very comfy too. Was a no brainer. He did the job "flat" with no varience in tension across strings.

Next I'm going to cut out the 52/49 strings and have Ed string it with VS/4G at 57/52 for a head to head test.

How do you know Ed? Are you near Dunwoody?

EDIT: just looked at the website in your signature....looks like you're in Ed's senior group. IIRC he played on Wednesday this week. Did you have a chance to hit with him?