Restringing mains only: doable?

[alidisperanza]

I know this is terrible practice and I would never do this for a customer but I recently bought a racket with rpm/vs hybrid in it. The strings are almost literally brand new and I can't bring myself to cut them out. Is there anyway that I could restring only the mains so that I can reuse the gut? I know the crosses are anchored to the mains so it's an issue.

The only thought that came to mind is to cut the mains out and to skip the very last cross..

[rich s]

Originally Posted by alidisperanza

I know the crosses are anchored to the mains so it's an issue.

no more need be said even though there are other issues too....

[alidisperanza]

I figured but there are always tricks of the trade to be found. On a 6 point mounting system it wouldn't necessarily be as bad although not quite kosher. My only thoughts here is to mount the frame, cut out the mains individually and re-use the gut.

I'm going to hit the combo first to see if it's tolerable @ that tension but realistically, I couldn't care less about the RPM. The VS, on the other hand is a crying shame. Since the Vcores have 16x20 patterns, I don't think it would affect playability terribly if I made it a 16x19.

[Dags]

Have another look at that 6 point mounting system. It's designed to string the mains first, which means it stops the racquet from getting a) shorter and b) wider. If you managed to cut out the mains, the tension on the crosses would be trying to make the racquet longer and narrower; the mounting system wouldn't support the frame at all.

[fortun8son]

Bro, I figured you knew better than to even ask that!