Priority One, Stringing & Customizing, and The Hall Of Fame

[Dags]

Originally Posted by drakulie

Hope all this helps answer your question.

Well, you know, I was hoping for a slightly lengthier and more detailed response...

Thanks for that, very much appreciated. I've never seen the other thread you linked, so I'll spend some time reading through it.

Consistency is obviously talked about a lot. When you're banging out the frames at a tournament, is there any sort of quality check once the job is done? You allude to the premise that if you use the same technique and take the same amount of time, then you'll get the same results. Is that as far as it goes, or do you ever take anything like ERT readings?

[Roger Wawrinka]

Drakulie: "Roger, players, for the most part determine how they want their racquet strung,,,,, be it one or two piece, atw, bottom up, etc. Of course at times, it's up to the stringer if the player doesn't specify, but typically, the stringer wants to build some sort of relationship with the player and will ask."


Thanks Drak I hope you post some more pictures of the stringing room at cincy like you said, I'd love to see them

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by Dags

Consistency is obviously talked about a lot. When you're banging out the frames at a tournament, is there any sort of quality check once the job is done? You allude to the premise that if you use the same technique and take the same amount of time, then you'll get the same results. Is that as far as it goes, or do you ever take anything like ERT readings?

An ERT is present in the stringing room, although I don't know when or how often it was used. On my end, I took my own ERT, and used it every few frames to make sure I was accurate and consistent. This came in handy especially when completing the same players frames day after day. I would at least check one frame to see if I was getting the same ert as the day before. Additionally, machines were checked for calibration every morning, and sometimes twice a day. I checked mine up to 3 times a day.

More importantly, players didn't complain, so no need to check every racquet with an ERT. Remember, A LOT of frames were done,,,,, I would imagine close to 2,000, so this would be time-consuming, and on my end, I try to make sure I check the ERT when no players are around. IMO, This would become disastrous.

Originally Posted by Roger Wawrinka

Thanks Drak I hope you post some more pictures of the stringing room at cincy like you said, I'd love to see them

You are welcome. I'll post some pics soon.

[drakulie]

[drakulie]

Ron doing some homework while Nate strings Baghdatis's frame:



Joker's frame:



Florian Mayers frames:

[drakulie]

My Babolat Star 4, with a P1 "license":



Dimitrov Frames:

[Roger Wawrinka]

I love these pictures!

[jamauss]

Great thread Drak - thanks for sharing. I might be doing the Champion Series event here in Arizona in about a month. I'll try to share what I can from it.

[Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Irvin

Sounds like you are under the impression this is a beer drinking team with a stringing problem. LOL All kidding aside, standing on your feet 12+ hours a day for a couple of weeks is not something I'd want to do.

For a week, I think it'd be a blast. It's the kind of thing a tennis geek would/should love.

Originally Posted by drakulie

You may regret that offer. The beer may end up costing you more than you budget for.

Not to get geopolitical on you, but I am a firm believer in the redistribution of beer.

[basso]

Originally Posted by drakulie

Ron doing some homework while Nate strings Baghdatis's frame:

Ron doing some homework ,

Nate strings Baghdatis's frame:

nobody's looking for a Star4 table lock...

[monomer]

Thanks for that article. You should be also be complimented for being an excellent writer. It is one thing to know what you want to talk about but another to make it such a compelling read.

[ericsson]

Great stuff Drak!

[SwankPeRFection]

Well, there you go. Anyone that says they have a new RF frame with the ProStaff paintjob on it that doesn't have the signature both on the bridge and the inside of the throat.... is lying.

[McLovin]

Drak, I've been reading this thread & enjoying it, thanks for the work.

One question: Did anyone 'screw up' in the middle of a frame? And if so, who eats the cost? For example, you're stringing the frame and midway through the crosses you realize you forgot to drop the tension 2lbs as requested. What happens?

I know this sounds like a rookie mistake, but considering the volume of frames done each day, someone has the screw up at least once.

[Rabbit]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that's a great question!

[drakulie]

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone.



McLovin, good question, unfortunately, the answer is very basic...... Back-track and re-string.

[McLovin]

Any extreme cases, like someone measured incorrectly & cut the string short, but it happened to be string supplied by the player? Or maybe the gut was nicked & snapped during stringing?

Just curious how mistakes are handled, and who pays for the error.

I guess maybe I'm not thinking on the large-scale operation, where a pack of gut isn't that big of a deal, as opposed to a small-scale home operation where margins are tight, and distributors aren't standing around willing to hand out free stuff to players.

[drakulie]

^^There were no errors where a string was snapped or damaged where it couldn't be replaced.

Only thing that happened (on first day) was RPM 17 snapping on a star 5 while pulling tension. Star 5 Tension heads are notorious for snapping thin string, so any player who used RPM was assigned to stringers with Star 4's. No one really paid for the error as the racquet ended up being strung.



thanks for pointing that out Irvin.

[Irvin]

Originally Posted by drakulie

^^There were no errors where a string was snapped where it couldn't be replaced or damaged...

We all know what you meant but I'm sure you meant to type ... Where a string was snapped or damaged that couldn't be replaced. Just a slip of the fingers. LOL

[ART ART]

@drakulie: when customizing the rackets for the players, do you or P1 staff, have any concerns about this subject?:

" Optimum Racquet Balance for Performance II - MgR/I Data for ATP Pros "
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=387805

What's your opinion about it ?

Thank's a lot!