whats your most memorable place/story where you've strung a racquet!!??

for me it was in the back of my suv, at a college tennis event
strung the racquet using my klippermate stringer!
it was a bit of pressure situation for me, this was the backup racquet for the person playing
its been years, but I recall it took me around 30 minutes or so, its a DW machine after all, haaaa
got lots of looks and comments from people walking by while I was stringing in the parking lot

this was my version of "low budget", "low -level", stringing emergency!!, just like the pro stringers at the majors events face,
I remember finishing the racquet, clipping the tails, locking the car and running to the court with the finished racquet,, haaa

I like the facts that even though I have a electric machine now to string, I can still use my smaller machine to string in remote locations

First racket I ever strung. When the machine came in the mail a friend of mine was there with broken string and wanted me to string his first. He watched and talked to me the whole 3 hours as I was learning to string on a TR Stringer.

@Irvin
yeah agreed, the first racquet is always a memorable moment!!
I remember paging through the stringing manual for every step
I recall I had the pc and youtube ready with the videos I found ready to review

1HBHfanatic said:

@Irvin
yeah agreed, the first racquet is always a memorable moment!!
I remember paging through the stringing manual for every step
I recall I had the pc and youtube ready with the videos I found ready to review

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LOL You were a lot luckier than I was. There were no PCs, no YouTube, no forum, and no instruction manual. Just one big fold out page with the instructions and pictures served for the instructions. There was the USRSA but it was just beginning. That first racket took over 3 hours, my second was under 2. I got down to about an hour on that machine then got an MP100 and my time dropped like a rock.

Not my own experience but I think I read the story on this forum some years ago, which is one took his racquet to the shop to restring and found his racquet mounted on the machine unfinished the next morning. The stringer had gone home in the middle of stringing because his time was up. A biggest horror story I've heard when it comes to racquet stringing.

jxs653 said:

Not my own experience but I think I read the story on this forum some years ago, which is one took his racquet to the shop to restring and found his racquet mounted on the machine unfinished the next morning. The stringer had gone home in the middle of stringing because his time was up. A biggest horror story I've heard when it comes to racquet stringing.

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ive seen this 1x, I showed up to play at a different club
while waiting for the courts to get raked/watered (hardthru), I looked into the shed that was next to the courts,, it had a stringing machine, peeked my interest right away, I got closer and saw a unfinished racquet with strings half done just sitting there
turns out, the guy racking the courts was also the local stringer, haaa

Irvin said:

LOL You were a lot luckier than I was. There were no PCs, no YouTube, no forum, and no instruction manual. Just one big fold out page with the instructions and pictures served for the instructions. There was the USRSA but it was just beginning. That first racket took over 3 hours, my second was under 2. I got down to about an hour on that machine then got an MP100 and my time dropped like a rock.

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yes, I came along at a good time
lots of info readily available for me to review/read
I think this site was my biggest help

One time in high school under the bleachers at the football field....oh wait, wrong story

I had a couple rackets to string and it was a beautiful day so I took my dog to the local creek/hiking trail, went for a hike then strung rackets on a picnic table overlooking the creek. Got a lot of surprised looks/questions!

Irvin said:

First racket I ever strung. When the machine came in the mail a friend of mine was there with broken string and wanted me to string his first. He watched and talked to me the whole 3 hours as I was learning to string on a TR Stringer.

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That the one with the crank ? If so what a piece of junk !! Shroud talked me into buying one with him and it didn't last long at all !!! I hated the thing !!!

In my house?!?

This question is better asked for pro stingers.

My memorable stringing moment was when I strung my friend's APD for the first time. It was the worst as I mixed up skipping in the grommets on side to the other. The last 3 crosses were diagonal and it looked.....unique. The string later broke during a match because the string were damaged by the awl somehow.

This I will never forget as it reminds me how horrible I am as a stringiner when I started for the first time.

first stringer I owned was a TR but by the time I got it (age 12 or 13), I already knew how to string (taught by a local pro). I mounted it on a backless barstool (an upright for a kid). I actually found it pretty serviceable and used it for several years (the limited space was good training for weaving crosses) until I was fortunate enough to purchase a slightly used Ektelon D from a sporting goods store that was closing. The crank tensioner was a pain but the mounting system and flying clamps were sound. A little time consuming—I’m guessing 35-40 minutes a racquet (mostly JKPSs and Dunlop Maxplys). I think it cost $60 to order from an ad in Tennis magazine.

I digress—most memorable was stringing for a mail order tennis shop—after my day job at a club—one summer for a couple of nights a week, I’d string the days orders with about 4-5 other guys—stringing, bullsh**ing, bragging about our tennis prowess and knowledge and eating take out pizza till late in the evening. Pretty good times.

elkwood said:

That the one with the crank ? If so what a piece of junk !! Shroud talked me into buying one with him and it didn't last long at all !!! I hated the thing !!!

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I really did not mind that machine at all probably because I didn’t know any better.

CosmosMpower said:

One time in high school under the bleachers at the football field....oh wait, wrong story

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Like everyone else, we all started with basic machines. But my similar incident was with a college classmate at her place. I needed to finish a frame; she wanted something else...

darklore009 said:

My memorable stringing moment was when I strung my friend's APD for the first time. It was the worst as I mixed up skipping in the grommets on side to the other. The last 3 crosses were diagonal and it looked.....unique. The string later broke during a match because the string were damaged by the awl somehow.

This I will never forget as it reminds me how horrible I am as a stringiner when I started for the first time.

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haa I remember having to fix someone elses mistake that reminded me of your story
college kid strung the racquet for a smitten lady at the club
they finished stringing and the last cross was "diagonal"(one side had all 19 crosses, other side only had 18 crosses), likein your story
kid gave it to the lady and said "don't worry, the racquet will play fine!!",, haaa
the look on the ladys face was priceless!!, I happened to be there at that time,,,
I should have charged her double,, haaaa

Discovered my mid shifts were pretty quiet. So I used to bring my stand up to work and string while I was on shift.