Do you cut the rest of your strings after playing and breaking your string? Does this prevent warping?

T

thelimfactor

Rookie
To all the smart tennis people and racquet aficionados: Looking at tennis spins' vids, he suggests that too much tension in a stringbed can cause warping of frames (eg on stringing, if not stabilised evenly on the stringing machine). So was thinking, by extension of this concept, after playing and breaking a string (eg. a main) would that cause too much tension on the crosses, causing a "pull" to 3 and 9 o'clock on the racquet? Hence do you cut the rest of the strings in your racquet, especially if it's going to be a fewdays or week before the racquet can be restrung? Would this be enough to cause warping or weakening of racquet over many times?

Any thoughts or ideas or experience of this is welcome. Cheers.
 
F

Firepandas

Rookie
I think the general good practice is that once a string breaks, cut the rest of your strings as soon as you reasonably can. You don't have to restring it immediately or even pull out the strings, but you should cut them all.

I don't think anyone has done a scientifically sound experiment to test it out, but I'd rather play it safe than sorry.
 
esgee48

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
I use to do it on court but not anymore. I now wait until get home. With wooden frames, it made sense to do so. Today, not so much. I have also received frames that had strings broken weeks ago. Frame still strings up without warping.
 
T

thelimfactor

Rookie
esgee48 said:
I use to do it on court but not anymore. I now wait until get home. With wooden frames, it made sense to do so. Today, not so much. I have also received frames that had strings broken weeks ago. Frame still strings up without warping.
Click to expand...

Yeah, do it when at home too.
 
R

ron schaap

Hall of Fame
Firepandas said:
I think the general good practice is that once a string breaks, cut the rest of your strings as soon as you reasonably can. You don't have to restring it immediately or even pull out the strings, but you should cut them all.

I don't think anyone has done a scientifically sound experiment to test it out, but I'd rather play it safe than sorry.
Click to expand...
i think its not needed to cut your other strings directly when one mains in the center is broken. Some tension is lost but the other 19 strings keep enough tension together in the stringbed so your racquet does not get warped. If you realize how much difference in tension between mains and crosses some players here on this forum use and dont get worried about warping...
 
F

Firepandas

Rookie
ron schaap said:
i think its not needed to cut your other strings directly when one mains in the center is broken. Some tension is lost but the other 19 strings keep enough tension together in the stringbed so your racquet does not get warped. If you realize how much difference in tension between mains and crosses some players here on this forum use and dont get worried about warping...
Click to expand...

Again, it is just good practice to cut it out. You may not be needed, but it is good to just get into the habit of cutting them no matter what. And it takes like 30 seconds max so it isn't like a big deal.
 
Dartagnan64

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
Never even thought of this as an issue with graphite. I take them into the stringer the next day generally. Never seen anything remotely close to a warped frame. Last frame I ever had that warped was an Aluminum Kmart special from 1985
 
T

thelimfactor

Rookie
I actually thought of this relevance as, has anyone else noticed racquets return to their original spec length when strings break/when frame is unstrung? So extrapolating this out there is definitely pulling of the frame inwards when strung.
 
matmoran

matmoran

New User
thelimfactor said:
To all the smart tennis people and racquet aficionados: Looking at tennis spins' vids, he suggests that too much tension in a stringbed can cause warping of frames (eg on stringing, if not stabilised evenly on the stringing machine). So was thinking, by extension of this concept, after playing and breaking a string (eg. a main) would that cause too much tension on the crosses, causing a "pull" to 3 and 9 o'clock on the racquet? Hence do you cut the rest of the strings in your racquet, especially if it's going to be a fewdays or week before the racquet can be restrung? Would this be enough to cause warping or weakening of racquet over many times?

Any thoughts or ideas or experience of this is welcome. Cheers.
Click to expand...
Yeah so actually tennis spin himself recommends to cut them out if you are going to have sitting for a week or more but personally when i ever i breat mine i just like to cut them out asap. Once the string breaks there is no more even tension in parts of the racket so it maybe tighter in one part and looser on another. Hope i made it clear if not i recommend watching yt vid abt it. But if i were u any chance i got i would cut them out
 
J

jim e

Legend
I have had players over the years bring me a racquet with a broken string and said it was broken months ago. Those racquets were fine.

I have never seen a warped modern racquet because of a broken string. It was noticed in the wooden racquet days

I typically tell players to leave them in. It would be less work for me if they cut them out, and less clean up as strings typically end up on floor to a degree when I cut them out.

Main reason I tell players to leave them in, a couple times I received racquets were player removed the strings, and they actually melted the grommets, where they evidently pulled a full length of string quickly through the grommets. Maybe they wanted to save that worthless string for something else, but ruined the grommets in meantime by pulling it through grommets. Those racquets also were older, so grommets no longer available except at the menace that charges out the wazoo.

Best if they bring to me and I remove them the proper way
 
Last edited:
T

thelimfactor

Rookie
jim e said:
I have had players over the years bring me a racquet with a broken string and said it was broken months ago. Those racquets were fine.

I have never seen a warped modern racquet because of a broken string. It was noticed in the wooden racquet days

I typically tell players to leave them in. It would be less work for me if they cut them out, and less clean up as strings typically end up on floor to a degree when I cut them out.

Main reason I tell players to leave them in, a couple times I received racquets were player removed the strings, and they actually melted the grommets, where they evidently pulled a full length of string quickly through the grommets. Maybe they wanted to save that worthless string for something else, but ruined the grommets in meantime by pulling it through grommets. Those racquets also were older, so grommets no longer available except at the menace that charges out the wazoo.

Best if they bring to me and I remove them the proper way
Click to expand...

Thanks for your insight. What way do you rec for removing strings? I just cut each main and cross +/- remove them
 
T

thelimfactor

Rookie
Tar Heel Tennis said:
Take a pic before cutting out the strings. Keep a folder of your broken string pix. You will learn about your swing with this info.
Click to expand...

Yeah its interesting for me i break strings in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th main from the middle, always on the same side (ie for me on the side closest to the ground when hitting a forehand).

What did you notice about your pattern?
 
C

cha cha

Professional
McLovin said:
I don't break strings...

But seriously, if I did I'd likely cut them out as soon as I could. Having said that, I've been stringing for ~ 25 years, and I believe only 1 person has ever bothered to cut their strings after breaking them. To date, not one frame appears to have warped.
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This.
I believe warping is a phenomenon endemic to internet discussion boards.
At the same time, I make sure to bring my racket to the stringer with the strings cut out. I have requested so much nonsense from him over the years that this is the least I can do.
 
McLovin

McLovin

Legend
Tar Heel Tennis said:
Take a pic before cutting out the strings. Keep a folder of your broken string pix. You will learn about your swing with this info.
Click to expand...
Additionally, if they're consistently breaking up near the same grommet, it could let you know that maybe there's an issue w/ the grommets. I had this w/ a player who uses the '16 Pure Aero. At first I thought it was a burr in the grommets, so I used an awl at that spot. After it happened again, I thought maybe he was just simply shanking the ball a lot.

After the 4th or 5th time, we noticed that the headguard had worn down so the string was now exposed (the '16 Pure Aero has channeled grommets), and when he hit low shots, the string was making contact w/ the ground. Got him some new grommets...problem solved.

If I had taken a picture, I probably would have seen he was breaking in the same spot and solved it sooner.
 
K

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
I cut it once I'm off the court and giving it to the stringer, but mainly to help out the stringer, since he is a teaching pro as well, taking a couple of minutes off of the time can mean I get the racket sooner. Plus it's just nice.
 
J

jim e

Legend
I start cutting from center out in a diagonal in both directions so evenly done . Start in center going diagonal up, and down , and both right and left up and down , so evenly done.
 
P

princemidplus

Semi-Pro
I have strung hundreds of racquets and almost all were brought to me with the broken strings still in.

I remove them pretty much as soon as I get a chance even if I'm not stringing it for a day or two. When I remove the string I check the frame and grommets for damage. It doesn't take long to remove string but it just means I have a lot of extra rubbish/trash in my bin in the form of old strings
 
T

thelimfactor

Rookie
jim e said:
I start cutting from center out in a diagonal in both directions so evenly done . Start in center going diagonal up, and down , and both right and left up and down , so evenly done.
Click to expand...

That's very interesting how you cut diagonally outwards. I'm respectfully curious as to the reason? Maybe I have to adopt this too!?!
 
Karstic

Karstic

Rookie
Modern racquets will not warp in the way wood or metal racquets would, but I believe the uneven stress from leaving broken strings in will fatigue the material, shortening the frame's life. No damage will be observed until the frame fails catastrophically, i.e. cracks. I believe leaving broken strings in too long hastens the end of a frame's life this way.
 
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