Does natural gut need to be pre-stretched?

levy1 · Aug 12, 2010

My long time stringer says his machine automatically stretches the gut and there is no need to pre stretch it? He has the latest electric stringer. I have always read it needs to be pre stretched before the racquet is stung. If this is correct can I do it myself before I give it to him?

I am testing quite a few racquet's with natural gut/poly and I want to make sure my racquet's are being string correctly. He strings for OSU and I dont want to get him mad but on the other had I am paying a lot of money for string jobs lately. Six just this month.

thanks

Falloutjr · Aug 12, 2010

Six this month?! It's only the twelfth. Maybe you shouldn't be using NG if the cost of replacing strings every two days is getting to you.

levy1 · Aug 12, 2010

Falloutjr said:
Six this month?! It's only the twelfth. Maybe you shouldn't be using NG if the cost of replacing strings every two days is getting to you.

I am not replacing I am testing different setups and tensions. Do you have any information to add or you just wanted to comment?

Falloutjr · Aug 12, 2010

I didn't know you were testing, didn't read the post too carefully, sorry. No information to add.

DE19702 · Aug 12, 2010

I do not understand the need to prestretch any string. Gut has a lot of elasticity and if you prestretch it wouldn't that take out some of it? Gut supposedly loses about 9%-10% tension. Why would you want to speed up the process.

InsideOutBackhand · Aug 12, 2010

The only reasons I would pre stretch is to remove coil memory for easier stringing or to reduce tension loss post stringing. Neither of which seems appropriate in your situation. Someone else is doing the stringing and natural gut has great tension maintenance.

Pre stretching is an additional stress on the string which introduces another source for potential variability. I cannot pre stretch by hand the exact same tension for the exact same duration every time. Not something I would attempt when testing out new equipment/setups.

scotus · Aug 12, 2010

levy1 said:
My long time stringer says his machine automatically stretches the gut and there is no need to pre stretch it? He has the latest electric stringer. I have always read it needs to be pre stretched before the racquet is stung. If this is correct can I do it myself before I give it to him?

I am testing quite a few racquet's with natural gut/poly and I want to make sure my racquet's are being string correctly. He strings for OSU and I dont want to get him mad but on the other had I am paying a lot of money for string jobs lately. Six just this month.

thanks

Most decent electronic stringers have a prestretch function.

With it turned on, the machine pulls the string 5%-15% higher than your desired tension (you specify the percentage). Then it drops the tension back down to your desired tension.

That's one way to prestretch strings. But I do not like overshooting the tension.

I also do not like to prestretch gut. I suppose VS would do fine when prestretched, but I hate prestretched Klip Legend, which loses all of its gut qualities and turns boardy and stiff.

But when I do prestretch any string, I'd like to do it by hand. My guess is that when I hand-stretch it, I probably do not overshoot my desired tension and take out too much of the string's elasticity.

jim e · Aug 12, 2010

I string a decent amount of nat. gut.
The majority of time, I just give the string a light hand pre stretch only like others said to get rid of some of the coil memory, as that makes the job to string easier.
As far as the machines pre stretch function, I never use it. As said it just over shoots the tension then relaxes back to the reference tension set.
My problem with this is how well does the tension go back to the set tension with all the friction with the string across the grommets, and more important the friction of the cross strings against the main strings. I would find it hard to believe that the string would go back to the desired tension with all that friction, and as a result the tension would be higher, and more so with the cross strings. I'm sure if someone strung a racquet both ways, a light manual and a machines prestretch I bet the machines prestretch would result in a greater stringbed stiffness and probably due to a higher tension with the cross strings.Just my thoughts.

marosmith · Aug 12, 2010

Only pre-stretch if you like stiff, of course then why buy gut if you want it stiff....

Tennis_Crazed · Aug 12, 2010

jim e said:
I string a decent amount of nat. gut.
The majority of time, I just give the string a light hand pre stretch only like others said to get rid of some of the coil memory, as that makes the job to string easier.
As far as the machines pre stretch function, I never use it. As said it just over shoots the tension then relaxes back to the reference tension set.
My problem with this is how well does the tension go back to the set tension with all the friction with the string across the grommets, and more important the friction of the cross strings against the main strings. I would find it hard to believe that the string would go back to the desired tension with all that friction, and as a result the tension would be higher, and more so with the cross strings. I'm sure if someone strung a racquet both ways, a light manual and a machines prestretch I bet the machines prestretch would result in a greater stringbed stiffness and probably due to a higher tension with the cross strings.Just my thoughts.

Same here...i do a very light stretch as well...nothing to hard...don't trust the prestretch function - who knows whats going on there.

NLBwell · Aug 12, 2010

Didn't people traditionally pre-stretch gut by tying it around a doorknob and wrapping around a stick - or something like that?

jim e · Aug 13, 2010

NLBwell said:
Didn't people traditionally pre-stretch gut by tying it around a doorknob and wrapping around a stick - or something like that?

That is basically a manual or hand pre stretch. I just clamp one end of the string to my machines fixed clamp (heavy machine), and walk back to the end, and pull back a while to reduce some of the coil memory. You can actually feel the string give a little and its not a great amount, and it does make the job go easier, as the last thing needed stringing gut is kinks, and this helps as less coiling,therefore less chance of kinks.
I just would find it hard to believe that the machines prestretch would completely relax the tension back to the reference tension properly with all the frictional forces involved, that is why I would not use that, and you would also be dealing with excess coil memory as well, as the machines prstretch does nothing for that.

drakulie · Aug 13, 2010

DE19702 said:
I do not understand the need to prestretch any string. Gut has a lot of elasticity and if you prestretch it wouldn't that take out some of it? Gut supposedly loses about 9%-10% tension. Why would you want to speed up the process.

So that once it is in your racquet, it doesn't lose 9-10 % tension, as it has already been stretched.

When one pre-strectches gut, they may do it for a variety of reasons.

As Jime pointed out, to simply take out some of the coil memory and as a result make it easier to string.

Another point of pre strectching gut, would be so that you stretch it before you put it in the frame, thus resulting in it not stretching and thus losing more tension, while in the frame.

It is really a matter of preference. For some customers, they want a pre-stretch. For other, they don't. Yet others, really don't care either way.

In my experience, Gut that has been thoroughly pre stretched where teh string completely lies flat and relaxed, loses way less tenions over time, than one that has not been pre-stretched.

The down side is the string that is pre-stretched is not as lively as the one that hasn't.

Jamieson27 · Nov 5, 2021

so are pre-stretched gut characteristics going to be similar to non-pre stretched gut after an initial tenison loss and some playing?

jim e · Nov 5, 2021

Jamieson27 said:
so are pre-stretched gut characteristics going to be similar to non-pre stretched gut after an initial tenison loss and some playing?

Depends how you prestretch. I only do a light manual pre stretch, and that really does not change any of the characteristics at all. I do that just to rid some of the coil memory so stringing is easier and less chance of kinking it. The manual pre stretch also when I do that , I walk the length of string back, and feel the strung with my hand to feel for any imperfections. I have found imperfections before I started to string this way with natural gut.
If you use a machine pre stretch with natural gut, then that is different altogether. I will never do that unless I am asked to, and have yet to have any requests for that.

Rabbit · Nov 5, 2021

What @jim e said. Manual pre-stretch is really for the benefit of the person stringing. A machine stretch of 15% or more takes some of the elasticity out of the gut. That makes it play less lively (bad IMO) but helps with tension maintenance. I have two players who ask for pre-stretch. I have had numerous WTA players ask for pre-stretch and a few even wanted it on poly.

Jamieson27 · Nov 5, 2021

Thanks. Have never played fb of NG and had it pre-stretched for the tension maintenance as I find when tension drifts below 50 in either a NG/Poly hybrid or Multi I
start feeling the trampoline effect and have to slow my swing to maintain control. Put it in my Pure Strike at 56lbs with a 10% pre-stretch. May try no pre-stretch next time.

WYK · Nov 5, 2021

You pre sretch to remove the coil memory(works for nearly all strings). You also pre-stretch poly so that the initial tension loss isn't as drastic after stringing, and in many cases the string plays more predictably for longer.

Steve Huff · Nov 5, 2021

I think most (if not all) of the gut manufacturers recommend NOT prestretching now. Back in the 70's, the opposite was true.

smokeydusky · Nov 7, 2021

I have been told by a stringer that stretching natural gut breaks the surface coating that manufacturer's use to prolong the life of the string.

Arak · Nov 7, 2021

In my humble opinion, pre-stretch just makes the string stiffer, and reduces its life and playability. Why not just string a couple of pounds higher? That’s what I do.

LOBALOT · Nov 8, 2021

I played all last winter with a gut/cream hybrid and loved it. As spring turned into summer I was finding the setup to play very "mushy" so I started increasing the tension more and more with no improvement in performance. So then I thought... "What if I prestretch the gut?". So I used the 15% prestretch on my machine for the mains. I found no difference in performance.

Only when I swapped out the cross to a stiffer poly cross did things get better. By the way as fall as arrived I have found the setup too underpowered and have moved back to cream.

My experience was no real impact one way or the other.

struggle · Nov 8, 2021

smokeydusky said:
I have been told by a stringer that stretching natural gut breaks the surface coating that manufacturer's use to prolong the life of the string.

Perhaps, BUT the string must be stretched in order to play with it. Additionally, uncoated NG is still common, so it's not a big deal.

You'll still want to keep it dry, no matter if coated or not.

Traffic · Nov 8, 2021

I pre-stretch to remove coil memory and to reduce a bit of initial tension loss. That's it. Instead of needing a couple hitting sessions to settle, it plays beautifully right away. Also, I feel I can repeat the playing tension more consistently.

Jamieson27 · Nov 8, 2021

Traffic said:
I pre-stretch to remove coil memory and to reduce a bit of initial tension loss. That's it. Instead of needing a couple hitting sessions to settle, it plays beautifully right away. Also, I feel I can repeat the playing tension more consistently.

This has been my experience so far with it pre-stretched. Consistent. I have 5 hours on it - 3 singles and 2 doubles. There has been almost no tension loss based on RT from the time it came off the stringer to now after playing. Small frays beginning to show but I hit with quite a bit of spin. Experimenting to see how far I can go before it breaks.

Thanks for all the replies.

Traffic · Nov 8, 2021

Jamieson27 said:
This has been my experience so far with it pre-stretched. Consistent. I have 5 hours on it - 3 singles and 2 doubles. There has been almost no tension loss based on RT from the time it came off the stringer to now after playing. Small frays beginning to show but I hit with quite a bit of spin. Experimenting to see how far I can go before it breaks.

Thanks for all the replies.

I don't hit all that hard (in comparison to my 18y/o son). We both play gut/poly hybrid. HIs gut breaks as early as 10hrs and as late as 18hrs. My gut breaks in about 20+ hrs. I typically cut and restring if gut hasn't broken after 40hrs. I'm sure the gut plays great, but the poly is so dead and worn. After I re-string, I get a lot of my bite and comfort back.

This last stringing, I broke the gut after 13hrs. So I guess mileage definitely can vary.

faded_lines · Nov 8, 2021

Traffic said:
I pre-stretch to remove coil memory and to reduce a bit of initial tension loss. That's it. Instead of needing a couple hitting sessions to settle, it plays beautifully right away. Also, I feel I can repeat the playing tension more consistently.

This is what I do. I pre-stretch by hand and never use the pre-stretch option on the machine. Plays well and consistent right off the machine.

Does natural gut need to be pre-stretched?

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