There is only one solution. If you have a half decent toss and motion you need to hit 100-150 serves a day as many days of the week as possible. There is no magic, just lots of decent reps. Maybe in a year or sooner you will have something you can be proud of.
I had high hopes for Brian Baker too. This sport breaks players in any number of ways. Just look at Murray. I just shake my head in wonder at fellas like Karlovic and Isner. But de Minaur at goat level, I am not feeling it.
@Irvin , thanks for posting that. It still surprises me that racket stringing hasn't really progressed tech wise much beyond the single bottom plow pulled by a jack a... I look at textile manufacturing, in a 100 yrs one has to just go wow! When I was stringing rackets I felt like I was back in...
Djoker might think about building his next career off of this one. The end is near and he could choose not to alienate his world audience which could provide a very comfortable tennis afterlife.
@Fighting phoenix, as for scale I just use something like this, although I have that same tension scale pictured above:
Funny thing is that I have never found the machine out of calibration after my initial calibration.
@Fighting phoenix , See that slot in the block below the throat pieces? The dog kit fits in there and if when you tighten the T-bar lever down and the T-bar doesn't stay tightened down you need to replace the dog kit most likely. There is one on each end. You may never need them but if you...
@Fighting phoenix
Not saying you need to but in addition to what @dak95_00 mentioned above you might want to get a couple of these just in case:
https://www.tennismachines.com/store/Three-Piece-Dog-Kit-p494861659
Also have you looked at the price of a new Neos 1000 lately? They are 1799.00...
Cover the lead tape with color matching fingernail polish, there are a zillion different shades/colors of fingernail polish, sticks pretty good too and has its nifty self contained brush. Easy peasy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_knot
OK, OK:) Wes, you are one of the good guys in stringing. But to string a racket in 10 minutes and tie off reliable knots is a business efficiency thing, not something that requires ages of contemplation. DHH is good enough, Wilson or Parnell are fine...
I'm not a mountain climber but I used to tie in NFL football players in a high ropes course in 1989 as well as doing rappelling. Fast forward to when I got my NEOS 1000 in 2014. I thought the DHH was fine for stringing a tennis racket until I got "shamed" into learning another knot, Wilson Pro...
Back in my youth when I was 5 in 1960 I seem to recall about the only stores downtown we shopped in were Kresge's, Osco Drugs, Woolworths and on the edge of town a new Western Auto. I was talking to another old timer and he remembers buying a racket in Kresge's for $1.37 that was made in...