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I see your Allison Riske and raise you a Venus Williams.

First off, the RDC while very impressive and certain to draw much admiration from customers does NOT "measure the SBS very accurately" because an RDC does not measure string bed stiffness at all. It measures string bed deflection which in the REAL world would be expressed in mm or inches because...

Sounds to me like it is way too tight for her. Back when I could actually play with poly I had trouble volleying with it at even moderate tension. So, think Head Extreme MP at 53 and I was useless at the net. Balls would hit the strings and drop to my feet. It was like trying to volley with a...

Girls high school tennis in my area doesn't look like it would result in string breakage of any sort. So, I don't see your girls as a prime driver of looking at owning a machine. But my recommendation to anyone hankering to string their own is to get a used Ektelon H. They hold their value. In...

I'm wondering if this is a problem related to white pigment. Personally, I was very fond of Dunlop S-Gut but I only carried it in 16 ga white. Maybe the answer is to go black.

Do you remember what color DSG?

Yes, but I am leaning toward sticking to strings made in Japan. But I didn't start this thread because I am concerned about the strings I am carrying. I'm concerned about the strings people are bringing me and whether I should refuse to accept them. And although I have experienced breakage in...

Yes, well Head Syn Gut and Babolat Syn Gut are both now being made in Vietnam. There's actually a growing list and it isn't confined to the syn guts. Prince Premier Power, Head Velocity and Head Reflex are now made in Vietnam.

A lot of strings that used to be made in China or Taiwan are now being produced in Vietnam. Dunlop S-Gut used to be a very popular string in my shop but I discontinued it because the Vietnamese version was breaking on the machine or shortly thereafter. I am now having a similar problem with...

I heard back from orobor and their intention IS to provide prepaid shipping but it's about a month out. I provided a link to this thread and suggested maintaining a presence here.

I received an email yesterday from a college student interested in my used polyester string. He is offering to send me a container with prepaid shipping to fill and return. Fine with me. I guess the plan is to make polyester fabric from used tennis string. You can learn more at his site if you...

I've had customers who were using Hyper-G 17 ask to switch to RPM 17. "But" I explain to them "if you want the gauge to be the same you should use the RPM 18" and I point out the difference in diameter. And I might as well be talking to a wall. BTW, racquetball racquets don't get a lot of...

Hi Jim. Yeah, Greg Raven probably came up with that line of BS about "under tension". First time he used it on me was probably about 20 years ago on the GSS boards. So I checked every string on my wall with a caliper and really they are mostly spot on (untensioned). Ashaway is an outlier. And...

I also have 2 sets of Ashaway Superkill II that I apparently bought back in 2010 for (omg) $5 a pack. Never occurs to me to recommend it to a racquetball player since they mostly like 17 and 18 ga strings. The packages are marked 16 ga/1.30 but according to my caliper they are 1.35mm. Maybe if I...

I just strung a pair of these with Hyp-G 16. When the racquets came in the loop of string between the top cross and the tie off hole was showing signs of court abrasion on one of the racquets. So before I installed the mains I took a waxed awl and enlarged the holes at 6H on both racquets...

When people ask me what used machine I recommend it's always the Ektelon H which did not have 360 degree rotation. In fact I think most of the lockout machines from that era did not have 360 degree rotation. So, not unusual. BTW, esgee48 mentioned using masking tape to protect the paint when...

Is it my imagination or is the ad for the Toalson X machine you are looking at 4 yrs old? Anyway, my opinion is that if you are willing to spend $500 you should be looking to find an Ektelon H. It is possible that you may have to stretch your budget even further since inflation seems to be...

Prince Pro Blend is available in precut sets from TW. It's a Kevlar hybrid. You will have sufficient string to string a racquet and have plenty left over for your calibrator. I suggest that you use a small length of nylon tubing at the point of contact with the starting clamp so that the Kevlar...

A scientist who trained grasshoppers to jump on command took one of his trained grasshoppers and cut off all its legs and commanded it to jump. It didn't, because when you cut off all the legs of a grasshopper they cannot hear. Right?

I string a fair amount of racquetball racquets and the most popular string in my shop for racquetball is a string called Lightning. It is marketed as both Ektelon Lightning and Prince Lightning. I buy the Prince. Depending on which warehouse TW ships from I either get the old white/green...

Somewhere along the line the USRSA answered this question and I believe they opined that 10 yrs was the shelf life of a synthetic string. I think they were talking about nylon based strings because it was many moons ago, before the proliferation of polys.

If it works the Winn Pro is a lot of machine for $125. Back in the 90's a new one would run you $1000. I've never used one and don't know whether the side arms would be compatible with widebody frames or whether you have a prayer of finding replacement parts should you need them. But judging by...

I've never needed them but you would probably find them here: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/bumper-cushions/bumpers~/ McMaster has so much stuff and I think all stringers should familiarize themselves with the site.

Rubber stuff I'd try McMaster-Carr. Edit: While you are there getting o-rings and rubber feet pick up a bag of electrical grommets They make good vibration dampeners. Actually, I have part numbers of stuff I've used. I've used both 9600k46 and 9600k21 as dampeners and 9752k116 as o-rings.

My first stringing machine was a portable drop weight, so I was seated for the entirety of my 1st stringing which was done on a Spalding aluminum racquet that cost less than $15 when new. I had purchased a string package with the machine that included at least one of every string in the...

Bill...Except for not having a cap system bumper the Head Comp Pro is indistinguishable from the Prestige. They use the same mold and the same drilling pattern, so it's a dense 18x20 and the white grommets are probably crumbling at this point. I'd highly recommend something with a 16x19 pattern...

Bill, I hope Wes has advised you to begin your stringing journey with something simpler than a cap system Prestige and VS Gut. If not, please dig through your closet for something like a Prince Graphite 110 or MP (even easier) and purchase some cheap nylon sets for practice so you don't get...

I am in complete agreement with post #12 by @esgee48. What I found when I switched to my first electronic machine was that I needed to string about 2 kilos lower than I had been with my old machine (Ektelon H).

I don't recall ever having a problem with the Speed Pro. I don't use scrap string to avoid crossovers on anything but badminton racquets.But when I get to an area where crossovers can occur on a tennis racquet I just use a razor blade to put a sharp point on my string and get it into whatever...