Acceptable for a professional string job?

norcal

Legend
VK58a26.jpg

This was posted in the 'classic racket' forum. When asked about the funky stringing he said he just picked it up from the stringer.
Looks like stringer shorted himself on left side main, added a piece and shared a tie off with cross string at 9T. Sound right?

Anyway as an amateur stringer I would not consider this acceptable (except for myself). Just put in new mains that are long enough to not patch.

Unless I'm misreading the situation which is always a possibility lol.

original: https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...-stores-goodwill.344191/page-64#post-16678587
 

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
MISTAKE #1 - Common mistake for an inexperienced stringer. My guess is the mains are a poly string. looking at the racket with 6 strings in the throat one would thing it is a 16 main racket. Either the stringer cut a set in half or didn’t cut enough string off the reel.

MISTAKE #2&3 - At some point the stringer realizes he didn’t have enough string. So rather than starting over again he cut a few more feet off to splice the outer 2 mains on the left side. M2 But the stringer can run in the outer 2 mains without freeing up the clamp on the left side so he hold the 7L main with a starting clamp While he does his dirty splicing job. M3

MISTAKE #4 - The tie off holes for this racket are 9T and 9H. Obvious this racket is meant to be strung 1 piece but was strung 2 piece best the strings look good on that racket.

MISTAKE #5 - Because it was difficult to open up a grommet hole at the top of the racket the stringer tied 2 strings off at the top in the same hole.

MISTAKE #6 - The top cross was a big stop knot not tied around a string, so it had to be used as a starting knot with a knot that was already there. I bet that grommet is big and wide now.

All I can say is it is a good thing the stringer starting tying off the top cross on the left side or he would have had to tie another knot at 7T or 9T when his splice knots are. I wonder if that was planning or just blind luck. The only good thing I can see is it is pretty but straightening the strings (especially the outer mains) would have made it look better.
 

jim e

Legend
I have no idea how the stringer of that racquet would run short on one side for mains and not other side if he cut string too short.
Only thing I can think of he must have damaged the string on left side and had to cut and then splice in a section. Poor to not just start over, as it was only a few mains put in when he must have realized the issue. I have seen worse mistakes over time.
 

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
I have no idea how the stringer of that racquet would run short on one side for mains and not other side if he cut string too short.
Cut off the main string too short and after the stringer realizes the mistake trIes to cover it up by starting over again with the same string only off center so there is enough string to finish one side. MISTAKE #7

EDIT: The mains look like Luxilon element and rather than waste a $5-6 the stringer decided to reuse the shorter string.
 
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CosmosMpower

Hall of Fame
Yuck, hack job. I'd cut it out and make them re-do it. 2 knots in one grommet? I thought I'd seen it all but I guess not
 

kevin qmto

Hall of Fame
Hey that’s my racket lol.

I broght some of the issues raised here to the stringers attention. Poor marks on him as he didn’t even mention up front that he used 3 pieces of string on this job. But he apologized, and said next job is on the house. He’s also young (early 20s I assume) and he’s not used to the odd rackets I bring him. I’ve only gotten a half dozen different frames strung there, and I’ve already gotten a reputation as “that guy with the weird old rackets.” Evidently, all one needs to do to accomplish that is use rackets they are over 5 years old and not made by Babolat…

here’s some highlights
 

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
Hey that’s my racket lol.

I broght some of the issues raised here to the stringers attention. Poor marks on him as he didn’t even mention up front that he used 3 pieces of string on this job. But he apologized, and said next job is on the house.
Before you go get that free string job, think about how you want the racket strung. The mains end at the head on that racket and there is not a good tie off location other than 9H to tie off the mains and the top cross. So you may end up with the same stop knot for the top cross. Or you could go with all poly stringing one piece. If you use all poly I would drop the tension a little.

If you like the way the racket play I’d stay with the same string just not the 3rd section of string used for a splice.
 

1HBHfanatic

Legend
What exactly is the problem in the photo?
-there are 6 knots (uneven pressure/tension all over the place)
-and a double knot on 1x port at the top
-no "real" issue if this is his own racquet (who cares),
-but a big issue if he paid for it!! IMO
 
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FiddlerDog

Hall of Fame
Who cares if he uses 10 strings?
The strings are all tensioned the same.
How would this affect how you play?

In fact, I'd prefer to string with 40 individual strings for easier solo replacement.
And the racket plays better with a single broken string.

2 piece is clearly for the lazy!
 

LOBALOT

Hall of Fame
What I don't get is why not just start over when you realize you botched it. I would not give someone a racquet like this and I would just restring it the right away once I realized my mistake.

If I didn't have the string or the customer provided the string I would call them and tell them I messed up and pay for the string and on top of that ask if I could restring it with something I have for no cost.
 
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Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
Who cares if he uses 10 strings?
The strings are all tensioned the same.

Each string may be tensioned with the same reference tension, but the fewer knots you use the less tension loss you will have and the greater the dynamic tension for a given racket strung at a given reference will be. 10 strings will require 20 knots and the most common grommets to wear out on a tennis racket are the tie off grommets. A 16x19 racket if you used 35 individual strings for each main and cross would require 70 knots for each racket. Stringing a racket like that on you Progression 200 would be fun(ny.)
 
Get a discount?

He should have balanced both sides.
Either way, the tension will be off.

As an amateur stringer, we've all been there and just save money by doing more tie offs on our own rackets. But we know the tension will be off. For a pro job that costs much more, this should have been a start over. Truthfully, it would have taken an extra 15 min and 170" of wasted string ($3?).
 

kevin qmto

Hall of Fame
I had my chance today to get back at the very stringer that did this racket at the "Woodie Classic" but I failed. Best my doubles team could muster was 2/6.
 

Steve Huff

G.O.A.T.
I think what Jim said about damaging one side is probably true. If he had just cut the main strings too short, he would have been short on both sides. He made a valiant attempt at correcting it though. Racket is probably playable. I remember "patching" was pretty common back in the old wood racket days. At least he's giving you a freebie next time.
 

WYK

Hall of Fame
Something I'll throw in the pot here is I recently restrung a value store 'Radical' for a friend's wife. It looked like a Radical, but you could tell it was a dime store special version.
The first thing I noticed was it was not designed to be strung two piece. You had to string it one piece. There was just no room for 4 tie offs.
 

USMC-615

Hall of Fame
Something I'll throw in the pot here is I recently restrung a value store 'Radical' for a friend's wife. It looked like a Radical, but you could tell it was a dime store special version.
The first thing I noticed was it was not designed to be strung two piece. You had to string it one piece. There was just no room for 4 tie offs.
For the price of a few string jobs, they probably could’ve damn near bought the newly strung racquet again. :D
 

happyandbob

Legend
I could be a little crossed up with a few folks, but believe I remember him saying he’s strung thousands. Lol

Other things also said/declared by that guy:
  • you will never improve as a tennis player without paying for a real coach and drilling constantly
  • tennis players focus too much on technique instead of just playing to win like MEP
  • tennis elbow location is in the meat of the forearm not where the tendon inserts into the elbow
  • physical therapy is snake oil and physical therapists are quacks because the didn’t go to medical school
  • the only thing that heals tennis elbow is rest and everything else is bs quackery
  • nobody can eat 50 eggs

ok I made one of those up. He didn’t say one of those things
 

USMC-615

Hall of Fame
Other things also said/declared by that guy:
  • you will never improve as a tennis player without paying for a real coach and drilling constantly
  • tennis players focus too much on technique instead of just playing to win like MEP
  • tennis elbow location is in the meat of the forearm not where the tendon inserts into the elbow
  • physical therapy is snake oil and physical therapists are quacks because the didn’t go to medical school
  • the only thing that heals tennis elbow is rest and everything else is bs quackery
  • nobody can eat 50 eggs

ok I made one of those up. He didn’t say one of those things
:D
 
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