Anyone regret telling their hitting partners that you can string a racket?

For the people who string for themselves, do your friends expect you to string their rackets?
Not worth it, even if they pay you.

 

i actually love stringing for friends with whom i hit.

what makes it not worth it to you?


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An hour of my life gone

 

Not even for the teammates going to state with you?

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If you feel that way, you should charge what your time is worth to string racquets or just refuse, it's just that simple.Should be no big deal to let them know you are no longer stringing if it is not worth your time.I would not want you to string my racquet if you felt the way you do.

 

was that particular friend critical of the work you did or super picky about how you went about stringing the racquet?

i get that sometimes it’s not always ideal, but maybe it’s different for me since i actively seek out others for whom i can string regularly.

do you typically only string for yourself?


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Yes, I only string for myself.

If you string even once for a friend, you now open the door to becoming his lifetime stringer.
Next thing you know, 5 people want their racket strung.

Gladly, no one has asked me, but it is not a precedent I would set.

 

Yeah you have to tell people that you only string for yourself. Have to make that super clear. I do give people strings though, since it is very easy amass way too many that you will never use.

 

I've had requests from a few very close tennis friends to string their sticks. I shut it down immediately by responding that I only string my own. If someone persisted, I'd offer them a price of $100.

 

I string for other players in the area and I charge for my services. I don’t charge much but it has paid for my babolat sensor machine. Also the more racquets you string, the better stringer you become. You notice little details that make for a better string job. You learn how to deal with all different types of patterns. You learn how to string 1 pc, 1 pc ATW, 2 pc. If I only strung my own racquets, I would not be nearly as experienced a stringer as I am now.

 

So this is a hypothetical? It’s called “begging off”. You can decline in a nice way.

 

lol, no, because i'm usually quick to say, "i don't string racquets other than my own"
everyone's looking for a deal... you i end up making like $15 (for labor) for the hour... waste of my time
that said, my kid's are looking for ways to make money, so i plan to teach them to string - and for them it's worth the $15...

 

I just tell them I don't fan when I pull cross strings.

Now they avoid me like the plague.

 

for me, there's no ROI, in terms of $ or other...
my "friends" that i play with are really just tennis friends/acquaintances...
it's not like we're inviting each other their kids events/birthdays/etc...

when i was in hs/college, and strung for my friends, it "reinforced" the relationships... there was plenty of reciprocity going on,... rounds at the bar, borrowing cars, DD, connections/hookups to parties and other social circles, etc..
that, and my time in hs/college was "infinitie" (except during exam weeks), so 1hr was not a big deal...

now i try to carefully allocate every hour of my time.

 

to answer your original question: not many people expect me to string for them when i tell them i do stringing. most of the time, they are already comfortable paying through the nose at the local tennis shop.


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I'll string for friends on occasion. No one expects it. If it's a pretty good friend, I may offer it up if they pop a string when we're playing together. If a random asks me, I'll just tell them I'm not very good at stringing and that usually end that conversation.

 

In my case, I do string for some friends. I charge a modest rate (I won’t do it for free). I string fairly quickly, and my schedule is rather flexible. So trading an hour or two for a little pocket money doesn’t bother me.

That being said, I’ve turned a few people away, too. Most of those were “tire kickers,” or complete nuts, looking for a hand out, unreasonably low prices, or rush service for nothing.

It is kind of the nature of the beast, though - when people find out you own a machine, there’s always someone who will pipe up, “Hey, would you string my racquet?”

 

The OP brings up a good point,
ive come across some ppl who I no longer wanna string for,, even though I like stringing and string for many,,

example, guy gives me 3 rakets and then hagles over the price, I lower price a bit against my better judgment,, than hurry todo the job,, I go drop off on day/time/place agreed on, and he text me "he forgot", I waited 2 weeks to finally drop off raket again and get paid (at a lower price mind you, since he haggled me into it),,,

yeah, its clients like this that I wish they loose my number..

 

^^ Yeah I would politely let a guy like that know that he needs to find a new stringer.

I don’t give my customers much of a leash. If they cross me, haggle, or pull any shenanigans, I cut ‘em loose immediately. It’s not like I’m doing this as anything close to a main source of income. So I will not take any crap.

 

None of my friends "expects" me to string their rackets. They ask if I can and would, and are appreciative when their rackets are finished. I don't push to do it either, only when I'm asked, and I'm glad to do it except in two cases when I strung for two of my friends and then they both bageled me using my string job against me.

 

Not everything is measured with money. If your friends are grateful to you, if they make you feel that they appreciate what you do for them, if you know that you helped them with learning and experiencing something they did not know before about their setups, it will give you something valuable, on the emotional level, that money cannot buy - that very joy of helping other people and sharing the knowledge. Also, you might get something from your friends in return, they could offer you help with something that they would not offer otherwise.

If you do not want to do it anymore, or they start bothering you way too often, or the "gratitude" component is gone, or if it just takes you too long, you can always plainly say NO or say that you have too much on your hands and have no time for stringing. It is not that difficult, especially if you do not position yourself as a stringer doing business as a stringer.

On the other had, if you are looking for more practice to improve your skills - stringing for friends can be a good opportunity.

I do not think your friends would EXPECT you to string their racquets, unless you proactively offer it. They would not expect you to come and wash their cars, or work in their yard, would they? Stringing is no different.

If you have a full time decently paying job, doing it just for money, indeed, is totally not worth it. There should be something else in it that makes it attractive and valuable for you.

 

I would agree with this. I actually got one of them to get into stringing on his own. Bought an X-2, etc. and is all set and going.

Been trying to convince the other guys, but one is cheap and the other is too busy. I offered to get the first guy out of a jam, but he ended up he was able to find a different solution. The second one is my doubles partner, so there is some give and take there. I know what he is capable of, so I can sort of guide him with string suggestions, etc. But I string his racquet less often than I do my own, and it takes me about an hour. So it's not a huge deal. Just put on TennisTV while I work.

I will do a string job to help someone out in terms of trying a new string if I think he's a good guy. But I keep it pretty limited.

 

£100 is my going rate. Life is too short to string for someone else. Especially when it takes me 45 mins. Especially when you can bodge it up. No.

 

I have strung for a few friends, but always avoid making string suggestions. As far as anyone knows the only string I have available is Gosen OG Micro. I once strung for a good friend who used a high end prepackaged hybrid ($40 + a package). So I ordered the string and passed on the exact cost, even gave him a little break on the stringing to round out the numbers. Turns out the local club that had been stringing for him was getting this string for free and not charging him for it. He got upset and I said never again. I can't compete with free.

 

I string for my regular hitting buddies. Most of the time, for a check to my preferred charity (so I donate my time and string unless they provide the strings). The rest are gratis, I provide synth gut, anything else they provide. If offered, I'll take the check for charity. I don't string often enough to generate much anyway.

 

It pays my hobby (stringing/tuning). And I advise on strings and frames.
I know for sure I do a better job then the local shop, and can improve the quality and pleasure of the game for whom I string.

 

Hahha then you are a very slow stringer! Once you do it in 20min you see things differently


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Yes, some bozo on my team texted me one Friday night at 11:45 PM asking if I could have a racquet ready for his match the next morning at 9 AM. I told him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

Now I don't string for anybody on my team, I don't care what they are willing to pay. It's not worth the hassle of coordinating drop off, pick up etc.

 

I love stringing and offer it to anyone that would like me to string for them. To each their own.

 

I used to do friends racquets right after I bought my stringing machine. Did it for a few months. Then realized it was causing me more stress worrying about getting home to string racquets than it was worth. I charged half what they charge in the local shops, and still felt bad even though my time is worth about four times that hourly rate.

Now I only string for me. About once every ten days, which is enough.

 

Obviously improving your technique will improve your times; especially weaving. Also a few extra tools like a starting clamp and a hollow awl can make life easier. The next step would be to upgrade from your floating clamp machine to a fixed clamp with a linear pull tensioner.

I find I could shave some time by having even a crank linear pull tensioner vs my DW.

As for your OP, I string for some club mates, my family and a coworker. My son has the most frequent stringing needs. The others are a few times a year. No biggie. I charge them the cost of the strings plus $10 for my time. I enjoy stringing and it's a few bucks I can put towards buying more strings or supplies.

But honestly, unless they think you are a fabulous stringer or you are some kind of string gear-head, they probably won't ask.

 

I try to string for as many of the people I play with as I can. Easy money at 20 mins a racket tops and they pay more attention to their strings and as a result play better. Them playing better means we win more.

 

I don't mind stringing for my best friends. For others, I told them that they are welcome to use my machines during my convenient time. But they have to do it by themselves. So far this works well.

 

Learned my lesson. NO. If you string it for free they think you didn't charge them because you don't know how to. Of course if you charge them then they think you're greedy. I strung a friend's racquet and a couple of weeks later he accidentally flung it into the court head first and cracked it. He thought I had weakened his frame stringing it because it wouldn't have cracked. Another guy didn't like that his two outer mains had less tension right after he got it back (poly). He actually thought all of his lousy shots were because of this. When I showed him my two outer mains were also looser and I wasn't making crap shots he didn't say anything. But the next week he had cut out my string job which I did for free and had the local ski shop redo it with the same string.

 

It just sounds like you don't want to string anyone's racket. The simple solution would be to string only for yourself. If you feel it's worth your time to help someone else, then do so, or charge according to your personal hourly rate. Done. I find I enjoy being able to help out my team by stringing their rackets. I get paid $10 for labor and constantly get free rounds of drinks when the team goes out. Figure out what makes you happy.

 

@DE19702
yeah, thats the kind of idiot that I dislike
no matter what you do, they think their crappy game is your fault,,,