Badminton crosses strung from throat. Tennis, from head. Why?

[ChimpChimp]

I string tennis racquets by myself and started to learn badminton stringing. Saw two videos, both string crosses from the throat. All tennis videos teach to string from the head. Why?

[Edit] They are all two-piece four-knot stringing.

 

[uk_skippy]

Because the stresses and strains on the badminton racquet are different. If Yonex, the market leader in badminton deems it the best way for badminton racquets, then best to follow their instructions. In fact, they do change best practice for their badminton stringing teams, particularly as they're often stringing at relatively high tension when compared to tennis racquets. It has been know for players to request ~40lbs with pre-stretch; and thery expect some to break on the machine.

For the older, egg shaped badminton racquets I still string them top down, but then the tension is usually a lot lower, ~16-18lbs

 

[bbulla]

I really don't see the logic in doing them 2 piece though. The mains almost always tie off at the bottom, so why bother doing it two piece??

I was the IART symposium years ago, and asked this very question to some of the hard core badminton stringers. They didn't really know. Their explanation to me, which sounds like a bit of a 'stringing myth', was the at a tournament one time a guy from Yonex was stringing a frame at very high tension top to bottom. It kept breaking. Then he decided to string bottom to top and it didn't break. So now the rule is to string bottom to top.

Perhaps the "T" throat piece vs. the "Y" throat piece might be a better explanation as to why it is done bottom to top, but I have never been able to find a clear answer on this. I continue to do all my badminton customers 2 piece, bottom to top but I'm still kind of fuzzy on the logic behind it.

 

[uk_skippy]

I really don't see the logic in doing them 2 piece though. The mains almost always tie off at the bottom, so why bother doing it two piece??

I was the IART symposium years ago, and asked this very question to some of the hard core badminton stringers. They didn't really know. Their explanation to me, which sounds like a bit of a 'stringing myth', was the at a tournament one time a guy from Yonex was stringing a frame at very high tension top to bottom. It kept breaking. Then he decided to string bottom to top and it didn't break. So now the rule is to string bottom to top.

Perhaps the "T" throat piece vs. the "Y" throat piece might be a better explanation as to why it is done bottom to top, but I have never been able to find a clear answer on this. I continue to do all my badminton customers 2 piece, bottom to top but I'm still kind of fuzzy on the logic behind it.

I can't give a fuller answer, but as I'm no badminton expert I'll follow what the stringing instructions are. If I have any queries I'll asky some of my friends who work on the Yonex badminton stringing teams.

 

[Steve Huff]

I've only strung a few, but they feel so fragile I take my Wise head off and use the crank. That way I can go as slow, which makes me feel more comfortable.

 

[geubes]

Opposite pressure, the tips are designed to flex more than the throat and the throat is quite fragle. when pulling on the corner, the force will make its way round to the opposite corner and cause it to flex, if not stabilised by already existing string, then you can weaken the T-bar and lower hoop.

If you can, get some load spreaders, they prevent the racket from moving too much and spread the pressure when starting mains. I use just the one at the top.

 

[afeller]

I really don't see the logic in doing them 2 piece though. The mains almost always tie off at the bottom, so why bother doing it two piece??

No, there are some Babolat rackets (and a few others also) which have only 20 mains instead of 22.
Second reason: if you string Yonex Badminton rackets, two piece is a must to keep the warranty. If you send a racket with just two knots to them, they refuse it. Also with two piece you have less stress on the outer mains grommets.

I was the IART symposium years ago, and asked this very question to some of the hard core badminton stringers. They didn't really know. Their explanation to me, which sounds like a bit of a 'stringing myth', was the at a tournament one time a guy from Yonex was stringing a frame at very high tension top to bottom. It kept breaking. Then he decided to string bottom to top and it didn't break. So now the rule is to string bottom to top.

Here is a qoute of a badmintoncentral.com thread:

The reason why Yonex goes bottom up, in 2005 a stringer at the World Championships was stringing top down. A Korean player requested a tension of 34 and stringing those rackets he broke 3 in a row. He wad then told to go bottom up and no problem. I believe that is when Yonex required all badminton rackets go bottom up. I also heard there was a problem at the 2005 All England's, but I was not there.

Caution, possibly a myth: In one All England Open Yonex changed from bottom up to top down. They had a lot of more broken rackets after that tournament. They not only broke while stringing, but also while playing. Maybe this was 2006, when they want to prove that. So this is the reason why bottom up