New stringer question: why does my freshly strung soft poly feel "dead" the second day? Please help!

[DF Seattle]

I just bought an Alpha crank stringing machine to string my son's racquets The goal was to save money but after stringing and cutting out new strings a few times, now I am not sure anymore as we have wasted a lot of strings. He has been very happy with the string job done by the club stringer (one-piece method at tension 50) with the Hyper-g Soft strings we provided him. I set the tension of my crank machine at 50 and took me 1.5-2hrs to finish each racquet as I am still a slow beginner. I expected some tension loss or inaccuracy, and the tension after stringing was about 45lbs on mains and 35 on crosses, which is about the same tension as his other racquet that was strung by the professional stringer at the moment. However, he said the mom-strung racquet plays very "dull" and does not have the good control, spin and power as the pro-strung one. I have tried three times hoping each time the improvement of my techniques helped but still feels dull (or dead) to him, but once he switched to the pro-strung one, the playability came back.

Why is that? Can anyone shed me some light? I bought a tension calibrator which should be arriving today. I am not sure if that would help at all as the final tension after stringing seems to match the pro-strung racquet that my son is still very happy with.

Thanks everyone in advance!

 

[Irvin]

Sounds like your crank machine is stringing at a lower tension. Check calibration, and for clamp slippage. Work on your tie off knots increasing tension on the tie off strings, increase tension from 50 to 55.

 

[jim e]

Also, make sure on your cross strings, that string is straight while tensioning, as if you straight them up after tensioning, they will be less tension than you want. Also, like Irvin said, increase your tension a little, crank machine can give lower final tension than a constant pull machine, and you need to increase some to compensate.

 

[DF Seattle]

Thank you so much, Irvin and Jim E! I definitely need to improve on tying the knots as well, and it's good to know that crank machine gives a lower final tension!

But would the lower initial tension affect its perfornance/playabitliy? So the pro-strung racquet was strung at 50 but it has dropped down to about the same tension as the freshly strung mom-strung racquet. So why do they feel differently? I wonder if the initial higher tension actually stretches the strings which would have affected its playability?

 

[Rabbit]

@DF Seattle - it takes practice. You'll get there, don't get disappointed.

 

[graycrait]

@DF Seattle , you might want to buy a cheap reel of synthetic gut and string a few rackets before stringing up high dollar poly. The club stringer had to practice at first also.

 

[USMC-615]

Everything mentioned above. Check the calibration and make sure it's on, adjust if necessary...if the calibration is good, up the tension a few pounds or so until you find where you need to be with your sons' feedback.

Consistency and repeatability...make absolutely sure that you're taking the same amount of time (in seconds) after the tension head locks out, that you clamp that specific string and lock that base. If you alter this 'timing', string stretch now becomes an absolute...seconds can tick off the clock and poundage can drop like a rock prior to clamping (a digital calibrator/digital scale will show you just how quick it can happen).

You'll get it and it'll all come together sooner rather than later. Get your timing, rhythm, cross-straightening, knot tying, etc down and you won't be seeing that club stringer anymore.

And I agree with graycrait above...get a not so expensive reel of syn gut or poly and hit it running while learning.

 

[Irvin]

So the pro-strung racquet was strung at 50 but it has dropped down to about the same tension as the freshly strung mom-strung racquet. So why do they feel differently? I wonder if the initial higher tension actually stretches the strings which would have affected its playability?

A lot of the dead feel could come from the loss of tension from drawback, loss of tension on outer mains, and lower cross string tension.

EDIT: imagine you have a racket strung on an electronic constant pull machine. The machine pulls tension to 50 lbs and stops pulling just like your lockout or crank machine does. After the eCP stops pull the string relaxes, tension drops and the ECP pulls again to get the tension up to 50 lbs. This could happen several times over the time it takes to clamp the string. The string is deformed more on the ECP machine and the resulting tension is higher than the tension you pulled on the crank machine because it never account for a loss of tension after lockout.

 

[DF Seattle]

Thank you all so very much for your responses and sharing your knowledge with me! I am taking notes and will pay attention on the timing and straightening the crosses before pulling the tension.
Good to know about the constant pulling of a pro's machine and perhaps that makes a difference on the feel of the string. It makes sense. I will increase the tension and see how it goes. Thanks all!

 

[1HBHfanatic]

-tension drop!
-it can be in the 20% difference at times

 

[LOBALOT]

I just bought an Alpha crank stringing machine to string my son's racquets The goal was to save money but after stringing and cutting out new strings a few times, now I am not sure anymore as we have wasted a lot of strings. He has been very happy with the string job done by the club stringer (one-piece method at tension 50) with the Hyper-g Soft strings we provided him. I set the tension of my crank machine at 50 and took me 1.5-2hrs to finish each racquet as I am still a slow beginner. I expected some tension loss or inaccuracy, and the tension after stringing was about 45lbs on mains and 35 on crosses, which is about the same tension as his other racquet that was strung by the professional stringer at the moment. However, he said the mom-strung racquet plays very "dull" and does not have the good control, spin and power as the pro-strung one. I have tried three times hoping each time the improvement of my techniques helped but still feels dull (or dead) to him, but once he switched to the pro-strung one, the playability came back.

Why is that? Can anyone shed me some light? I bought a tension calibrator which should be arriving today. I am not sure if that would help at all as the final tension after stringing seems to match the pro-strung racquet that my son is still very happy with.

Thanks everyone in advance!

First of all your club could have been using an electronic machine. The 50 lbs number they used and you liked is not necessarily the 50 lbs number you should use on a crank to achieve the same result. There are other posts out here on this but an electronic constant pull (eCP) and a lockout crank machine do not pull tension the same way. The control system on an eCP machine will pull and relax many times a second before the string settles in at the tension. A lockout does that... when it hits the tension it is set at the pin fires and no more tension is applied and then the string relaxes to some tension below that.

In other threads you will see there are techniques like pulling and reseting and pulling multiple times, etc. on the crank to replicate this. I didn't know this when I had a crank so the 52 lbs my son strung Hyper G at the tennis shop I found by trial was 60 lbs on the crank machine which got him close.

In addition, from a technique perspective I don't think it is realistic to begin to string racquets and expect the same results you were getting from the stringer the first few times. I agree that you are wasting string. I would buy some cheap sets of synthetic gut and practice. Make sure your clamps are adjusted appropriately, that the crosses are straight as you pull tension as there should be minimal need to straighten after, and that your knot technique is solid so you aren't losing tension there.

 

[DF Seattle]

Thank you so much, Lobalot. I am learning so much from you all!

 

[WYK]

If it is a tension issue you can do a few things on a crank:

Set the tension head 1KG/2lbs higher to start.
Do a double pull vs a single pull and see if he likes it better.
Pre-stretch the string a bit by pulling on it for a few seconds, but since you have a crank, another way to do it is ...
You can also set the crank a full rotation away from the table and do deliberately paced single pulls (this likely won't work with nylon or multi as most cranks only have room for just over two rotations) - this will prestretch the string a bit every time you pull. Make sure to clamp the strings quickly after the tension head locks out.
Also make sure every pull and clamp you do during a string job is done the same way as the last one. You want to be consistent.
Clamp the string as quickly as you can, and as close as you can to the outside of the frame without damaging the frame or the grommets.
Make sure the crosses are straight as possible before tensioning them.

Having said all that - HyperG soft lengthens as you pull it. It is a very soft string as polys go. I can imagine on a constant pull electronic machine that is is pre-stretching this string more so than your crank.
The crazy thing is for how soft it is, it holds tension rather well and is rather elastic as polys go. So unlike many polys that break-in and change their feel over a few outings, hyperG doesn't do this as much.
So you would likely need to get the tension right from the beginning.

 

[DF Seattle]

Really appreciate your insights, WYK! It is starting to make sense now. We will try to increase the tension slightly and do double pulls. My son is really enjoying Hyper-g soft, well, at least when it's strung by the pro.
One more question: does pre-stretching reduce the life of the poly string? I'm imagining after hours of playing, the string will go dead and wonder if pre-stretching can actually reduce the elasticity of the string more quickly.

 

[WYK]

I would first just increase the tension or try and prestretch it by hand(loads of videos on it on the toob). Then mebbe set the carriage back if that doesn't do it. Double pulling is a pain, and I would save it as a last resort, but mostly to see if it works. If it did, then I would set the tension 2-3 mebbe 4 lbs higher and see if he likes it. Also, you may want to calibrate that tension head as well.

Everything you do to a poly string reduces it's life. It's a string. Do what you have to do to enjoy the game - that's more important.

But with the softer polys, an electric constant puller really does a number on them since they can stretch so much right out of the reel. So it is difficult to match them with a lockout.
Personally, I usually just set them 1kg higher than what I would string their non soft brothers at. I do a deliberate pull and a quick clamp.

Also, even if the feel may be different, the more important thing is if he is playing the same or better. While I do enjoy the feel of some set ups more than others, and definitely tailor my racquet towards feel, when my hitting partners give me feedback, I go more with them than the feel. If I am getting more spin or more pace or a heavier ball for a bit less feel, that's a fair trade off.

 

[DF Seattle]

I would first just increase the tension or try and prestretch it by hand(loads of videos on it on the toob). Then mebbe set the carriage back if that doesn't do it. Double pulling is a pain, and I would save it as a last resort, but mostly to see if it works. If it did, then I would set the tension 2-3 mebbe 4 lbs higher and see if he likes it. Also, you may want to calibrate that tension head as well.

Everything you do to a poly string reduces it's life. It's a string. Do what you have to do to enjoy the game - that's more important.

But with the softer polys, an electric constant puller really does a number on them since they can stretch so much right out of the reel. So it is difficult to match them with a lockout.
Personally, I usually just set them 1kg higher than what I would string their non soft brothers at. I do a deliberate pull and a quick clamp.

Also, even if the feel may be different, the more important thing is if he is playing the same or better. While I do enjoy the feel of some set ups more than others, and definitely tailor my racquet towards feel, when my hitting partners give me feedback, I go more with them than the feel. If I am getting more spin or more pace or a heavier ball for a bit less feel, that's a fair trade off.

Very good points! Noted. Thank you so much! Will try to increase the tension first which sounds a lot easier than double pulling.

 

[Jerry Seinfeld]

I strongly advise against pre stretching poly. Poly has limited elasticity and it must be preserved. If over stretched you will kill the string. Prestretching can over stretch it.

50 lbs is okay, but it very close to elastic limits. I would not increase tension on mains. Instead this is my suggestion.

1. String mains at 50lbs. As soon as you feel resistance in the crank, slow down and pull very slowly until it locks into place. I’d wait 5 - 10 seconds and then repull. Just keep it the same on each main. After repulling, clamp off.

2. For crosses increase tension to 54. Due to friction this should not overstretch the poly. Again, pull slowly until it clicks.

This process should give your son the stringbed he desires.

Here is a link to a video that explains why you don’t want to overstretch poly.

 

[WYK]

I strongly advise against pre stretching poly. Poly has limited elasticity and it must be preserved. If over stretched you will kill the string. Prestretching can over stretch it.

50 lbs is okay, but it very close to elastic limits. I would not increase tension on mains. Instead this is my suggestion.

1. String mains at 50lbs. As soon as you feel resistance in the crank, slow down and pull very slowly until it locks into place. I’d wait 5 - 10 seconds and then repull. Just keep it the same on each main. After repulling, clamp off.

2. For crosses increase tension to 54. Due to friction this should not overstretch the poly. Again, pull slowly until it clicks.

This process should give your son the stringbed he desires.

Here is a link to a video that explains why you don’t want to overstretch poly.

She's gonna have to pull the hell out of that HyperG Soft to make it inelastic. it starts life with less stiffness than Prince Synthetic Gut.

 

[DF Seattle]

I strongly advise against pre stretching poly. Poly has limited elasticity and it must be preserved. If over stretched you will kill the string. Prestretching can over stretch it.

50 lbs is okay, but it very close to elastic limits. I would not increase tension on mains. Instead this is my suggestion.

1. String mains at 50lbs. As soon as you feel resistance in the crank, slow down and pull very slowly until it locks into place. I’d wait 5 - 10 seconds and then repull. Just keep it the same on each main. After repulling, clamp off.

2. For crosses increase tension to 54. Due to friction this should not overstretch the poly. Again, pull slowly until it clicks.

This process should give your son the stringbed he desires.

Here is a link to a video that explains why you don’t want to overstretch poly.

That makes sense too! There's so much physics involved not only on the tennis ball and the racquet, but also onhow to string it. Just like parenting, it doesn't come with a fixed instruction manual, we all have to learn by sharing our experiences with each other and try different methods and finally find one that works best for us. A forum like this makes this possible. I have noted all your inputs and will think it through before deciding which one to try first. Thank you all for being so generous on sharing your wisdom!

 

[graycrait]

@DF Seattle , don't let the TT glitterati bamboozle you into thinking this is some kind arcane practice. Stringing rackets is a factory job brought home. Think of the millions of rackets being strung daily worldwide in factories and elsewhere. Kind of like driving a car. Once you have experience it isn't too hard but early on if you make mistakes driving can kill you, stringing a racket won't. Also without mistakes there is no learning.

If you were my friend and were using a lockout, I have one too, I would suggest just stringing the mains about 4lbs higher than the club stringer if they are using an electronic constant pull machine and the crosses maybe 6lbs higher. Then see what your son thinks.

Depending on your finances you might want to plan on adding a Wise electronic tension head to your machine, replacing the lockout crank tension head. But a lockout is just fine once you find your rhythm and confidence with it. I strung for a young woman for a year who was a Russian national junior champ using a crank and when she left she told me who was going to string her rackets in the future with magic string. She went 17-3 in dual D1 college singles her only year here using strings strung by an old amateur stringer on his ancient Neos 1000.

What racket does your son use? Maybe knowing this some on this forum have direct experience.

You will soon become a proficient stringer if you keep after it. A year or two from now you will be yawning reading posts about stringing standard tennis rackets. Then you will be wondering about T2000s, Ergonoms, Blackburnes, old wood rackets, etc.

 

[DF Seattle]

@DF Seattle , don't let the TT glitterati bamboozle you into thinking this is some kind arcane practice. Stringing rackets is a factory job brought home. Think of the millions of rackets being strung daily worldwide in factories and elsewhere. Kind of like driving a car. Once you have experience it isn't too hard but early on if you make mistakes driving can kill you, stringing a racket won't. Also without mistakes there is no learning.

If you were my friend and were using a lockout, I have one too, I would suggest just stringing the mains about 4lbs higher than the club stringer if they are using an electronic constant pull machine and the crosses maybe 6lbs higher. Then see what your son thinks.

Depending on your finances you might want to plan on adding a Wise electronic tension head to your machine, replacing the lockout crank tension head. But a lockout is just fine once you find your rhythm and confidence with it. I strung for a young woman for a year who was a Russian national junior champ using a crank and when she left she told me who was going to string her rackets in the future with magic string. She went 17-3 in dual D1 college singles her only year here using strings strung by an old amateur stringer on his ancient Neos 1000.

What racket does your son use? Maybe knowing this some on this forum have direct experience.

You will soon become a proficient stringer if you keep after it. A year or two from now you will be yawning reading posts about stringing standard tennis rackets. Then you will be wondering about T2000s, Ergonoms, Blackburnes, old wood rackets, etc.

Wow, that's awesome to hear, and it's good to know your first hand experience with a crank machine.

My son just started using Pure Aero 2023 only since a couple of months ago. He used natural gut on Aero Tour before switching to this racquet but the gut became too powerful for the new racquet. Based on coaches recommendation and our own research, he tried the hyper-g soft and it worked perfectly, again, at least on the pro-strung racquets. Yes, I'll keep practicing!

 

[graycrait]

@DF Seattle , How old is your son? He was using full bed natural gut previously!? Is he competitive in his age group? If he can get good topspin with nat gut on a Babolat he must be kind of remarkable. Going from fullbed nat gut to Hyper G Soft is a big jump. You must have him working with a good coach.

Fine tuning your stringing skills vs your son's skill set will be fun for you.

If you have the time and connections locally you might want to ask some stringers to watch or lessons. Maybe the club stringer will let you watch him/her or maybe guide you through stringing one of your own.

 

[DF Seattle]

@DF Seattle , How old is your son? He was using full bed natural gut previously!? Is he competitive in his age group? If he can get good topspin with nat gut on a Babolat he must be kind of remarkable. Going from fullbed nat gut to Hyper G Soft is a big jump. You must have him working with a good coach.

Fine tuning your stringing skills vs your son's skill set will be fun for you.

If you have the time and connections locally you might want to ask some stringers to watch or lessons. Maybe the club stringer will let you watch him/her or maybe guide you through stringing one of your own.

Oh thanks for your kind words! He just turned 14, but started getting serious about tennis just over a year ago. He's now in a high performance program and loves doing matches and tournaments. He said his topspin was okay with Touch VS 17g on the Aero Tour racquet. When a coach said he needed a lighter racquet so we made a switch. But for some reason, he lost a lot of control and the ability to produce topspin with gut on the Aero 2023, and the balls just kept flying out of the court. After a lot of research, we later figured the new racquet was lighter thus he could swing faster and produce more power. The gut became too powerful for him on this racquet as his swings were good enough to produce enough power already. The hyper-g soft is so soft on his arm yet is giving him much better control and spin. It was really fun for me to help figure out a good string and racquet combo, but stringing it for him is not as easy as it seemed and it's not fun just yet. He tried it once too and the racquet felt dull with poor playability as well. We will definitely try stringing it with increased tension first!

 

[Rayzor]

A lot of the dead feel could come from the loss of tension from drawback, loss of tension on outer mains, and lower cross string tension.

EDIT: imagine you have a racket strung on an electronic constant pull machine. The machine pulls tension to 50 lbs and stops pulling just like your lockout or crank machine does. After the eCP stops pull the string relaxes, tension drops and the ECP pulls again to get the tension up to 50 lbs. This could happen several times over the time it takes to clamp the string. The string is deformed more on the ECP machine and the resulting tension is higher than the tension you pulled on the crank machine because it never account for a loss of tension after lockout.

Is this why dropweight stringers are considered more accurate than lockout stringers?

 

[fritzhimself]

Especially at that age and frequent training, I wouldn't exactly classify a poly as arm friendly.
A weak point in the bone structure of children and adolescents is the growth plate (epiphyseal plate). It usually closes by age 14 or 15 in girls and about age 16 in boys, after bone growth is complete. Acute injuries, as well as chronic overloading that results in microtraumatic injuries - not visible to the eye - can cause damage to the growth plates.
In particular, an injury close to the joint or even directly affecting the joint, in which the growth plate is involved, can then result in malposition.
Just as an example - Dominic Thiem played exclusively with Multi (Isospeed Classic Professional) until the age of 18.

 

[Irvin]

Is this why dropweight stringers are considered more accurate than lockout stringers?

You could say that

 

[WYK]

While we're on more or less the right track, we need to take into consideration the string they are using and where they are coming from.
Yes, that is a jump going from gut to HyperG Soft, but not as much as you may think. HyperG Soft is a rather powerful and elastic string as poly's go - easily one of the most so.
In my experience it is more powerful and more comfortable than many synthetic guts. I mean, if you do a search for similar strings on TWU, Gamma Live Wire and NXT come up as a match.
An just like those two when you string them - they streeeeeetch.
So, HyperG Soft would be more sensitive to the type of machine you are using and who is using it than most other poly's. The OP needs to find a means to close the distance.

 

[USMC-615]

@DF Seattle ...

Now if you end up one of the best stringers on this planet and this 14-yr old young man ends up number 1 in the world here in another half-dozen years, and I can only speak for myself...I'll need a little compensation for post #7 earlier (all these other folks in this thread are on their own mind you). I don't need a wheelbarrow full of loot but I wouldn't turn it down either...you just shine up with a couple of cases of cold beer, some 2" thick ribeye's for the grill, two or three sides, and we'll call it even.

P.S. It's all about priorities...ice down the cold beer!

 

[DF Seattle]

Especially at that age and frequent training, I wouldn't exactly classify a poly as arm friendly.
A weak point in the bone structure of children and adolescents is the growth plate (epiphyseal plate). It usually closes by age 14 or 15 in girls and about age 16 in boys, after bone growth is complete. Acute injuries, as well as chronic overloading that results in microtraumatic injuries - not visible to the eye - can cause damage to the growth plates.
In particular, an injury close to the joint or even directly affecting the joint, in which the growth plate is involved, can then result in malposition.
Just as an example - Dominic Thiem played exclusively with Multi (Isospeed Classic Professional) until the age of 18.

Thank you so much for sharing your concerns! Take appreciated. Yes, I've also read so much about it which made me a paranoid mom and that's why he was on natural gut for a long time regardless of the cost and what the coaches were suggesting, until we got the new racquets... Anyhow, I did extensive research and went against the advice of the stringer who suggested Head's softest poly, lynx touch. We looked up on TW's string comparison chart and found out the stiffness of Hyper-g's soft version is actually very close to a multifilament, certainly not as soft as natural gut. We let him try both Hyper-g soft and Lynx Touch on the same racquets. He said the hyper-g felt very soft vs the lynx touch is too lively and harder. He was right. The lynx touch has a higher reading on stiffness. As he transitioned from gut and liked the softness of the hyper-g soft, that means something so I decided to let him go for it. He has not had any signs of arm soreness or strain even though he plays 4-5 times a week. But I'll definitely stay only on the soft version or a thinner gauge of the regular version if we ever change. Thanks again for your kind advice!

 

[DF Seattle]

@DF Seattle ...

Now if you end up one of the best stringers on this planet and this 14-yr old young man ends up number 1 in the world here in another half-dozen years, and I can only speak for myself...I'll need a little compensation for post #7 earlier (all these other folks in this thread are on their own mind you). I don't need a wheelbarrow full of loot but I wouldn't turn it down either...you just shine up with a couple of cases of cold beer, some 2" thick ribeye's for the grill, two or three sides, and we'll call it even.

P.S. It's all about priorities...ice down the cold beer!

Haha, he most likely won't be. This is just what he enjoys as an extracurricular activity. Tennis is a wonderful lifelong sport. Great for their social and emotional growth. We as parents just do it best to support them.

 

[fritzhimself]

All the best for your son and hope he stays healthy.
Maybe it is worth a try - let him play a hybrid. At least for another year?

 

[DF Seattle]

Hi everyone! I just would like to update you guys that after 4-5 tries, my son is now finally happy with his most recent racquet strung by mom! I found an app called TennisTension and it's much more accurate than my store bought expensive tension meter (the black plastic round one). I realized the freshly strung tension was almost identical to the setting of my crank machine so I actually did not have to up the tension. I did try to increase the tension by 5lbs once though and my plastic tension meter reads 45lbs at machine setting 55lbs, but my son complained about sore wrist after two hits. I was puzzled so I searched for a more accurate meter which led me to the app, and it read 51.5lbs (second day after stringing)! I kept in mind that consistency is the key and clamp within 5 seconds each time. I decided not to double pull after realizing my son does want more lively feel. I will continue to use 50lbs setting and will let it sit for at least overnight to drop a few pounds before letting him use it so it wouldn't be too stiff for him.

If you guys don't know the app, please check it out. I am so happy with it so far. One note, you have to use it in a very quiet place.

Thank you all again for all your inputs!

 

[fritzhimself]

Don't want to upset you now - but............

ERT 300 Tennis Computer | Page 2 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[DF Seattle]

Ah! I'm not "upset" at all but thankful of the info. It's always good to know more and look at things from a different perspective. I think I've been relying too much on the tension reading, which is likely not that reliable after all.

 

[socallefty]

If he doesn’t break it early, make sure he cuts out the poly within 15 hours. He might feel discomfort after that as the poly will go dead and then it can lead to injuries if you don’t cut it out. It is possible that he might feel discomfort or tightness even earlier depending on the tension. I like HG Soft 17 at 42 lbs on a Pure Strike Tour.

 

[DF Seattle]

If he doesn’t break it early, make sure he cuts out the poly within 15 hours. He might feel discomfort after that as the poly will go dead and then it can lead to injuries if you don’t cut it out. It is possible that he might feel discomfort or tightness even earlier depending on the tension. I like HG Soft 17 at 42 lbs on a Pure Strike Tour.

Wow, I didn't know a dead poly would cause injuries. Thanks for sharing! We would be more careful. He's quite sensitive to the feel of the string so I usually just keep asking if it's time to restring.

 

[socallefty]

Wow, I didn't know a dead poly would cause injuries. Thanks for sharing! We would be more careful. He's quite sensitive to the feel of the string so I usually just keep asking if it's time to restring.

If he says he feels any tightness (even before pain) in his wrist, elbow or arm, time to restring. For me, I notice it before the poly drops tension enough to be erratic. Others notice the tension loss and erratic control first. All the best!

 

[MathieuR]

and clamp within 5 seconds each time

As you use a lock-out, it makes no difference for the final tension if you clamp after 1 or 10 or 30 seconds.
You finish the racket faster when you clamp fast

With a Crank your variable to consider is the cranking speed

 

[Bud]

I just bought an Alpha crank stringing machine to string my son's racquets The goal was to save money but after stringing and cutting out new strings a few times, now I am not sure anymore as we have wasted a lot of strings. He has been very happy with the string job done by the club stringer (one-piece method at tension 50) with the Hyper-g Soft strings we provided him. I set the tension of my crank machine at 50 and took me 1.5-2hrs to finish each racquet as I am still a slow beginner. I expected some tension loss or inaccuracy, and the tension after stringing was about 45lbs on mains and 35 on crosses, which is about the same tension as his other racquet that was strung by the professional stringer at the moment. However, he said the mom-strung racquet plays very "dull" and does not have the good control, spin and power as the pro-strung one. I have tried three times hoping each time the improvement of my techniques helped but still feels dull (or dead) to him, but once he switched to the pro-strung one, the playability came back.

Why is that? Can anyone shed me some light? I bought a tension calibrator which should be arriving today. I am not sure if that would help at all as the final tension after stringing seems to match the pro-strung racquet that my son is still very happy with.

Thanks everyone in advance!

Player bias? Stringing a racquet isn't rocket science. As long as the clamps aren't slipping, the string bed should feel pretty similar with the same string at the same tension.

 

[MathieuR]

feel pretty similar with the same string at the same tension.

It is not without reason that a pro likes his rackets strung by the same stringer on a tournament......

And a lockout always gives a softer stringbed as a cp if you don't up the tensions.

 

[DF Seattle]

Player bias? Stringing a racquet isn't rocket science. As long as the clamps aren't slipping, the string bed should feel pretty similar with the same string at the same tension.

It's definitely possible. I had that suspicion briefly so I asked him to try again in his next class and switch to the pro-strung racquet to compare. He could tell immediately the pro-string racquet was way better for control/spin/power but the mom-strung one felt "dead" as he said he couldn't control the ball well, both spin and power were off. After reading all of the responses, I figured the many mistakes I made could've caused it. The clamps slipped or I forgot something. I often fixed the mistakes by unstringing and restringing with the same string. I think this could've been the main cause because when I restring, I am actually pulling "parts" of the strings multiple times which could've caused some deadness and uneveness.

I just replaced the pro-strung racquet with new strings which he tried it out yesterday. He said it felt "normal" and felt he was in his control of the ball except it felt a little more lively than usual which I think it's the character of hyper-g soft and it might just need some "breaking in".

As some of you mention, practice and consistency are the key and I kept that in mind.

 

[Irvin]

It's definitely possible. I had that suspicion briefly so I asked him to try again in his next class and switch to the pro-strung racquet to compare. He could tell immediately the pro-string racquet was way better for control/spin/power but the mom-strung one felt "dead" as he said he couldn't control the ball well, both spin and power were off. After reading all of the responses, I figured the many mistakes I made could've caused it. The clamps slipped or I forgot something. I often fixed the mistakes by unstringing and restringing with the same string. I think this could've been the main cause because when I restring, I am actually pulling "parts" of the strings multiple times which could've caused some deadness and uneveness.

I just replaced the pro-strung racquet with new strings which he tried it out yesterday. He said it felt "normal" and felt he was in his control of the ball except it felt a little more lively than usual which I think it's the character of hyper-g soft and it might just need some "breaking in".

As some of you mention, practice and consistency are the key and I kept that in mind.

I keep hearing “mom strung racket.” Why can’t he use your stringing machine?

 

[DF Seattle]

Good question! He strung it once too and it took hours as well but it turned out equally bad! He has school, extracurricular activities and just doesn't have enough time to practice and sharpen the skills. I think I'm just more intense and wanted to solve this puzzle badly before we have to pay for the pro to do it. He wants to do too hopefully during the Thanksgiving break he'll have more time to practice.

 

[Irvin]

Good question! He strung it once too and it took hours as well but it turned out equally bad! He has school, extracurricular activities and just doesn't have enough time to practice and sharpen the skills. I think I'm just more intense and wanted to solve this puzzle badly before we have to pay for the pro to do it. He wants to do too hopefully during the Thanksgiving break he'll have more time to practice.

I was in the same boat as you are but my son broke strings 10x a week. A good eCP or lockout goes a long way is cutting the time required to string a racket. My son didn’t have time to string his rackets but he made time (at first) to string his friend‘s when he got paid for doing it. Life sometimes just isn’t fair.

 

[DF Seattle]

I was in the same boat as you are but my son broke strings 10x a week. A good eCP or lockout goes a long way is cutting the time required to string a racket. My son didn’t have time to string his rackets but he made time (at first) to string his friend‘s when he got paid for doing it. Life sometimes just isn’t fair.

That's a good motivation to get him started!
Yeah, definitely not fair for the parents. We should start charging them. Luckily I am starting to enjoy stringing as long as it turns out good enough. It saves money in the long run. Hopefully it will get faster for me with practice.

BTW, what's eCP? Sorry I'm still new to this.

 

[USMC-615]

As you use a lock-out, it makes no difference for the final tension if you clamp after 1 or 10 or 30 seconds.
You finish the racket faster when you clamp fast

With a Crank your variable to consider is the cranking speed

Have you ever used a digital calibrator (Wise 2090) or a digital scale, pulled tension on a crank/lock out to set point tension, and watched the tension readings drop like a rock with certain strings over a period of 5 sec's to 30 sec's?...and you say it makes no difference as to when you clamp a string when using a lockout tension head? Ludicrous comment.

 

[USMC-615]

That's a good motivation to get him started!
Yeah, definitely not fair for the parents. We should start charging them. Luckily I am starting to enjoy stringing as long as it turns out good enough. It saves money in the long run. Hopefully it will get faster for me with practice.

BTW, what's eCP? Sorry I'm still new to this.

eCP = Electronic Constant Pull (when referring to types of tension heads some stringing machines have).

 

[MathieuR]

and you say it makes no difference as to when you clamp a string when using a lockout tension head? Ludicrous comment.

It really makes no difference!
Yes, the tension will drop after "lock", and will continue to drop after clamping.

 

[struggle]

It really makes no difference!
Yes, the tension will drop after "lock", and will continue to drop after clamping.

If you clamp quicker, you will lose slightly less tension as it's then a shorter section
of string that is relaxing.....that you will maintain going forward in the process.
If you wait longer, the entire length will relax even longer
before clamping, then even more relax over time on the short section.

Would you rather clamp at 55 when stringing at 58 reference? Or would you rather clamp at 53?

It might be splitting hairs, but that is what we do here to minimize tension loss during the process.
It's even a good practice on any CP machine (yes, even yours) if only for consistency, to clamp
at a quick yet consistent pace.

 

[fritzhimself]

With a crank machine it doesn't matter - if it snaps off or you disconnect the string, the relaxation runs - there's nothing you can do about it.

In this example, you don't disconnect at all and the kilos rattle off - that's just what relaxation looks like.