One Piece Natural gut stringing

JustTennis76

Hall of Fame
Has anyone done one piece with VS Gut or any other expensive gut? I am planning to put gut on my prestige mid. Due to it's cap grommets, I'm afraid I will have to struggle with blocked holes if I put a thicker gauge gut. I'm a home stringer and want to make string job easier. I know with one piece, I don't have to deal with a lot of blocked holes. Please advice.
 

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
Your long side will have a lot of weaving and could kink you string if your not careful. I would string two piece. Preweave the top three or four crosses before tensioning the two outside mains on each side then finish and tie off the mains. No blocked holes to deal with at the top of the frame. String your crosses top down as normal.
 

jim e

Legend
I string a good deal of nat. gut.
I would string it 2 piece as well. The string gets handled less that way, and also start the cross strings top down no matter what racquet it is, as the top cross strings will be the freshest and when you get to bottom it becomes handled more as most of the hitting is center to top.
Also if you have a diablo, use it, and if you need to pull the same string twice, then wrap the string around the diablo a second time so the tension head grabs in a different spot.
Be sure to not only weave one ahead, but also try to pull most of the slack of the cross string one ahead as well so the string gets less wear.
I also just pull the knots tight with fingers only, as if you pull too tight with pliers you can snap or weaken the string.
If you are concerned of blocked holes, then place a scrap string under the main that skips the hole on outside of frame as that way you can either lift up or pull down on the scrap string to open the grommet hole.
Biggest issue is take a little extra time so you do not accidentally kink the string
 
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tray999

Rookie
I string a good deal of nat. gut.
I would string it 2 piece as well. The string gets handled less that way, and also start the cross strings top down no matter what racquet it is, as the top cross strings will be the freshest and when you get to bottom it becomes handled more as most of the hitting is center to top.
Also if you have a diablo, use it, and if you need to pull the same string twice, then wrap the string around the diablo a second time so the tension head grabs in a different spot.
Be sure to not only weave one ahead, but also try to pull most of the slack of the cross string one ahead as well so the string gets less wear.
I also just pull the knots tight with fingers only, as if you pull too tight with pliers you can snap or weaken the string.
If you are concerned of blocked holes, then place a scrap string under the main that skips the hole on outside of frame as that way you can either lift up or pull down on the scrap string to open the grommet hole.
Biggest issue is take a little extra time so you do not accidentally kink the string

I too string alot of gut and jim e's advise is spot on! My only add-on is to pre stretch the string by hand to help remove the coil memory which helps to prevent kinks. Knots and kinks are two of the biggest issues I had when I first started to string natural gut.
 
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diredesire

Moderator
I string a good deal of nat. gut.
I would string it 2 piece as well. The string gets handled less that way, and also start the cross strings top down no matter what racquet it is, as the top cross strings will be the freshest and when you get to bottom it becomes handled more as most of the hitting is center to top.
Also if you have a diablo, use it, and if you need to pull the same string twice, then wrap the string around the diablo a second time so the tension head grabs in a different spot.
Be sure to not only weave one ahead, but also try to pull most of the slack of the cross string one ahead as well so the string gets less wear.
I also just pull the knots tight with fingers only, as if you pull too tight with pliers you can snap or weaken the string.
If you are concerned of blocked holes, then place a scrap string under the main that skips the hole on outside of frame as that way you can either lift up or pull down on the scrap string to open the grommet hole.
Biggest issue is take a little extra time so you do not accidentally kink the string

Great post, jim. I recommend pulling/fanning one ahead as well for all types of string, not just gut. Most experienced stringers will opt for two piece on gut for the reasons jim mentioned above. By the end of the frame, you can definitely tell the string was 'handled more' with gut. Also look up drakulie's weaving techniques if you haven't seen it already. It's a very, very exaggerated "v" weave -- weave half the frame or so, and pull the string through -- it actually makes a significant difference, although it's a bit of a pain IMO.
 
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