Prestretching Tonic before stringing

[ac3111]

My stringer tells me that he prestretches Babolat Tonic before he strings the racquet with it and I was wondering if prestretching must be applied to NG strings that are coated.
I mean I have the impression that prestretching can turn the Tonic to feel a lot stiffer than natural gut is... Am I right?
What is the advantage of prestretching though? It helps to maintain tension for more time? Become more durable?

There is a big ebate on the matter but have not found something specific regarding the Tonic string on the matter.
If prestretching reduces playability then it is not a wise thing to do for Tonic which is lower quality of ng.

I am going to discuss this with my stringer very soon but I'd like to hear your opinions...

 

[tennisplayer132]

Wouldn't prestretching make the string less stiff?

 

[High Roller]

Give it a light stretching by hand. A true machine pre-stretch will reduce the resiliency of the string.

 

[jim e]

My stringer tells me that he prestretches Babolat Tonic before he strings the racquet with it and I was wondering if prestretching must be applied to NG strings that are coated.
I mean I have the impression that prestretching can turn the Tonic to feel a lot stiffer than natural gut is... Am I right?
What is the advantage of prestretching though? It helps to maintain tension for more time? Become more durable?

There is a big ebate on the matter but have not found something specific regarding the Tonic string on the matter.
If prestretching reduces playability then it is not a wise thing to do for Tonic which is lower quality of ng.

I am going to discuss this with my stringer very soon but I'd like to hear your opinions...

Well you asked for opinions, so I will give you mine. A light pre stretch by hand is what I do on all gut jobs. By this I mean, I secure one end of the string to something fixed, and walk back and gently pull back for a few seconds until you feel the string give a little, you get a feel for that. It's not a strong pre stretch but enough to get rid of a % of the strings coil memory, as that way there is less chance of kinking the string, and makes the job easier.
My own opinion on machine prestretch is I personally avoid it, as with the machine prestretch the machine overtensions the set tension by a % then relaxes back, Problem I see with that is with all the frictional forces with the grommets and the cross strings against the mains, how sure are you that the string tension actually does go back to the desired tension set, as I believe it can give inconsistancies, so I avoid that. I never use that function on the machine. A light hand prestretch is all that is needed, and doing that will make the stringing job go easier, and you will from that alone get a better job, as it not only is easier, but a less chance of kinking the string, and therefore you will probably get a better job done.Kinks are very bad for gut, as it can weaken the string where that occurs. If yoiur stringer hand prestretchs the string let him do that.

This is only my opinion, others here may well disagree, but you did ask for opinions, and I do string a decent amount of nat. gut.I also strung a lot of gut back in the 60's until the early 70's as well,(I stopped stringing and hitting for a period of time back then), so gut stringing is no stranger to me.

 

[Bud]

My stringer tells me that he prestretches Babolat Tonic before he strings the racquet with it and I was wondering if prestretching must be applied to NG strings that are coated.
I mean I have the impression that prestretching can turn the Tonic to feel a lot stiffer than natural gut is... Am I right?
What is the advantage of prestretching though? It helps to maintain tension for more time? Become more durable?

There is a big ebate on the matter but have not found something specific regarding the Tonic string on the matter.
If prestretching reduces playability then it is not a wise thing to do for Tonic which is lower quality of ng.

I am going to discuss this with my stringer very soon but I'd like to hear your opinions...

Wouldn't prestretching make the string less stiff?

Give it a light stretching by hand. A true machine pre-stretch will reduce the resiliency of the string.

Ask your stringer how he pre-stretches the string. I do it by hand like many others in order to remove some coil memory... which makes it a bit easier to string (especially the first 6-8 crosses).

When you pre-stretch via machine you remove some resiliency and thus the string will play a bit stiffer.

 

[number.432]

Ask your stringer how he pre-stretches the string. I do it by hand like many others in order to remove some coil memory... which makes it a bit easier to string (especially the first 6-8 crosses).

When you pre-stretch via machine you remove some resiliency and thus the string will play a bit stiffer.

What woudl I benefit from removing coil memory (pre-stretching)? Is it just to ease/expedite stringing?

I thought pre-stretch helps reduce any possible kink which could possibly damage strings?

 

[Bud]

What woudl I benefit from removing coil memory (pre-stretching)? Is it just to ease/expedite stringing?

I thought pre-stretch helps reduce any possible kink which could possibly damage strings?

Yup... you got it right on both points. It makes it easier to string and it reduces the possibility that the NG will kink.

Removing some of the coil memory accomplishes both.

 

[ac3111]

He prestretches by hand...
Thank you all for your valuable input...