Stringing with CAP grommets on

morganman

Rookie
I've heard that stringing prestige racquets is quite a task because of the CAP grommets i have never strung a prestige but I am going to be soon and i was wondering if anyone could give me any feedback on why it is tough to string or some tips to make it easier thanks.
 

mclee025

Rookie
I think CAP grommets are considered harder to string because the CAP grommets hide the string holes. I've strung up a few racquets with CAP grommets and I didn't find the level of difficulty to be that much greater than a normal racquet. If you don't have one, an awe might be useful to help find the hidden holes.
 
try to hybrid with a stiffer string in the crosses

I usually string my Prestiges with a soft synthetic in the mains like NXT and a poly in the crosses like Enduro tour or Big Banger. It makes it easier to pass through the blocked holes at the bottom of the head.
 

diredesire

Moderator
It's scary for some new stringers to string CAPs because sometimes they "snap" when you tension a string, and the string slides through the CAP. It also sucks when you are stringing a soft cross string, and you need to get around a blocked hole. There is little room to work with, and you can't get a good angle to get around the hole. More or less, most times you just gotta "brute force" your way through. An awl would be helpful, among other small tricks.

The mains are also hard to weave on, because they're spaced ridiculously close together.
 
S

snoflewis

Guest
from experience, i thought that stringing one w/ CAPs wasnt that annoying. However, i found that cutting out string and pulling them out through the grommets was frustrating
 

Davai

Semi-Pro
tennisdarren said:
I usually string my Prestiges with a soft synthetic in the mains like NXT and a poly in the crosses like Enduro tour or Big Banger. It makes it easier to pass through the blocked holes at the bottom of the head.

What gauge of polys do you use?
If anyone else wants to comment on what gauge of polys works the best, please do.
 

diredesire

Moderator
Davai said:
What gauge of polys do you use?
If anyone else wants to comment on what gauge of polys works the best, please do.

Any poly will surely help a bit, but the blocked holes are still a pain in the butt.

I don't think changing a string choice just to make a racquet easier to string makes sense, but if you like a poly in the cross, GO for it ;)

Unfortunately, if you're stringing a full poly job... My hat is off to you. It sucks.
 

DX_Psycho

Semi-Pro
for blocked holes i now put strings into the holes first. it keeps the strings above the grommet holes far enough for you to slide the cross strings through. before i reserved the holes i soemtimes spent 15 minutes tryign to get into a blocked hole.
 
Davai said:
What gauge of polys do you use?
If anyone else wants to comment on what gauge of polys works the best, please do.

I used 16ga. in both but i dropped the tension on the poly crosses about 2-3 lbs. it seemend to let the ball "get to" the softer string.
 
Yeah pulling the strings out is the a pain in the ***. The "snap" scared the hell out of me on my first time, i thought i cracked the racquet already. All in all, stringing the Prestige line gets easier and easier the more you do it. Just make sure you can distinguish between the CAP "snap" and the actual racquet telling you to stop :)
 

mclee025

Rookie
I just strung a CAP grommeted racquet yesterday and I paid a little more attention to the level of difficulty compared with a regular racquet. I found that it added an additional 10 minutes to a 40 minute "normal" timing.

One important thing is, that I had a special tool that made working with the blocked holes a lot easier. The tool is called a "pathfinder awl" by Gamma (you can buy them from TW separately for about $25). I more or less take this tool for granted since it came with my stringer, but without it I can see DX_Psyho's perspective -- it could have been a real pain to get the string through some of those hidden and blocked holes.

It only takes seconds to work through blocked holes with this tool. This awl is like a normal awl except it has a retractable tip that exposes a tube. So, you can push past any block hole with the awl, pull back the awl tip, and then push the string through the exposed tube (it's an ingenious device!). Without it, I might still be trying to push past those holes. For that reason, I can recommend this tool highly for any stringers that might be facing stringing a cap racquet. I don't think I'd want to face caps without it.
 

morganman

Rookie
yeah i just strung a LM PRESTIGE yesterday and i did use a regular awl but it still took about an hour as opposed to my regular 35-40 minutes
 

nViATi

Hall of Fame
The only issue I've ever had with stringing my LM Prestige MP is that the string pattern is really dense therefor weaving the crosses takes more time. I can crank out a stringjob in about 40 minutes (for a LM Prestige MP). I've strung a Prince Shark in 25-30 minutes.
 
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