Alright! My brother moved on from his klippermate and moved on to a hand crank machine, so I inherited the old drop weight machine. He was going to come by to give me a lesson, but I couldn't wait, so I started stringing. I used an ancient POG, rather than my new Babolat, and had some very old, crappy klippermate string to practice with.
First try, I couldn't figure out how to use the floating clamps, so I removed the wrong one and lost my tension. Oh well.
Second try, I didn't make sure the string was properly attached to the drop weight, so when I moved the floating clamp, I lost my tension. Argh.
Third try, the strings popped. I'd put them through *a lot* of abuse. ARGH.
Fourth try, I got the mains strung! Alright. Fortunately, I had some cheap Dunlop Comfort around. Turns out that's a friendly string for a newbie - very soft and easy to weave. Unfortunately, I neglected to add a bit of tension to the tie-off strings, so I lost a bit of tension, but no biggie. I got the crosses done, and completed the racket.
Probably three total hours. I think most people don't take as long their first try, but unfortunately, I made a few mistakes with the clamps and had a string popped, so I went back to square one a few times more than average, I think.
The next day, time to try stringing my PDR. I went with the Hurricane Pro/XCel combo at 63 lbs. I know that's tight, but I was coming from POG Mids string at 67, and my previous setup on the PDR (synthetic gut at 60lbs) was too wild.
Worked the first time (though Hurricane is much harder to string than Dunlop Pro, much stiffer). I played my first match with it in 8.5 combo and won it 6-4, 6-4. Alright! I loved the string job - the klippermate may take more time and concentration than higher end stringing machines, but the end result sure is satisfactory.
My only regret - like so many on this board have mentioned - is that I didn't do this earlier. I spent two years with string eating POG Mids. The sad thing is that while these rackets tend to snap strings (because of the 14X18 open pattern), they're probably the easiest rackets to string for the same reason - fewer mains and crosses, and easier to weave. Man, did I ever waste a lot of money (and time - getting to and from the shop was actually a bit of a hassle - 45 minutes stringing myself is no big deal, really).
But also, there's just a personality type that digs doing this kind of thing, and I have it. It's fun to read this forum and be able to join the stringing discussion now.
So anyway - if you're thinking about stringing your own rackets, all I can say is go for it. Higher end machines are more comfortable, but if you're nervous about the money, nothing wrong with an inexpensive drop weight to get you started. Go for it!
First try, I couldn't figure out how to use the floating clamps, so I removed the wrong one and lost my tension. Oh well.
Second try, I didn't make sure the string was properly attached to the drop weight, so when I moved the floating clamp, I lost my tension. Argh.
Third try, the strings popped. I'd put them through *a lot* of abuse. ARGH.
Fourth try, I got the mains strung! Alright. Fortunately, I had some cheap Dunlop Comfort around. Turns out that's a friendly string for a newbie - very soft and easy to weave. Unfortunately, I neglected to add a bit of tension to the tie-off strings, so I lost a bit of tension, but no biggie. I got the crosses done, and completed the racket.
Probably three total hours. I think most people don't take as long their first try, but unfortunately, I made a few mistakes with the clamps and had a string popped, so I went back to square one a few times more than average, I think.
The next day, time to try stringing my PDR. I went with the Hurricane Pro/XCel combo at 63 lbs. I know that's tight, but I was coming from POG Mids string at 67, and my previous setup on the PDR (synthetic gut at 60lbs) was too wild.
Worked the first time (though Hurricane is much harder to string than Dunlop Pro, much stiffer). I played my first match with it in 8.5 combo and won it 6-4, 6-4. Alright! I loved the string job - the klippermate may take more time and concentration than higher end stringing machines, but the end result sure is satisfactory.
My only regret - like so many on this board have mentioned - is that I didn't do this earlier. I spent two years with string eating POG Mids. The sad thing is that while these rackets tend to snap strings (because of the 14X18 open pattern), they're probably the easiest rackets to string for the same reason - fewer mains and crosses, and easier to weave. Man, did I ever waste a lot of money (and time - getting to and from the shop was actually a bit of a hassle - 45 minutes stringing myself is no big deal, really).
But also, there's just a personality type that digs doing this kind of thing, and I have it. It's fun to read this forum and be able to join the stringing discussion now.
So anyway - if you're thinking about stringing your own rackets, all I can say is go for it. Higher end machines are more comfortable, but if you're nervous about the money, nothing wrong with an inexpensive drop weight to get you started. Go for it!
