The Best Machine for the Money

[evan904]

I want to buy a stringing machine and ive never owned 1 or strung a raquet before but i break strings about 2 to 3 times a month and thought i could save money buy stringing my own raquets. so for some1 thats never owned 1 what would u recommend for a beginner stringer

 

[BurghKing]

Take a look at the thread "my son's first stringing machine". I think this thread will some up everything you need to know.

 

[Gaines Hillix]

I agree with looking at the thread that Burghking mentioned. This is a somewhat subjective issue and a lot depends on how much you want to spend. But, if you're just starting out and don't really know if you'll continue stringing and enjoy it the best way to go, IMO, is with a drop weight machine with a ratcheting tension head like a Gamma X-2. You'll learn a lot stringing on it and you can resell it for more than 1/2 of what you paid for it if you decide to quit stringing or want to upgrade to a spring tension or electronic machine. That's the type of machine I learned on and then moved up to a crank, then added a Wise tension head to the crank machine.

 

[tennistim777]

I want to buy a stringing machine and ive never owned 1 or strung a raquet before but i break strings about 2 to 3 times a month and thought i could save money buy stringing my own raquets. so for some1 thats never owned 1 what would u recommend for a beginner stringer

Depends on how much you want to spend?

 

[Loco4Tennis]

i think it more depends on the level of playing your going to be doing, no rec player should be spending $600+ on a stringing machine unless their are other factors, such as how often you string, what racquets you are going to be stringing,
a drop weight machine will do a good job without having to pay that much for it,
now for a club player, people who string for others and would string alot, then it makes sense to spend the money for a more consistent string job which would also help with string job speed, in which case i would look into the constant pull machines

 

[barry]

i think it more depends on the level of playing your going to be doing, no rec player should be spending $600+ on a stringing machine unless their are other factors, such as how often you string, what racquets you are going to be stringing,
a drop weight machine will do a good job without having to pay that much for it,
now for a club player, people who string for others and would string alot, then it makes sense to spend the money for a more consistent string job which would also help with string job speed, in which case i would look into the constant pull machines

You can produce high quality string jobs from drop weight machines. 7 or 8 years ago Martina Hingis mother strung Martina’s rackets and traveled with a drop weight machine. The amount you spend on a stringer has nothing to do with the quality of the string job. It is all marketing hype. 90% of the string job is the stringer, 10% equipment. Some machines are easier to use, but 60 pounds is 60 pounds of tension, and all you need is clamps to hold that tension. All machines do that pretty well.

 

[Loco4Tennis]

You can produce high quality string jobs from drop weight machines. 7 or 8 years ago Martina Hingis mother strung Martina’s rackets and traveled with a drop weight machine. The amount you spend on a stringer has nothing to do with the quality of the string job. It is all marketing hype. 90% of the string job is the stringer, 10% equipment. Some machines are easier to use, but 60 pounds is 60 pounds of tension, and all you need is clamps to hold that tension. All machines do that pretty well.

im glad to hear this, because i also have a dropweight which i have strung my racquets with and to me it does the job,
but you can see how constant pull machines will pull at the tension you preset on all you strings, while dropweights you have to balance the string and hope you get it at the same level everytime, hard thing to do on first pull, if you dont, string stretching is a concern, and making sure it happens speed decreases,
i string a racquet in 40 to 1 hr time, because i am more concern of not messing up,
now imagine a pro or club player having to string 4 or 5 racquets that night for a match the next day, the time would add up, they might benefit from a more expensive machine that string in 30 minutes or so, such as the constant pull machines,
i do not have a constant pull machine, but i do see the benefit of it over a dropweight, they are more consistent and faster in general, i cosidered these things when i was deciding on my machine and the cost difference to the level of my play did not add up, and thats why i think no recplayer should spend $600+ string machine

 

[rjkardo]

I want to buy a stringing machine and ive never owned 1 or strung a raquet before but i break strings about 2 to 3 times a month and thought i could save money buy stringing my own raquets. so for some1 thats never owned 1 what would u recommend for a beginner stringer

It really depends on how much you want to spend, and personal preference.
If you only have a few hundred $$ go with a dropweight. They are efficient and will do what you need them to do...put strings in a racquet. Try to stick to a dependable company, like Gamma or Alpha. Do a search on Eagnas and decide if you think saving money is worth their customer service reputation.

If you have $500 or more, I would suggest a crank.
You will hear a lot of disparaging comments here about cranks, and people telling you to put a Wise electronic pull on a crank...but cranks are my personal favorite and still the backbone of stringing. Again, if you want to put strings in a racquet I would say that a crank is the best option. It is fast and dependable and will last for decades.

A good electronic stringer will cost you around $1K. Beware the cheap units.
You will hear a lot about constant pull and the superiority of electronic stringers, but the difference (to me, anyway) is hardly worth the extra money. You will figure out the tension you like on your stringer and go from there.

Try to keep in mind how much you will be stringing. If you are doing 30-40 racquets a day, you may worry about questions like mounting time having to string around a 6 point mount. If you are doing 4-5 racquets a month, none of that really matters. Just get a solid machine, dropweight or crank, that is not too expensive.

As for clamps, some dropweight machines have you use 'floating' clamps, or clamps that are not attached to the stringer. They hold tension by clamping two strings together. While not the best solution, they do work.
I prefer glide bar or swivel. I learned on an Ektelon with glide bars and have a Gamma with swivel clamps. Either are easy to use.

Rod

 

[nousername]

go with a drop-weight (search my old post for some details... you will soon find i definitely have a bias!! ... but i think it's a good one!! =) ). i highly favor drop-weights and if you read some of my old posts you will see why.

i just bought a Alpha Pioneer DC plus directly from alpha (http://www.alphatennis.com), and i really think this is the best value for you money. it's $399 + shipping. there a nice thread from while back from another guy who bought one, you should search for it. it has a lot of great info and pics! i think the poster was redflea... or something like that.

my budget was originally <$200, but i soon came to find out that i could get a much better machine for the money (i.e. w/6-point mounting, fixed clamps, good brand (anything but eagnas) ). as for getting a crank, the price jump is simply not worth it, esp for an inferior system (in my view). the best argument for a crank it is saves time, but think it's minimal compared to a ratchet drop-weight, which almost all drop-weights are. ask alpha for a video of there ratchet system, it very slick and very quick...