Why do people string using 2 piece?

[TimeToPlaySets]

Is 1 piece ATW harder to string?
Why add the extra (and highly annoying step of measuring out and cutting the string in half)
This implies 2 piece is superior, since it's more work.

So, why do you choose 1 vs 2 piece stringing ?

 

[SPMoney]

1. Hybrids.
2. Different tensions for mains vs. crosses.
3. Some racquets will string from the throat finishing the crosses at the top of the frame with a standard 1-piece. You could either learn an around the world 1-piece technique or you can string 2-piece.


10SNE1?

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

IF you are not doing a hybrid,
and you are using same tension for everything,
then is 1 piece the preferred method ?

 

[jim e]

IF you are not doing a hybrid,
and you are using same tension for everything,
then is 1 piece the preferred method ?

Depends on racquet. If mains end at top and it's a natural one piece job, then 1 pc is fine, except for some racquet manufacturers. If mains end at throat, and you want to string top down, then an ATW pattern is needed.
That's not fake use.

Most of my stringing jobs are 2 PC as makes stringing consistent with all. Only stringing I do 1 PC now is the natural 1 PC racquets. I have yet to have a player request a 1 or 2 PC job .

 

[SPMoney]

I believe it’s personal preference. 1 is not necessarily better than the other. With a 1 piece the long side string is very long and not awesome to manage until you get into the crosses. With 2 piece you have to tie 4 knots instead of 2. As far as cutting a set in half, that’s pretty simple and takes just a few seconds so I would hardly call that more work. Also, if you’re stringing from a reel, then your measuring and cutting no matter what.


10SNE1?

 

[cluckcluck]

Easier to manage length of string.

 

[Dags]

Why add the extra (and highly annoying step of measuring out and cutting the string in half)
This implies 2 piece is superior, since it's more work.

When stringing one-piece, the length of string is asymmetrical. The short side typically does half of the mains. The long side typically does the other half of the mains, and all of the crosses. So you still have to measure, even if you don't cut it.

Based on your posts, I suspect you'd find one-piece patterns both tedious and possibly problematic. I would suggest sticking to two-piece, or paying someone to string your racquets for you. Stringing isn't for everyone, and there's no shame if you'd rather spend your time on the playing of tennis.

 

[Irvin]

When stringing one-piece, the length of string is asymmetrical.

Not always

 

[jhupper]

In addition to above, 2 piece is quicker, for me anyway. Less string to pull through and as a result also a bit less wear on the string.

 

[jhupper]

Measuring and cutting string takes seconds, off a reel I use 3 x my wing span and a smidge more and that's 20ft. 10secinds to measure and cutm

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

I will stick with 2 piece.
1 piece sound harder.
Even just learning 2 piece was a major PITA.

 

[am1899]

Jesus. Please familiarize yourself with the search function and read. All of your questions of late have been covered in previous threads.

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

That can be said about every thread started after 2010
How about we shut down the forum and stick with Google?
No thanks.

 

[am1899]

No, of course not. Much more fun to flood the forum with threads, ask infinite questions which have already been answered, and then argue with anyone who makes an honest effort to help.

 

[mad dog1]

No, of course not. Much more fun to flood the forum with threads, ask infinite questions which have already been answered, and then argue with anyone who makes an honest effort to help.

He’s not a person who deserves any help. He seems to know everything already and if he does not know or understand something, he thinks it must be useless. If it was useful, he clearly would already know of it.

 

[Dags]

Not always

Ah of course, the oft-used one-piece 50-50 pattern. That old chestnut.

 

[graycrait]

So, why do you choose 1 vs 2 piece stringing ?

Because I am self taught and string mostly hybrids. I string for myself and a very small group of friends. I strung one racket one-piece and thought, "Man that is a lot of string laying on the floor." I have two dogs, one 85lbs who sheds an additional dog/week, and a cat, all 3 4-legged critters like to be underfoot when I string rackets. OMG, the hair! My back room where I string will not be confused with a Mayo Clinic surgical suite Bullets, gunpowder residue, lead tape, fishing gear, you name it, plus 3 hairy 4-legged critters and their equally hairy 2 legged "benefactor;" why does hair grow so fast and unruly at my age everywhere but my head? I see less animal hair caught in the grommets if I 2-piece string. That time I did a one piece I had to nearly shave the racket there was so much hair caught between the frame, string and grommets.

 

[jim e]

I have an Alaskan Malamute that's over 150 lbs. I know what a shedding fur dog can do, especially when it's shedding season, but he does shed all year long .Nice to hear that others have fur all around as well.
Nice picture of your furry friends. Most dogs are better than most people I know.

 

[struggle]

I do it for the extra weight.

 

[Rabbit]

Ah of course, the oft-used one-piece 50-50 pattern. That old chestnut.

Maybe you should have said "all practical and sane one-piece" are...

 

[IowaGuy]

I do it for the extra weight.

Extra weight?

4 knots vs. 2 adds that much weight?

 

[esgee48]

@IowaGuy - struggle was replying to greycrait's dog comment. That extra hair may add an extra SW point or two.

 

[jim e]

@IowaGuy - struggle was replying to greycrait's dog comment. That extra hair may add an extra SW point or two.

That's a hairy situation for sure.

 

[Herb]

I prefer 2 piece mainly because I like working with shorter pieces of string.

 

[Irvin]

1) hybrid strings must be strung with 2 piece
2) some strings like gut has much less wear when string 2 piece
3) 2 piece provide for a perfectly balanced racket
4) some manufactures recommend racket be strung with 2 piece
5) shorter pieces of string are more manageable
6) easier for beginners

 

[Rabbit]

3) 2 piece provide for a perfectly balanced racket

How so? Please elaborate...

 

[struggle]

It's just easier all the way around (pun intended).

It's easier to do, it's easier on the string (yes, especially gut).

And as Irvin says, "2 piece provide for a perfectly balanced racquet"....... WTF!!!??? haha, just kidding.
Not sure where this snake oil came from. As Rabbit suggests above^^^^ Please elaborate.

 

[Rabbit]

@struggle, I still haven't figured out how a two-piece makes for a "perfectly balanced racket" either empirically or aesthetically. I think this has risen to "question of the day" status.

 

[emptystringer]

I guess one could argue that if you string two piece using + use starting clamp on crosses + increase knot tension you are in some sense "balancing" tension on the top, bottom crosses and outside mains... whereas with traditional one piece you are increasing knot tension on the short side main and bottom cross only. It's a stretch, but that's the only way I can convince myself that 2-piece results in a balanced racquet. Consistency is most important I think. For me, if mains end at head, I string one piece. Mains end at throat, 2 piece. Exceptions: A) natural gut... always 2-piece; and B) if I have a long run to tie off at throat or double blocked holes, I'll do 1-piece ATW.

 

[MAX PLY]

@struggle, I still haven't figured out how a two-piece makes for a "perfectly balanced racket" either empirically or aesthetically. I think this has risen to "question of the day" status.

Oh my, I think it could be the opposite!!?? My RF97s have three knots at the bottom and one at the top--GADS! Fortunately, my 50 years of playing and superior eye-hand coordination as allowed me to adjust . . . sorry about the rest of you.

 

[Irvin]

I guess one could argue that if you string two piece using + use starting clamp on crosses + increase knot tension you are in some sense "balancing" tension on the top, bottom crosses and outside mains... whereas with traditional one piece you are increasing knot tension on the short side main and bottom cross only. It's a stretch, but that's the only way I can convince myself that 2-piece results in a balanced racquet. Consistency is most important I think. For me, if mains end at head, I string one piece. Mains end at throat, 2 piece. Exceptions: A) natural gut... always 2-piece; and B) if I have a long run to tie off at throat or double blocked holes, I'll do 1-piece ATW.

If you use 2 piece stringing you finish off the mains the same on each side and you stand of better change IMO of having the same tension loss on each side. If your main end at the head and you tie off the outer main on the short side the outer mains will not be the same or balanced.

 

[Rabbit]

If you use 2 piece stringing you finish off the mains the same on each side and you stand of better change IMO of having the same tension loss on each side. If your main end at the head and you tie off the outer main on the short side the outer mains will not be the same or balanced.

At a minimum, I think this is extremely overthought. One could argue there is less tension loss with a one-piece and more "balance" as there are fewer knots. But again, that is being picayune to an extreme and "reasoning" to achieve an end.

 

[fuzz nation]

If you use 2 piece stringing you finish off the mains the same on each side and you stand of better change IMO of having the same tension loss on each side. If your main end at the head and you tie off the outer main on the short side the outer mains will not be the same or balanced.

I've only done a couple of 1-piece string jobs and I've also come away with the impression that the outside mains are a little different. Not earth-shattering, but I get a sense that I'm producing a more consistent string bed (even, symmetrical, yaddah-yaddah...) when doing 2-piece, since I'm treating the outer mains and the top/bottom crosses pretty much the same.

 

[fuzz nation]

Is 1 piece ATW harder to string?
Why add the extra (and highly annoying step of measuring out and cutting the string in half)
This implies 2 piece is superior, since it's more work.

So, why do you choose 1 vs 2 piece stringing ?

An individual set of string with a lot of coil memory will make for a "long side" of a 1-piece method that's a boatload more annoying than measuring out a second piece for the crosses. That long side can repeatedly bundle itself into a bird's nest without a lot of extra attention. Some of our pals here get rid of some coil memory by pre-stretching a fresh set of string, but I haven't tried it. Fortunately most of my string comes off reels - the larger radius of the reel makes for less of that coil memory.

 

[Tennis_dude101]

What Irvin said. I do 99% of my racquets 2 piece, I only do 1 piece when the grommets don't allow for 2 piece stringing(mainly cheap kids or aluminium racquets that I rarely see)
Here's a pic of mine getting the 2 piece treatment a couple of days ago:

TD

 

[Irvin]

^^Hybrid string is hard to string 1 piece.

 

[Tennis_dude101]

^^Hybrid string is hard to string 1 piece.

I'm sure someone has tried!

 

[CosmosMpower]

2 Piece is easier, don't have to mess with short side/long side, you can do hybrid string jobs, you can cut out just the crosses if you want to restring those.

 

[onehandbh]

What Irvin said. I do 99% of my racquets 2 piece, I only do 1 piece when the grommets don't allow for 2 piece stringing(mainly cheap kids or aluminium racquets that I rarely see)
Here's a pic of mine getting the 2 piece treatment a couple of days ago:

TD

If I had to string my racquets using that stringing machine, I'd consider using one piece, but skipping the crosses.

 

[loosegroove]

I do it for the extra weight.

That's why I exclusively string a 4 piece...far superior plow through.

 

[StringGuruMRT]

Back before Hybrids were all the rage, and before I knew that you are supposed to string head to throat, I only did 1 piece string jobs. In fact, I distinctly remember the first time that one of the girls on the women's team at my college requested for her racquet to be strung 2 piece, and I thought she was being a diva! At that point I had been stringing for over three years, and could probably count on one hand the number of 2 piece jobs I had done up until then. Fast forward 25 years, and now I almost exclusively string 2 piece (mostly for the reasons listed above). But even now, decades later, I find it humorous when people say they find 1 piece more difficult, or don't know how to do it. For me it was exactly the opposite!

 

[Irvin]

I find it humorous when people say they find 1 piece more difficult, or don't know how to do it. For me it was exactly the opposite!

I have to say I agree with you. There are more advantages to stringing 1 piece than 2 piece.

 

[Rabbit]

@Irvin, do what? After all the bandwidth dedicated to promoting 2-piece?!?!?

 

[RayPS97]

Is 1 piece ATW harder to string?
Why add the extra (and highly annoying step of measuring out and cutting the string in half)
This implies 2 piece is superior, since it's more work.

So, why do you choose 1 vs 2 piece stringing ?

When I was one third my age and in high school, I thought "1 piece" was elegant in having fewer knots to accomplish the same task. Maybe I did not trust my stringer's knots or that industrial arts teacher pounded me into this king "less is more". Now having had a stringer for half a year, I trust my knots and can limit the tension loss on the last main (to a proportional amount). This controlled tension loss point of view extends to the using a starting knot and tensioning the opening crosses less that the other crosses.

Last I like the notion of the crosses and mains settling to their respective steady state tensions with each of their respective segments.

So for me (engineer by training), it is two pieces.

 

[Muppet]

I like hybriding, so I usually do 2-piece. But when I string full multi and the manufacturer approves it for the racquet's design, I use a UKRSA ATW pattern. That stands for UK Racquet Stringers Assoc. Around The World. It gives me a nice soft pocketing feel in the sweet spot and excellent control. I agree with @loosegroove above. 4 knots gives a more uniform string plane and more plow through.

 

[struggle]

I like cutting that set in half (give or take of course) and not messing with a long side, etc.

For reels, yeah i like just having to peel off 4 arm lengths (give or take of course) and go from there.

I'll never string 1 piece unless forced to. Makes no sense to me.......and yes when i started stringing in the 80's I did
one piece often. When i started again in 2011 or so i never considered it again. No merits that i have found.

 

[aussie]

If you use 2 piece stringing you finish off the mains the same on each side and you stand of better change IMO of having the same tension loss on each side. If your main end at the head and you tie off the outer main on the short side the outer mains will not be the same or balanced.

@Irvin I totally agree even though it does sound somewhat anal!!!

 

[onehandbh]

I usually string my mains and crosses at different tensions so I use 2 piece.

 

[Wes]

I usually string my mains and crosses at different tensions so I use 2 piece.

@onehandbh,
You can still have tension differentials using 1pc. methods (both, natural 1pc. or an ATW). Tensions don't "leak" from mains to crosses, or vice versa. There's too much friction involved for the strings to migrate.