Whenever I use new strings, the three most important properties I would investigate are the string's:
1. Elasticity
2. Resiliency
3. Deformation
The first two have been discussed in a previous post. (link)
To recap, elasticity is how much the string can stretch, like a rubber band. Resiliency is how much of that stretch can be recovered when tension is removed.
Deformation occurs when the string has been stretched beyond its capabilities and is no longer able to recover to its initial length or shape.
For example, a string with initial length of 30cm may stretch to 31cm at 50lbs. When tension is removed, it may recover to only 30.2cm.
For that string, elasticity is about 3.33% at 50lbs
((31-30)/30 x 100%).
Deformation would be that 0.2cm that cannot be recovered.
So far, every tennis player or stringer I speak to are only concerned with what tension to string. That's what I was accustomed to as well.
But after studying the three properties mentioned earlier, my thoughts are, what if we string rackets based on managing these three properties?
I thought that would be a very revolutionary way to string!
In fact, I've already done a few stringing experiments based on managing these three important variables. So far, the results are promising.
Let me recount one which I thought can be considered as an acid test of this "theory".
I re-used natural gut and synthetic gut!
When both strings were new, I recorded detailed measurements to understand how their elasticity and resiliency would change with use.
The numbers were then compared after the strings were used.
Depending on how much elasticity and resilience has deteriorated, I would lower the tension accordingly so that the "residual elasticity" after stringing would match or be close to when the string was new.
Here's some pics of the re-used gut and syn gut as a hybrid at 25/23.5 lbs. It's a straight-forward 2 piece job. Nothing fanciful.
Playtest:
- The racket was tested less than 24 hours after stringing so the stringbed was still fresh and tight.
- Initial hits are very promising. The strong rebound of the natural gut was unmistakable. No trampoline!
- Surprisingly, control was still intact and did not differ very much compared to new strings.
- Comfort and feel was surprisingly still very good despite the re-used syn gut. There was no trace nor any hints of the gut or syn gut playing dead or lifeless at all.
- All of my playing partners who tried this racket commented on how "fresh" and lively this setup played. None suspected re-used strings nor the super low tension of 20+ lbs!
- After about 45 minutes of rally, I can feel tension loss creeping in. Pocketing from the natural gut became deeper and I felt more and more of the gut doing the "work" alone. The syn gut has lost too much tension.
- Another problem was the huge difference in speed of resilience between gut and syn gut.
- The tension after play was measured by frequency. Tension loss was estimated to be about 2.5lbs. I cut it out as the differential between mains and crosses became too large. (Tension loss from gut is about 5% and syn gut about 15%, so the initial 25/23.5 lbs could have become 23.75 and 19.98 respectively. The differential widened to almost 4 lbs from 1.5 initially!)
And what did I do after I cut the natural gut out?
Here's some pics of the natural gut re-used again in the same racket. This time, a set of fresh syn gut was installed using the box method. Tension was 33/35 lbs.
After completing the mains, I rubbed some coconut oil on the natural gut to lubricate it as it was quite dry. You can see the gloss on the strings.
Boxing...
Playtest:
- To me, the ultimate test is to play a game with an equally strong partner. I did just that today with M.
- When warming up, I could already feel the potential of this setup. It is like a sports car, where the harder you hit, the better the control.
- The stringbed was nice and tight but delivered very good spin and power.
- With gut, it is almost always comfortable, so I will not delve into that.
- Both first and second serves were very good. Flats were accurate and powerful while spin seconds were curving well already in mid-air. A few were so spinny they kicked off M's stringbed upon contact and flew out. I had a few aces too.
- Even after about an hour, the tension held. I arrived at 33/35lbs based on residual elasticity and also projected tension loss of 5% and 15% for gut and syn gut respectively. If correct, then it should stabilise around 31.35/29.75 lbs with a 1.6lbs differential, which is what I wanted.
- I won the set 6-0 with this setup, and it is a 80 sq inch head size!
- This setup is good and I like it! Ball fur pic below.
29Jul2013 update:
- Played a set with this racket today.
- Control is remarkably good. Both serves and groundstrokes that I hit well were delivered very accurately.
- Even spin serves had a little more pace due to the fast rebound and power of natural gut.
- I could not feel any difference in tension from my last game and it was confirmed by my frequency meter the tension change since the last game was less than 0.5lb!
- Perhaps due to the heavy spin I was attempting, I noticed more fraying that could have occurred today.
- I estimate this gut has been in play for 40-50 hours.
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