As an absolute measure of what tension the stringbed is at, I think it fares badly. However, when used as a relative measure to check how much tension loss accumulated after play, I think it would be second to none.
I usually re-string after about 8-10 hours of play, or when the strings feel sluggish and lifeless to me.
Then, I became curious if this deterioration could be measured. So I started pinging the strings before and after every session of play and tracked a few rackets for several months.
Indeed, there seemed to be a correlation! The simple tension loss graph below shows it best. (Click on it to see a larger version)
Both the red and magenta line denotes tension loss from synthetic gut. The blue line tracks tension loss from a poly/syn gut hybrid.
I was careful to ensure the same spot was pinged for the frequency measurement. Strings that moved out of alignment during play were also straightened before pinging. Dampeners were removed.
The gaps were due to different number of hours played each session so it can be ignored. Just connect the dots.
The most significant observations to me were:
(1) a high initial tension loss during first hour of play,
(2) bottoming out of tension loss around the 6-7th hour.
From this, I'd like to think that I have a sensitive enough hand and a consistent enough sweetspot contact to pick up the gradual "tightening" after the 6th or 7th hour of play. To me, that was a sign that the strings were "dying".
While I did not add another observation to the chart, but I did notice in another few rackets that I strung with the aircon on, suffered almost twice as much initial tension loss (in hz) compared to those above.
Stringing in an aircon or cold environment increased the rate of initial tension loss, especially when my normal playing temperature is in the 30+ degrees celcius.
Anyone game to try asking their stringer to string their rackets under the sun?
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