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Short-side Short-cut

It is weird reading about the different ways stringers measure their short-side string, because the method I use is so fast and fool-proof that I can’t imagine doing it any other way. Run the string through the first main on the short side from whichever end of the racquet the mains start (head or throat), and out the other side. If you are stringing a 16 main pattern, pull it through the length of the head eight times (once for each main string on the short side), and you are done. You will never come up short, and never over measure. I used to pull one more length to make certain I had enough to tie off, but usually I have enough without it.

5 packs of Unique Tourna Grip 5-pack (3 overgrips per pack) to:

Randy Stephenson, MRT, Dallas, TX

Editor’s note: There is another version of this technique that some prefer because after you measure, you don’t have to find the end of the long-side string and feed it through the grommets for the first main on the long side. In this variation, you feed the end of the short side “backwards” through grommets for the center main on the long side (that is, if the mains start at the head, you feed the string in at the throat). Then, while you are doing your measuring, pull through one additional length (so, for example, if you were doing a racquet with 16 main strings, you would pull through nine lengths). You then feed the measured short side string through the center main on the short side of the racquet, set your clamps and go.

From the February 2004 issue
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