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Reducing stringing time

Q: I hear about these stringers who can restring a racquet in 15 minutes or less, and I wonder what I’m doing wrong. It takes me at least an hour to restring a racquet, and that’s when I’m hurrying. What’s the best way to learn how to string faster?

A: While it is no doubt true that some have more aptitude for stringing than others, you can gain speed without sacrificing quality through practice. Also, read through the tips that have been submitted by other members, to see if any of them fit with your style and help improve your stringing time. One area that seems to make a huge difference in the time it takes to finish a racquet is weaving the cross strings. Just about anyone can complete the mains in a few minutes, so your total depends more on other phases of the restringing process. It is a good idea to use a stopwatch to determine how long you spend on various aspects of the stringing process, to get an idea where you need the most work, and can realize the most improvement.

There is one other factor that has nothing to do with your skill, and that is the machine you are using. Some machines are just faster than others. You can do a quality restringing with a drop-weight machine, but it can take a lot longer than the high-end electronic machines used by the pros.

From the August 2004 issue
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