Apacs Sports advice on racket stringing

At Apacs Sports UK we appreciate that strings are without doubt the most important piece of equipment to a badminton player. The details below should help explain what effects restrings and custom stringing will have on your racket and what you should look for when you receive your racket back either after a restring or a custom string.

Restringing Effects:

The area that can cause most concern after a restring is string movement; strings do not need to be straight to offer maximum performance. The only strings that do not move are cheap, standard nylon (monofilament) strings, Monofilament strings are prevented from moving by 'notching' into each other. Apacs Sports do not manufacture or use monofilament strings, we only use multifilament.  Multifilament strings and natural gut do not notch and will always move, this is a good sign and will never affect the flight of the shuttle.

The higher tension you chose for the racket the smaller the 'sweet spot' will be and this also causes the strings to be less durable. This means you’re more likely to need more restrings, as the chance of a miss hit is greater.

Other effects on strings depend on what type of player you are; if you're a bigger hitter (generate fast head speed) you will likely break more strings than those who slice the shuttle more.

When strings break close to the frame, it is as a result of a miss timed shot - NOT AS A RESULT OF POOR STRINGING. Thinner strings will not 'give' to a miss hit but will break - thicker gauges will 'give more' and are therefore more robust. The wrong speed of shuttle, colder/hotter playing conditions or players who are not warmed up and 'slow' to react to a shot, are all factors that can contribute to miss hits.

Advice on what to look for when getting a restring:

• Your restring should have no more than 4 knots. At Apacs Sports UK we always use the manufacturers recommended stringing pattern andrecommend two piece stringing. Two piece stringing tends to give a better string bed and also will retain tensions for longer periods.
• All strings at the throat of the racquet should be 'locked' in place by being woven under cross strings.
• Modern racquets are fairly fragile. When a string breaks it deforms the frame slightly and can cause structural damage. In order to minimize further damage, you should seek to have the racquet restrung as quickly as possible.
• Repairs (or 'patching' as it is sometimes called) should only be carried out as a very short-term measure. A broken string means that there has been tension loss over the complete string bed, which will never be regained with a repair.
• When you have your racket restrung by Apacs Sports UK your order is recorded in our database so we will always have a ecord of your requested tension and string type, so you don't have to remember!
  

Apacs Sports UK offer a wide range of string types for your rackets from our own range but also from major manufacturers such as Ashaway and Yonex. We have extensively tested our Apacs branded strings against ones avalable from Yonex and ashaway and have found them to be more than comparable, we recommend you give them a go. If you would like any further help or advice feel free to contact us at restrings@apacs-sports.co.uk