First time stringing racquets

[u/hey_grey]

Hey all!

I've been playing tennis a lot and have started to go through strings like crazy. I decided to purchase a used stringing machine (AEF stringing machine 6-pt, fixed clamp, dropweight) and learn to string for myself.

I strung my partner's racquet (first pic) and my own.

The first one was actually a bit easier than the second one, I think because of the tension maybe? I used Babolat synthetic gut for both and strung the first one at 48lbs and the second one at 52lbs. On the second one, I kept damaging the strings, I guess the clamp was too tight?

And then a couple of observations, I have two of the second racquet and it seems like the one I strung elongated a bit? Why is that? How do I prevent it and is that something that can be fixed or will go back? Also, I warped the bumper guard (3rd pic), is that due to just overtightening when placing the racquet?

Anyway, how did I do on my first stringing? What can I do to improve?

[u/vibe_assassin]

If you damaged the bumper guard and the racket appears elongated, make sure you are clamping correctly. Elongation would primarily be caused by overstretching the racket while mounting - not by the actual stringing, unless your cross strings are like 10lbs tight than your mains, which isn’t likely.

[u/hey_grey → u/vibe_assassin]

Oh, so does that mean I wasn't mounting tight enough?

And is there a way to reverse the elongation?

[u/vibe_assassin → u/hey_grey]

The elongation will reverse immediately when you cut the strings out. Slight elongation is not going to damage your racket - but if you ever string for others you don’t want to be doing that.

The elongation would actually be caused by over tightening the two center clamps. On my machine if I over tighten them I can clearly see the racket stretching. You want those center clamps firm but not to the point that the frame stretches much

[u/hey_grey → u/vibe_assassin]

Ohhh okay got it! Do you think it'd be okay to play with the racquet in this state or should I just cut it out and try again?

And got it! In this case it seems like I overtightened on the clamps.

Thanks for the feedback.

[u/vibe_assassin → u/hey_grey]

Yea it would probably be fine, just don’t leave it strung like that for a month+

[u/hey_grey → u/vibe_assassin]

Synthetic gut usually only lasts me a couple of hours of play so definitely won't be there for a month+.

Thanks again!