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String Selector 2011

Use our charts to find the perfect strings for your customers.

By Dave Bone

The tennis string market in America continues to move in the same counter-intuitive direction we identified in last year’s String Selector. Even during a down economy, the string universe is continuing to grow. Last year we reported that there were over 700 strings on the market. This year, there are well over 800 strings on the market to choose from. In last year’s String Selector, we talked about how it made sense for manufacturers to continue investing in developing new strings because stringing is usually the most profitable part of any shop and customers are restringing their existing racquets instead of buying new frames. But, there is another reason the string universe is growing so quickly. Technology for making different polyester strings in new constructions is opening the floodgates for more new string in the polyester category (watch one of our upcoming issues for a story about how strings are made). Again, the biggest growth this year is in polyester strings. This trend is very similar to what happened when manufacturers started developing technologies to make more complicated nylon strings. So, it’s entirely possible, that there could be as many polyester strings on the market as nylon strings within the next few years. The question that is yet to be answered is whether these new polyester strings will eliminate the need for so many nylon strings. We’ll just have to watch the patterns of demand to see which material will ultimately win out. For the time being, it appears manufacturers are going to keep adding new polyester strings without significantly reducing the number of nylon strings available. This all results in the biggest list of strings we’ve ever published. Which makes our String Selector more helpful than ever before.

Our exclusive String Selector visually maps about 800 strings based on their tension loss and stiffness. This powerful tool can help you find other strings that play similarly to a client’s favorite string or even help you find a string that outperforms your client’s current favorite.

Using the String Selector

1. Start by finding the string your client currently uses in the appropriate list (we’ve broken the market down into four categories: Nylon, Polyester, Natural Gut and Kevlar).
2. Note the string’s stiffness and tension loss numbers, go to the appropriate map and find the dot located at these coordinates.
   1. If your client is completely satisfied with their current string and doesn’t want anything different from their next string, dots in the neighborhood (very close to their current string’s dot) will likely play similar.
   2. If your client is happy with how long their string plays well, but doesn’t love the feel of their string, try something on the same vertical level, but farther to the right or left. Strings to the right should feel stiffer (or more crisp), while strings to the left should feel softer (or more comfortable)
   3. If your client is happy with how their string feels, but not with how long it feels that way, try something in the same column, but higher or lower. Strings higher on the chart should soften (or loosen) up more quickly, while lower strings should hold their initial feel longer.
3. Once you’ve found a dot that seems interesting, note the coordinates and look them up in the table.

The Geography of ‘Feel’

Finding Your “Feel Good” Location

• Softer strings are to the left, stiffer strings to the right.
• Strings that lose more tension are at the top; those that lose less are at the bottom.
• All strings on the same vertical line should feel about the same, no matter the tension.
• All strings at different locations on the same horizontal line will feel different from each other.
• Stringbed power increases to the left.
• Player supplied power increases to the right.
• Stringbed control increases to the right.
• “Arm friendly” strings are to the left.
• “Feedback” intensity (shock) increases to right.
• Feel consistency over time tends to increase toward the bottom.

Test Procedure. All strings were tensioned to 62 pounds and allowed to sit for 200 seconds. Then the string was hit five times with a force equivalent to hitting a 120 mph serve. The tension loss represents the total amount of the relaxation over both time and impact. The stiffness value is a calculation derived from the amount of force created at impact to stretch the string. Lower values represent softer strings and lower impact forces. Higher values represent stiffer strings and higher impact forces.

Hybrids: To look up a hybrid combination, you must look up each string separately. If it is a pre-packaged hybrid, most packaging indicates the name of each string. There are a few hybrids using strings that aren’t sold on their own. Those strings are included in our lists. They will be listed as the name of the hybrid with (main) or (cross) after the name. For example, Head Protector 16 (main) is the string used for the mains in Head’s Protector 16 string.

Nylon, Zyex, & Polyolefin (Sorted by Stiffness)

Polyester (Sorted by Stiffness)

Gut (Sorted by Stiffness)

Kevlar/Technora/Vectran

See all articles by Dave Bone

About the Author

Dave Bone is the CEO of the U.S. Racquet Stringers Association, and co-publisher of Racquet Sports Industry magazine.

From the January 2011 issue
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