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String Selector 2012

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

By Dave Bone

The economy may be continuing to put companies out of business in other industries, but it doesn’t seem to be having that effect in the string industry. In fact, the number of strings on the market continues to grow, and each year, the U.S. sees more new string brands available. While many of these new brands are so small many players have yet to hear of them, they must be doing something right because it seems like none of them are giving up and leaving the market.

Once again, the largest string growth has been in polyesters. Last year, we explained that technology advances are allowing manufacturers to develop more and more improved constructions for polyester strings, and we asked whether these new polyesters would eliminate the need for so many nylon strings. So far, the answer seems to be “no” — there are more nylon strings in the chart this year than last year.

So, once again, our String Selector comprises the largest number of strings we’ve ever published, and as a result, it may be the most important compilation ever. After all, can you imagine trying to memorize the names of 800 strings, much less trying to categorize them based on stiffness, tension loss and gauge, without a tool like this?

But as the number of strings continues to grow, it occurs to us that even a neatly organized list like this can be intimidating to a stringer or retailer helping a customer pick the next string to try in his racquet. USRSA members have access to a tool on their member-only website, RacquetTECH.com, called “String Selector.” It contains all the information in these charts, but it is searchable and sortable based on any of the specs of the strings. So, for example, if a player is looking for a string that is thinner, softer and loses less tension than their current string, the stringer can simply pick the string the player is currently using and request these features. Then, the tool spits out a much shorter and much less intimidating list of strings to choose from. This powerful tool is available for free to USRSA members and is updated throughout the year as new strings are added to the market.

Our exclusive String Selector on the following pages visually maps about 800 strings based on 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.
   • 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.
   • 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)
   • 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 (Sorted by Stiffness)

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 2012 issue
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