Racquet No. 1 done.

The best way to describe my experience: Harrowing Comedy.

Stringing on an AEF drop-weight table-top machine with semi-auto clamp bases that I purchased in the spring from Facebook marketplace. Life got in the way, so it sat unused all summer. During this time, I upgraded the side supports to “Chudek-style” supports and the universal clamps to badminton specific clamps. I was considering buying an electric tension head, but my wife put her foot down and said I had to at least string some racquets first. LOL.

There were many missteps stringing an old Victor Super Nano 5 (72-hole) racquet because I dived head first. Some reflections.

1. Don’t overthink the stringing pattern: I spent a lot of time researching the stringing pattern. I spent a good amount of time looking up and reading about the Victor 1-string ATW pattern that was recommended for the racquet of that era. I got confused when I then saw that Victor Sports Europe posted a 2-string pattern. I did a deep dive into Haribito-based methods. In the end, I opted to do what the original stringer did and just use the Yonex 72-hole pattern.
2. Use cheaper string to practice on first: I decided to use my usual string (Exbolt 65), but being a novice I abraded the string several times because of poor clamp and base handling. I realize now that there will be many more missteps as I continue this journey and I’m literally throwing money away.
3. Need to watch more videos of stringing with a drop weight: I didn’t take the time to internalize a good flow using the drop-weight as a lot of the videos I was drawn to were using electric tensioners — this led to me making several mistakes mid-stringing (forgetting to lock the base), causing me to lose all the tension in the system forcing a restart several times.
4. Knots are not to be underestimated: Over tightened the first finishing knot on B8 which I think contributed to the mains eventually snapping.

My first attempt to string the mains was probably pushing 1.5 hours. I ended up taking a 30-minute break, leaving the racquet in the machine with just the mains finished. Probably not the wisest decision. When I started weaving the crosses, the mains snapped.

On my second attempt, my daughter was curious about the process. This is a classic case of “the blind, leading the blind” and after cutting off the old strings, we remounted the racquet slightly crooked (1 grommet off) and I strung all the mains diagonally — I didn’t notice this until I started the first finishing knot, so I had to restart the mains AGAIN.

Without pre-stringing, I have a pretty good flow with the mains. I botched the first finishing knot and I lost a bit of tension there. The crosses took forever. My hands are super dry, and I was really struggling pinching the string when weaving. Shared holes took a long time. I inadvertently discovered “soft-weaving” while stringing the crosses. I’m so thankful for this forum because of all the shared knowledge here.

Overall, with all the restarts, broken mains, struggles with all cross weaving, it took 4.5 hours. I suspect that the next time I do this, it will be significantly faster.

Things that I’m happy about:

1. Upgraded clamps and side supports: They are definitely quality of life improvements that I was happy to have.
2. Not spending money on an electric tensioner: it wouldn’t have saved me a significant amount of time.
3. Calibrated drop weight: I used a cheap fishing scale — wish it didn’t lock out so quickly — so I might end up getting a proper calibrating tool for the precision.

Overall, I’m happy with the results. Will string up a second Super Nano 5 and an old Nanospeed 9000x later this weekend.