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Why Do Strings Break?

Squash racquet with broken string
When a string breaks, don’t assume that your stringer did something wrong.
Here at Racquet Network, our stringers re-string nearly 2000 racquets a year. Less than a dozen racquets a year come back for warranty repairs.

This means that 99.994% of the racquets we repair are fine while 0.006% experience premature string breakage.

Yet in almost every one of the 0.006% of cases where strings break prematurely, the customer wants to blame us for doing something wrong. They seem to believe that when a string breaks, it has to be somebody’s fault.

This is a primer for those folks. The purpose of this article is to share our considerable experience about why strings break and to help players understand why this happens to them.

Don’t Take it Personally

The first thing to understand is that it’s not personal. Nobody is picking on you. It’s not a conspiracy.

All strings break eventually. Sometimes they break the first time you use them. Sometimes they last for years. When a racquet is strung, nobody knows how long it is going to last.

Your racquet might be in the 99.994% that are fine or it might be in the 0.006% that break prematurely. There is simply no way to know.

Even a perfect racquet that is perfectly strung by the world’s best stringer with the world’s best string on the world’s best stringing machine under perfect conditions can break the very first time you hit a ball or a shuttle with it. That’s a coincidence, not a conspiracy.

That said, however, there are come common causes for string breakage that we see regularly.

Racquet Maintenance Issues

Most often, the problem is with the bumper guard or grommets on the racquet itself. If grommets are broken, the graphite from the frame will cut through the string. If you are using a soft multifilament string like Tecnifibre ™ 305 or DNAMX, your string life can be extremely short.

The same is true for broken bumper guards. If the string in a racquet is passing over jagged pieces of bumper guard, there is a high likelihood that your strings will break prematurely. This is also true if missing pieces of bumper are exposing the string to wall/floor strikes on the outside of the frame.

Customer Usage

The second most common cause of string breakage is directly related to how customers use string. In squash, for example, we commonly see problems with men who overpower their string by literally hitting the ball much harder than they need to.

In this case, the story goes something like this.

A guy buys a squash racquet with thick, low grade factory string. He plays squash for a while and learns to serve overhand and to hit the ball really, really hard. Since the factory strings that were in the racquet when he purchased it are thick and designed for durability rather than playability, the player experiences no consequences for hitting this hard.

Eventually, however, the strings in the racquet break and the player brings the racquet in for re-stringing. For whatever reason, he decides to go with a highly playable string like Tecnifibre 305 or DNAMX, which are both playable but not very durable. So to nobody’s surprise, he goes out onto the court, pounds his first serve and immediately breaks his expensive new string.

Nobody is at fault here. This is simply physics. The strength of the player overpowers the strength of the string. This string is designed for professional squash players who consistently hit the ball in the centre of the stringbed. It is not designed for overhead pounders who hit the ball hard and off centre.

This is our second most common cause of string breakage; it is a player/string mismatch. The player and the string are both fine on their own; they are just wrong for each other.

This player needs a durable string, not a playable string. Once this is determined, we can advise players in this group to go with a more durable string, like Ashaway ™ Supernick XL Titanium.

The important thing to understand here is that nobody can know that the player and the string are wrong for each other until they try to play together. This is a matter of trial and error. Until they try, the error cannot be detected.

Conclusion

So the next time your string breaks prematurely, please don’t jump immediately to the conclusion that your stringer did something wrong. Given how we do things in our shop, this is highly unlikely and we suspect this is true for most professional stringers. A more likely explanation is that something else is at fault. Just bring your racquet in for us to look at. We will probably be able to figure out what happened and we will probably be able to help put you back into the 99.994% group.

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Squash Racquets With One-Year Warranties

Wilson Blade YL squash racquet
All Wilson squash racquets are protected by a one year warranty against manufacturer’s defects.
Breaking a brand new squash racquet is frustrating. It is even more frustrating when that racquet is not covered by a warranty.

Due to the nature of the game of squash, most squash racquets are not covered by warranties. In fact, among the many brands that we carry, only Wilson offers a one year warranty against manufacturer’s defects.

What does this mean? It means that if the racquet breaks because of a flaw in its production, Wilson will replace it, subject to standard conditions, of course.

The first condition is that it must be inspected by their warranty department. If they conclude that it broke due to a manufacturer’s flaw, they will replace it with the same or something comparable.

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

Squash Racquets with One Year Warranties

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.
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Where to Buy Yonex Badminton Racquets in Calgary

We carry more Yonex ™ badminton racquets than any racquet store or pro shop in Calgary. If we don’t have it, we can get it. Yonex Canada’s warehouse is right here in Calgary. So if we run out of something, we can usually get the same week. Come in a see us for all of your Yonex Badminton Needs.

Yonex Badminton Racquets

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.
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Best Doubles Badminton Racquets

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY - DEMO PROGRAM

What is the best racquet for doubles badminton? We hear this question at lot in our southwest Calgary store. It seems like a simple question. But it’s not.

In general, we advise players to test drive quality racquets before buying them. Customers in our Try Before You Buy program test drive more than a thousand racquets a year. Most take out two at at time and compare several racquets over the course of a month before making a decision. In almost every case, customers end up not choosing the racquet they thought they would like best.

Here is a good example that makes the point precisely. Many of the men in our racquet demo program come in expecting to purchase a racquet designed for smashing. But once they get one out on a court and compare it to an all purpose racquet, they find that they actually play better with the all purpose racquet. This is because the all purpose racquet can still provide a good smash, but it also offers a larger sweet spot, which is essential when returning smashes.

Try it Before You Buy it Racquet Network customers test drive more than 1000 racquets a year. Before you run out to the nearest box store because you think you are getting a great deal, why not stop in and see what we have to test drive?

While it is possible to categorize Yonex ™ and some other brands according to the series the racquet is in, there are racquets in every series that prove there are exceptions to every rule. For example, Duora racquets are Yonex’ best overall all purpose racquets. So in general, we recommend that most recreational players who are in the middle of their pack stick to Duoras. However, with the Duora series there are racquet designed for men, racquets designed for women and racquets designed for teens. It is also impossible to determine which Duora a player will like best until they take them for a test drive.

Yonex Duora Series Badminton Racquets

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

The same story can be told of Yonex’ Astrox series of badminton racquets. In general, these racquets are made for recreational players who play the back of the court and like to smash. Specifically, they are designed for steep angle smashes that get into an opponent’s feet. But not every Astrox frame is suitable for every smasher. Depending on the length of the player’s swing and its power, one player will be better for a given player than any of the others. Without a test drive, it is impossible to predict which is which.

Yonex Astrox Series Badminton Racquets

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

Yonex Nanoray series, on the other hand, was created for ladies who tend to be in the front of the court and like to clear, drop or tumble their shots. But there are men who prefer head light racquets to head heavy racquets and would much rather smash with a Nanoray than an Astrox. So once again, a test drive is helpful for players like this.

Yonex Nanoray Series Badminton Racquets

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

With more than 1000 test drives every year, Racquet Network is fully set up to help customers find a racquet that is perfect for them. There is no need to guess and since our prices are as low as any of the box stores, there is nothing to be gained by guessing either.

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How to Test Drive a Badminton Racquet

Four simple tests will determine whether or not a racquet might be right for you.[/caption]Here at Racquet Network, our customers test drive more than 1000 racquets every year. This is not surprising. We have a large selection of badminton racquets to choose from. We also allow customers an entire month to test drive them. So players have ample opportunity to find a racquet that is perfectly suited to their game style.

What customers do during their month long trial period is entirely up to them. Most players simply take out two racquets and go play with them for a week. Then they return them and take out two more. Eventually, they find something they really like and go with that one.

Unfortunately, this is not the best way to test drive a demo racquet. Simply playing a few games with a racquet does not usually give a player enough information to make an informed decision. This is because all too often the player’s perception of the racquet hinges on the outcome of the game. When a player wins with a racquet, he likes it. When he loses, he dislikes it.

Playing is important, but it is not the only thing players should be considering. More important are the following four simple tests, which will help players eliminate racquets with shafts that are not flexible enough for their individual strength.

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

Tests 1 & 2 – Baseline to Baseline Forehand/Backhand Tests

To begin the first test, two players take up positions in the center of the court along the baselines on opposite sides. They hit the shuttle back and forth, baseline to baseline. If the player who is test driving a racquet is able to stand on one baseline and hit the shuttle out the back of the opposite court three out of four times consistently, that racquet passes the Baseline to Baseline Forehand Test.

The Baseline to Baseline Backhand Test is the same thing, but on the backhand side. If the player who is test driving the racquet is able to stand on one baseline and hit the shuttle out the back of the opposite court three out of four times consistently, that racquet passes this test as well. If the player cannot do this, the racquet is not flexible enough for the player’s needs.

Tests 3 & 4 – Corner to Corner Forehand/Backhand Tests

The next two tests are more difficult, but they are extremely important. Players start the test by taking up positions near the corners of opposing baselines diagonally from each other. They try to hit the shuttle diagonally from corner to corer first on the forehand side, then on the backhand side. If they can hit the shuttles out of the court three out of four times consistently, the racquet passes. If not, it fails.

Speaking frankly, virtually all of the racquets that players test drive will fail the Corner to Corner Backhand Test because most players are not adept enough at this stroke to get the shuttle that deep on the diagonal backhand. So this test becomes a matter of good/better/best. In other words, the best racquet for each player is the racquet that allows them to hit the shuttle the deepest on the Corner to Corner Forehand/Backhand Test.

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

Tracking the Results

Since the trial period lasts a month or more and since most players will test drive eight or more racquets during this period, it is important to keep notes. The simplest way to do this is with your smartphone’s camera app. Just figure out the average depth the shuttle is reaching on the final test (Corner to Corner Backhand Test). Place the head of the demo racquet on that spot with the handle pointing at the corner you were hitting from and take a picture. If you have two racquets out that are reaching different spots, but them both on the court in their appropriate spots and include them in the same photo.

Why These Tests Matter

While playing matches with a racquet gives players a lot of subjective data about that racquet, these fours simple distance tests provide some important objective data. Because let’s face it, an inability to hit the shuttle from baseline-to-baseline and corner-to-corner will result in failure during matches. In order to win consistently, a player must be able to hit the shuttle deep enough to prevent opponents from going on the attack.

All too often, players want a particular racquet because Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei use it or because it has certain offensive features that they believe will help them hit harder or faster. But the single most important question that every player should ask about any racquet they are considering is this: can I hit the shuttle deep enough to reset when I (or my team) gets into trouble defensively? If the answer to this question is yes, then that particular racquet should go on the Maybe Right for Me List. If the answer is no, then the racquet should go on the Not Right for Me Right Now List.

Building the Maybe List

As players test drive badminton racquets, they will be putting each racquet onto one of two lists. The first list is the Not Right for Me Right Now List. This is the list of racquets that have failed the four distance tests above. The second list, the list of racquets that have passed the test, is the Maybe Right for Me List. For shorthand purposes, we call these the Maybe List and the No List.

Once a player has a selection of racquets on their Maybe List, they can start comparing them by playing with them. At this point, it makes sense to start judging racquets by more subjective criteria. And if two racquets are judged to be equal in every other way, then it’s fine to make a determination based on a favorite player’s endorsement. In fact, at this point, players can even make a final determination based on colour if that is important to them.

Racquet Selector For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

What to do When they All Fail

So what should a player do when all racquets fail the four distance tests we have been discussing? This is not an uncommon situation. Teens, women and even some adult male recreational players often encounter this situation. This is because they are unable to hit the shuttle to full depth when hitting corner to corner on the backhand side.

In this situation the best option is the racquet that produces the best results. Remember the pictures we recommended taking with your smart phone during the distance tests? This is where these become important. The best racquet in this case is the racquet that produces the best result.

Once the best option is determined, our racquet technicians can help the player tweak the racquet to give it additional power. This will help get the shuttle a little deeper and make the best option even better.