Well I did say I'd check the prices I get in the UK..... Lightning XX - £68 for the reel, so I was pretty close!!

That works out about £3.09 per set which isn't bad. Would imagine that you can get them cheaper elsewhere though! Found them for just over £50 but not sure on shipping costs to different countries. Found one seller in the US who sells it for $82 - Holabirdsports.com. They have the tennis string (16g 1.30mm), so no reason why they couldn't get hold of the 17g squash string.

Cheers

Adz

Back to top

Thanks! 

I am a hard hitter and go through strings quite a bit, not as much as your friend, Adz, but it was getting expensive enough that I bought a stringer and learned how to string my own rackets.  It has since paid for itself!

On Sparty's advice on another thread, I bought (and am going with) two Prince More Game rackets.  I have tried this racket before and the Lightning XX String played really well.  I want to stick with that string.  The string I have been using is a knock-off Technifiber 305 string.  The seller on eBay claims it plays to about 90% of the Technifiber string.  I got a 200m reel for about $80 with shipping to the US. 

I am looking now to get a couple of the Prince strings for the new rackets and ran into the Prince Lighting XX 17 guage at a local sports shop, but it was for tennis rackets - hence my original question - is it the same stuff they put on the More Game from the factory?

I have a Prince Sovereign and two Prince Power Ring Tour Ti's that I use as backups and are strung with the knock-off Technifiber.  Some advice to your friend - don't string at a really high tension!  I too have broken strings in one outing but I used to string at 30-32lbs.  I lowered the tension down to 28lbs (which is still high) and the string seems to be lasting a bit longer.   

Before I bought a stringer and started stringing my own rackets, I would get them re-strung and the only string the shop had was Ashaway SuperNick XL.  At first I thought, "What a difference from the factory string!" but since using the Technifiber knock-off stuff, I no longer like the Ashaway.  Too much bite!  It gets annoying in a pressure rally when your swing isn't quite as pure as usual and the ball spins out to the T.  The Lighting XX and Technifiber knock-off don't seem to be as bad in that situation, but you can still put spin on the ball if you try. 

Anyway, I would say my priorities in a string is the same as Adz - price first!  It seems with the squash stuff that prices are double and triple that of racketball and tennis supplies, so shopping around has become my other hobby - first hobby is actually getting to PLAY squash!

Back to top

Sparty, me agreeing with you is becoming a habit on here!

Stonehands, I think you're in a similar position to I was about 18 months ago. What string should I choose and why!? After doing weeks of research and trialing different brands I posted a thread on here all about strings. Try searching through the archives to find it as it's well worth the read.

Basically it comes down to a mixture of things:

1) Price

2) Durability

3) Playability

Each of these things should be in your mind all the time when choosing a string to play with. Price comes first in my book as there is such a variation out there! Are you a heavy hitter who breaks strings easily, or are you a soft hitting, touch player who hardly ever breaks a string? Are you a mixture? Do you like a string to "feel" like it grips the ball? Do you not care as long as it does the job??

I've tried loads of different strings and settled for Ashaway Supernick XL Pro (1.25mm or 17guage). This is a gritty feeling string with a fair bit of "zip" to it. Not too thin and not too thick, and the extra gritiness makes up for the slightly thicker string. BUT: I know of someone who can break this string in just ONE GAME!! Trust me, for a laugh we tried stringing it 3 times and he broke every set in 1 game..... different racquets, same tension as I have it, one of which was in my racquet! I can use this stuff until the cows come home, but he seemed to go through it like it was cotton!

A good friend of mine who got me started in stringing my own racquets swears by the Prince Super Syngut w/Duraflex. He uses it for all his restringing as he says it lasts ages and is cheap to buy (but curiously doesn't use it himself cause he breaks this string too easily!). He actually uses tennis mains with a squash cross. Something which took him ages to find and perfect.

So is there a difference between tennis and squash with the same guage? Simply.... NO! If a string has the same make up and guage (in mm) then it's the same string. Be careful what you understand by guage..... a 17 guage string can range from 1.15 to 1.25 depending on who's classifying it. Never go below an 18 guage and try not to go above a 16 guage (min 1.10mm and max 1.30mm). The 18 guage should only be good quality makes (Tecnifibre 225 or Ashaway Powernick) and the 16 guage shouldn't be anything thicker than the 1.30mm mentioned earlier. Most tennis main strings are 1.32mm , but you can get 1.25mm cross strings.

This topic could go on forever with the different variations, but I would probably say that the lightning xx 17 guage is a great string for a good price. Worth a shot if you get on well with it, and cheap enough to scrap if you don't! What racquet do you use? Some racquets can take a 2 piece string which means you can mix and match the mains and crosses. Others (Dunlops for example) are only designed to take 1 piece string and this can make a difference if you're a string breaker!

Oh so much to write and so little time!

Anyhow, get yourself a price for stringing with strings provided and without (e.g. just labour!) and then tell us what price you want to spend on strings. I might be able to suggest some cheap places to buy the strings from depending on what you're after and how much you want to buy / pay! Note that there's a guy in the UK selling Ashaway Powernick 18 Red for £7 odd a set which is a great trial price, but you can buy this string for almost half that price if you buy in bulk from abroad!

For the prince stuff, I think I can get it for about £50 or £60 a reel (200m?) which means around £2.70 per restring (plus labour of course!). You'd be amazed how much it saves to shop around for this stuff!

Cheers

Adz

p.s. Don't quote me on the Prince reel costs! I know that the super syngut comes in around that price, but would have to double check on the Lightning XX.

Back to top

Just becuase a string is rated as 17 gauge doesn't mean it's the same thickness as another one, so make sure you check the rating in millimetres as tennis strings are usually too thick for squash, but not always. I would advise no thicker than 1.25 mm for squash, and a minimum of 1.10mm

do some googling and check the specs of......

Technifibre: 305/225/multifeel/x-one bi-phase

or

Ashaway: Supernick/Powernick

or

E-squash Powerfibre

if you are new to using performance string you will find any of those an improvment on stock strings that come in your racket probably. You won't go too far wrong!

I'm afraid I can't recommend Prince string though. Awful!

sparty

Back to top