Adz and nickmaster,

See my most recent post about the new Tecnifibre 305 1.10 string:

http://www.squashgame.info/squashforum/4781

I have a reel of X-One as well and also have had issues with breakage near the frame. I play every day and X-One typically lasts me about one week. The string notches at first, as does the 305, but continues to feather with further use. However, once the string actually does break, the breakage always seems to occur along the frame regardless of how frayed the sweet spot becomes; in other words, the string still suffers from catastophic breakage. I suspect that the X-One is subject to the same manufacturing defect as the 305, leaving the string less elastic and brittle. Certainly, the X-One lasts longer than the 305, but [probably] only because it is slightly thicker. I sent some photos of the 305 breaks to my retailer who is assessing the situation in collaboration with Tecnifibre. Given the link provided by Demo (see other post), it looks like Tecnifibre has not resolved the issue and has quite a serious problem on their hands. We shall see.

Back to top

Here's a good one for you.......

I used x-one bi-phase in a racquet (Sabre Tour) and played flat out for 3 weeks (around 15 hours of court time), then during a warm-up I hit one forehand volley slightly off centre. The result..... SIX broken strings!!!

I've never broken more than 1 at once before, two if you count a frame point as 2 strings, but SIX breakages? 1 main broke at the frame, 1 cross broke on the opposite side of the frame and 2 other mains went about an inch and a half from the frame edge (where I think the ball connected). Absolutely crazy!!

Now for some history...... I always keep my racquets in their covers. The breakages weren't all at the frame point. I don't use an awl when stringing. The strings weren't overly fraying, but were begining to notch (unusual for TF). I also string my own racquets and I'm a very careful stringer. My own strings normally last me to the point where I change them due to deadness (3-5 months?)

The forehand volley caught in the top corner of the face and the strings just popped! I've not restrung it yet so I'll try to get a pic on here.

Anyhow, guess it goes to show that sometimes you do get the freak results of string breakage and there's nothing you can do about it!!

Cheers

Adz

Back to top

So...... Long time reader, first time poster.......

Ha ha ha...... Just kidding...... Long time no write as the case may be. Rumours of my death were greatly exagerated........

So Nickmaster........ strings breaking in 40 mins........ Ray is mostly right when he says about the stringing breaking in that time being faulty. If the string broke near the frame then it's almost certain that the string or the stringer was at fault. It could be that with this specific type of string it wasn't pre-stretched and therefore suffered a catastrophic break from an off centre ball (done it many times myself and there's not much you can do about it!). If could be that the string was nicked slightly by an awl during the stringing process, or compressed slightly by the awl causing a weak point in the string.

Most of these are fault related, but it is possible for someone to naturally break strings in a short amount of time. Recently I strung a head racquet for a friend who asked me to put the evolution strings back in after he broke the originals easily. Knowing a bit about his game and the strings I spent a while trying to talk him out of it, promising him that he wouldn't get more than a few hours at best out of the strings. He disagreed and I strung the racquet for him as requested. We came to playing the semi finals of a local competition and he'd been using the racquet for around 1hr20mins, went for a forehand drive and I heard the twang from off court..... did one string break?? Hell no..... THREE DID!!!! In the centre of the racquet face, three mains all gone from the same shot! I've seen it on tennis racquets but only once before on a squash racquet (when 2 went at once - same player funnily enough).

So the moral of the story...... Most stringing comes down to the stringer. If they get it wrong then it's back for a re-string in a very short time. Sometimes the string can be at fault with a weak spot from the manufacturing process, and sometimes it can just be the wrong string type for your style of play!!

Get some advice from someone who knows a lot about strings. Some stringers can bluff their way through a conversation and tell you that this model of string is definitely best for you, but only trust the ones who can tell you the pro's and con's of lots of different strings and can match them to your play type and your racquet type.........

Au revoirs!!

Adz

Back to top

Life of strings depends on many variables:

- racquet type

- How hard you hit the ball

- type of string

... to name a few.

Back to top

hi nickmaster

strings should never break that quickly. it sounds as though the strings were damaged in the process of stringing. take it back to the restringer.

if i strung a racket and it broke the first time they were used, at the least, i would offer to do another restring for free.

Back to top