How often should I restring? There are several rules of thumb for deciding how long to wait between restrings. One is that you should restring as many times a year as you play during a typical week. Using this guideline, if you play twice a week, you should restring twice a year. Another rule of thumb is to restring after 40 hours of play. Also if you find you want to smash your racquet to smitherines this is also a good indicator that its time to restring. Why did my strings break? Typically string breakage is caused by "notching" at the intersections of the mains and crosses. During play, especially where topspin and slice strokes are used, the main strings move back and forth against the cross strings and the resulting sawing action creates notches in the mains. Once the notches reaches the core all it takes is one big hit to convert a notch into a break. For some players this can take several months. For others it can be a matter of just a few hours. The presence of notches on the main strings however is indicative of normal wear regardless of how long it takes to develop. Sometimes, the string breaks at the frame edge. Often, this is caused by hitting the ball hard off the frame edge. This is known as "string overload" and is frequently associated with mis-hits. Occasionally breakage at the frame edge is caused by bad grommets. That is why I always check the grommets for internal damage before stringing and either replace them or "tube" the "bad" holes. If the grommets are ok and the string is broken anyway, chances are "string overload" was the cause. What are grommets & when do I need new ones? Most tennis racquets are molded without holes for the strings to go through. After molding, the unfinished frame is placed in a template and holes are drilled through the graphite. These holes have very sharp edges. If a string under tension came into contact with one of these edges, it would break very quickly. So the holes are lined with nylon tubes called "grommets". These usually come on a long strip and for the most part each and every racquet has a grommet strip designed to fit it, exclusively. One specialized piece of the grommet strip is known as the bumperguard. It is really no different than the rest of the strip except that it has the dual function of protecting the upper rim of the frame from court abrasion.   Most people will ask for a new set of grommets when they see that their bumperguard is severely worn. This is a good idea. But the internal condition of the grommets is also important. When the grommets are worn through internally, the string is no longer protected from the sharp edges of the drilled holes. To prevent premature string breakage, I may suggest replacing grommets that appear to you to be perfectly fine. How soon can I have my racquet back? One of the first things I am likely to ask you when you get your racquet restrung is when you plan to play next. My goal is have your racquet back to you for your next match, whenever that may be. Most of the time, you will have your racquet within 24 hrs. If I have to special order grommets or strings, it may require more time. What is a "multifilament" string? Multifilament strings were designed to simulate the construction of natural gut using synthetic fibers. Natural gut is made from a fibrous muscle tissue found in beef and sheep intestines. Multifilament strings consist of bundled microfibers held together with a bonding agent.   Generally, multifilament strings pocket the ball better than strings with center core construction. The ball seems to stay on the string longer which translates into more feel. My take on multifilament strings is that they play great initially, but the performance degrades more rapidly than with a center core construction. The reason for this is that none of the fibers in a multifilament string run the continuous length of the string. As a result, they are more prone to tension loss. What is so special about natural gut? Natural gut is still the premiere racquet string. Producing a string that "plays like natural gut" has long been the holy grail of the synthetic string industry. Each year brings a new crop of pretenders. Research and development costs being what they are, most of these "gut wannabes" are almost as expensive as gut, which begs the question: "If you are willing to spend in excess of £30 for a string that plays like natural gut, why not spend a couple extra pounds and just get natural gut?" Most people don't rate the expense of natural gut. "I'm not a pro, why should I use natural gut?" Well, you might want to use natural gut if you are suffering from tennis elbow. Of the legion of strings, natural gut will be kindest on your arm. Another reason you might want to use natural gut is that actually, it is good value. Synthetic strings tend to "die" long before they break. If you are not a chronic string breaker, natural gut will play beautifully and deliver a high level of performance long after most synthetics will have died. Modern natural gut comes with what the industry calls an "all weather coating". Be aware though, that being a natural fiber, gut is susceptible to damage from moisture. Playing in the rain, playing with wet balls, playing on courts that have been recently watered, can damage gut. It is a good idea to have a second racquet strung with synthetic string handy for "bad gut days". Should I be using polyester strings? Polyester strings have been around for decades, but improvements in the manufacturing process and an overall increase in the power of the average racquet have brought about a resurgence in interest in these strings. On the plus side, polyester is durable, inexpensive, and somewhat dead. As a result, several years ago it became the string of choice on the satellite tour. These players had no money; so a long lasting string that muted the power of the modern racquet and didn't cost much was right up their alley (pun intended). As these players made their way up the rankings, they generally stuck with what got them there, so in recent years polyester has supplanted natural gut as the number one choice of the game's elite players. Federer, Ferraro, Coria, Moya, Kuerten all use some form of polyester string. Agassi, who for years played with a Kevlar hybrid recently made the switch to polyester too. The downside of polyester is that it does not hold tension well. So, even though it is not breaking (it is extremely durable), it usually is begging for replacement a while before it breaks. Additionally, playing with polyester that has "lost it" is very rough on the elbow. On the pro level, you can be sure, polyester is being replaced on a daily basis. What is a hybrid set & why would I use one? It is possible to string a racquet with more than one kind of material. For instance, you could put natural gut in the mains and nylon in the crosses. Or Kevlar in the mains and a synthetic in the crosses. What has become increasing popular on the pro tour is polyester hybrids. Usually polyester mains and natural gut crosses, but sometimes the reverse. Polyester is a dead string. Hybridizing it makes it somewhat more playable. So, if you are looking for the durability of polyester but find it too dead for your tastes, you might want to experiment with a poly hybrid. Can I provide my own strings? Yes, but I cannot and do not guarantee the quality of customer supplied strings. Fees are as follows: Tennis and squash racquets: £13 Badminton racquets: £13 Natural Gut Installation: £15