How to find the right stringing tension
Getting your stringing tension right, is just as important as choosing the badminton racket.
In this guide you will find our personal experience and a guideline in regards to choosing the correct string and stringing tension.
THICKNESS OF THE STRING
Choosing the right string is your first step. Are you looking for high control or high durability? There are tons of different string types and brands.We will recommend starting off with a standard string, which isn’t too thin nor too thick. The most popular string thickness is 0,68 mm, which is a great combination between control and durability. We, at Basic Feather, are using 0,68 mm string in all our customized racket stringings. Should you decide to choose a thinner string, you will experience increased control, however, you will get a less durable string. Making the opposite choice, you will experience less control, but higher durability.
Nothing is right or wrong when choosing your string. We recommend you try out different types of strings and find your string based on your personal preference.
WHAT SHOULD MY STRINGING TENSION BE?
Having found your preferred string, you will have to find your preferred tension. You will have to take your standard of play into consideration. The sweet-spot is the optimal area in your racket, when making contact with the shuttle. The lower stringing tension, the bigger sweet-spot - the higher stringing tension, the smaller sweet-spot. The more advanced a player you are, the better technique you have, hence making good contact with the shuttle, the higher stringing tension is recommended. The flip-side to a high stringing tension is durability. When coming to this choice, only you and your wallet can choose.
If, in turn, you opt for a harder effort of several kilos, you gain increased control over your strokes. You may find that the shuttle "dies" in the racket with the hard tightening, and therefore high demands are placed on both technique and strength.
With harder strings, the "sweet spot" becomes smaller. This is the point on the strings where you most optimally hit the shuttlecock. If you have a mis-hit with a hard tightening, you will experience a marked decrease in your power in the strokes, then the stringing is also more likely to jump.
Basic Feather will recommend the following: Beginner:19 - 23 pounds (lbs), Medium: 24 - 26,5 pounds (lbs), Advance: 26,5 - 28 pounds (lbs). From our personal experience, we do not recommend tensions higher than 28,5 pounds unless you are a very skilled or professional player.
Recommendation from Morten Frost
It can quickly get rather complicated with many string variants and stringing tensions. I recommend for the majority of players to choose a 0,68 mm string and a tension between 24 - 26,5 pounds. Personally, I find this a perfect balance between durability, control and power. When purchasing a racket including stringing from Basic Feather, all stringing will be performed through a full electric stringing machine which is similar to the ones they use at World Tour events.
Remember to chose what's best for you, not what others have
One of the main reasons why some players choose a higher stringing tension is often caused by the great sound, when hitting the shuttle. The higher stringing tensions, the higher the tone. Remember, a high tone in itself, is not what’s going to provide you with a win in your next game, but having the optimal racket setting is a much smarter choice.
The sound when hitting the shuttlecock
Your string type and kilo choices affect the sound that the string gives you hitting the shuttlecock. A thinner string with several kilos gives a high sound, while a thicker string with fewer kilos gives a deep sound.
This is probably for the vast majority the biggest reason why many choose the quite hard strings.
We recommend
It can quickly become confusing with so many different variants of stringing. We recommend the vast majority of badminton players to choose a string type of about 0.68 mm, with 10-12 kg in the tightening of their racket. It provides a really good balance between durability, shuttle feel and power.
Last tip to get the right tension we recommend that the stringer uses an electronic stringing machine, of course we do with our rackets.