Describing the feel of a string

Jens · 2005-03-26, 20:45

Hey, I gotta ask a question.
Sometimes I'm having trouble translating string reviews.

Is "dull" the right adjective when you want to say that the string does not feel lively and does not give much feedback? When you don't want to use "dead" (which would be the extreme case), what is not as bad as "dead" but worse than average? "Stiff" is not the correct adjective either, because also a soft string can feel "dull". Any hints?
Thanks for your input!

Jay Cee · 2005-03-28, 12:34

Hi Joe,

"Dull" does create the impression of what you want to mean, but generally dull refers to the poor capacity of a surface to reflect light (not shiny but dull), to hear less clearly (muffled or a dull sound), to a person's lack of intelligence (not bright, but dull), and also a blunt knife (not sharp but dull), you get the idea . . .

In movement or reactivity we would tend to say "sluggish" which corresponds to a lack of vigour or lack of energy, slow to react. This is probably closer to what you are looking for.

By the way a string dies when it loses its elasticity, when it fails to give punch to the ball, fails to accelerate the ball. The string becomes sluggish, then it dies. A "dead" string can be very bad for your arm, the ball stays much longer in the stringbed, the frame takes more and more of the shock, creating low frequency frame vibrations which can cause serious damage to the tendons, leading to elbow and shoulder problems.

One of the most frequent causes of these injuries is the abusive use of polyester strings by players who refuse to cut it out of the racquet after only a few hours of play.

Basic Polyester dies after a maximum of 4-5 hours of play, if you haven't broken it by then, cut it out and put in a new string, preferably in a thinner gauge. The thinner the better, it will be more lively, more comfortable and put more spin on the ball. The objective is to find the thinnest possible gauge that will give you 3-4 hours of play before it breaks, if it lasts too long, drop down a gauge, if it doesn't last long enough move to a thicker one. But it is much better to chose the gauge that gives you the best results, even if it only lasts 2 hours.

If you are not capable of cutting out the string when it is DEAD, then do youself a favour, put a mono core single wrap NYLON (a good SYNGUT in 16L is great) in the crosses, that will ensure that you maintain good elasticity in the crosses, even when the mains are dead. The hybride will stay reasobably playable from 2 to 5 times longer than a full poly restring.

Cheers,
JC

Jens · 2005-03-28, 13:30

Thanks Jay Cee for your extensive answer!
So you would prefer "sluggish" over "dull" or is it okay to use both?
Can I say "the string had a sluggish feel" or just "the string was sluggish"?

Jay Cee · 2005-03-28, 20:12

Joe,

Dull is not correct to use in this context, "the string was sluggish" is fine but if you want to say "the string had a sluggish feel" I'm not so happy with that one, you would be better with "the string feels sluggish", or it would perhaps be better to say that the string "is not very lively" or that "it lacks reactivity" or "it lacks punch" or "lacks character". I think we would get the idea.

If it was a Babolat "string used by dozens of the best Pro's on the Circuit" they have better way of describing such a string : "it has great control" in other words you can hit as hard as you want and the ball stays in the court, (but if you don't hit the shit out of it you play service line and run the risk of being blown off the court).

Cheers mate,

Jens · 2005-03-28, 21:48

Thanks mate!

I love linguistic issues. In German, we use the same word that is mainly used to express that a knife is "not sharp".

Another one: What adjective do you use when you want to say that a string feels much too soft, with no direct feel, the opposite of "crispy"? Is it okay to use "spongy"?

So what have we got:
lively
sluggish
crispy
dead
stiff
soft
springy
harsh
comfortable
explosive

There must be some more adjectives...

domo · 2005-04-15, 08:26

Hi

Im not that good with the synonyms but since many strings could be described by the term dull you could say its Generic and below average. No point beating around the bush. Say it like it is.

Jens · 2005-05-05, 11:15

A tester recently described the feel of a string as "gritty".
Can anybody explain what this exactly means?

My question regarding "spongy" is yet unanswered. Is it okay to use this for the opposite of "crispy"?

paul220tcoupe · 2005-08-31, 13:11

Yes spongy is a good adjective to use.

I often use this to refer to the feel of brakes when there is no direct feel and it feels like your foot is not really affecting the brakes no matter how hard you push.

With relevance to tennis strings spongy could mean that the strings do not give a feel of how hard you are hitting the ball and it feels like you are playing with a childrens foam racket.

Still not sure that the opposite of spongy is crispy though. I would say the opposite of spongy is springy where you can directly feel any change in power.

Crispy sounds like the strings just crack when you hit it. Reminds me of cereal. lol

kwick · 2005-08-31, 16:42

How about soggy as the opposite to crispy.

BTennis · 2012-04-25, 15:18

I find this thread very interesting and informing as it relates to the life of Poly (see the post timed at 6:34). However, I see the thread is very old and I have a question on how it relates to today's poly/co-polys. With today's co-poly material does it become dead as quickly as compared to the basic poly of old (4-5 hours) and cause havoc on the arm, etc - like described in the post? Do co-polys life and benefits last longer now?