Stringing is an equally fascinating subject given the many patterns tried over the years. The small strings at the top of this racquet are called ‘Trebling’. While mainly for decoration, they were often used also at the bottom and even around the strings on the primary sweet spot. The racquet left has a very tight set. From the early 1900’s most trebling was done in sets of 3. All through to the 1980’s coloured trebling made racquets look that little bit more special on display. Another feature on this racquet is the use of double stringing on both the main vertical and cross strings which creates a formidable sweet spot.

While early strings were made of ‘Gut’ often called cat gut, they were indeed made from animal intestines until the plastics and nylons appeared in the 1940-s-1950’s. Original gut was 1.5mm -2mm thick and often they tried different grades and thicknesses between vertical and cross strings to improve performance. The use of two vertical double strings and different cross strings are visible here with original trebling in place. This a common pattern on early racquets.

Stringing also changed direction, so to speak, in the 1920’s when the first metal head/wooden handle racquets arrived complete with piano wire stringing. Two well known companies were Birmal Aluminium Co. in the UK who launched an all metal racquet called the ‘Birmal’ followed by a metal wood combination called the ‘Birmal Ace’. Over in the USA, Dayton were very successful with their metal head wood handle products for over 20 years and are very popular with collectors for the variety of head styles and frame colours that became available. The picture right is a Dayton Flyer with a nice trebling and frame wrap. They were renowned for a wonderful twang when the piano wire made contact with a ball and you can’t imagine how long balls would last. The stringing below is from an Australian Brewer Centurion. Note the green, double trebling and on the right a patented Godfrey (New York, USA c 1929) pattern which uses two different string types. Based on the actual patent drawing the string set is close in overall look but not accurate, yet they may well be original.

Other string patterns included diagonals and verticals criss-crossed with diagonals which created a honeycomb style effect. Today these still appear from time to time and in 2008 we have the recent launch of the ITF approved Power Angle racquets which feature diagonal string patterns. This product comes from the same designer of the Mad Raq stringing pattern that was patented in the early 1990’s. Other desirable diagonal strung racquets include the MacGregor Bergelin, TAD Davis Top Spin and many from Volkl.

The MADRAQ design is shown below on the left, yet on the right we have a 1907 patent granted to Forrester, courtesy of Siegfried Kuebler’s book. In Jeanne Cherry’s book, ‘Tennis Antiques and Collectibles’ page 34 there is a shot of a equally similar design from 1887 by the Benetfink Co.

The other photos show older stringing styles noting the additional strings located on the cross strings close to the sweet spot. Called ‘Keeper’ strings, they assisted by reducing string movement within the hitting zone. The Sp.in G300/ Roxpro shows how racquet design has allowed variable string lengths to improve sweet spot performance. Often these designs fall foul of the rules and are either banned or permitted after a review which is apparently what happened for this model.

The mid 70’s metal racquet is a Danlo with a ‘Spider web’ string set up.

A very rare treat is to see the German invented “spaghetti” stringing system (Vilsbiburger racquets) which was used by Ille Nastase at the Aix-en-Provence tournament in early October 1977 against Vilas. So annoyed at being beaten by this amazing racquet, Vilas lobbied the ITF to have it banned which it promptly was under a ruling that deemed the two layered string pattern was a form of double hitting. The strings as they impact the ball, slide across the surface to a point where under pressure they spring back delivering an incredible top spin effect, so much so, that on the receiving court the ball literally bounces over your head.

Below this is another variation on double stringing. The Blackburne double-strung has two completely independent string sets mounted just 2mm from the frame edge in order to prevent wayward shots. It is a serious racquet written up in the 1998 USA Tennis Magazine equipment guide (price back then US $299).

This Fischer Superform Tuning Racquet allows the player to adjust string
tension by using a key lock located in the butt cap.

Other examples of Long main stringing by Wilson and Bancroft (Markhill)