Rich's strings

Rich's strings

Choosing your strings

Broken a string or want to refresh your racket ? Have your racket restrung by one of Hanworth's squash coaches. This is the choice of strings you have when you ask me to restring your racket.

What we want from a string includes power, control, responsiveness, price and durability. But remember that you should look at a low price as an opportunity to restring more often, so you are playing with fresher strings for a greater part of your on court time, rather than as a lesser investment in your racket.

My standard price (in summer 2023) for a restring with budget strings is £28, and I add a £7 premium for the three Ashaway strings, the Dunlop and the two Technifibre strings

I string with a tension of 20 to 30lbs, and I record the details of each racket for repeats.

Ashaway Ultranick 17 Lime Green Premium string	This has been my favourite string for a while. It does everything well for me, though it may not score on full power. The outer casing has little rigidity, can kink during stringing, and has a soft plasticky feel to it, but it seems quite a durable string.	The case is a composite of thick filaments, but their plasticky nature means that they feel less grippy than the Supernick.
Ashaway Supernick Pro 17 Blue Premium string	This is a good grippy string with a strong surface texture. Possibly as a result it frays during play, and strings migrate with off-hitting too.	The large core of thin filaments seems to be wound with wide tape-like threads under the case. The grippiness comes from the case which is itself a composite of thick filaments.
Ashaway Powernick 18 Red Premium string	A high quality string, with a clean and precise action, but I haven't taken to it. A thinner string, so not for those who like a high tension.	The case is a composite of thin filaments, giving a fine and mild grippy surface.
Technifibre 305 17 Green Premium string	A top line string. When new, it gives medium strength shots some extra vitality, but full power never seemed specially good to me. I have begun to think it is not a durable string.	A closer look reveals that the large core is a composite of thin filaments.
Technifibre DNAMX 17 Black Premium string	This is a newish string from the top racket maker, and is used by some top players. A good string.	Like the 305, it is a composite of thin filaments in a low contrast base.
Dunlop Silk 17 Clear Premium string	With no recent track record on strings, Dunlop are using this interesting string to enter the market. Watch this space.	It is a composite of thin filaments in a fairly thick skin.
Ashaway Supernick Micro 18 Grn Premium string	This string is very similar to the Supernick Pro, except that the internal fibres appear thinner, and of course the string is thinner overall. Well, it was, and to spec, with my first sample. When I bought a roll, the string was more like 17 gauge.	A core of thin filaments, with a grippy surface. The surface is harder than the Pro version.
Gefen Syn Gut Graphite 17 Black Budget string	An interesting entry into the lower priced range. This is intended as competition for the higher priced non-stranded strings, like the Technifibre strings.	This string seems to be one solid filament.
Prince Syn Gut 16 Clear Budget string	A thicker standard for tennis and squash, and so a very durable string. A lot of new rackets come strung tightly with this kind of string, and neither the tension nor the string suit me. These used to be the only kind of strings available at a budget price.	This string seems to be one large filament in a simple case.

Page updated on 6th August 2023

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