The short version

The simplest rule in stringing: restring every 30 hours of play. Here’s why it works and how to track it.

Where the number comes from

Stringing pros have used the 30-hour rule for decades, and it’s not arbitrary. A string bed loses a meaningful amount of tension over roughly 30 hours of actual hitting — not 30 hours of sitting in a bag. After that point, you’re playing on a racquet that no longer feels like it did the day it was strung.

How to track your hours

You don’t need a stopwatch. A rough guide: a serious club player who plays 2–3 times a week hits roughly 30 hours every 3–4 months. If you play more, you’ll hit the number faster; if you play once a month, you might not need a restring for a year.

The other signs

Hours are a guide, not a law. Restring sooner if you notice the string bed feeling soft and spongy, the coating fraying or glazing over, or the crisp ‘ping’ you had at first fading away. Any of those means you’ve effectively passed your 30 hours.

With next-day turnaround, the 30-hour rule is easy to follow: book a pickup, and your racquet is back fresh the next day.

Have a question about your racquet or your strings? Get in touch — we pick up, we string, and we return it the next day.