Originally Posted by fastdunn
I agree dropweight is just about the most accurate in terms of tension itself but sometimes I do single pull, sometimes double or even triple pull where main inconsistency of drop weight stems from, IMHO.
You can regain consistency by keeping the "time under tension" a constant between single, double, and triple pull situations. Depending on the frame I can usually do 60% to 80% single pulls, the rest doubles. On my single pulls I wait an extra couple of internal counts before clamping off to equalize the time under tension with the longer double pulls. What I'm trying to do is equalize the amount of stretch per pull so that the ending string diameters are the same between single and double pulls.
The essence of the difference between the CP machines and Lockout is the ending diameter of the string. Both tension the string to the reference tension but the CP's keep pulling until you clamp off and you end up with a thinner string at reference tension. Net result is a higher SBS number. Which is better? Neither, just different. A good stringer should be able to produce a given SBS number for a particular racquet regardless of the machine type.