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String And Re-String Towards Perfection

I strung up an STX X10 about 6 months ago with some green and yellow MarcMesh.  I brought that bad boy down to New Orleans, where I played in an early February tournament (the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tourney)  and while the stick performed incredibly well, I managed to cake the entire thing with mud (it had just rained for  217 days straight and we played on grass fields.  What do you want from me?) and no matter how many times I sprayed it off with a hose/faucet, the mud remained.

It was muddy but I was still going over the head on the Canucks.

The pocket was great when I first strung it up but after the mud and destruction, I needed to get this head back to a sweet new reality.  I then decided to take the drastic step of ripping out the white sidewalls and white topstring and then I removed the shooters from the MarcMesh.  The mesh and the shooters were then both thrown into a sink full of really hot water and Dr. Bronner’s Magic soap, which is evidently manufactured and branded by awesome yet slightly crazy people.  Read the bottle and prepare to be amused.  “Earth is our space ship”.  Classic.

I hung the mesh and shooters up over the shower curtain and let those bad boys dry nice and flat.  The MarcMesh still feels a bit wax-y (which is amazing considering I sat it in hot water for a half hour) and the shooters cleaned up a bit as well.  While the mesh and shooters dried, I took the head and wrapped it with more sidewall to get my desired pinch level.  I heated up the over to 350 degrees and put the head on a baking sheet.  To make sure that the metal didn’t melt the plastic, I used small pieces of string as wedges to separate the two.  5-10 minutes later I took the super hot head out of the oven and let it sit in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Originally, I strung the MarcMesh with the green side up top but decided to switch it up and let yellow be the primary color.  It looks much better this way.  I also ditched the white sidewalls and top string and dropped some neon yellow stringing in there instead.  That looks much better as well.

The stick looked good before the Mud. After? not so much.

Overall, the head is now pinched, the sidewalls are prettier and the mesh got flipped upside down.  I also got rid of the V (pinched heads don’t need Vs) and put in 4 horizontal shooters instead.  VICTORY!!

This stick is pretty Boxla-tastic now. And it still throws like a charm!

A lot of people will prefer the before picture because it looks like a standard field head and it’s new and perfectly white.  I prefer the second one because it throws and shoots better… and because I love a good boxla wand.

Speaking of boxla, the Iroquois released their roster for the World Championships recently and you can check it out on LaxFU along with a warning that your arms will be bruised.  I take exception to their claim that no one uses wooden sticks anymore.  Come to Tahoe, see if I don’t.

And speaking of National Teams, the US Team took on the Philadelphia Area All-Stars and Team USA actually won!  They didn’t look that hot against Duke (but that was early) and the US Team lost to the Philly All-Stars in 2006 and 2002 so the win in 2010 is big time.  Bodes well even though it’s only a scrimmage.  Thanks to InsideLacrosse for putting the video together!

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About the Author: Connor is a life-long lacrosse player who doesn’t know when to give up on the game. He played and coached at Wesleyan University and now plays for the Southampton LC in NYC. Connor lives with his fiance in Brooklyn and thanks her for allowing him to keep the dream alive.

Contact him at connor@lacrosseallstars.com.