I was typing out a long essay about string selection to a friend who's just started badminton, so I thought I might write it out properly. Here are some of my own thoughts, regarding string selection for beginners.

Why?

Assuming you have an user-friendly all-carbon racket of decent quality, racket selection isn't as important as your choice of shoes and strings. As your string is the part that makes contact with the birdie, its characteristics cannot be easily ignored.

If the cost of your racket is at least worth a couple of re-strings, it would be great to re-string your racket.

Factory strings are usually too loose and mostly bad quality. They are strung to survive transport, rather than play well.

Which brand?

For players outside of Asia, Yonex should be the most widely available. As a beginner, it is best to choose from what your local stringer reliably has in stock.

What tension?

For a combination of better durability and ease of trampoline effect (extra power generation), it is best to choose between 20 to 24 lbs to start with. If you are not a prime age male or otherwise have physical issues, consider close to 20 lbs to start.

If you choose a tension which is too high for you, you won't be able to trampoline the string properly on hits, and will end up producing much less power and poor accuracy. Please don't ego string - start low, and increase slow.

Only raise the tension on your next re-string if you have hit the power ceiling of a particular string at a particular tension.

What are the characteristics to consider?

Thin vs thick - thin strings offer better performance and repulsiveness while being less durable, medium strings offer decent repulsiveness with higher power ceiling, thick strings offer better durability

Smooth vs rough - rougher strings can offer more bite on the shuttlecock and make it easier to control your shot, smooth string coatings can increase durability or repulsiveness

Soft vs hard feeling - softer strings, due to their poly fibre core, tend to be more repulsive, while harder strings can offer a higher power ceiling

Hitting sound - louder strings are usually considered more fun!

Practicalities of consideration:

As a beginner, playing with a string at 20 to 24 lbs and not able/wanting to re-string every couple of weeks, you'll be wanting a combination of user friendliness, durability and repulsiveness. This is acknowledging that your technique / arm strength will be relatively poor and that your accuracy (in terms of miss hits) will be low. So you'll want a string which won't break easily due to mishits and gives you extra repulsion to lend you power.

Power ceiling and 'control' aspects of the string won't matter as your technique will be too poor to even consider those aspects.

At closer to 20lbs of tension, string characteristics will mostly not be very apparent, so there is no need to nitpick.

You'll also want a softer string, which is more user friendly and easier on your body.

As a beginner, you should choose a medium or thick string. Or, as a higher level beginner, you could even migrate to a thin string at low tension.

What should I choose?

When it comes to Yonex, instead of the BG65, you might like to try:

• Nanogy 95

• Skyarc

• 65Ti

The cost difference is minimal, and these 3 strings offer better performance for similar durability.