Introduction
The string job in your lacrosse head effects your playing much more than many people realize, and it can be extremely difficult to play well and consistently with a poorly strung stick. There are many different methods and techniques to string your own stick, all creating a different final result. Finding a stringing method that best suits you is all a matter of practice, but this guide will provide the basics to experiment with stringing to find the method and pattern that you prefer.
Parts
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Unstring current lacrosse netting on head and gather the necessary stringing supplies. You may cut the current strings, but I recommend keeping the mesh in tact for future stringing.
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Stretch out the new mesh piece for about 30 seconds.
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Fold over mesh a couple rows so that a 9 diamond row is on top.
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Cut your strings to the appropriate size. I generally cut the top string to be a little over a meter long, and both of the sidewall strings to be a little less than a meter.
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Melt the ends of the string to prevent fraying. After melting, I lick my fingers and pinch the tips of the string to create a pointy tip that is easier to string. Have caution when pinching the tip, if your fingers are not salivated, you will burn yourself.
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Tie a double knot at one end of the top string and wrap the string around the first hole in the mesh and the first hole in the sidewall.
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Skip a hole of mesh, string the string through the back of the head top hole, up through the mesh hole and around the back of the string.
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Continue with the string down back through the mesh hole, up through the plastic hole, and through the hole created in the string.
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Skip a hole of mesh, and repeat this knot. The top string will consist of 4 of these knots, so divide up the plastic holes to string evenly. Different heads will require different spacing. On this head, a Gait Torque, I skipped 2 holes in the plastic.
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Repeat this knot 4 times along the top of the head/mesh. Pull the string tight between each knot.
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Lock the final hole to the plastic as you did when tying-on the mesh. Secure the string with a simple single or double knot.
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Begin to tie the first sidewall knot. Go down through the mesh and down through the sidewall. Skip a sidewall hole or two in the plastic while at the top of the stick.
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Leave some space in the sidewall, and interlock the next mesh hole to the sidewall as before.
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Start stringing regular sidewall knots. For these, you continue to go "over-over" but you do not go back through the hole in the mesh.
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Pull the knot tight, and go through the next hole in the mesh, then the next hole in the sidewall.
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Continue to go "over-over" with your simple sidewall knots. Use these until you reach the bottom of the sidewall. Make sure to pull the string tight between each knot. Tie off the string at the bottom of the stick with a simple single or double knot.
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String the sidewall on the other side in the same way with the exact same knot pattern. If you use a different knot pattern on this side your mesh will not be even.
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Create a bottom string from the extra sidewall string if available. The bottom string only needs to be around 6 inches long.
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Melt the tips of the bottom string, tie a knot, and insert the string into the plastic at the bottom of the stick.
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In a 10 diamond mesh row, weave the bottom string through the mesh by going in and out of each hole in a row.
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Start stringing the shooting strings towards the top of the stick by going through a hole of mesh. Leave only a couple inches of string outside the stick as shown.
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Once woven once through, go around the plastic sidewall, and weave the string back through the same row going above, then below the current weave.
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Add in the desired amount of shooters. This picture is an example of a shooter known as a "nylon" which is essentially a sidewall string in the place of a shooter.
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