Old Aluminium Badminton Racket: Restring or Retire?

Last checked: August 2026 · Written by the player-led team at Badminton House.

Restring an old aluminium badminton racket only if its metal is clean and straight, its shaft-to-head joint is solid, and a professional stringer can protect every string hole. Corrosion, a dent or crack, a warped head, a loose T-joint or crumbling grommet strip ends the decision. Retire the racket rather than asking fresh string to hold a damaged frame under load.

Age alone is not the deciding factor. Condition is. A metal racket that spent decades dry in a closet is a different job from the same model stored in a damp garage, and a stringer sees the frame without the family history attached to it.

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First, identify what you are holding

Older badminton rackets commonly combine materials: an aluminium head, a steel or carbon shaft, a separate T-shaped joint and long plastic grommet strips. Do not assume the whole racket is aluminium because the head is metal.

The timeline also needs care. Yonex's manufacturer history records a 1968 T-joint that enabled Japan's first aluminium badminton racket, then sub-100 g badminton models in 1978. A British metal-racket patent filed in 1966 shows development was already under way. There was no single morning when every maker moved from wood to metal.

Photograph the decals, butt cap, cone, joint and both sides of the head before cleaning anything. A model number or surviving tension notice gives the stringer more useful evidence than an online photo of a vaguely similar racket.

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The five-part inspection

1. Head and shaft: look for corrosion before scratches

Wipe dust away with a dry cloth under bright light. Cosmetic paint loss is not the same as metal loss. Stop for white, grey or reddish corrosion, small pits, bubbling under paint, a crease, a sharp dent or any line that could be a crack. Check the inside edge of the head and the shaft beside the cone and joint, where moisture can sit unnoticed.

Do not sand a suspect area and call the metal restored. Removing corrosion also removes material, while repainting hides the evidence the stringer needs.

2. Head shape: sight it; do not bend it back

Hold the racket at eye level and look along the head from the top, side and handle. The two sides should mirror each other without a flat section or twist. Compare the centre line of the head with the shaft. If old strings remain, an uneven or broken bed may already be pulling the frame out of shape.

A visibly distorted head is retired. Straightening it by hand does not reverse fatigue or prove it will carry a new string bed.

3. Grommets: inspect every hole

Grommets keep tensioned string away from a hard frame edge. Look for split tubes, missing sections, plastic that turns to powder, and string resting directly on metal. The Global Racket Stringers Association manual treats frame and grommet inspection as part of the stringing job, not an optional cosmetic check.

Individual modern grommets can sometimes be fitted, but a shaped vintage strip may be unavailable. That is a practical reason for a stringer to decline an otherwise attractive racket. A bare metal hole is not fixed by choosing a tougher string.

4. T-joint and cone: test for movement

Hold the handle and move the head gently side to side without flexing the shaft hard. Watch and listen at the T-joint and cone. Clicking, rotation, a visible gap or movement between parts is a failure. Glue that has released after decades is not made trustworthy by the string bed pulling everything inward.

5. Handle: separate playability from frame safety

A loose end cap, dried grip or chipped wooden handle can often be addressed without loading the head, but tell the stringer before work begins. Mould, deep splitting or movement between handle and shaft may make the racket unsuitable even when the metal looks clean.

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What tension is realistic?

There is no honest universal number for “an old aluminium racket.” Alloy, wall thickness, joint design, string pattern, grommet condition, storage and prior damage all matter. If the original label is missing, a tension chart for a current carbon frame tells you nothing reliable about this one.

Ashaway's badminton stringing guidance notes that lower tension can reduce string-breakage problems and that damaged grommet protection must be addressed. That is a direction, not a vintage-frame prescription. The stringer still decides whether the racket can be mounted evenly, whether the hole pattern can be protected and whether any tension is appropriate.

Bring the racket in person. Ask three questions:

1. Do you see any reason not to mount this frame?
2. Can every damaged grommet or strip section be replaced safely?
3. If you accept it, what tension will you stand behind for this exact condition?

A refusal is an inspection result, not an invitation to find someone who will pull harder.

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Choose the honest outcome

Even an accepted vintage racket is not automatically a sensible competitive tool. A basic modern frame gives a beginner replaceable grommets, a known tension range and far easier access to a matching backup. If the old racket matters because of who owned it, preserving it may be the better outcome.

For a modern frame, our restringing-life guide covers repeated jobs. If you are assessing a second-hand carbon racket instead, use the used-racket inspection checklist; its failure points are different.