Thin vs Thick Badminton Strings: Does Gauge Actually Matter?

Pick up any packet of Yonex string and you will see a number like 0.69mm or 0.70mm on the front. That is the gauge: the thickness of the string itself. It is a small number and an easy one to skip past, but it quietly decides how the string feels off the racket and how long it lasts before it snaps. Here is what it actually changes, and how much you should care.

What the gauge number means

Gauge is the diameter of the string, measured in millimetres. A lower number is a thinner string, a higher number is a thicker one. The gaps are tiny, hundredths of a millimetre, so 0.69mm and 0.70mm look identical on the reel. Strung up though, that fraction shifts the balance between how sharp the string feels and how well it holds up.

Thinner strings feel sharper

A thinner string bites into the shuttle a little more and flexes a little more on impact, so it tends to give more repulsion and a crisper, higher-pitched sound. Players chasing feel and a fast response lean towards thinner gauges. The trade is durability: less material means the string wears through and breaks sooner, especially with a rough or mishit-heavy technique, or in cold halls where strings turn brittle.

Thicker strings last longer

Go the other way and a thicker string puts more material between your racket and the shuttle. It is firmer, holds its tension for longer, and shrugs off the everyday abuse that shreds a thin string. You give up a sliver of outright power and that pin-sharp feel, but for a lot of club players that is a fair swap for a restring that lasts months rather than weeks. Control-minded players, and anyone who keeps snapping strings, usually end up here.

Where our strings sit

Setra's string range runs from 0.68mm to 0.70mm, the sensible, durable middle ground rather than the featherweight power end. The Yonex Nanogy 95 is 0.69mm, a genuine all-rounder with a medium, comfortable feel and that satisfying high-pitched ping, and it is rated among Yonex's more durable strings. It is £7.69 for a 10m set, enough for one racket. If your first priority is a restring that simply keeps going, the Yonex BG-65 Ti is 0.70mm, firmer, with excellent tension retention and the longevity club players restring around. It is £7.29 for a 10m set. You can see the full range in the strings collection.

So does gauge actually matter?

It matters, but for most club players it sits behind two bigger levers: how often you restring, and what tension you ask for. Between 0.69mm and 0.70mm you are choosing shades of the same thing, a touch more feel against a touch more life. Be honest about how you play. If you break strings often, or you just want them to last, go thicker and worry less. If you are a cleaner hitter chasing every bit of response, go thinner and accept you will be back at the stringer sooner. Either way, fresh string at the right tension will do more for your game than agonising over a hundredth of a millimetre.

Related reading: Yonex BG-65 Ti vs BG-80 Power vs Nanogy 95: Which Badminton String? and What String Tension Should You Use in Badminton?