BACKGROUND: I recently received a few trial string from a little string company out of Colorado by the name of J.A.M.S. to see how I liked them. What follows are my thoughts about the string they sent me FOR FREE (props).
One thing I would like to say before I officially start the review was the remarkable customer service I received while PMing back and forth with Jakob-Austin. He always responded with a great amount of amicability, and did so speedily (more props).
FEEL: In the hand, these strings are surprisingly soft; you’ll never get any string burn using these babies! I’m a huge fan of soft strings, because my hands aren’t the most calloused, and because of the greater versatility they offer. However, I do have one very subjective gripe: the lack of the option of inversion. This isn’t something most people will care about, but in my years of throwing, I’ve found that, since I happen to be left-handed, inverted strings tend to last longer than their normally-wound counterparts. However, with their great customer service, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to invert some string for whoever’s asking. 10/10
PLAY: The first thing I noticed when I tried out this string was: jeez these are light! The string is slightly thinner than what I am used to (YYSL type X inverted) and it’s a welcome change; I love the feel during play. Due to its thinness, it snags up less than the average string will during play (which is something else I love). 10/10
WHIPS/SLACKS: due to their lightness, these strings are slower whippers and slackers than the average string. This is actually something I enjoy; the slower pace of whips and slacks gives me more control and allow me to get the correct feel and motion of slacks and whips down with more consistency. 10/10
TENSION: The tension with these strings starts out neutral, and does not unwind down the length of the string very much after extended play (remember I’m left-handed). However, after about ten minutes of play, I found myself having to adjust the tension, just so I could perform slacks. This issue increased throughout the life of the string (more so than is common with the standard string). This is something I’m used to (I’m not exactly nice to my strings), but I was expecting more time in between adjustments, due to the praise that’s been given about these strings’ tension maintenance. The only important thing to me is that the strings always kept enough neutrality to get me through a three minute freestyle, and shouldn’t be a problem at contests. 7/10
OVERALL DURABILITY: As I just mentioned, the tension maintenance isn’t the greatest among strings. This trend was continued with the fraying of the string. I went through both of the strings I was given within ten hours of playing time total. While this is a bit of a step down from what I am used to (again, YYSL type X inverted). However, this is still better than the durability of standard poly strings (I get 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half out of those). However, I have yet to try the inverted version of these strings, so I can’t really speak too much of the durability for right-handed people. 7/10.
CONCLUSION: J.A.M.S.'s string is amazingly light, soft, and slow-whipping. These are (in my opinion) all great qualities in a string. My only qualms are with the lack of an inverted option (that I know of and that is readily available), and the somewhat lackluster durability. However the main qualities (whips, feel, and play) are all exactly what I’m looking for in a string. My overall (number) rating is a 48/50 (4 points have been added as the “x-factor” of great customer service).
do me a favor and spread the love! These strings are great and will do well in competing against kitties and maybe even the expensive high quality strings… JAMS deserves more recognition, but at this point, people arent buying cuz they arent too well known, but thats okay, cuz they are still new… JAMS deserves recognition, everyone please try some out and if you have SPREAD THE WORD