In 2010-11 I kept my string fairly short, the knot an inch or so below my belly button. At some point in 2012 I started tying the knot just barely above the belly button (I probably did it once on accident and then realized I liked it). At this point I basically use the full length string (I cut less than an inch off the tail end after tying the knot) playing with YYSL Venom and Ammo.
I definately agree. Even obscenely talented people like Zach and Riccardo can sometimes end up looking a tad sloppy with all that string. On the flipside, Shinya Kido uses really short string and he always looks so clean cut. I think unless you have the degree of skill that Zach or Ky has, itās difficult to play clean with so much string flapping around.
Each to their own of courseā¦ if your style really favours a lot of slack use and wraps (like Magnae Saetran for instance), then obviously it may be a great fit for you. Otherwise, a shorter string is normally the better choice in my humble opinion.
Iāve experienced it myself. I was using long string for a while, which was slack heaven, but after seeing myself on video and seeing how sloppy it all looked I switched to a shorter string. I still air on the shorter side today, I find it just keeps things looking tidier. 
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