Well, I used a hacksaw so that is why there are cuts in the media. When I first pulled it apart the first thing that came to my head is that this is a very well made media. This is the first filter I have opened.
The string was not tight on the media so it had no affect on the pleats. I could easily slide it up and down. The pleats did not move at all. If I did not hit them with the hacksaw I would assume that the pleats would have been perfectly spaced, ect..
It looked like it held together real well. Also that the media did a good job of filtering. I also did not find any debris or metal pieces so I assume there weren't any cold starts if any at all. ect.