Hello! I recently picked up a bunch of Duncan yo-yo’s to start off, including a butterfly and an imperial. The string on my butterfly was defective from the store so I had to remove it. I put the string from my imperial on it so I could try it, but now when I put it back on my imperial, it no longer returns, which I was previously doing quite fluidly and can do consistently with my friend’s Duncan Limelight. Have I ruined the tension on the string? The bit of string I unwound to get it off of the yo-yo looks looser, and I’ve tried tightening only for it to unwind itself again, so my guess is that the Duncan stock strings are just poor quality?
In addition are there household replacements to yo-yo string? Can I use soft, eight ply cotton twine? It feels similar and is about the same width but it is not spun the same way the yo-yo string is. I would just order some string but that can’t happen for another week and I’m impatient.
If possible try to buy yourself some string off of this website (it will save you time). Kitty string is a popular brand. If you want to you can also make your own strings. Look up how to on YouTube. I think there may be a guide on this forum as well…
The string that you have simply needs more tension to get the yoyo to come back up. Let the yoyo dangle at the bottom of the string, take the yoyo and spin it clockwise. This will give you more tension in the string ( otherwise look up the tricks UFO and Sidewinder, these will help to do the same thing).
Frankly, for the yoyos you mention I would buy just some stock cotton or poly/cotton mix string. No need to spend the extra $$ on designer string for those.
Thanks for the advice! I just wanted to pick up a few cheapies to test the water, I think I’m going to be ordering a Yomega this Thursday. Guess the “natural” tension kinda varies between the stock strings, my first yo-yo had a really kinked up string and my second one worked like a charm without needing to tense it up. I’ll be ordering those cotton/poly strings for sure though
The tension is determined by the string twist as noted by WH0TH3MAN. It does not vary much by brand etc. You set it yourself. Yes, some may be twisted more than others but it is adjustable. If it kinks up on it’s own it is probably twisted too tight.
Those particular yoyos don’t deserve the money you’d spend on strings. Try a YYF One for a responsive yoyo and a YYF Replay for unresponsive play. Some standard Kitty Strings will work great for these yoyos. and your entire investment would be less than $40.
Say what you like but I actually highly enjoy my basic Duncan yoyos. I’ve owned the same Duncan butterfly since 2011 (I think?) and I still throw it. Personally I would absolutely say it is worth putting money to buying string for it.
Your Duncan’s are Fixed Axle yoyos so you will need to use string tension to make it more or less responsive.
Hold the string about 2 inches from the yoyo and let it dangle, spin the yoyo clockwise for a while.
Then wind the yoyo. Now you will have much higher string tension.
You can use the trick Sidewinder to adjust tension in the future when the throw gets unresponsive.
