Ah yes, one of those 
I have no idea what any of this means, but it sounds cool! Hahaha
Itâs a trip, huh? I feel similar.
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Unless itâs wobbling off the string and killing spin, itâs doesnât matter to me.
Also, I never hear 2a or 4a yoyos described as smooth. Is it just a 1a obsession?
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Totally on board with this sentiment. YoYos that are completely dead smooth kind of freak me out. They are definitely nice on occasion, but I feel like dead smoothness kills a lot of personality and makes throws feel very similar.
I never quite know how to respond when people on the BST ask me âis it smooth?â because I donât know what their preferences are or tolerance to vibe is like. I donât think Iâm very sensitive to vibe. Unless it wobbles or pulses, I really donât pay much attention to vibe. Something that feels smooth to me might be a total dealbreaker for someone else who is a lot more finicky about these things.
Edit: I also want to say that I agree with Evan Nagaoâs take too. Iâve always liked a tiny hint of vibe. I feel like it gives me a bit more control over the yoyo because itâs giving me some feedback.
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I think this topic is addressing a few slightly different questions.
In response to the OPâs original post: Is obsession with smoothness limiting yoyo design⌠I believe the answer is yes. Some yoyos, like the old SPYY RSL are harder to manufacture because they require evenly spaced cut outs. Same challenge with any yoyo that involves non circular cuts. (The B!ST Tondo comes to mind.) If manufacturers didnât need to worry about vibe, I suspect we would see some more interesting, radical designs⌠Even more 3D printed ones maybe.
Second, should we value glass smooth yoyos more than just string smooth ones? From a collectorâs perspective, yes. Smoother yoyos are harder to manufacture. Fingernail or glass smooth yoyos are rarer. Rarer yoyos are more collectible. From a playerâs perspective, however, I think itâs debatable as it depends on the playerâs subjective taste.
Hasty photo of some vibe prone designs:
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2a and 4a yoyos inherently have more vibe, also why would you care about vibe with a yoyo thatâs constantly looping or a yoyo thatâs not attached to your string anyway?
If vibe is considered as a defect, them all of the yoyos I make are defective.
Iâm glad that noone who has ever bought a yoyo from me has complained about the vibe.
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But from that comes the question: should these yoyos even exist? All of those âvibe proneâ yoyos look gimmicky to me. They probably would sell under the right conditions, but are they good playing yoyos? Id guess not really, even though they work. Is this really the type of design innovation we want though?
I donât buy your yoyos in the first place cuz I know they have vibe Glen! I CANT TAKE IT
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By this logic, however, if playability is the only thing that matters⌠Then we shouldnât bother anodizing yoyos.
Yoyos are as much a collectorâs hobby as it is a playerâs game/sport/past time. (Iâd venture to guess that all of the yoyos I posted would sell much faster and for more money than smooth examples of better playing yoyos from their era.)
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Honestly I wish less yoyos were anodizedâŚ
There needs to be more raws in this world
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Anodizing doesnt really ruin a good yoyo though. A square yoyo on the other hand is stupid.
âA square yoyo on the other hand is stupid.â
Thereâs a lot of subjective opinion in that statement that Iâm not sure everyone agrees with.
Also anodizing does ruin many good yoyos! Look at what anodizing flaws does to yoyo prices. Manufacturers canât even sell them at full price.
(As an aside I just thought about how painful it would be to fingernail test the B!ST Tondo, hah!)
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You probably started way after companies were still in the process of optimizing yo-yo design. If companies had only been able to sell vibe free yo-yos we wouldnât be where weâre at now because nobody would have made the yo-yos that helped transition to the current era where everything is good and people lose their mind when thereâs a little bit of vibe.
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The vibe is part of the experience! Each one has itâs own different vibe. If your yoyos were perfectly smooth I would be very impressed but i dont think I would enjoy it as much.
I dont mind vibe. I would rather have a yoyo with slight vibe and lots of pinpricks and dings than a perfect yoyo.
Whether the obsession affects (effects?) manufacturing abilities, I dont see why it wouldnt. I think Jason really hit the nail on the head.
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What can possibly be good about a square yoyo other than how it displays? It would vibe like crazy, and coming back to the hand you would feel the edges worse than a V shape.
As for ano, isnt that just because the art is flawed? Ive heard ano can introduce âsomeâ vibe, but I cant imagine that it would be that bad.
Nah, I had cheap yoyos in the early 90s and remember them with all their flaws. Vibe-free is just what yoyo is now, not where we were yesterday. The bar has been moved.
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Iâm making my stuff sound pretty bad from my last post lol.
My fixed axles are the least vibey Iâve ever used. My acetal unresponsives have no more vibe than any of my CNC machines ones have , or at least barely any more.
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I think we actually agree. See my first post in this thread. I never said square yoyos play better. Theyâre a collectorâs novelty. But⌠Per the OPâs question⌠Whether you like throwing square yoyos or not, I believe that concerns over vibe do limit radical designs.
The square yoyo doesnât play as well as circular ones⌠But you know what? It never rolls off the table, no matter how I place it on the surface! 
Thatâs something a round yoyo canât claim. In this silly aspect, the Tondo is objectively better than every single circular yoyo!
Arguing one design is better than another is also problematic when you extend to things like side effects, spinning hubs, fancy bi metal designs (which are harder to make vibe free), super wide yoyos, etc. Are these attributes also ânoveltiesâ? I think most every manufacturer would would disagree.
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Maybe we are just looking at this differently. I view novelty and overly creative yoyos in a different way than I view constructive innovation. The yoyos we have today take advantage of successful past innovations, and the stuff that didnt work/wasnt successful was mostly weeded out. If yoyo design is inherently about creativity, then yes, having to make a smooth yoyo will limit your possibilities. I know you are an artist so I can understand why you feel the way you do.
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Havenât read the whole thing. Yes. It does indeed
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We only sell yoyos without vibration and wobble as A grades.
Itâs as easy as that.
Does that mean we scrapped entire batches? Yes.
Does that mean we only focus on DFM yoyos? Yes.
Does that mean some designs never leave prototype stage even though they perform well? Yes.
If you buy an ILYY a-grade new from us, youâll get 99.9% perfection.
Iâm aware that many people do not care that much, but we simply do not want to sell a product that does not live up to our standards.
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