So I love looping, but I haven’t been able to pick up planet hops. They are pretty difficult, but what’s more is I think my yo-yo’s are making it harder.
I have the Oracle, and the Loop 1080, and those are both actually pretty difficult to consistantly loop with compared to my third one, a Tom Kuhn No-Jive, a fixed axle wood yo-yo. Looping with this relic is SO MUCH EASIER compared to the two modern yo-yos. The only downside is that it’s not quite as responsive when I screw up a trick and try to recover. Winding it up is difficult to do with tricks compared to the modern ones, but still, looping and hopping the fence and so forth are really smooth. With the modern looping yo-yos, the yo-yo frequently flips sideways and doesn’t come back (easily). (Though I will say my Oracle has some really worn-out break pads or whatever you call them)
I might be doing something wrong but it seems like the No-Jive just has vastly superior control over my other two modern looping yo-yos. It really burns through strings though. Anyway…
Considering this, are there any modern looping yo-yos that would control like the No-Jive? Is it because it’s fixed axle? Because it’s wider? Wood? The string? Any advice would be appreciated.
First the string, As you noted looping burns through string, particularly if you use 100% cotton. I prefer slick 8, 50/50 cotton poly blend. It lasts much longer.
As to the yoyo, the no-jive works better for you because it’s naturally responsive which helps immensely. You can probably improve the loop 1080 performance by keeping the bearing well lubed. The loop 1080 also has an adjustable gap to fine tune the response. Response is a good thing as far as looping goes. The oracle doesn’t have an adjustable gap, but keeping the bearing well lubed will help a lot. For most of my bearing loopers I actually use a white molybdenum grease. Vaseline will work as well. You need to remove the bearing shield on one side to pack the grease in. If you want to use an oil type lube, a thicker lube works better than a thin. 3-in-1 oil will do fine, as does yomega brain lube. Synco Super lube is the same as brain lube. You can buy it at the hardware store. It comes in a pen shaped clear tube.
I have lube but I haven’t really been using it lately. I guess I underestimated how important it is.
I’ve been using mostly thin polyester string. For the No-Jive, I’m using the string it comes with, which is thicker cotton (I assume). I used thinner cotton with the No-Jive and I really don’t get the same effect.
I tried a 50-50 poly blend with the loop 1080 but it seemed to be working a lot worse than 100% polyester. It’s type 6 though, if that means anything. This kind; Blended Yoyo String 50% Cotton-Polyester | ■■■■■■■■■■.com
Same with the 100% cotton. I guess I should be using slick 8?
Yes, the no-jive come with 100% cotton, type 8. Slick 6 doesn’t work well for me and I don’t care for 100% poly all that much. Have to say I’ve never used it on a looper though. Except for the wear factor I prefer cotton on my loopers.
I forgot to mention about the gap. If it is too narrow it will cause the yoyo to dive or loop downward. Too wide and the yoyo will climb or loop up. This can also cause control problems. Likewise for a fixed gap, string thickness can have a similar, though less noticeable effect.
How wide exactly would you say a gap should be? I never really know how wide to adjust my 1080. Usually, I tighten it just enough so it sleeps but responds very easily.
I don’t have a 1080 but on my bearing loopers the gap is about .060 in. (60 thousandths) - that’s a raider ex, turbo bumble bee, yyj relic, spintastics technic and a raider.
On my wood fixed axles the gap that works for me is about .085 in. The stock gap on most of my 3-in-1 no-jives is about .070, which I find too narrow. That causes them to dive for me so I shim them out.