I have had similar observations. Unfortunately, I do believe it is about a single manufacturer making all the yo-yo’s.
These days, I can look at a yo-yo from a “new” company and I can immediately tell it was made in Eugene. While it is great that we are blessed to have a manufacturer that specializes in making yo-yo’s, the ultimate effect is that all yo-yo’s start to look the same and play the same.
One question that has nagged me recently is where an American yo-yo designer would get a bi-metal prototype made? …Japan?
I feel like you folks are confusing “shop of origin” with “design”.
Since One Drop doesn’t get to just change details of the designs that are sent to them for OEM manufacturing, their services as a machine shop have absolutely nothing to do with the homogenization of yoyo designs. They machine what they are sent…it’s the fact that a lot of yoyo designers are designing the same stuff over and over that is the problem. One Drop has nothing to do with that.
I had heard in the past of OD suggesting changes to designs sent to them for manufacture. Whether this is due to technical limitations of their machinery, or what they personally believe a yoyo design should be, i’m unsure. But yes a lot of it is just designers wanting to start a new yoyo company, but without any plans or ideas about how to differentiate themselves from the rest.
If a company asks One Drop to use pyramatte, it’s a dead giveaway. But Steve’s point still stands-- knowing the shop of origin has absolutely zero to do with whether designs become “samey” or not.
Let’s not take any credit away from Luftverk. If a couple of kids get together, come up with a mediocre at best design, and have the capital to do it in titanium… that’s not an instant sell-out.
Jeff Pang has built his reputation over the years, created a fantastic design, poured time and energy into perfecting the details, and as a result had great word-of-mouth marketing to accompany some well-taken product photos. This stuff doesn’t just happen by magic. 45 units don’t just sell out as a “given”. Part of the reason for the word of mouth hype was “Wow, will you just LOOK at that? That’s what I call a compelling design!” It’s not just that it’s made of titanium.
I’m sure he himself would prefer to ship a batch of yoyos off to retail. He already has relationships with retailers, so it wouldn’t be a stretch. The quantities just have to be there. Maybe they will next time!
Interesting read. I think that Jeff did an amazing job with the Evora. However, I do not see his success coming at the detriment of other companies. I don’t view “return top” economics as a zero-sum game. If Jeff is winning it doesn’t mean OD or others are losing.
Then again I make 6061 V-shaped return tops… I clearly don’t have the creativity to survive… What would I know…
K, good. Because someone else up there seems to think we did. And something about “single manufacturer making all the yo-yo’s”. Of course his track record for analyzing what we do is notoriously inaccurate. I think he’s got an unreliable and vindictive source of bad information.
Mad Props to Jeffrey Pang though! I played the proto and it was amazing. If the production ones are as good (or better!?!), ya’ll are in for a treat.
This…coming from a designer/manufacturer. Appreciating what goes on around him in this not-too-big industry. We can never have enough of this in our little yoyo world…
I think the saddest aspect of this thread is some just not respecting his effort.
Jeffrey spent Months(while also having a full time job) developing his vision of a Players high level yoyo.
He spend countless hours designing and tweaking every part of the Yoyo build; from ergonomics to weight distribution, to final weight, to finish friction coefficient, to pleasing visual impact, to bearing function and efficiency.
He thought about the Evora during the day and he had dreams about it during the night.
He didn’t set out to make the Benchmark yoyo of the Entire Universe. He promised himself that he would turn the Vision of his Potential into reality.
He knew people might be critical of his effort. But no matter because he knew he would not finalize his design until he knew everything came together.
He didn’t release the Evora with any intention to make Big money. That is why the prices for the two finishes were really not that much higher than his costs per unit. <No middleman, yet he didn’t bump up,the prices to make a windfall of any kind. And he made just enough of a batch to simply justify even a limited release.
So here we are in a thread several pages long. Almost completely forgetting to simply Respect His amazing Effort. Coming up with numerous baseless theories about his intentions. Showing Jeffrey that even the Best efforts can come up short in the eyes and minds of the: Ignorant, the resentful, the unappreciative and the skeptical.
Okay, so I somewhat agree that yoyo designs are getting a bit stale. Do I think that is one drops fault? Of course not. I just think that companies are looking at what is popular and are producing that, which leads to a over saturated market. No one company is too blame.
Also does anyone know if there will be another run of evoras?
Of course at some point the designs are to be stale. When did the v-shape become mainstream? 6-7 years ago? There are only so many ways to design a yoyo.
I dunno man, for the most part I think this thread has been pretty positive with regard to how awesome the Evora is. Even the off topic discussion of direct vs. retail was spurred by someone’s “build-something-awesome-and-it-sells-itself” thought.
I’m super hyped and can’t wait to throw it and post even more pics. Can’t wait to see pics of peoples’ purple ones!
I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t let it get you down doc.
