So yesterday I received a B grade General Yo KLR that I got off of the BST. It has a few pinpricks and a couple of dings, but nothing too bad. The Hat Pads in it had almost disintegrated, so I had to put some Monkey Snot in it and wait until today to try it out. I must say that I have no idea why Ernie would have sold this yoyo for about 80 dollars less than the A grades. This is literally the smoothest yoyo I have ever thrown on the string. You can’t tell it’s spinning at all when playing it. There is a little bit of vibe on the fingernail test when it’s spinning at high rpm’s, but when it slows down a bit that goes away too. Maybe some of the pinpricks were there when it was new so it was sold for $50.00 instead of $129.00, but I’m blown away with the quality of this B grade yoyo. Do most B grades from other companies play like this with just slight fingernail vibe but completely smooth on the string, or is this just a General Yo type of thing? This is also the first General Yo I’ve ever owned, so I can’t compare it to their A grade yoyos.
I agree. Both of my General yo B grades were dead smooth. I have never tried another throw that was near as smooth. I too have not played an A grade so I cannot comment on that. What I can comment on however is the difference between a Clyw fools gold and a general yo b grade.
Clyw: A fair amount of vibe, can be felt on the string, a grind, and a fingernail test, but doesn’t affect play in any way.
General yo: Very minimal vibe, cannot be felt on the string or a grind, but can be felt on a fingernail test.
Overall I think that Ernie is more strict with quality control so his b grades are smoother. This is not a bash on Clyw but more as a compliment to general yo.
In my opinion, General yo B grades are smoother than most companies B grades, but they are all very playable.
The b-grade Mini-Stars I had a few years ago were smooth. The b-grade KLR and Majesty I had were not.
I have yet to see a company that sells B-grades that match the quality of General Yo B-Grades. A B-Grade from General Yo is an A-Grade from any other company. They’re amazing.
I guess I just got a little lucky. Like I said, I’ve never tried another General Yo, but I’ve tried YYF, YYJ, YYR, CLYW, OD, and SPYY and this is definitely the smoothest yoyo on the string that I’ve ever had. I really want to own an A grade in the future if this B grade is the benchmark for quality control.
I’d say FG CLYW and B grade General Yo are on the same level. Both are usually still dead smooth. If they aren’t then it’s very minimal and easy to tune I’ve found.
I completely respect your opinion but in my experiences General Yo B grade vibe is much less than fools gold vibe. I guess it all depends on the particular yoyo.
I’ve never tried a FG CLYW, but I do love my Chief. It’s an A grade, but nowhere near as smooth as the B grade KLR I have. The KLR kind of feels like my Sleipnir. Not play-wise, but character-wise. I loved the Sleipnir. It was by far the best playing yoyo I have ever owned, but it just didn’t have any character to it. The KLR feels similar, although the blast on it gives it some of that feel that I’m talking about, but my Chief that has a little vibe to it just has what I can only explain as character. It’s fun to throw it, even if I’m just throwing a breakaway and binding back up, it’s fun. At the moment the KLR is just as fun, but I can tell once the new throw feel wears off that it won’t be as fun to play with as my Chief.
This is my B-Grade v.2 Majesty. It plays absolutely perfect and looks incredible. The only reason for the B-Grade is that bleed over of black on that one rim. You can see it on the right. It does not effect play one bit and this is one of the smoothest Majesties I have played… and I have played a few. Ernie’s B-Grade tend to play better than some of the mass factory produced yo-yos on the market. The only vibey General Yos I have played are the ones where Ernie has specifically said, something went wrong during the machining.
Instead of making that a B-grade I would have made it $10 more than an A-grade for it’s originality and uniqueness
If you ever want to let to of that throw, you know where to find me. drools
If you ever want to let go of that throw, you know where to find me. drools
I could be wrong, but it’s most likely because I hate vibe. Like any vibe at all. So I’m OCD about having dead smooth yoyos, and I tune them to perfection. So let me correct what I said… Once TUNED they are equal 
My supposed “B Grade” KLR is easily one of the top 3 throws in my case from both a play and overall quality perspective, and that includes most of the top contenders. I’ve taken to believing that Ernie made a mistake, and this is not a B grade. It’s impossible. 
In any case, it’s easily the best value throw I have. I would pay $80 for throws that good all day long.
Ok that makes more sense, I understand now. I don’t tune my yoyos so that is very likely why my Fools gold had more vibe.
While we are on the subject of vibe, I absolutely love it.
I dont know why, but vibe adds a certain personality to the yoyo that smooth yoyos dont have. Vibe makes me want to play the yoyo more because it increases how much I enjoy playing the yoyo. I hate my prepro Majesty for the reason that it has 0 vibe. I dunno guys, vibe is the stuff.