After throwing yo-yos for years I figured tops wouldn’t be that different. Most folks tend to have a bit of difficulty getting the hang of throwing a good spinner or getting boomerang down. My experience was all failure until I finally got the hang for how to release the top straight. So the learning curve was a flat line with a little bump at the end.
After boomerang, the learning curve is steep, you can get merry-go-round, crazy eights and lots of other basic tricks very quickly. Then I hit a brick wall. That would include more complicated string tricks, regens, snap starts, stuff like that.
I think the reason I get alternately excited then frustrated with tops is because I never understood the commitment it takes. This past couple weeks I have been working on more advanced tricks and making little progress. It dawned on me that the work is going to be similar to the efforts it took to learn to juggle, with long periods of repeated failure. I’m ok with that, it just took me a few swings at this to get my thinking right.
So anyways, I started this topic as a kind of pessimistic pep talk. Yes, you will fail, but if you want to get the groove of spin tops, just keep at it and know going in that it is going to take a lot of practice. Just knowing that it takes a while, will hopefully put some minds at ease that it isn’t a problem with you, it’s just a matter of repetitions.
There are so many fundamentals to get down it can be frustrating. Working on two tricks lately, and the little details of handling the string are super important. Often I cannot even get into the trick because of the tangle of string after the initial throw, so now I have to work out a consistent throw where I can get the string under control immediately. That is one of the biggest issues I have learning regens (one of many, to be sure).
Absolutely this!!
Some folks might be wondering about different tops and what’s the best and all that. Tops are just different than yo-yos in pretty much every measure. Some of my favorite tops are inexpensive plastic. As you try different tricks you will find you can do much better with different size tops.
Top dollars go way farther than yo-yo dollars. I was using the Short Circuit tops a bunch (6 bucks) before I started trying to learn some more difficult wire walking tricks and switched to a Trompo Star (under 8 bucks if you can find one) then I started using this Sweetle a bunch because of it’s size and weight (around 65 bucks).
Anyways, now the SC seems really small, but it’s still a fun top. The TS is a great light weight medium fixed tip and is good for almost anything, and the sweetle is helping me get some basics down that I continue to struggle with. It is too big for me to throw inside though.
So try some different stuff, it’s cheap compared to yo-yos, and it is a fun challenge.
Oh that Sweetie is nice. Thanks for the perspective picture. It’s pretty good size I see. I wish I’d gotten one of those instead of the Quicksilver. It’s nice but it’s really heavy at 108 grams and anytime I miss it and it goes screaming tip first toward the floor I cringe so hard!!!
So this makes me not want to throw it. I have really loved the Neptuno though. I may be getting one of those Sweeties one day.
I gotta say, it is a great top. It is hopefully going to be what I use to learn regens.
In this corner, weighing in at 135g and with a string at least 2Xs thicker, the Sweetle, in the other corner is a modified SC at 52g, which just seems miniature after throwing a heavier top.
The tips are way different too, the metal tip on a heavy top is not fun and bouncy like the YYF tip.
That’s true. If you look back at the pic of my Quicksilver on my finger you can see it presses in pretty good. But the Sweetie is even heavier. Dang!! 135!!
Went to the park real early today to try to beat the rain. Like before coffee early, and I grabbed the wrong top in my caffeine starved state. So this guy is one that Neff made a few years ago. It’s big.
It was an opportunity to work on regenerations. I really stink at regens.
Wow. That’s huge. I bet that’s so satisfying to throw.
Well, it is very different to throw. Everything slows down and really it is an exercise in keeping it going, so only bigger movements and regen type moves. My typical approach to tops is to get a fast spinner and try to do one trick like cable car or stair case, this top is the other end of the trick spectrum.
Got this today with a fixed tip. It’s a lot harder, it helps if you push up a little keeping in line with the axis of the top (thanks ta0).
Spin tops are driving me insane. On the plus side, a padded room would be perfect for practicing regens. I feel like I am getting back to a point I have been at before with regens where I just get so frustrated I lay off for a while, but this time I am going to try to push through.
Watching the vid from Dazzling Dave gave me a boost, hearing him say it is difficult and takes a lot of practice really puts it in perspective.
took me 2 months of every day practice to get regens and snap starts. regens is what usually makes people quit if you dont get over the challenge. i would say pull hard with your throw hand and relax the non throw hand so the string slips out for the pull.
I’ve not spent hours and hours pounding away but I’ve been trying to get the boomerang for quite a while. Mind you, I really haven’t put a lot of time in but there have been numerous attempts. So far my biggest hang up is getting it to come back towards me. I get it to come up just fine, I just can’t get it to come even within arms reach. It’s just out of arms reach in fact. I’ve many different people and everyone seems to have their own unique way about it. Some just easily fling it while others look like they muscle it. I know you want video for diagnostic purposes. 
I suppose I could give that some effort.
do you pull back enough? you should pull back your arm/wrist when the top is at/nearing the end of the wind. also the angle of attack matters for the throw, i throw for boomerangs more side ways than towards the floor so it doesn’t have as much to travel to my hand
I’ll give it some more effort now that it’s pleasant outside. I can’t handle heat at all anymore so I had to put it down for a bit.
Thank you for explaining that, it is good to know what to expect. There are so many elements to it, from the string release to the tip angle to the accuracy of the catch, it all gets out of control so quickly that it’s hard to get enough clean reps to even get a feel for it!