happy friday er’rybody! this one’s kind of a mix, but there are definitely some really fun elements to learn in there. fixed 3A is too freakin’ hard, but could be worth the bragging rights? time will tell! Fixed Friday: Ddoouubblee
So slick!
babies are adorable. hopefully there’s something in there for everyone.
^^^
Great, lot’s of new babies for me to learn.
Pretty sure I already commented on youtube and/or facebook for videos that I have not yet commented on in here, but who doesn’t like a little more appreciation?
Still most impressed with you, yooldman!
Drew, you big showoff, you! ;D
Ed, your videos always make me smile but I just read your blog the other day so today my smiles were mingled with tears. I don’t know the right words, but if I could I would give you comfort and a bro-hug. I know that’s weird because you don’t know me, but I feel like I know at least part of you.
hey gang! some crazy homemade yo-yos for this week’s fixed friday, plus a couple of fun tricks at the end. ch-ch-check!
Just to get this back to the top, here’s an old vid. (at least it has slo-mo ;))
i’m gonna steal drew tetz’s thunder for a minute.
so you’ve seen his dumptrucks transitional trick…
well the other day, i was messing around with it from man-bro and plunking directly back to trapeze stall with no regen… so i called it mystic dump, due to its similarity to magic drop. and it was yesterday’s 365 yoyo trick.
http://vimeo.com/78698017
THEN… not 15 hours later, drew drops this CRAZY concept-application vid, replete with sweet technical examples of the same idea.
i LOVE LOVE LOVE collaboratively progressive yo-yo.
Darn it, you can’t give a Thank You here anymore? Well, thank you Ed, that was cool.
Consider this a “Thank You” to yooldman, Ed and Drew! Dumptrucks are one of my favs.
LOL at the name Mystic Dumps. Have to say I wasn’t thinking dumptrucks when I first saw the title. 
LOL!
My thanks to yooldman, Ed, and Drew as well. 
And now to SloppyBinds for the laugh.
Hey, just looking for some quick advice. I think I’ve read some helpful information here and there about fixed axle goodness, but I just can’t seem to catch on.
Any serious tips for beginners? I understand my setup may be a notable issue (I’m not prone to modding my yoyos, though it seems most people do to get it just right?). I’ve been using a LoveJoy stock with silicone in some of the divots, but I feel like it is either too responsive or my technique just isn’t smooth enough to do anything.
Just trying to get through this block.
Technique is usually the culprit but is certainly not the only possibility. How was the response before you put the silicone in? Without that information I’m not sure how accurately I can assist.
there’s definitely a learning curve! getting the hang of fixed axle can be vexing for players at any level if they’re used to bearings, so don’t worry if it doesn’t come natural right away. a lot of it is just technique and paying attention to the little things on a basic level: really throwing straight, paying attention to the yo-yo as it returns, keeping the string tension nice, etc.
with regards to setup, i personally don’t ever mod my yo-yos, but there is still some finesse with wood because of the way cotton string interacts with response. if you haven’t already, i highly recommend checking out ed’s basics column for some more info: FIXED FRIDAY: Back to Basics
it’s also worth noting that you’ll probably want higher response for stall tricks than you will for standard spinning 1A. you’ll get it, though!
it’s really hard. whether you mod or not. whether you nerd out about it or just do it occasionally. regardless of which yo-yo you happen to prefer. they’re all hard, and there’s no way to mask it and nowhere to hide from it.
honestly the fact that it’s hard is why it feels like there is so much space out there in terms of ways to innovate. it’s kind of like over the last few years, fixed-axle players have been discovering a new version of 5a, only attaching the counterweight is really frustratingly, prohibitively difficult. it’s really worth it to stick with it though. it is. here are some reasons off the top of my head.
- playing fixed axle will help you to see all of your playing differently. it will inform the way you look at unresponsive tricks, and you’ll understand where they come from and how they developed in a new, esoteric way.
- being able to shred on a fixed axle yo-yo connects you to drew tetz… but also to spencer berry. also steve brown. also john higby. also dale oliver and also bob rule and gus somera and barney akers and harvey lowe and pedro flores. it’s the raddest tribe in yo-yoing, and there’s nothing exclusive about it.
- it’s infinitely more organic than the bs way players throw around the word “organic” these days (meaning ROUND). if you play wood, your throws were alive once. so was your string probably. that’s kind of cool. if you dig, yo-yoing is kind of all about the feeling of being alive.
- frustrating though it may be, if you can really commit to it, you’ll feel yourself improving so quickly at the most fundamental components that the difficulty won’t seem to matter.
- you’ll leave the house and won’t worry an iota which yo-yo you’ve got with you because you can hit your stuff on literally anything.
- kids, moms, old people, and weird hermits who have never seen a yo-yo will see you playing and love it, and not because you make it look hard, but because you make it look easy.
- some jock at the mall will see you playing and say “hey walk the dog” and you’ll do it because it’s a fun, classic trick and your yo-yo didn’t cost $180 and he’ll say something like “yessssss. hey lemme try?” and you’ll let him… and he’ll be able to make it go up and down, and you’ll go your separate ways feeling great.
- you’ll be doing a trick sometime and it’ll be going along fine and you’ll be locked in and flowing, and for reasons unknown, everything will go to heck and the string will snag and the yo-yo will lock up in mid-air and be flying back at your face and you will cut your throwhand finger across AND YOU WILL CATCH THAT %&$# IN A PERFECT, BEAUTIFUL BRO STALL… like you designed it that way. like you meant it all along (which you did, whether you know it or not) and you will dump back to trap just to claim it, regen back to the hand, chuckle, pet your cat and go get a slice of pizza, not because you deserve it but because the world is amazing when you play fixed axle.
so stick with it
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True wisdom worthy of a fixed friday entry
Mystics weren’t already a trick? I’ve been doing those forever. You can smoothly roll from a double or nothing stall down to trapeze stall in one. It’s fun.
i think it depends on how you define it. half-spin flip catches have been done. the idea behind mystic dump is really in the dump… in that you dumptruck directly onto another mount using the same motion as drew’s trucks. to me, it’s a totally different feel and way tougher than just half-flipping. i agree that half-flipping from 2.0 or 3.0 back to trapeze is also fun. personally, i’ve never DUMPTRUCKED from 2.0 onto man-bro and again onto trapeze… maybe tonight though. i’d like to see that.
edit: now i’ve done it that way too. also fun.
edit edit: also worth noting… we don’t create the tricks. they’re all out there. it’s easier for us to call things this or that but really they don’t belong to anybody. it all just amounts to ways of expressing the directions we want to take our own play.
Thank you.
This inspired me to start fixed axle again.
ed has infinite wisdom. i have only a little bit of wisdom, but you can read some of it here: