My yo-yo history is kinda backward, here. I started with modern metal unresponsives and sorta intentionally ignored classic wood axles of all kinds. So am coming at this as someone who looks at, say … a modern metal slimine responsive such as the YYF Confusion … and sees that as the norm. That’s the kind of responsive yo-yo behavior I expect.
I’ve been experimenting with wood axles over the last two months, and I finally found some that I like! My favorite wood axle responsives are on the heavy side, and glossy, lacquered wood kinda like this:
(Unrelated: I wish I had that one, it looks awesome, but first I’ve seen, like a hybrid BC and TK! But you see how glossy it is, that’s what I’m trying to show.)
I think of most wood yo-yos as relatively unfinished. But the ones I like are lacquered, which means the inside response area is also shiny and smooth. No engraving, just completely flat surface lacquered wood. But no wood yoyos have any provision for traditional silicone response areas like we’d find on a metal yo-yo … do they?
Well, some yo-yos have circular recessed cuts as permanent “wood starburst repsonse”, if you will.
And there’s gotta be a reason people invented response stickers, right…? Particularly for metal yo-yos where the interior is even smoother than any lacquered wood.
I know @edhaponik has sometimes been known to add response stickers to his wooden No Jives.
So here’s what I find mysterious:
My super shiny glossy lacquered yo-yos respond great … for the most part. But not always!
When they’re not responding “right”, I can’t nail down why that is, or why it comes and goes?
- Is it because the string lacks enough torsion / tension?
- Is it because the string has too much torsion / tension?
- Is it because the axle is too smooth? I’ve replaced the TK axle sleeve with a fresh one and had the same exact phenomenon occur.
- Is it the “sweet side / sour side” of the string depending on the throw?
- Is it the “wind” of the string or the thickness of the string?
- Is is the string material, cotton, cotton/poly, poly? I’m pretty sure it is not because I have had awesome responsiveness with all three types on these yo-yos?
When the response is working, it is working great. But like @Myk_Myk I can’t determine what’s off about it when it gets into that not-quite-responding-right mode. I have varied string a bunch and I can’t find any commonality … and there’s not much else I can control on a simple, fixed axle, glossy lacquered butterfly yo-yo, is there?
What am I missing here? Learninate me some thinkings from your mind grapes!