No need to jump the gun man, we’ll take care of you. Sometimes it just takes a little more communication for people to fully understand the situation. It does happen sometimes, but this amount in a day or two is not normal. We’re happy to return/exchange or whatever you’d like to do, as mentioned in the next email. 
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Yeah like I said they’re cheap so their no big deal. But hearing it happens a lot doesn’t feel very good at first when I’ve never had an issue with top yo before or this issue in general. But yeah having it be both models(the 5 to a lesser agree) having paint come off makes me worried for your whole stock rn
Throwback ThursdayTuesday!
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So going back to my days running customer service for YoYoJam this was something that came up a lot… I helped popularize thumb grinds with the release of the Dark Magic (along with Doc Pop and HSpin yoyos). At the time YoYoJam yoyos were not really anodized so it wasn’t a big deal - but as anodization became a thing it became more obvious of a regular occurrence across most brands.
From my experience regarding thumb grinds and anodize:
- One of the biggest things that seems to control thumb grind and anodize wearing is aluminum type. 6061 being a ‘softer’ aluminum and what is more standard in 90% of yoyos - traditionally it holds onto anodize better than a higher grade aluminum in the 7000 range (the higher the grade the stronger it is to bending or denting though but anodize it seems is more resistant). So - from experience the higher the grade of aluminum the anodize is more likely to wear right off when in contact with rough surface - so going up to 7003 like TopYo seems to have had to (that was my first guess as they didn’t tell us it was 7003 but it seems it is…). YoYoJam used to use a similar higher grade of aluminum and had the same issue no matter what we tried at the time…
- Every yoyo has a very different amount of surface area depending on the rim - the more surface area the more likely it will grind down, etc. So sometimes its more obvious on a flatter inner rim since its making a lot of contact. A yoyo with a really carved out shape might only have a sliver actually coming in contact - so the tiny amount of surface area hits the thumb and it wasn’t ever that noticeable.
- Depending on the finish (matte vs shiny) - it can create more friction and be more likely to wear. From experience a ‘shiny’ finish creates more friction for grinds in general and therefore can really grind against the thumb creating more heat/friction/wear.
I have seen varying degrees of thumb grind wear from most companies. Sometimes the anodize wears a bit and you can see it on your thumbnail but doesn’t really show on the yoyo. Sometimes it leaves a ring which it sounds like you are seeing.
At the end of the day I would honestly say it has been pretty 50/50 in terms of occurrence and shape, aluminum type, possibly even solid vs acid/splash all can kind of play into how much it wears off…
So its hard to call this straight up ‘defective’ but I 100% do not blame you for your reaction - and further I appreciate you for bringing it up as it would be a very good idea for us to note on the page that ‘thumb grinds are likely to wear anodize off’ on specific models when we see it… It hasn’t been as much of a trick people are doing constantly as it used to be! (But still one of my favorites!) 
And with that said in terms of customer service its always tricky when it comes to this issue because if we refund/replace without question its likely this might happen again with a lot of other yoyos so we always just have to explain the situation first - but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be more than happy to swap it out for you because we will! I’m sure TopYo will take the feedback (and I’ll ask them anyways to see what they think) and we will definitely make a note.
I’m happy to swap them out, refund, or work out a discount since it definitely isn’t what you expected and I understand its important to you! I’ll followup via email but feel free to dm me here too if its easier.
Thanks!
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Well said sir. Just kinda surprised by this mostly but this really summed it up thank you! Surprised they’d release a fingerspin yoyo with this finish
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Actually curious question on the ‘fingerspin’ specific - are you finding it is completely wearing off in the fingerspin area? I couldn’t quite tell from the picture.
If you want to keep it for a bit and keep fingerspinning/thumb grinding and seeing how bad the anodize wears off as a test and can report back that would help too (especially curious on the fingerspin part specifically!) I do not usually see anodize wear off quite as much on fingerspins but this type of aluminum is actually unusual for a fingerspin yoyo!
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Yeah I’ll throw it around for a good sesh or so(I’ve barely thrown them so far maybe 5 mins of actual throw time). They look good but the finish just feels very off for fingerspins on my actual finger and when I use my nail it feels like it’s scraping? Kinda? And then my finger is blue
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Yeah. Keep going. I find that the finish smoothens out with use. But curious with that happening how different the color looks as it does that.
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My only experience with this problem was with a circle city yoyos b grade muse. The muse looked perfect, no ano flaws and it was super smooth as well, so I didn’t know why it was b graded until I started fingerspining it. The ano on one half just came right off like yours. So I assume these are b grades based on my experience. The muse was also 6061 and heavily blasted @AndreBoulay .
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I think that is the point I was making is that it is more unusual for 6061 aluminum to ‘wear off’ as much (but again not impossible) - so I would agree that on a 6061 it is more unusual. In this case with the TopYo being 7003 aluminum it is more likely to happen.
To be completely honest even with all of my experience across all types of yoyos I am not positive with higher grade polished aluminum yoyos if it is possible to completely prevent in all cases. Anodize wears off depending on the finish - even within 6061 there are variations with this but it usually wears off ‘less’ on 6061 and it doesn’t usually wear away the color as much on 6061 (even if you see color on your fingernail at first). On your muse did it completely wear away the anodize leaving silver @Hanker?
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Just took the muse out from storage and the anodisation is definitely still coming off. It also seems to have stripped away the ano until it’s almost silver. I can’t really tell though because against the purple background the parts when the ano has stripped away looks very slightly purple.
Wiping after fingerspining it:
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Posts like this and the one from @YoYoExpertGarrett make me happy to be a repeat customer
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So I threw them a little more and the paint just keeps coming off I bet if I threw it for a couple hours all the paint would be gone for the most part. Also noticed my recognition by unparalleled is the same way. Must just be a thing with cheaper metals will have to avoid sub $50 metals because I just really don’t like the feeling of that paint coming off makes me big cringe. Personally feel these companies don’t play test these because I wouldn’t release these finishes fr
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ReCogs are 7075 FYI so while I again have had absolutely no issues with any of mine I’m not surprised you noticed something given what Andre said about anodizing 7000s metals, especially if yours is a polished finish; mine are all blasted fwiw. I’d just avoid aluminum throws that aren’t 6061 then if I were you instead of writing off all sub $50 metals.
To me this is a pretty large assumption considering how smooth all of the ReCogs and other yo-yos by UNPRLD I own are.
It’s not paint. People calling anodizing (which is colored with dyes) “paint” makes me big cringe, fr 
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Just saying the finish on that doesn’t feel good in any way imo regardless of the “ano” coming off. And I know it’s called ano but when it leaves what appears to be paint all over my finger I’m gonna call it that lol. And what I’m saying is if they’re gonna use al7 they should probably just spend a little more for a better finish because I have al7 YoYos that I doubt the ano will ever come off of from companies like G2/One drop/C3/Duncan. And you right maybe I’m assuming that they don’t play test them but if it helps me avoid throws with this problem I’m happy. That said al6 for cheap throws from now on got it. Thanks man