Yea, i admit that sounds a bit heavy to me. How many people actually buy what they vote for in these polls? This throw in purpleheart sounds like a brick.
I didn’t vote for it, but I’d buy it… Although, I think that logo would look better on a lighter (color) yoyo, and probably one with less grain, so maybe Maple is best?
We are just mere mortals in love with round objects. Purple or stripes it has so much to do with looks. Our vanity knows no boundaries
I would say make em slimmer but defies the point of the John Smith, being quicker and a bit easier to turn.
You don’t want development processes and protos for each wood type.
Whatever comes out the workshop will be amazing, or useful as a home security weapon
I have a Hickory kendama and absolutely love the look of the grain once it was broken in, only one I’d say I like better is Mahogany. Neither of them are my best playing kendamas, but I pick them up a lot. I’d imagine feeling the same about a Hickory yo-yo.
Not for budget throws, but am I the only one is is really interested in this? I know that there is a bit (ok a lot) of subjectivity in this, but the properties of wood could really allow you to experiment with designs that cater to different wood types. I am starting to gather a collection of wooden fixies, and with duplicates of some designs in different woods, and I have to say that there are qualitative differences between the yoyos just based on the properties of the wood. I certainty enjoy my lighter beech KNack more than the white oak because I feel like the design of the yoyo facilitates a lighter wood.
I also recently purchased a purpleheart Button of which I have yet to play with, but my hope is that the loss of centerweight via the holes has a positive effect on purpleheart’s added density.
And then I have yoyos like my purpleheart Irving (TMBR), that go against my usual preferred fixie style, but have the extra weight and spin time to do stuff I just can’t do on a light yoyo. As a fixie player it is the subjective qualities of every wood throw that keeps me coming back, and I feel like wood yoyo designs are just barely scratching the surface of the hobby compared with their much more advanced metal counterpart. No offense to the skill it takes to make wood yoyos of course, but the same amount of TLC just does not yet exist in wood yoyos.
All that said I know that Glenn is probably just looking for a more streamlined and easy to make yoyo for a fair price, and I respect the effort at making a budget option, but I also like the thought and creativity you put into your less simpler designs. I have a grail-level Bloodcell feeling yoyo in my head that isn’t quite what I have out of the spectra-ply version I have. And to be completely honest, I feel like spectra lacks the true organic feel of a wood yoyo, as pretty as they can be.
I don’t think it’s a matter of TLC. I think’s a matter of time; which seems odd to say, since wood yoyos have been around for so long. However, I mean it’s more recently that more wood designs have been tried and experimented with. It’s also a numbers game, with relatively few makers, compared to the multitude of metal designers competing and honing against each other for their share of the market.
A design that seems to work well at all weights is the Harbinger.
Just a choice of words, the metal yoyo market is saturated with idea, designs, etc that the wood guys just don’t get. To get a metal yoyo designed, you need a CAD drawing along with prototypes and metrics that only engineers think about. With wood, you get guys in their workshop showing what they can do with a lathe. This sounds like me trying to discredit wood yoyos, but it really isnt. There is more room for innovation and design improvement in the current wood scene imo, and guys like Glenn are just killing it. He also needs his “Butterfly”. Personally id go for low density wood, as I think it is the feel for modern 0A. Something you can kickflip, STM, or spin into a double or nothing for a few seconds with. Or if you are better than me, a longer flow trick. Im sure with a bit of experimentation he will find something.
I really don’t know what you mean @eternalmetal The designs I make have every single material, design feature and dimension considered for an intended aesthetic and performance.
I get it, my wood yoyos can appear pretty plain. Take the Button, it could be forgiven that people think my thinking behind it could have been “Oh buttons are round, wouldn’t it be cute to make a yoyo that looks like one?” but the button is a deeply intentional design of which I will go into detail if you would like.
The John Smith is more of a streamlined budget option as you suggested. It’s about getting a decent fixie for cheap in people’s hands. That’s the intended outcome for this design.
