Really any recommendations regarding 3a strings. I’m trying to learn and I’m not doing to hot.
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I think @ice1000 likes thicker Eric Koloski Yoyostringlab KaPoW string for 3a.
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Personally, i prefer a tighter gap/ higher wall to thicker strings. But i’m weird.
Yes… maybe you are, but you are also very good…
So, you can be weird, lol…
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Yeah this is weird. That’s just making the style harder to play. More forgiving is better imo like anything that makes the style easier to play is a W imo tighter gap is good but hard to access always but higher walls is 
I use ot fat sometimes and markmont cumulous foam thick. The cumulous foam is very thick but also tribodal poly so a little slicker than other poly and slides against itself better than bulk.
I also highly highly recommend getting some of the black pads from Hollywood modern that are super super soft or any other very soft pad. With 3a shorter string length definitely helps but binds get slippy so the soft pads help with that.
Edit: Also here is a list of 3a tricks organized roughly by difficulty bc you’re a newer player. I think it helps.
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So is thicker string better than thinner?
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I run really short strings like 70 cm ish. At that string length, binds become very slippy so I like having thicker strings to help me bind reliably still. I think in general, all 3a is easier with shorterish strings unless you’re getting very dense. I generally recommend 75-85cm for beginners. If you’re using yoyos with a super narrow gap, then maybe thinner would be okay. Most 3a players use normal or fat strings. The players that use shorter strings mostly all use fat strings. Basically, I think it depends on your string length and I recommend short string length.
I am very very confused. Of all the YoYoStringLab formulas, what is their rank by thickness?
- Type X (“medium thickness”)?
- Venom (“medium thickness, definitely below ammo”)?
- Plutonium (“tighter wind than Venom and slightly thicker”)
- Ka-Pow (“fits between plutonium and ammo thickness-wise”)
- Ammo (supposedly the “thickest”)
and then the nylons which are VERY GOOD!
- Nytro (nylon, unknown /unstated thickness relative to other types.. I’m guessing about Type X size the “standard medium”)
- Nytro+ (“thicker”)
Help us out here @MattB , you’re our only hope!!
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Message received. Your order looks spot on. Nytro feels a bit thicker than Type X, maybe closer to Venom or Plutonium. Nytro+ feels as thick or slightly thicker than Ammo to me.
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Excellent, I really like Nytro+ by the way! I dislike pure nylon strings but these blends are excellent!
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The confusion of boutique string naming and classification is the exact reason why I never buy it.
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Doesn’t this happen with bulk also? I’ve noticed sochi fat, ot fat, kitty fat, 84string fat, c3 pro fat, basically all the fat strings I’ve tried are different thicknesses (normal also but I haven’t tried as many brands for normal). Taking into account thickness for each string stretched out vs fresh and bouncy adds a whole other level of variation also. Idk I kinda just feel like string is like that…hard to know exactly how thick a string is. Even when brands give a thread count, that doesn’t help much across brands bc the starting threads can vary wildly in thickness.
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We could measure it (width) but it’d be a narrow, narrow range of measurement. Perhaps showing them side-by-side in a closeup pic with like a penny or something for scale, or even (slow gasp) a ruler would be helpful? She Blinded Me With Science! cc @MattB
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IME, closeups may help illustrate the differences between strings that are similar other than thickness, like the 3 different versions of this Markmont Formula:
But other than being the same material, this trilobal poly happens to be a very stable material with minimal stretch/bounce.
For strings that either elongate with use (or intentional stretch) or maintain bounciness during play, pictures can fail to tell an effective story. These three Zipline blends are not nearly as similar as the picture implies, even if only considering thickness.
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Thickness is funny you can get thicker string from more strands or less twists. Tighter string will look thinner even if it has less strands than a looser wound string especially something softer like nylon
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Yeah, there’s a ton of variables! And as it get used, how much does it stretch and thin out, etc.
@hsb that’s awesome! You should make a whole topic about this so people can learn together, maybe some topics already exist you could link to in that new topic?
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There is definitely a ton to know and share about strings. For better or worse, I have dialed down my own preference to the point that what I know is limited to 2 brands (or maybe just 1.5, since Zipline has introduced many new strings recently that I haven’t tried).
There are some brand focused topics with good info: https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/zipline-strings
@theendofcake has put a commendable amount of effort into writing string reviews: https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/cake-s-string-reviews/
Occasionally a poster who makes string will post about their process: https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/everything-i-know-about-silk-string-making-and-where-to-buy-cheap-and-high-quality-silk
Admittedly, I wouldn’t be able to surface most of this information without relying on memory of seeing them at the time. Some kind of “Just the Facts” topic would be useful.
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I thought about this when I put the other ones together and again rn, but I think string is way way way more complicated than understanding rim weight or basic specs. Those topics were purely physics based like just math stuff about specs. String has a ton of variables and some of those are unquantifiable or would be incredibly difficult to quantify ime idk I just don’t personally think anyone would be able to distill string like that in a helpful way.
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I agree. It’s a huge topic.
I think there are some facets that could be broken down in an informative and reasonably objective way. I tried to . . . weave . . . some of that into this response about longevity: What’s the best string these days - #29 by hsb
There is a ton more related to different fibers, how they are processed into thread and the potential influence of the resulting physical properties on string characteristics. Some of this is knowable in a general sense that could be useful. Even if it wouldn’t tell the whole story about how string A performs or compares to string B.
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