Hello all, my name is Renato and I’m an absolute beginner to yo-yoing. I’ve seen some videos at yoyotricks.com (I loved that site, by the way) and I bought 2 Duncan Imperial yoyos. The style I like the most is 2A and I don’t really find 1A appealing. I’m not sure where to start. I don’t know anyone in my country that plays yoyo, so I have to rely on international forums. Could you give me some guidance, links, youtube channels etc for someone who is an absolute beginner and have no idea where to start?
In all honesty, Duncan Imperials are really bad for looping or 2a. 2a also burns through strings (makes strings snap) much more frequently than other styles. 2a also requires a lot of yoyo maintenance. If you’re serious about pursuing 2a here’s what I’d suggest.
There’s a few things you should get. I’ll give you the cheapest viable options.
For a little over $30 it’s a great starting point and will last you a long time. The 360s and lube will pretty much last forever and it’ll be a while until you need to buy more strings with a 100 pack.
After you order those and you wait for those come in you can learn Gravity Pull, Sleeper, Forward Pass, and Around the World in the Beginner section of this site’s tutorials with your Duncan Imperial.
Once you get the 360s and get those 3 tricks down you can check out the Looping Basics section of this site’s tutorials and go from there.
Duncan imperials will get you through the basics. Try hard and don’t be discouraged. This is a skill. Skills need to be developed. I find that aloe helps on the string burns. You’ll get them from looping.
The Imperial is good for classic tricks, and even then it takes some serious skill since the axel is metal and there doesn’t seem to be much of a response system other than your string tension. Hitting a long sleeper is hard. Looping is also a problem since the gap on them is fairly wide so it has a tendency to loop upwards. If you watch videos about OG throwers, they would get a wooden Imperial but they would have to mod it by sanding down the inside edges to round them off in order for them to loop well, something you can’t really do with a plastic. That said, I don’t know if the old wooden Imperials had narrower gap widths but those old guys could loop with them forever once they were modded.
These days people loop with yoyos that have a Modified Shape which is kind of Imperial shaped but it is narrower and is curved on both the inside and outside edges. The gap is narrower which makes looping easy. The narrower the gap, the faster you loop and also the more “down” your loops point. The wider the gap, the slower you loop and the more “up” your loops point.
Also, I totally agree with everyone else about the 360. It is still my preferred looper. Get 2 but in different colors, then mix the halves. That way you can see if you are flipping the yoyos properly when you loop.
Put simply, the Duncan Imperial is a very cheap and outdated yoyo that doesn’t keep up with any of the modern tricks of today. TFForever gave a more detailed explanation but some of the stuff he explains might be hard to understand since you’re a beginner.
Thanks for your reply. Indeed, Duncan Imperials are kind of bad for 2A (and in general). I bought Timeless Yoyo WoW Boy (a Brazilian yoyo) and it’s MUCH better, even the string is way superior. I have a few more questions. What does it take for a responsive yoyo be able to do a long sleeper? And what is an “up” loop and a “down” loop?
I can’t put my looping yoyo to sleep for more than 3-5 seconds. Is it possible to lengthen this performance with a 2A yoyo?
I got these terms from the reply I quoted from TFForever: “The narrower the gap, the faster you loop and also the more “down” your loops point. The wider the gap, the slower you loop and the more “up” your loops point.”
By the way, thanks for all the help so far, guys! ;D
Depends on the yoyo. The Imperial spins for about 5-10 seconds but the 360(which I recommended) spins for 30+ or 10-15 while doing tricks. Spin time shouldn’t matter much in the early stages of 2a though because you’re only doing around the worlds and loops. Spin time starts to matter when you begin doing wraps.
What forever was saying is that the yoyo reacts differently during loops depending on various factors. Smaller gap and longer string cause the yoyo to loop lower(when the yoyo extends all the way and starts coming back on te loop the yoyo will pop up less) while with a wider gap and shorter string the yoyo will loop higher (the yoyo pops up higher). Just try a few loops with a shorter string vs a longer string and you’ll understand.
If you had the money, get yourself a pair of bearing loopers, like 1080 or Initiator which are great for beginners since they have adjustable gap. Bearing loopers sleep a lot longer and you can practice around the worlds with them. But if money is tight, use what you have for a while and learn basic loops and hop the fence.
Also check this out:
Grendel
(The Voice of All Grendel’s world wide.)
18