Well as the name of the thread implies this thread will be centered around tips. Basically I want to hear tips for anything yoyo related.
I think everyone has to have some kind of tip that they could share it doesn’t matter if you came up with it yourself or picked it up off some other yoyoer, I’d like to hear them (As would others I’d like to think).
Here let’s kick start this now…
-If you get a gift card or a hotel key hold on to it. It makes a nice tool for siliconeing a yoyo and I’ve heard that you can make shims with them too.
-When slilconeing a yoyo clean the recess to make the silicone hold longer.
-After Siliconeing a yoyo put a screw in the nozzle that you screw on the silicone tube so you can just pull it out with all the silicone in it rather then clean it out before hand and making a mess or taking forever to clean it later.
-To insure your slip knot holds (If it’s made of poly or nylon.) take a lighter (Kids please get permission or a parent to help.) and heat the knot a bit (Very short time don’t start a fire.) to melt it so it holds together better. (I like to do this with the stings I make because the poly is very slippery and the knots comes undone.)
Carry extra string. I carry a baggie with 4 extra strings in it at all times if I am carrying a yoyo. Often I will have two yoyos. You never know when a string may need to be swapped out.
Carry a used up string, or if you’ve cut a string, save a bit of that. This is in order to use the “string trick” to remove a bearing. You never know when you mind need this. Put a knot in the cut end. I keep the cut string after I fit a yoyo to one of my kids.
Depending on how you play, stock up on spare items. A few extra bearings might be good to have. Extra axles are good too. Spare response systems are always a plus.
Buy more yoyos. When one goes down for maintenance, go to the next one. I’m not saying “buy duplicates”, but if you want to, then great.
Cleaning bearings? The smallest baby food jars are great and can help you prevent wasting the cleaning fluids you use. I use mineral spirits. I hate wasting the stuff.
Guitar picks are cheap, and depending on the brand and shape, might be perfect for that final treatment to the silicone in your yoyo. I have a green dunlop Tortex and gray Dunlop Nylon, both .88mm thickness, and the top part(that is held) is the perfect gentle curve for removing that silicone. I found mine on the stage after a show I did. Picks can be had for as little as 9-cents each. Chances are you have a slacker guitar buddy with some used picks. DO NOT TAKE PICKS they are using! Ask for a beat up one. I collect discarded picks just to have them handy. I’m an audio engineer, not a guitarist!
Yeah I’ve use guitar picks (I’m learning and my dad plays a lot.) they work really well. I use the cards because my hands are kind of shaky so I need a lot to holds on to.
Don’t skateboard/bike/rollerskating/whatever with a yoyo in your pocket. My friend did, and hella dinged up his zen 5. he fell while attempting tricks on his fixie or howdver it’s spelled
Don’t attempt grinds on unbroken in response or bearings. They will snag and crush your fingers.
But, how about a variant:
DO NOT throw while on inline skates unless you’re over a soft surface such as grass. You may end up following that sleeper right down to the ground!
(Learn from my fail!)
Not sure if I suck at inline skating too… Perhaps.
Carry a cheap throw when on the go. ONE and WHIP are tons of fun and way cheap.
Throwing in public? Carry something plastic and “noob friendly”. You never know when someone will want to try. Make it easy and make a friend.
When shortening string, after tying the new knot, first test the string length on a yoyo before cutting off the excess. This way, if it’s too short you can undo the knot and try again.
Tie old string to a wall and use these to train your bean or tomato plants to climb up. This helps offset the carbon footprint of string (sorry, just had to put this in there for any veggie growers!).
Give smile to people that look at you while yoyoing. Let them try of they ask, offer them if they not. Carry plastic if you afraid they would ding your metal.
same with hubstacks, when you grab them make sure you are still holding onto the string and its away from the center, other wise it will grab it and SNAP!!! lol and it hurts
this is probably the reason none of my metals have Dings or dents etc. Also works great for OffString
Another tip : something I do when I am teaching someone is to put an extra loop around the yoyo, so that the yo is more responsive, sometimes ill do it twice or three times around the bearing. This makes binding a lot easier plus, if your yoyo is completely unresponsive : this can make it a bit responsive easily without doing anything major to the yo, it also shortens the string for kids if you put enough loops around the bearing.
Ill actually do this sometimes to do loop tricks!!
Take time to learn to control your yoyo with the utmost precision and learn to feel where it is at all times, you definitly wont ding it up nearly as much. If you yoyo in public and your swinging that yoyo around without thinking then people might get uneasy. Also answer all questions you recieve with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart. You just have to accept that fact that people are going to ask the same questions over and over again.
Guitar picks are great for recesses. I have a pair of thin fender picks (So thin you have to bend it to do anything) that I use for recesses. @Studio42: you can wipe the silicone off it easy enough.
When you learn a new trick. Practice it over and over until it becomes smooth. (This is especially good for beginners)
When you think you cannot do a trick, try a harder trick and then go back. (I use that for juggling with great affect.)
JeiCheetah
(J̵̡̥̦̳̗͎̤̯̟͓̞͔͔̻́͛͐̒͋̔̈́͂̃͝ͅͅ E I H W Δ N̸̢̢̡͙͖̝̩̟͎̹̻͔̳͕̙̗̈̆̆͋̈́͛̀̑̒̂̀̈́̇̚͘͠ͅ)
18
If you need to cut off the excess string if you shorten them, find a concrete bench, stair, anything, and quickly slide the string across that surface. Bam, cut.
