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Author Topic: got my first tops yesterday!  (Read 3500 times)

unclephreak

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got my first tops yesterday!
« on: March 16, 2010, 01:54:16 PM »

and ive been messing around with them a bit. got the spinner down, that took a bit. i noticed what i was doing wrong at first, it doesnt seem to work that good if i twist my body. i get a good spinner heeping my body still and only moving my arm. i actually landed a boomerang 4 times yesterday! i was happy about that. i got the boomerang before i got it to spin on the floor right. the big scoop was pretty simple. right now im working on getting a good boomerang. im pretty sure the boomerangs i landed yesterday were more by chance than skill personally, but im getting the feel for it. i got a ripcord and an imperial. im liking the ripcord a lot. i like the weight. the imperial feels a little light, and doesnt feel right for me.

and of course since ive gotten them spinning on the floor correctly i had to try and do a skyrocket, i ended up doing a wire walker instead from the floor! lol lots and lots of fun! i was playing with it in front of a hobby shop, and this old man came out and started talking to me about it and how much fun he had as a kid playing with his spin tops. he said it was one of those lost arts and it was nice to see young people taking an interest in something so "outdated". i thought that was really cool. he was amazed i could throw it right! lol anyway im having lots of fun and im testing out my top string as well a little. i still need to do some more playing with them  uhh research before i will have testers for my top string being sent out, but it should be comming soon :)
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Neff

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2010, 02:23:06 PM »

Right on!

If you haven't yet, balance them tops: http://www.topspinning.com/tricks/balancing.ghtml

I've gotten many more stories from older guys about tops than yo-yos.  Usually with a statement like this in there, "...but they had a spike on the tip, and I saw a top split another in half once..."  I love hearing the battletop stories.  So much better than the, "I can't even get it to go up and down, ha-ha-ha..."
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unclephreak

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2010, 02:33:41 PM »

wow, thanks for the tip! yeah, i noticed a bit of vibe on it. im going to see what i can do to balance it better. right now im just working on my throws, im getting the boomerang down pretty good (well 1 out of 5 throws anyway) but it does vibe in my hand, and im still learning that circular pattern to move in to set it straight. i believe it has a lot to do with it being unbalanced because when i got the circular motion to correct it it went right back out of whack again.
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MatiasStuntMan

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2010, 05:45:40 PM »

Hi Frank, I am glad that you are enjoying playing with your tops. I started with the same set. First an Imperial from Amazon, thank god it didn't frustrated me and then a Ripcord from Amazon as well. The Ripcord is a great top, but the Imperial is completely useless, even though Chris and Spinqueen have some videos to prove me wrong. Then I felt comfortable paying with paypal at spintastics, so try one of the Spintastics, I recommend you the Gladiator, I also love my Sidewinder, it is perfectly balanced and great for learning how to do a boomerang. I haven't tried the torpedo, but there is a topic on this forum that talks about it. And once you are ready try the Trompo Grande, what a pleasure to throw that top, I still remember the hole I made on the kitchen floor the first time I threw it, so it is a little bit intimidating at the beginning. Keep playing, once you master that boomerang you are half way tru to be a Top Master!!!
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agentsac

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2010, 07:39:31 PM »

congrats! i don't know if you have room in your life for another obsession hobby, but you just found one!

i haven't bought a ripcord in a year, but i'm pretty sure that they still come with a string that is too short. it gave me a lot of problems when i was getting started. adjusting your throw helps with this, but is ill advised for a beginner. i've been playing with my imperial a lot lately. it's really beat up. i think it's actually in two or three pieces and held together with tape and gorilla glue. yes, i know they are only a couple bucks, i'm just getting my money's worth!

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SpinQueen

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2010, 12:06:42 AM »

Awesome progress already!  Now it's time for you to get your girlfriend in on the top spinning act as well :) 
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Neff

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2010, 12:31:23 AM »

agentsac brought up a great point - for the size of string the rip cord comes with, it should be around 66"-68" long for the top to boomerang as it should.  Make some string a bit thicker and you can get it down to 62"-64"

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unclephreak

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2010, 02:08:01 AM »

dont worry, kevin told me the string was too short, and use it with the imperial instead, and sent me a longer string for it! :) so thats not an issue. i couldnt find any clay, so i used some 1/2 inch pieces of electrical tape to balance it better. (it's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot smoother) i already lost my imperial tip throwing it outside :( but the ripcord is more my speed! :) and my girlfriend loves it! i just showed her earlier to get a better throw to only move her arm, and it's working out better for her as well.

im probably still going to tweak it some more to get it without vibration, because im a perfectionist like that! but it's lots of fun. ive been picking it up on the string and letting it hang, and feeling the vibration as well as spinning it on the tile floor and listening to how smooth it spins. right now it stays put a lot better when i do throw it on the floor! but like i said im a perfectionist! lol i am trying to get the boomerang down good so i can start doing wire walkers. i have the basic idea down, and im sure once i get a solid boomerang and a solid throw that will come pretty easy. like i said i can sort of do wire walkers from the floor. i used my string on it, and it sticks to the string a lot better.

i just dont know how my poly is going to do on regens, and i'll be sending you some samples in the next week or two chris to let me know how they perform. right now i know 2 things about my poly on the top string. it's a little rougher than the cotton string i have, and it sticks better when doing a wire walker (from the floor anyway) and it throws fine. so this is enough to at least make some protos. it's up to some of you guys to test it's true potential because i wont be able to for a while. ;)

and thank you everyone for the kind words and support! glad to see that people on this forum are as wonderful as other skill toy forums! :) that's what makes this such a better hobby than say gun collecting.  ;D
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poptop

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Re: got my first tops yesterday!
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2010, 10:06:29 PM »

Way to go Frank!  Picking the top up with the string is the first step toward learning how it behaves durring string play.  Pick up, yank it back to your hands and you'll be doing rollercoasters in no time.
Good luck!
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