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[Greaves504]

hey there everyone, I'm new to the world of tops and I hope I can get to know it a little better. I live in the pacific and it's hard for me to find good sites to decide to order from. If you guys have any tips or anything for a newcomer drop a comment, appreciation in advance.

I got a few questions though:
First of all, where do I get one? I've been online the entire day researching through sites I google up and haven't been able to decide where's a good place to buy from.
Second, I've seen some videos on carving tops and I'm curious about that. I'm sure I can make a beginner's top on my own, but should I be able to get better, where can I find bearing tips? Everywhere I looked online was "out-of-stock"
and Finally, is there anything I should know about tops/trompos/etc. Like the Do's or Don'ts and whatnot.

I really would like to know all I can about these things and how they work.

Thanks again 

[the Earl of Whirl]

Welcome Greaves504!  It's good to have you with us.  You say you are in the Pacific.  Can you tell us specifically where you are from in the Pacific?

You have undoubtedly seen a lot of talk around here about making tops with lathes.  We have some pretty amazing wood turners on this board.  But you use the word "carve" and it makes me think of some tops I have made with just a knife.  It can be fun to slowly whittle out a top and fine tune it so that it spins longer and longer.  I mention this, in case you don't have access to a lathe.

[Greaves504]

I live on Guam. It's an island about 3hrs or so to Japan. U.S. Territory though. And right now I don't have a lathe, but my uncle is n renown ironwood carver on the island. I'm sure he'll lend me some supplies and and let me use some equipment if he has it.

[ta0]

Welcome from the Pacific Ocean registered member 100th!!!!! (we do have a lot of unregistered lurkers) And welcome to the hobby / sport!

Most of the online shopping sites that sell tops should be fine. My first option would be spintastics.com but the yo-yo sites will also offer Duncans: yoyoguy.com, yoyonation.com, yo-yo.com and a couple more. You can also order Spaniard tops from saturnotruco.com. Or can even order some Mexican tops from Neff (aluminum) or myself, while supplies last.

Yeah, replacement bearing tips are hard to come by (except, perhaps, Spintastics).

Finally, is there anything I should know about tops/trompos/etc. Like the Do's or Don'ts and whatnot.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you have: people on this board love to help!

PS: I read somewhere that there are no birds left in Guam because the imported snakes ate all the eggs.

[Greaves504]

Thanks for the sites ta0. I'll be sure to give 'em a look. And you're selling tops? do you have a order form or something I can maybe take a look at too?
oh, and the price range of your tops

[ta0]

Look under the sell/buy/trade board.
The (very long) thread for the regular Mexican tops starts here, for the Jumbos and bearing tops here, and for the aluminum tops see this.

[Greaves504]

alright, thanks for the links ta0 

[Greaves504]

oh and about the birds, there's still birds here. The snake you're probably talking about is the brown tree snake. It's not really a problem here much at the moment. And I don't think we ever had a problem with them concerning birds in the first place. There's a lot of fake stuff on the net about Guam.

[ta0]

oh and about the birds, there's still birds here. The snake you're probably talking about is the brown tree snake. It's not really a problem here much at the moment. And I don't think we ever had a problem with them concerning birds in the first place. There's a lot of fake stuff on the net about Guam.

I just checked the book where I thought I had read it, "The Island of the colorblind" by Dr. Oliver Sacks. The title refers to another island, but it has a long section on Guam. I really enjoyed this book and I recommended it. The book is from 1997 although I don't know when he visited Guam. But there he mentions how the brown snakes killed all songbirds!

[yothomas]

Guam did you say Guam,the last time I was there was in 1976.
where do you live on the island? I live on NAS Agana and I think
the base closed down a while back ago.this bring back old memories.

[Greaves504]

I live in Sinajana. Right next to Agana. There's a Naval Hospital in Agana, but that's the only base I can think of. We have two bases in the north and in the south now. They're going to be expanded I think since the Marines are transferring from Okinawa. But yeah, I'm hoping I can get a couple friends interested in the tops here once I get good enough to show them how cool it is.

[yothomas]

  I went to school in Sinajana,Bishop Buamgarner and also went to the Cathedral
in Agana.those school gave me memories I will never forget.
  getting back to spin tops the only company making spin tops that I can
think of is spintastic and get the trompo grande and get tips from ta0.com

[Greaves504]

thanks yothomas. I'm seeing if I can grab a few tops from ta0 and a couple other people right now. I think I'll look into trompo grande for the future though.