Whats everyone's favorite dama to lunar on? I've been loving lunars lately and would like to know what you guys use for the best lunars.
@Luke Schmaedeke You'll want a ken that has a very heavy sarado, relative to the spike. Also, a sticky tama will help. Asking 'which brand has the best lunars' is kind of a meh question... it will vary a lot piece by piece, even within the same brand
This might not be what you are exactly looking for @Luke Schmaedeke but trying to lunar on a jumbo is much easier. I don't know if it will translate to a regular sized kendama but it definitely can't hurt. With a Jumbo you have a little more room for error and it is a bit more forgiving if you don't quite hit the sweet spot for the lunar. (more surface area helps)
As someone who is just starting to do lunars, my new slaydawg seems much easier to use than my other kendamas. Bigger cups and LOL paint does wonders. Kinda fulfills both criteria @htimSxelA mentioned. Been able to hit some stuff for the first time much more quickly than I thought. Now I'm thinking I should experiment and practice doing the same tricks on my other kendamas after I get them solid on the slaydawg first. I don't really want to have one "lunar kendama." If possible, doing lunars decently on a bunch of different damas is my goal. XD
I agree with what Alex said.. Ive got some kens that are weighted really well for lunars that im selling. Start a conversation with me if youre interested and ill send pictures.
I've noticed, that sometimes when i push the sarado down, that the different ken - sarado ratio helps to change a bad lunar kendama into a a little bit better one. (i hope you understand what i mean, though my unspecific english vocabulary! )
@Luke Schmaedeke personally I find heavy-weighted stripe zens to have serious lunar capabilities. My current lunar jam though is a maple homegrown ken (birch would probably work too) and a cushion cleared arctic fade. It is super grippy, well balanced, and juggling to and from lunar is easy.
Personally I love my REZ for lunars. I paired it with a Deal With It Stick AF tama or a cushion clear, lunars are solid. My current jammer is the Craft slim which is decent for loons, but not as top heavy as the REZ. I added some SlayBands (shameless plug) which gives it a little advantage.
My non biased opinion would definitely have to be F3's. They always have consistent lunar balance and if you're looking for something cheap, an F3 is for you. Rez's also have some of the most amazing lunar balance as well, if you're willing to spend a little extra to get that perfect dama to hone in lunars on.
Get a heavy sarado, lighter ken, and do this https://www.instagram.com/p/BMDO3yIBrlh/?taken-by=scopehh_
It's about weight distribution between the ken and sarado as @htimSxelA said. You can mix and match these from your existing collection and make "bad lunar" damas into lunar machines easily. REZ are lunar machines for exactly this reason, bcs the weight between the two is ALWAYS precise. I recommend sarados about 2 grams heavier than the sword. Hope this helps.
I have a very well balanced GT Capp, and i paired it with a Musou tama. After some play, the cups develop some sort of "teeth", as a byproduct of chipping, and holy moly it grips like Obi Wan just before he jumps up and slices Darth Maul in half.
The mechanics suggest heavier sarado than sword as everyone is pointing out. That being said you should still be able to pull up a simple lune on pretty much any dama. So to my best lunar damas 1: Regular beech kaizen with RWB/KUSA silk sky blue tama(sarado heavier by a couple of grams 2: premium white ozora (don't know weights) 3:classic RWB sweets arctic Cush tama (sword/sarado dead on) I also have a fresh white stripe aqua zen that I already know will be a lunar machine(heavier sarado again) The old kaizen also shows that cup size is not all that
I learned Luanda on a homegrown cushion, but the ken that is working miracles for me right now is my prime ken x a completely fresh maple stripe homegrown. Even though it is crazy slick, it's really training me to get lunars down off of balance, not off of sticky paint. Of course I have my arctic fade x pencilman mod ken that is just amazing for trying some crazier lunar tricks. Prime kens are just amazing for lunar balance. And are crazy cheap too.
My Prime ken actually had pretty poor lunar balance out of the box. Hard to know with how much wood can vary.
I've had a few players here say that the big new gen cups on Primes, Slay Dawgs etc. actually get in the way. They keep accidentally touching them so they're having to change up their tama grip to try and accommodate the larger cup diameter.