Personally I only use the Kendama London string, its so light and you barely even notice its there. It performs amazingly and I have it on every setup I use. For sure my favourite I’ve tried and trust me I’ve used alot. Aside from that I’d say KUSA string.
I love lovely knots string. It is son Amazon.com. The 1 mm string is perfect. It is very cheap and will last a long time. I prefer a 5 finger string.
Lol not really directly related to string, but I heard Nic Stodd does all of his new gen insanity with a string that's 3 fingers long. Goes to show that you don't need insane string length to juggle.
I haven’t been playing kendama for too long, but I really enjoy KUSA string for its durability and diameter. It’s just a solid average string that lasts forever (not really but it feels like it). Ozora string isn’t too bad but its shape kind of throws me off, sort of silky and flat. I also like the three finger length for my string. It’s not too long or too short and allows for multiple tricks while keeping a decent pull-up length.
*Bump* does anyone play two (or more) different lengths for certain tricks? I have started to do a tight three fingers or a loosish four depending on the dama. If I'm going to be doing new gen stuff on a dama, I'll do four, and if I'm going to be doing lots of string stuff or multiple turns on a dama, I'll do three fingers (for reference, I have tiny fingers). typically, a newer gen dama (primes, pops, 2.0s, etc) will get the longer string and older damas (JKA, kusa classic, kaizen, etc.) will get the shorter length. I think I've noticed that Dwesty does this, because when you see him doing juggles and taps, he'll have a long string, and when he does things like gooncircles and lightning drops, it seems like his string is much shorter.
I think that interresting , i trend to go for a lenght i use in genereal that suits me for the tricks i want to perform , i havent reached the point where i would need different setup with specific string lenght
I have a total n00b question. almost embarassed to post... What the HELL are you supposed to do with the little plastic floss piece that comes in string bags? I get that it is supposed to help string up in some way but i have no idea how.
@Cheech_Sander Same concept for threading a ken as for threading a needle. The mono-filament line some makers give with their string kits really helps if you don't have a lighter to make the end of the string pointy. Same idea but for kites.
bump So I've recently been wondering about this, and I wanna see what y'all have to say. All of these pros and sponsored players are going super long with their strings, so do they even use their company's strings? like I know multiple kusa players who play 5+ finger strings, but I've never been able to get a kusa string to more than four fingers. So do they use other strings or am I just bad at stringing or something. Thoughts/answers...
The Gallagher twins have introduced me to a godly string. Lovely knots 1mm string on Amazon. It comes in 50 yards which will last forever. I have fallen in love and only use 6 finger length string. In order for most spinners to stay, you must use a special knot. Here is the link of how to tie it.
For me, I tie either a dub knot or a single knot REALLY small near the ends of the string, and if the knot goes through the string hole of the ken, I just rotate the sarado to the side so that it traps the knot there. As for the tama side, I just tie a big enough knot to prevent the bead/bearing from slipping through. It works for me. Most of my strings are from KUSA, so it works on all of them except the ones that come pre-strung.
Ok, so I use a similar concept, I have lolli beads string that I use, and it works great for me. But it's interesting that the galleghers use that stuff, because sweets strings come pretty long. I've tried tying really small knots, but it still doesn't work for me. Even If you got the knots insanely small, the kusa strings are 19 inches. 19 inches without knots is like five fingers for me (I have really small fingers though), and I know for sure there are kusa pros who go longer than that, so I'm sure they use some other kind.
Well, KenLab is always a popular choice. Their strings were specifically made to be long so that you could get it to almost any preferred string length. However, the majority of them come with US-made GTs like the GT-1.5 specs. I think you can buy them in 5-packs on the GT site, but I'm not sure if there are still any left in stock.
Personally I like purple silk string I pick up dirt cheap in China. Being a little thicker it makes string a little easier and the weight of the string pulls it away from the Ken in juggles. 4 fingers is my favourite string length. Looking to get silk string? We sell it @soundkendama
I’ll play any string, personally I think any string can be good if you have a bearing matched with it. But I HATE having to drill holes in the top of my tama to get different strings to fit!