If you could only play one kendama for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? (This is assuming you could use a new one when it gets warm out)
It's such a difficult question to answer though, Chad. I'd go for a Iji Promod, but who knows what kendama will be like years from now. There may be better paints, better wood turning techniques, better wood. TL,DR - what i love today may not reflect the future.
Probably Birch Stodd Mod Ken with a Sourmash Sea Turtle 50/50 tama. Birch is one of the woods that I like to use in my set-ups, and I like the Stodd ken shape for slingers. Lastly, Sourmash paint is probably one of the tackiest paints I've ever used so far.
Holy cow. I wish I had more expieience with other damas first of all. If I had to choose from setups ive played without mixing around. If I had a unbreakable maple shenzu of be set
Like, can you get a replacement when it's shredded and gone, or you gotta stick with just the one? In the first case, kendalex aluminum. Otherwise, probably a red tk
A Kream Girr on a TK-16 Ken + black string with a spinner. It's my favourite paint by far, it breaks in sooooo great, and TK is like the best classic ken out there IMO. It's a brick, and it's got nice stall abilities. The Kream colorway has also just become so iconic and it's great for tracking obviously Also, I've seen what people like Jake Fischer has done on the KenCo Girr's, and I am convinced that I won't need anything better ever.
I'd say once it's seshed, you'd be able to get a new one. My thoughts were similar to "If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life..."
Padauk Kaizen with the mint silk tama. I like the Kaizen shape, the padauk and mint color combo is super classy looking, and I think the KUSA silk paint is a pretty good balance between tacky and slick enough to make adjustments during tricks.
Really digging my hickory/ash RWB classic setup and my RWB maple classic ken w/ Sol Blueberry Frost Vibe tama. Cant decide!