In kendama, you can make alot of things work on even the cheapest of setups. That got me wondering what your ultimate or dream kendama for one very specific trick would be, e.g. for slingers, loons, jugs etc. My ultimate loon kendama for example would probs be a midrange krom pop (sarado~40) (sword~35) with a fresh slaydawg tama. Sadly havent been able to put this setup together, but in my mind this would be perfect for me! But what about you guys? Do you like to loon on rubber paint? Or natty? Do you like to juggle with a heavier tama or do you prefer spot on weights for your juggling needs? For slings, I personally love a heavier sword, just sticks so nice to the finger! And do you like to be specific with your dama choices for certain tricks or are you an all rounder? Would love to know
For loons, a beech Krom BL Ken (the pop with the base cup drill hole) on a raw ash tama is money for me. I personally love natties because it's humid as hell where I'm from, so getting sweaty and getting that signature natty tama tack isn't hard. For cup flow, I like an OG setup. Give me a stock standard ozora with a 2 finger string and glossy paint. Idk why but cup flow just feels right on that setup for me. I'm not a slinger guy but I imagine the Craft Shift is awesome for it. Need better tracking for it though so I'd put a cushion tama on it with any form of good tracking. For spacewalk flow, I like a nice, light kendama (mid 60s). The light weight makes flow feel better, like you're kendama is flying and zipping through the air like nothing. P.S. I like my damas to do everything. Being on a budget means I can't splurge on kendamas.
(picking out of my current collection as they already are/feel honed for the following tricks) Ash wood REZ ken with a Yumu JKA tama for stalls/birds. Not a slinger person so don't have any setups in mind for it. The new Craft Shift for lunars (currently, ash Craft Shift ken with this custom ash Pokeball tama). Aerial/spacewalks, the RWB The Sesh ken with a Sol Vibe (standard size) Static Shock tama. Like @Emil Apostol though, I like well rounded setups overall but the aforementioned setups just always seem to stick the tricks they're listed for.
Hm...I kinda like this sort of idea. Alrighty then. (Keep in mind that all these damas are in the mid 70s in terms of weight) -Stalls: Any sort of natty or super-jammed dama tbh. Right now, my favorite dama for stalls is just an OG Aqua Raw Stripe Zen. Beech is one of my go-to woods, and it breaks in perfectly for stalls! Also, Ken Co's Zen shape is perfect for all my stall needs. -Lunars: I would probably have to say Sweets F3, Kaizen 2.0, GT-1/GT-E1, or a Slaydawg. All four/five of these damas have been lunar machines for me, and they're my main damas that I regularly jam. Tama choice would definitely be pro clear. It sticks on any ken you slap it on no matter what the wood it's made out of. -Slingers: I don't really know what to choose for this. I've never been too into slings, but I think the Prime shape or the Roots shape would be my choice for this. Anything base-cup heavy that I have is just what I use for slingers I guess. For the tama, anything with tracking really helps because I can't track the hole too well on a solid. -String Flow: Alright; any dama works for me if I'm doing string flow. The only things I need on it are a 1-5g weight difference (with it being tama-heavy) and 5-6 finger string. Besides that, anything works for me. Heck, even a gloss Ozora is perfect for this. The one set-up that I have that fits all of these qualifications would probably be my KWC 2015 Bobber x Maple Bray Mod ken. While it isn't good at one specific thing, it gets the job done if I don't know what I want to land on that day.
For slingers, I currently love my craft slim maple. The maple is so smooth! And the shape fits my finger really well. That said, Im really interested what the spindel will bring to the gunslinger world
I like beech bl kens more than maple for some weird reason. And the beams doesnt have the plus size tama. Other than that I love my beams
For lunars, I would go with a GT-KA or BH ken, about 45 gram sarado, 40 ken. I would pair it with a fresh slaydawg tama. For slings, I would use a prime ken with lighter sarado, paired with a KUSA trip split tama for tracking. A setup that will lace all of the tricks you try and throw at it would be a hickory craft shift ken with a pro clear sweets tama.
Lunars: Pretty much any of the new gen stuff with big cups and sticky paint (ie primes, pops, slaydawgs, etc) should slap lunars well. It just comes down to paint preference and luck of the draw with lunar balance. I prefer any type of sticky clear for lunars. Slingers: Tk16s sling like a dream as do many other damas. Axes and underbirds: anything where the tama touches the slip stop when placed on underbird. Stalls: anything broken in. Ash wood is supposedly gripper out of the box. Juggles: anything that doesn’t have a ken 15g heavier than the tama. Having a long string (5 fingers for me) also helps. Spacewalk flow: anything that’s remotely weight matched. There are definitely kendamas that are better than others for lunars, slingers, and axes/ underbirds. I feel Sweets primes are honed for every one of those tricks. For the rest of the tricks like juggles, spacewalk flow, and stalls, I feel like the kendama doesn’t matter as much so long as you’re used to it and it’s broken in.
Slingers: I like a slim sword, so TK16 or Craft Slim Maple. Original TK16 wood felt super smooth to me, as well as the craft slim maple. Both of these factors (thinness and smoothness) make slingers easy. Cup Flow: JKA damas with gloss paint or KUSA classic. Lunars: Big cup stuff in general, but broken in krom vikings are fun... its just a big target! Aerials/Spacewalk: for some reason I have a thing for Kaizen 1.0. I think I learned on Kaizen 1.0 because that was me beater dama when I first started aerials, but the feeling stuck. Maybe its the smaller cups and overall even weight distribution on the ken (sword thicker than tk16, cups normal size). Plus silk tama, smooth enough to glide out of your hand, but some tack for landing lighthouse/lunar.