I took my ash Roots custom tama and put it on a maple pro model F3, and it has become one of my go-to lightweight setups! Definitely looking to get it honed for stalls!
I'm waiting on my hand turned Skateply maple Roddama... It comes with an Ozora Keyaki tama, but I snatched a walnut tama at the store today that I think I'm going to pair it with.
Beech on beech! Absolute slayage on that wood combo. Even better is a bamboo complete, which is like beech on beech but with a louder crack to boot!
Everything with a birch tama for stalls its a perfect match Kusa 2.0 beech x Nativ raw birch tama For example
My point of view might be slightely biaised because I'm in the KendamaFrance squad but will try to Yes totally, my judgement might be slightely biaised because I'm in the KendamaFrance squad but I think this is honnest. If you want some infos just for knowledge or what ever don't hesitate dude
top ones for me: (ex: Ken x Tama) 1. Maple x Raw Ash 2. Hickory x Raw Ash 3. Maple x Raw Hickory 4. Birch x Raw Ash 5. Keyaki x Raw Ash If you couldn't tell, The best natty tamas are raw ash
Raw ASH is super grippy. Its grain is really rough, but birch is more even. I actually really like Birch x Birch, but I think they wanted different combinations. Birch is sort of fuzzy, giving it a little grippyness, but raw ash is still the dream natty tama
It definitely works. Have my CCS pro mod tama (beech wood) on a maple Kaizen 2.0 ken and it really works. Maple durability for the ken and beech tamas break in really nice, especially for stalls in my experience. Had something similar a year ago with a Prime Grain tama from Sweets (again, beech) on a Sol maple ken.
It works, but ash is more brittle and grippy, and maple is more hard, making the ken wear out faster than the tama, giving it chips and a flat spike, where as maple ken x ash tama, the tama breaks in first, and the ken stays strong. That actually works really well. It sure keeps you spikes fresh too because maple is harder than beech, so it doesn't wear down the spike too fast. Besides the Gallagher mods, Kendama USA released a new Rasta, maple 2.0 ken with beech rasta tama, and it works out just as nicely!
I agree, maple on maple is never a wrong choice, in fact most of my Damas are maple x maple with the exception of my maple f3 and DWI Ash
I think the combo would be better if you had an Ash Tama on a Bamboo Ken. I personally don't like Ash for Kens as they don't break in as good as Maple or Beech, but they're great for tamas since the grain around the bevel gets exposed for play and they become stall honed. Bamboo, on the other hand, is like beech. Great all around jammer, but with the added bonus of a loud clack, so spikes are satisfying.