Who in here makes toys but insists on only playing the WORST of your toys to make the best available to others? Who else enforces a strict "Jank Code" with their creations??
Same here. The ones used in my footage and the ones people see me use on the streets don't look that good. I often tell paople about our fb page and how the kendamas presented there look far better than the one I have in my hand. There is a saying in Croatia "U postolara najgore postole.", which roughly translates to "The shoe cobbler always has the worst shoes"
Yes and no, I mean any B Grades NEVER go out the door to customers. The only way something 'BGrade' goes out the door is if it is someone I know personally, and they're in the shop picking it up in person and can see whats up with it. For example, this kendama is owned by Keith M, the stripes on it are slightly misaligned so I decided not to sell it publicly. Keith freaked out when I told him I was going to engrave 'BGRADE' across the bottom cup ridge, so instead I settled on engraving it on the ken, but hidden under the sarado In my books, BGrades are mostly issues that won't truly affect playability or durability. Something that affects play would be an Fgrade or whatever, they usually end up as test pieces for new processes, as jigs in the shop, in a box in the back shelves, etc. I also keep A Grade stuff though: anything new I come up with, I almost always beat the hell out of a nice one first to make sure it holds up to be 'true Terra quality'. Having Rod and Eric on the Terra team is a great way to test how truly durable a new design/species/whatever is! Those guys thrash damas proper!
Yeah, I envy the access to those two just a tiny bit ha ha! I'll sell a B-Grade but usually send "value add" stuff that's dank. Extra strings, some stickers, a mini-ken or extra cups or tamas. I've sent all manner of "makeup" because I goofed up or it was the last one and I couldn't replace it or something...I would like to put an end to that post haste ha ha!
If i mess up when making a kendama. I like to comfort myself by saying thats a new model or one of a kind premium kendama. But yeah. Usually i end up playing with shitty ones. Too short or too light.... but hey, if i am strugling with trick on a shitty dama, when i try a new one all the tricks will be easy. (Thats another thing im saying to myself to comfort myself) Haha
Plan/build/test/repeat-x-times and keep the process materials for other processes. Mistakes/anomalies tend to point towards opportunities for experimentation with something you'd not normally consider. I had a nearly perfect lathe session for another bubinga (lovely resonant wood species) ken, until I went to drill the hole through the sarado... with the wrong diameter bit in the chuck. It sat on the shelf for two months because I couldn't play it as-is and didn't want to rig an insert for the hole. SO I went to rhino5 replicated the mis-drilled ken parts for modeling work and took the opportunity to go "cyborg." Transplanting the traditional big/little/bottom wooden cups and introducing a nylon spike/frame and fabric wrappings for grip, closure, and a way to swap the cups regularly. Made a mistake, and found an opportunity to try something new, combining two materials and methods I love.