Newby I am, when it comes to diabolo, and so is my Little Weed. This is in no way an insult. In fact being called a newby should be taken as a badge of honour, because you are trying something completely different and are in the process of learning. Learning means personal growth, which is always a good thing. In this case our quest is to learn tricks with a diabolo. I have had a 5″ diabolo for many years but really did not do much with it because I could not figure out how to spin the thing fast enough to do tricks. The Little Weed seemed to take to diabolos. In a fit of deceit I ordered two 4″ diabolos, one for the Little Weed and one for myself. The 4″ diabolos are lighter and spin up faster. More importantly, there was so much information on the Internet, including videos and graphics that helped me learn how to spin up quickly. It still takes practice and lots of it.
Replace your diabolo string when it grows hairs. Lehigh premium braided mason line, $9CAD for 250 ft. Macro 5x.
Newby learning and purchases are different from the experienced. I was not sure the Little Weed was coordinated enough and patient enough to do the diabolo, but as he practiced and learned his patience also increased. Patience has never been his strong suit but as the tricks come he is rewarded. Payment enough for persistence.
One of the newby learnings I had to do was to figure out when to change my string. Of course I have no diabolo teacher and the Little Weed looks to me to teach him. In order to increase speed I did a wrap, only to repeatedly lock up the diabolo. After struggling with this and avidly learning from the Diabolo.ca experts on the Internet I discovered my string had grown hairs and needed changing. But what string to buy? The consensus string seems to be Henry’s Yellow diabolo string, but this is expensive and not available from any seller in Canada. I would have to order it from the US. Instead I went to the local Home Depot and purchased 250′ of Lehigh premium braided mason line for $9CAD, which included a plastic string winder.
Braided mason line is not ideal as it wears out pretty quickly. The string starts out great but after a couple of hours of diaboloing the string begins to fray and develops small hairs. These small hairs contribute greatly to locking up the diabolo when you do a wrap. You do a wrap very often when you want to quickly speed up your diabolo.
On the right is a macro photo of some string that has worn out. Don’t worry the photo is 5 times actual size. When the string develops these small hairs you will need to change the string. Yes this fact is small but significant for a newby, which is why i spent the time to shoot a pic and post a blog on this subject.
Here in Canada Henry’s string is expensive. They only sell the 10m roll for $15CAD, plus $8CAD for shipping. Henry’s Yellow is available in a 25m roll, 1.33mm thick, for $25US plus shipping. Henry’s White is available in a 70m roll for $44US plus shipping but is supposedly not as good as the Yellow. Air Traffic has Henry’s Yellow 70m for $44US. The colour does make a difference. Here is a list of US vendors.
Different diabolo string in different colours
How to tie the string to your diabolo handsticks. I have not used this method but will try it.
How to tie your string to the diabolo sticks. I do this.
