UPSB v4

Hand Care / Pen weight

  1. Mageta
    Date: Sat, Feb 12 2011 20:52:26

    I keep hearing that you should start with a lighter pen and that starting with a heavy pen could damage the hand and cause poor form in the future. What is considered too heavy? I just started spinning about a month ago and I've been using a variation of the RSVP MX (g2 grip and signo tip). Should I downgrade to something lighter? I built a bictory with g2 grips on each end but the thin barrel and light weight make it fly out of may hands all the time since I'm used to the MX.

  2. kittylilycat
    Date: Sat, Feb 12 2011 21:06:01

    Shouldn't you start with something heavy? That way you can't penspin too fast, especially for beginners. Drumsticks are pretty heavy but you can't spin too fast with them.

  3. -ACE-
    Date: Sat, Feb 12 2011 22:12:01

    id think something like an rsvp pen i spun with that first

  4. Awesome
    Date: Sat, Feb 12 2011 22:17:44

    RSVP MX weight is light, so thats fine, heavy mods are Dr.KTs and busters and the sort. It doesn't damage the hand per se, but your hand will get used to what its spinning and when you're learning its easiest to influence it in a certain way, since spinning a heavier pen is easy to transition to you want to build a good foundation on light pens so you can spin what you want to later on in your spinning career. Once you can start doing decent combos and are learning difficult tricks then look into a heavier pen

  5. happy_happy
    Date: Sat, Feb 12 2011 22:42:06

    I used RSVP MX for 4 months after I started as a main mod, and went on to using double sided mods, as long as they were signo-tipped. It's probably best to use tips that don't go above the weight of signo. It's alright to use KT or Buster if you already have one, but use it as a training tool to learn specific tricks that would seem a little difficult at first with your MX

  6. tacohead12
    Date: Sat, Feb 12 2011 23:02:02

    I think I used a bictory with g2 grips for like 4 months. But i would have used an mx if I had it. Anyhow, People often discourage using a heavy pen to start off is because it will be the only thing you can spin effectively in the future. If you start off spinning something very heavy such as a buster you won't be good at spinning something like an mx. Of course you could develop that skill with a light pen but it would be more difficult and not very time efficient if you could have just learned that earlier. I think the pen ur using right now is fine though. Its not that heavy.

  7. Mageta
    Date: Sat, Feb 12 2011 23:11:56

    Alright, sounds like I'm fine then, thanks guys!

  8. spinnerhui
    Date: Mon, Feb 14 2011 03:17:07

    quick question...signo tipped buster considered heavy? what about a waterfall? (I just bought a bunch of signos xD)

  9. ₧£jiƒ
    Date: Mon, Feb 14 2011 13:56:49

    I LAIK TEH MUDKIPS

  10. Elune
    Date: Mon, Feb 14 2011 14:24:28

    Waterfall is one of the best mods to train :D (I've heard from lots of people) In case you find WF too light for you, just add some types of items in the tip (maybe paper rolled into ball) but not recommended >.>

  11. LaMa
    Date: Wed, Feb 16 2011 09:44:23

    RSVP MX (g2 grip and signo tip) is so called Toro mx.

  12. iBlameLag
    Date: Sat, Feb 19 2011 04:00:19

    Okay, let me explain why it's not a good idea to start out spinning with a heavy mod - It completely destroys the hand. See, I'm guessing that when you constantly spin a heavy mod (Idk, BICtory with Dr. Grip tips and grips) it gets lighter and lighter because you're building up muscles in your fingers and it makes it less flexible. That was a guess. True fact - yes, my hand is slightly damaged by the fact I spun heavy mods - is that when you spin a heavy mod for a long time, other mods seem less and less heavy and seem to use less momentum, making it harder to spin. Therefore you have to get heavier and heavier mods.

  13. WhatsOfTheUp1
    Date: Sat, Feb 19 2011 06:41:11

    Like other people have said, starting out with a heavy mod will pretty much destroy your hand. And if you're a beginner, than you shouldn't use a heavy mod. If you do, your hand will get used to the heaviness of the mod, and in the future, you won't be able to spin lighter mods, like a dc comssa. And besides, starting off with a light mod then slowly getting heavier and heavier mods will be much better, because then, you'll be able to spin all types of mods, heavy or light. And if you stick with a light mod throughout your penspinning life, spinning a heavy mod will just feel like a lot more momentum. Whereas if you start off with a heavy mod, when you try to spin a light mod, it will be like you have no momentum at all, thus causing you only to be able to spin one type of pen: the heavy one. All in all, as everyone else has said already, start with a light mod, and get heavier and heavier mods. Don't be a newbie that spins a buster. Please. I myself am a newbie, and i spin with a metal comssa, i'm soon just gonna spin with a normal dc comssa. Oh, and by the way, since heavier mods are generally easier to spin with (so much momentum) you CAN learn new tricks with it. I mean when you're learning a new trick, get it down a few times with the heavy mod, just so you know what the trick is supposed to feel like. Then, you can go back and spin your light mod, now knowing how the trick is supposed to feel, thus helping you learn it easier. I did this with a drumstick. Did the trick a few times, then switched back to a light mod, knowing how to do the trick. EDIT: And yes, your spinning with an MX is fine. Heavy mods are stuff like a buster or a Dr KT

  14. Sc00t
    Date: Tue, Mar 1 2011 03:50:55

    tacohead12 wrote: I think I used a bictory with g2 grips for like 4 months. But i would have used an mx if I had it. Anyhow, People often discourage using a heavy pen to start off is because it will be the only thing you can spin effectively in the future. If you start off spinning something very heavy such as a buster you won't be good at spinning something like an mx. Of course you could develop that skill with a light pen but it would be more difficult and not very time efficient if you could have just learned that earlier. I think the pen ur using right now is fine though. Its not that heavy.
    i disagree i learned with heavy pens [not a buster, mind you. think KT] and i picked up a rsvp unmodded and within a week or 2 of nothing but the rsvp i was able to do almost every single thing i could do on my heavier pens and now i can triple bust on my kt and double bust on an unmodded rsvp, twice in a row without dropping, sometimes 3, which is pretty consistent considering.. yeah.. it's a rsvp pen yes the rsvp feels to have very little momentum but your hands learn to adjust to the weight automatically so its important to know how to spin heavy AND light pens and dont worry about ruining your spinning with heavy mods :) sure i can't spin as impressively with my rsvp pen but i don't bust out my RSVP when i want to do impressive things, i just freestyle/ta harmonic with it while in class or something.. i dont start chaining aerial busts and palmspins while working, that's just being a bad student. I spin in class to keep my hands entertained while i think of what to write, or i do a quick combo to loosen up my fingers after writing an entire page (This is actually a very real use of pen spinning, keeping your hand loose while writing) One could argue that the spinning is even more impressive to non spinners because it's actually pen spinning not baton spinning Now, as for starting out with a heavy pen and it's effect on your style and being like spinnerpeem or whoever the kids these days idolize... you cant 'permanently' damage your style, you can always change, thats what i think. it just takes more effort to break away from what you've developed as a style. for example, spinnerpeem has had his style for years, changing now would take tremendous effort, but if you've been spinning a buster for a few months.. no harm done

  15. D_Jay
    Date: Sun, Mar 13 2011 16:20:31

    Now I train with a 25" pencil because it's increased rotational inertia (momentum) gives it stability, it keeps spinning the way I want. A light pen or the classic pencil loses the spin when it makes contact with the fingers. I prefer the heavy pen(cil) because I don't spin fast, less speed+more momentum => more needed mass. I wonder if someday I'll be able to spin normal pens (now I can't do anything with my light pens).

  16. Holypie
    Date: Mon, Mar 14 2011 01:10:33

    25 inches what the fuck?

  17. Defusionix
    Date: Mon, Mar 14 2011 04:23:17

    I think he might be talking about an unsharpened pencil. The length of a pencil I think is inconsistent for comparing different companies.

  18. D_Jay
    Date: Mon, Mar 14 2011 17:52:49

    I think that's used by architects/building engineers/workers. Oh, and it's actually about 15"/38cm long. It's two times longer than an average school pencil and it's sharpened and maybe used, who know how long it originally was... :o

  19. spinnerhui
    Date: Wed, Mar 16 2011 01:59:34

    crazy...0_o

  20. BiWinning
    Date: Thu, Mar 17 2011 22:44:00

    I find thicker pens are easier to spin than skinny ones, and in most cases those thicker ones are heavier.