Was the thumbstick ever smooth?

[/n64]

I recently rebuilt my thumbstick with a Kitsch Bent thumbstick / bowl / gears and Super Lube synthetic lubricant. And... it seems to have made a huge difference. Before it was grindy, unresponsive in some directions, and honestly kind of hard to use.
With just the new parts and before the lubricant, it was still pretty grindy. Is that just how they always were?
I never really played n64 before, just a handful of times at friends houses in the 90s.
I'm trying Mario 64 for pretty much the first time and Ocarina of Time (played the 3DS one). They both seem like very responsive / sensitive games and seem very difficult without a decent thumbstick.
The repair was fun and I would recommend it. You only need a screwdriver to open the controller, cotton swaps to clean parts and apply the lubricant, and maybe a small hobby knife to trim some places on the new parts. The shipping was fast and I got the lubricant from the local hardware store for ~$10.

submitted by /u/pikapomelo
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