Why 2 shafts when 1 is enough??

J

jonnyyyl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
the long and short of it, why do people have 2 playing shafts when 1 is enough? or even why do people have 2 playing cues? (full disclosure, i too suffer from cue addiction:o:o)

to merely say that the extra shafts or butts are mere backups or are just people's fullfillment/satisfaction/greed seem to be an overly simplified answer

looking at the history of cues and cases, its intriguing to see people's playing inventory increase over time.

the fact that old cases facilitated 1 butt 1 shaft tell me that people did at one point owned only 1x1. and it seemed to work fine for them. but somehow we have 1x2, 2x4 + more. (dealers case is a different story!!)

if a cue is well made and well maintained, there should be no faults with the cue. im havent heard of any pros have disasters with cues during matches...
 
When a butt comes with more than one shaft, they don't generally have the exact same specs. One may be 13 mm and one may be 12 mm, one may be a straight shaft and the other may be pro tapered, different ferrules, etc. That's been my experience anyway.
 
I have been playing a guy before and my tip delaminated/popped off in the middle of the match. I am not saying this is normal, but I was very thankful to have that extra shaft to go to.
 
when a one butt one shaft case was in the majority the main game was 14:1 and some one pocket. 9 ball and other games were played, but no one was trying to break or jump the way we do taday. if you are playing 14:1 or one pocket one cue is all you need.
in the era we play in now where games like 9 and 10 ball requier much harder break shots and allow for the jump shot / cue it's advantageous to have a specialized break cue and a also carry a specialized jump cue. a jump break can get you by but it's still another cue.
as far as a second shaft or second playing cue i would really consider that a back up / second option. my playing cue came with a second shaft and the only reason i carry it, is as a backup, incase a tip fails or my cue gets knocked over and gets a ding in the shaft (which has happened).
some may carry more than one cue to show off what they have but think that is the minority. i think most have a few in the case as i said for specialized conditions.
 
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When I bought my last cue I ordered two Z-2's. When one's tip wears down I switch while a new one is being put on.
 
Shafts

I only have one shaft for my playing cue, but I have 2 shafts for my break cue. It seemed to me if you were going to crack a ferrule or pop a tip, that it would be on the break cue rather than the playing cue.
 
I have two shafts on my Schon that hit absolutely identical and I have the second just in case something happens to tip on the one I'm using. I just make sure to put the same tips on both shafts and break them both in a bit so if something does happen later on the spare shaft doesn't have a virgin tip on it.
 
I knew a guy at one time that hustle golf, using only a 7 iron an a putter. I know one guy that makes a lot of money using only a house cue. As a matter of fact he think it is so silly for anyone to spend money for a cue. When you can use one for free. Now for me I use a 3 X 6 case that is full. I have I believe 8 cues an of course 16 shafts. Let me tell you if a tip needs to be replaced or a dent in a shaft shows up it will be taken care of. Yelp I'm an addict. Skip :wink:
 
I like having shafts that play different but have LD qualities , I dont have no 2 alike shafts,,, but I do have 4 different Ld playing shafts, and I plan to obtain even more...
 
Why do most people have an extra tire in their trunk?



jonnyyyl said:
the long and short of it, why do people have 2 playing shafts when 1 is enough? or even why do people have 2 playing cues? (full disclosure, i too suffer from cue addiction:o:o)

to merely say that the extra shafts or butts are mere backups or are just people's fullfillment/satisfaction/greed seem to be an overly simplified answer

looking at the history of cues and cases, its intriguing to see people's playing inventory increase over time.

the fact that old cases facilitated 1 butt 1 shaft tell me that people did at one point owned only 1x1. and it seemed to work fine for them. but somehow we have 1x2, 2x4 + more. (dealers case is a different story!!)

if a cue is well made and well maintained, there should be no faults with the cue. im havent heard of any pros have disasters with cues during matches...
Click to expand...
 
Many players that have two shafts of the same diameter will alternate between shafts so that they are well adjusted to either should a change become necessary, like losing a tip or getting a ding in one. The shafts on all my cues from the same maker are very consistent from shaft to shaft so alternating is not as important to me. But it still is good to have a back up if needed.

As mentioned. some guys will have shafts of different diameters and use the one that is more suited for them to the game they are playing, especially if one of those games is snooker. For the same reason I've also known players that will keep different tips on their shafts, depending on what game they are playing.

I think Ernie Gutierrez was one of the early makers to provide two shafts with his cues.
 
My Palmer model M, 2nd catalog, ordered back in the early 70's, came with 2 idential shafts. Ditto my Josey, purchased in 2007.

I guess the higher end cues just come that way. Like said earlier, like having a spare tire.
 
In the 60s and 70s I always had two shafts. One for bar tables with a big cue ball and one for 9' tables. Different shafts completely. BTW, they were Gina shafts.
 
It's a throw back from the time of poor tip glues.
There was, however, a cue that was developed by a fellow named Jasper Isinglass, that incorporated two shafts on the same butt at the same time. The shafts ran parale...parali...along side one another, and used a common joint.
One of the shafts was straight and the other was slightly bowed. The idea, of course, was to use the straight shaft for normal shots and the curved shaft for shots where intervening balls had a player blocked. This comes up quite regularly in One Pocket.
Needless to say the "Twofer", as it was called, never caught on. Many thought it was way ahead of it's time. Others said it was a waste of good maple. :)
 
Tramp Steamer said:
It's a throw back from the time of poor tip glues.
There was, however, a cue that was developed by a fellow named Jasper Isinglass, that incorporated two shafts on the same butt at the same time. The shafts ran parale...parali...along side one another, and used a common joint.
One of the shafts was straight and the other was slightly bowed. The idea, of course, was to use the straight shaft for normal shots and the curved shaft for shots where intervening balls had a player blocked. This comes up quite regularly in One Pocket.
Needless to say the "Twofer", as it was called, never caught on. Many thought it was way ahead of it's time. Others said it was a waste of good maple. :)
Click to expand...


If this is for real I want pictures :) Sounds about as resourceful as a quadruple necked guitar lol
 
Tramp Steamer said:
It's a throw back from the time of poor tip glues.
There was, however, a cue that was developed by a fellow named Jasper Isinglass, that incorporated two shafts on the same butt at the same time. The shafts ran parale...parali...along side one another, and used a common joint.
One of the shafts was straight and the other was slightly bowed. The idea, of course, was to use the straight shaft for normal shots and the curved shaft for shots where intervening balls had a player blocked. This comes up quite regularly in One Pocket.
Needless to say the "Twofer", as it was called, never caught on. Many thought it was way ahead of it's time. Others said it was a waste of good maple. :)
Click to expand...

BFrench501 said:
If this is for real I want pictures :) Sounds about as resourceful as a quadruple necked guitar lol
Click to expand...

I'm glad you came back, Tramp. :wink:
 
skip said:
As a matter of fact he think it is so silly for anyone to spend money for a cue. When you can use one for free. Now for me I use a 3 X 6 case that is full. I have I believe 8 cues an of course 16 shafts.
Click to expand...

Hard to figure out how both of those can be true...
 
and to answer the original poster:

I have a 3x6 case. Inside are the following:

Main playing cue (Andy Gilbert) with my main playing shaft (predator 314-2 with Gilbert joint), backup playing shaft (predator 314-2 with predator joint), and the original Gilbert shaft for really no good reason.

My break cue (BK2) with the main shaft and a backup shaft

Another break cue butt (Predator BK1) which is VERY light that my teammate uses (with the backup BK2 shaft).


I do NOT want to be without a cue that is familiar to me. If a tip comes off on my breaker or my player, I'm prepared.

KMRUNOUT
 
I would ALWAYS prefer 2 shafts because I have ALWAYS found one shaft to play better than the other.
 

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