reposted from https://www.facebook.com/groups/Outsville/permalink/373111256147405/
Low Deflection vs Standard Maple Shafts....
Around 1990 Predator hit the market with a new verse to Bob Meucci's low deflection song..... The new verse was arguably clearer and it was definitely louder.....
LD was and still is advertised as higher spin with less cueball deflection for a given tip offset.... Basically the spin argument has been contested from time to time but it is an agreed upon fact the LD shafts reduce cueball squirt when using english.....
The fact that this happens and it reduces one of the variables in pool shots using sidespin is therefore thought to increase the speed in which a new comer can progress to being a better player.
But what about those of us that are getting long in the tooth? We started out with solid maple shafts. We learned to compensate for english thru trial and error and different techniques. For the long in the tooth brigade shoud there be an concerted effort to make the change or will there be any improvements to be had?
Being part of the long in the tooth brigade I am going to explain why I won't use standard maple shafts anymore and am strictly on the LD shaft band wagon....
In the old days getting a new cue was always a pleasure and a pain. Every maple shaft has it's own deflection properties it would usually take a little while to adjust before you were ready to go into battle. Best part was buying a new cue with 2 shafts and finding out they played differently...
As I became a better player I started having a better understanding of what I wanted in a cue as for playing characteristics... I always started out heavy on taper and had my choice of tip and ferrule.. My cuemaker would then let me hit the cue and I would have them reduce the taper or move the pinch point.. Heaven forbid if we went to far because there was no going back and adding material...
Well there was an option but I was unaware of it until I got my first LD shaft....
When I got my first Predator it was 1990... I was like a kid on christmas when it came in the mail from ordering it online...
And then it began.... The first predators really weren't a lot different than my old trusty Meucci I had been playing with for several years... They still had a little deflection so I could still work the ball.. What I liked was the new shafts wouldn't ever seem to cross me up since the shot that small amount striaghter when using english. I would play with the 314 for the next 15 years...
In 2005 OB hit the market... It just so happened I had ran out of 314 shafts or original predators to lay my hands on in my area... There were a ton of those first edition cues that were sold and I managed for 15 years to find them locally whenever I felt that I had worn out the shaft I was playing with... I usually got about 2 years of play before the noodled out on me and started to feel like maybe the glue seems had had enough....
I ordered one of the new OB shafts to match up to a Schon I had been using that the 314 had bit the dust on... I made a mad dash to the pool room when they called me and told me the pro shop had my shaft in... I screwed the shaft onto my trusted Schon and proceeded to miss balls for several days until I tossed the shaft in the closet.. It's still there BTW....
I went ahead and ordered a new z2 shaft thinking since it was a predator product it might be right up my alley... I sold it for half of what I paid for it within a month.... Around this time I met a local cuemaker... He agreed to build me a cue and he would make a shaft that suited me...
After several failed attempts we gave up on the idea of finding a taper/pinch in a traditional maple shaft that was going to suit me so at my behest he set about making a LD shaft that I was going to be happy with... He would change the sizes and depth of the bores and change the materials used on the front end and after several iterations he fell on a shaft that suited me perfectly...
OF course he refused to stop there and ended up going way lower in deflection than I desired and he makes one heck of a LD shaft... It's on par with the best on the market and they are completely useless to me...
What is not useless to me was the trip.. As the shafts evolved I came to understand that I could add weight back to the end of the shaft by changing the ferrule materials or by adding large carbon fiber pads under the tips... I found out that going LD and working back this way that I could easily tune any LD shaft to play the way I wanted with just a little help from a decent repair shop/installer...
No more worries about adjusting to new shafts. I can order an engineered shaft from OB, the pro works well for me, and with a few minor changes I have a shaft that I can depend on that matches my mind's eye for what to expect when I apply english.. When this shaft becomes dust I can order a replacement and have the same changes done and I get the same shaft again..
SO For me the BIGGEST benefit to LD technology is consistency... Engineered shafts rolling off the line identical by the thousands... I am long in the tooth and I don't want to rewire my brain. I want to be abe to depend on my equipment doing exactly what it has done for years...
SO for those of you with LD shafts tossed in the closet... Dig them out... Carry them to your local repair guy and try a larger ferrule or a different ferrule material. Once you fall on the combination that works for you you will likely be set for the rest of your playing careers.... No adjustments necesary to your game just a few sheckles out of your wallet and you will be right back in high cotton....
Chris
Low Deflection vs Standard Maple Shafts....
Around 1990 Predator hit the market with a new verse to Bob Meucci's low deflection song..... The new verse was arguably clearer and it was definitely louder.....
LD was and still is advertised as higher spin with less cueball deflection for a given tip offset.... Basically the spin argument has been contested from time to time but it is an agreed upon fact the LD shafts reduce cueball squirt when using english.....
The fact that this happens and it reduces one of the variables in pool shots using sidespin is therefore thought to increase the speed in which a new comer can progress to being a better player.
But what about those of us that are getting long in the tooth? We started out with solid maple shafts. We learned to compensate for english thru trial and error and different techniques. For the long in the tooth brigade shoud there be an concerted effort to make the change or will there be any improvements to be had?
Being part of the long in the tooth brigade I am going to explain why I won't use standard maple shafts anymore and am strictly on the LD shaft band wagon....
In the old days getting a new cue was always a pleasure and a pain. Every maple shaft has it's own deflection properties it would usually take a little while to adjust before you were ready to go into battle. Best part was buying a new cue with 2 shafts and finding out they played differently...
As I became a better player I started having a better understanding of what I wanted in a cue as for playing characteristics... I always started out heavy on taper and had my choice of tip and ferrule.. My cuemaker would then let me hit the cue and I would have them reduce the taper or move the pinch point.. Heaven forbid if we went to far because there was no going back and adding material...
Well there was an option but I was unaware of it until I got my first LD shaft....
When I got my first Predator it was 1990... I was like a kid on christmas when it came in the mail from ordering it online...
And then it began.... The first predators really weren't a lot different than my old trusty Meucci I had been playing with for several years... They still had a little deflection so I could still work the ball.. What I liked was the new shafts wouldn't ever seem to cross me up since the shot that small amount striaghter when using english. I would play with the 314 for the next 15 years...
In 2005 OB hit the market... It just so happened I had ran out of 314 shafts or original predators to lay my hands on in my area... There were a ton of those first edition cues that were sold and I managed for 15 years to find them locally whenever I felt that I had worn out the shaft I was playing with... I usually got about 2 years of play before the noodled out on me and started to feel like maybe the glue seems had had enough....
I ordered one of the new OB shafts to match up to a Schon I had been using that the 314 had bit the dust on... I made a mad dash to the pool room when they called me and told me the pro shop had my shaft in... I screwed the shaft onto my trusted Schon and proceeded to miss balls for several days until I tossed the shaft in the closet.. It's still there BTW....
I went ahead and ordered a new z2 shaft thinking since it was a predator product it might be right up my alley... I sold it for half of what I paid for it within a month.... Around this time I met a local cuemaker... He agreed to build me a cue and he would make a shaft that suited me...
After several failed attempts we gave up on the idea of finding a taper/pinch in a traditional maple shaft that was going to suit me so at my behest he set about making a LD shaft that I was going to be happy with... He would change the sizes and depth of the bores and change the materials used on the front end and after several iterations he fell on a shaft that suited me perfectly...
OF course he refused to stop there and ended up going way lower in deflection than I desired and he makes one heck of a LD shaft... It's on par with the best on the market and they are completely useless to me...
What is not useless to me was the trip.. As the shafts evolved I came to understand that I could add weight back to the end of the shaft by changing the ferrule materials or by adding large carbon fiber pads under the tips... I found out that going LD and working back this way that I could easily tune any LD shaft to play the way I wanted with just a little help from a decent repair shop/installer...
No more worries about adjusting to new shafts. I can order an engineered shaft from OB, the pro works well for me, and with a few minor changes I have a shaft that I can depend on that matches my mind's eye for what to expect when I apply english.. When this shaft becomes dust I can order a replacement and have the same changes done and I get the same shaft again..
SO For me the BIGGEST benefit to LD technology is consistency... Engineered shafts rolling off the line identical by the thousands... I am long in the tooth and I don't want to rewire my brain. I want to be abe to depend on my equipment doing exactly what it has done for years...
SO for those of you with LD shafts tossed in the closet... Dig them out... Carry them to your local repair guy and try a larger ferrule or a different ferrule material. Once you fall on the combination that works for you you will likely be set for the rest of your playing careers.... No adjustments necesary to your game just a few sheckles out of your wallet and you will be right back in high cotton....
Chris
