Take it however you like. I'm not interested in your drama.
I've played exclusively with a conical taper for more than a dozen years.
pj
chgo
Can someone expalin the Term "Pro Taper"
- Thread starter dsoriano
- Start date
pj
chgo
With a pro taper shaft, you will be able to line up to a shot, put the tip in the area you want to contact, and as long as you don't have any other stroke flaws, you won't need to do any fancy stuff in order for the tip to go straight. With a conical taper shaft, you must adjust how you line up due to the non parallel sides of the shaft causing the tip to rise and fall as its stroked, when lined up using dead center of the shaft as your aim.
If you lined up the on the rail shot you guys are talking about, you will be forced to jack the butt end of the conical taper shaft to allow it to follow the straight bottom edge, and not have the tip rise or fall. And if you are having problems with miscues on force follow, changing to a pro taper won't help, there are other areas you aren't paying attention to.
If you lined up the on the rail shot you guys are talking about, you will be forced to jack the butt end of the conical taper shaft to allow it to follow the straight bottom edge, and not have the tip rise or fall. And if you are having problems with miscues on force follow, changing to a pro taper won't help, there are other areas you aren't paying attention to.
Okay, I'll play along for awhile. I do not believe anyone said they were having any ongoing problems with miscueing with a conical shaft. Mr. Naji merely pointed out the difference in the taper & the fact that if one does not take that into consideration one could have a tendancy to miscue on high cue ball contact shots like the 'force follow'.
You do not have to do any fancy stuff. As PJ has suggested, if you gauge up to the CB & do not have a funcky grip or any funky stroke mechanic flaws the tip should return the desired contact point. There are some other 'abnormal' shots that may need some attention in order to decrease the odds of a possible miscue. One of which has already been pointed out.
In 'jacking up' the butt end of the cue, it is a minor variation if one even wants to call it a variation as I believe the conical taper came before the pro taper(I might be wrong). The center line of the shaft would be angled down very slighty as the stick rides on the bridge & the tip would have a miniscule angle to it as well. This is only required if you want the tip to ride more in a vertically stable straight line than it the slight down & up movment if one would holds the cue firmly enough to keep the stick on the center line of the cue. In that case the stick would actually leave the bridge going back & return down to it on the forward stroke.
All that being said, if one would ever bridge beyond that of the point of the pro taper and then stroke, the sudden rising of the tip on the foward stroke might cause a problem even though it would fall & rise back to the aimed point, but that rising motion might cause an imprecise contact.
So, all that being said, I'll play along, what other abnormalities may need attention in order to decrease the odds of a possible miscue?
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Getting back on subject, a "pro-taper" is that little tool the professional pool player uses to shape his cue tip. Most pros keep them in that little pocket on their...what? It's tapper, not taper?
Nevermind.
Nevermind.
Getting back on subject, a "pro-taper" is that little tool the professional pool player uses to shape his cue tip. Most pros keep them in that little pocket on their...what? It's tapper, not taper?
Nevermind.
Thanks for the chuckle.:rotflmao1:
But on an important note, Whatever you do...do not put masking 'tape' on your 'tapper'.
Regards,
Nobody is aware of how the center axis of their shaft moves, because that's not useful information - we just know how the tip moves and where it ends up on the CB. We "adjust" to make that happen whether it's a pro or a conical taper.
pj
chgo
That's interesting. Just how do we "adjust"?
Obviously by having the grip hand at the right height in both cases - one is no more difficult or less intuitive than the other.
pj
chgo
pro taper refers to the shaft remaing close to the same size for several inches before it begins to gradually increase in circumference until it reaches the joint area
it is favored by many pro players as the added flex enables them to put more english on the cueball with less effort,or so the story goes
i personally don't like them at all,i fould that it provides a lot of inconsistency and unwanted results
i designed the Deano cue with no pro taper at all and found that i got more control.more english and less deflection
a while back,az had a poll for best hitting cues and the results were the top 3 were Tim Scruggs,Southwest cues and Schon
it was funny that this reflected my opinions as well,these 3 cues have siffish tapers and play great
When I made the Deano cue,Tim and Mike had me send mine to them,they were so tickled with all my talk that they wanted to see what was up
They were so impressed that they actually changed their taper to something more like my deano cue(mine was a consistent linear progression from tip to joint)
they modified theirs in that direction
I talked to danny Janes at joss and he said he played the best pool of his career with a taper like this and their was no doubt in his mind that it was better to play with
When I asked him why he didn't put them on his cues,he said "they don't sell,people prefer pro taper"
an analogy to golf confirms my point
regular and senior flex shafts enable a player to get more flex and hit shots with slower swings,but good players lose control
therefore almost all good golfers use extra stiff shafts
it is my belief that meucci wimpy shafts which were at one time so popular,influenced the thinking of a generation of pool players
i maintain that it was hype and not scientific investigation that caused people to play pro taper shafts,even the description(pro taper) breeds a certain bias in their favor
why you ask, do so many pros like them?if you start out playing anything and get use to it,you will play well with it,not because of it
post hoc ergo proctor hoc
it is favored by many pro players as the added flex enables them to put more english on the cueball with less effort,or so the story goes
i personally don't like them at all,i fould that it provides a lot of inconsistency and unwanted results
i designed the Deano cue with no pro taper at all and found that i got more control.more english and less deflection
a while back,az had a poll for best hitting cues and the results were the top 3 were Tim Scruggs,Southwest cues and Schon
it was funny that this reflected my opinions as well,these 3 cues have siffish tapers and play great
When I made the Deano cue,Tim and Mike had me send mine to them,they were so tickled with all my talk that they wanted to see what was up
They were so impressed that they actually changed their taper to something more like my deano cue(mine was a consistent linear progression from tip to joint)
they modified theirs in that direction
I talked to danny Janes at joss and he said he played the best pool of his career with a taper like this and their was no doubt in his mind that it was better to play with
When I asked him why he didn't put them on his cues,he said "they don't sell,people prefer pro taper"
an analogy to golf confirms my point
regular and senior flex shafts enable a player to get more flex and hit shots with slower swings,but good players lose control
therefore almost all good golfers use extra stiff shafts
it is my belief that meucci wimpy shafts which were at one time so popular,influenced the thinking of a generation of pool players
i maintain that it was hype and not scientific investigation that caused people to play pro taper shafts,even the description(pro taper) breeds a certain bias in their favor
why you ask, do so many pros like them?if you start out playing anything and get use to it,you will play well with it,not because of it
post hoc ergo proctor hoc
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The original pro-taper I believe referred to slow increase of diameter
of the shaft from the tip up the stroking area.
These days shafts with more than 2mm of diameter increase in
the middle of the shaft is considered a stiff taper.
Which one plays better is an endless debate.
of the shaft from the tip up the stroking area.
These days shafts with more than 2mm of diameter increase in
the middle of the shaft is considered a stiff taper.
Which one plays better is an endless debate.
add to the top and bottom shifting, side shifting as well placing more english at times. See 2011 old post i responded to yesterday.
It's propter, not proctor. :wink:
Anyway, what we know as pro taper was popular before Meucci.
.
I won't answer for Mr. Naji, but for me it is because I try to use only enough english to get the job, position I want, accomplished. So.. when down on the shot & the perspective & perception changes it often becomes apparent that a little more english is needed, or sometimes it's an adustment on the vertical axis & even sometimes less english is the answer but not as often since I have already made the decison to use english. When one decides to use english one never wants to use it in excess. Therefore the error as to choosing the 'correct' amount is more often made on the under side.
naji's comment and my question aren't about errors in choosing the correct amount; they're about getting more or less than you've chosen.
pj
chgo
Sorry,
I guees I took it wrong from the short quote.
It might be a good idea if the forum could add the post #'s when someone does a quote so readers could easily go back & read the whole quote if & when needed.
Sorry Again,
Sorry Rick and Pat, i rushed my reply i was heading out the door. I meant refer to a 2011 year post i found by running a Google search on the subject.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=3889102#post3889102