LD Shafts vs Regular Maple Shafts

SCCues

SCCues

< Searing Twins
Silver Member
I've been playing with Predator shafts and a couple of weeks with an OB1 shaft on my Tim Scruggs cue for years and i've been playing OK. I've made myself believe that I can't play with a regular shaft because of having to allow for deflection and not being used to doing it. This is bad because I have a number of nice maple shafts that I haven't been using.

I made a couple of shafts a few years ago in a friends cue shop and I played around with the tapers to get them to feel just right, but when I started playing with predator shafts I put those shafts away and almost forgot about them. Well, I pulled one of my older shafts out and put it on my cue just to hit a few balls and I was shocked at how well the cue feels with the maple shaft on it after using the LD shafts for so long. Maybe it's just me, but I swear it seems like I can move the cue ball with ease using the solid maple shaft.

Has anybody switched back from Predators or OB1s to maple shafts and liked how the maple shafts feel better? I'm puzzled because i've been a loyal LD shaft user for years. I put my predator back on my cue and it still feels good, but the solid maple shaft feels as good or better. I must admit that i've tried some of my other shafts that have ivory ferrules on them and they didn't feel as good because of deflection as the shaft that I put together in my friends shop with the longer taper and the melamine capped ferrule (I'm using a Moori Slow tip cut down close to the ferrule).

James
 
I sell Tiger X shafts. Mainly, because people buy them.

There is nothing wrong with a good quality solid maple shaft. We've been using them for ever! I have an old dufferin with the laminated shaft that I used as a break cue before I got my first Mace. Just found it recently actually...

I guess the point is, congratulations! You came full circle.:thumbup:

That being said, I understand a lot of the feel of a cue comes from the shaft. A bad shaft, regardless of construction method, is just bad.
 
Cue Guru said:
I guess the point is, congratulations! You came full circle.:thumbup:

That being said, I understand a lot of the feel of a cue comes from the shaft. A bad shaft, regardless of construction method, is just bad.
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I played in my 9 ball league Monday night and I thought i'd give the solid maple shaft a try in competition (my league is a race to 9 against equal competition or better competition) since I liked the way it felt just hitting balls by myself.

When the match started I was a little shaky and I made a couple of mistakes and I fell behind quickly. About half way through the match I switched back to my Predator shaft and I got my confidence back on some of the harder cut shots that required english to get position. I think I should have waited a little longer to switch back to a maple shaft before I tackled a tough opponent. It's a lot different just hitting balls by yourself versus playing an opponent who's firing back at you! I lost the match 9 to 5.......

James
 
SCCues said:
I played in my 9 ball league Monday night and I thought i'd give the solid maple shaft a try in competition ... About half way through the match I switched back to my Predator shaft and I got my confidence back on some of the harder cut shots that required english to get position. I think I should have waited a little longer to switch back to a maple shaft before I tackled a tough opponent.
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:eek: Basically, you went into a competitive situation with a BRAND NEW CUE. If you change a shaft (even the second shaft made with a cue) on a cue, you often have a new cue in your hands. In your case, you replaced half the cue! The weight, balance point, tip and shaft characteristics all changed in an instant.

Absolutely, you need more time with that shaft before you get into a match. If you asked my opinion beforehand, I would have said the same thing. Some guys just don't 'feel' the difference, and can shoot with anything.

Also, you knew the cue was different, so you had something to blame subconsciously. I'm not coming down on you, it's just the way it is. For 99% of cue buyers, if they beleive it will make them play better, they will play better. That acounts for a LOT, and should not be shrugged off.

But, if you stick with the 'old' shaft, I think you will really start to appreciate it. It DOES play totally differently. No question there. Even a simple tip replacement can send guys over the edge. And for good reason.

I don't practice this myself; however it is a good idea to play with all shafts that come with your cue, so in the middle of a match, if you loose a tip or crack a ferule, you can change shafts without it feeling like you changed cues completely. But, not many people do this.
 
SCCues said:
Has anybody switched back from Predators or OB1s to maple shafts and liked how the maple shafts feel better? I'm puzzled because i've been a loyal LD shaft user for years. I put my predator back on my cue and it still feels good, but the solid maple shaft feels as good or better. I must admit that i've tried some of my other shafts that have ivory ferrules on them and they didn't feel as good because of deflection as the shaft that I put together in my friends shop with the longer taper and the melamine capped ferrule (I'm using a Moori Slow tip cut down close to the ferrule).

James
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Absolutely. I had started playing Lam shafts about 10 years ago. Originally Meucci RedDots (great shafts back then , I don't care what people think about Meucci today) Preds after that and then OBs till a couple years ago. I still have quite a number of them that were built up with various cues.

Anyway , few years ago I had a custom cue built and recieved it and it's shafts before I could get a partial OB sent over. (Still have half a dozen OB partial in plastic ;)) Stunning old growth maple shafts that I swear , if you look at the end grain at the joint , you'd think they were laminated shafts anayway. Only difference is the immense amounts of feel they transmit vs true laminated shafts. Something I hadn't felt in years. Instantly I could feel in the palm of my hand exactly how I hit each shot.It was like 'feeling' my stroke with a magnifying glass.

I think that is the primary reason why adjusting back was far simpler than I thought it would be. In only a few hours the first day , I was dialed in and making shots without really thinking about it. There were even a few shots that I gain confidence in for whatever reason , maybe because I can better feel what's going on ? Not sure but don't care either. :) JUst know I won't be going back.
 
SCCues said:
I played in my 9 ball league Monday night and I thought i'd give the solid maple shaft a try in competition (my league is a race to 9 against equal competition or better competition) since I liked the way it felt just hitting balls by myself.

When the match started I was a little shaky and I made a couple of mistakes and I fell behind quickly. About half way through the match I switched back to my Predator shaft and I got my confidence back on some of the harder cut shots that required english to get position. I think I should have waited a little longer to switch back to a maple shaft before I tackled a tough opponent. It's a lot different just hitting balls by yourself versus playing an opponent who's firing back at you! I lost the match 9 to 5.......

James
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You just started shaky and lost confidence. That's normal with anything you 'change'. You went back to your comfort zone.

Or , laminated shafts may just work better for you regardless of how good they feel. ;)
 
I played a 314-2 for several years, and loved it. When I got my Josey with the maple shafts it was amazing. The feedback of the stiff hit makes all the difference. I can't hit with my predator any more. I hate the dull hit. It just feels dead to me, and I don't enjoy it at all. I love my Bob Frey sneaky too. It hits stiff as well, and I never noticed the difference in deflection.
 
SCCues said:
I've been playing with Predator shafts and a couple of weeks with an OB1 shaft on my Tim Scruggs cue for years and i've been playing OK. I've made myself believe that I can't play with a regular shaft because of having to allow for deflection and not being used to doing it. This is bad because I have a number of nice maple shafts that I haven't been using.

I made a couple of shafts a few years ago in a friends cue shop and I played around with the tapers to get them to feel just right, but when I started playing with predator shafts I put those shafts away and almost forgot about them. Well, I pulled one of my older shafts out and put it on my cue just to hit a few balls and I was shocked at how well the cue feels with the maple shaft on it after using the LD shafts for so long. Maybe it's just me, but I swear it seems like I can move the cue ball with ease using the solid maple shaft.

Has anybody switched back from Predators or OB1s to maple shafts and liked how the maple shafts feel better? I'm puzzled because i've been a loyal LD shaft user for years. I put my predator back on my cue and it still feels good, but the solid maple shaft feels as good or better. I must admit that i've tried some of my other shafts that have ivory ferrules on them and they didn't feel as good because of deflection as the shaft that I put together in my friends shop with the longer taper and the melamine capped ferrule (I'm using a Moori Slow tip cut down close to the ferrule).

James
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I played predator for a short while. I thought there for a minute that it was the answer to pool. It wasn't until Buddy Hall suggested to me that I should play with a regular shaft. We traded on a cue deal and with it came two really good shafts. I was able to keep my predator shaft in the deal, and I went back and forth for a while. There was something there that I just couldn't put my finger on, but regardless, I still was undecided, switching back and forth from the natural to the laminated. Upon noticing me during my practice, Buddy made compliments every time he saw me using the natural maple shaft. I got the notion that there was more 'honor' in playing with a natural shaft as opposed to something that enabled me to pocket balls more 'conveniently'. He gave me some keen insight to the basics of pool and noted that pool played with a natural shaft is 'real pool'. He actually did note that pool played as a beginner would be learned easiest via laminated shaft. Look into that and translate that however you wish, but to this day, I use a natural shaft. Buddy had hinted to me time and time again on how to use my cue and all it's features to the max. He taught me about deflection and how to use that energy to my benefit. He taught me to welcome imperfections in equipment and use that to my advantage, and stated that this is true pool. The experimentation of lamination and it's characteristics have come full circle now and more and more people are beginning to realize the effects of laminated shafts.
 
I honestly don`t know what is so good about Ld shafts.If you order a custom and pay for it, play with the original shaft.If there were very little or no deflection, laminated shafts would be a better choice.
Most of the missed shots with english are the ones you play with power.sometimes you have to change your aiming point for a full ball.Most of us play by feel and who cares if you have to aim a fraction more to the left or to the right?
There is almost no difference at all.
I play with ob-1 but not because of deflection but because I like the taper more then the taper on my original mcdermott shaft.
If i ever get a custom I'll pay for what i want and i'll play with it:)
 
RRfireblade said:
You just started shaky and lost confidence. That's normal with anything you 'change'. You went back to your comfort zone.
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I think you are exactly right. My opponent won the first game and I was running out in the second game and I was rolling to the 8 ball and brushed the 9 ball on the way and hooked myself behind the 9 ball. I kicked at the 8 ball and hit it leaving my opponent and easy out and lost the game that I should have won. The next game I hit a perfect combination on the 9 ball and scratched off another ball into the corner and instead of being ahead 2 to 1 I was down 3 to 0. The guy I was playing is very good and I knew it would be very hard to come back after falling that far behind him plus I couldn't make a ball on the break and he was making balls every break.

My confidence was shot after falling behind and I had to switch back to my Predator shaft that I was comfortable with.

James
 
There are two distinct types of Shaft Wood/Construction I really like ...

#1 - Fiddleback Maple Old Growth from the Great Lakes.

#2 - Dominiak Dominator.

I am currently playing with a New Custom from Alex Brick, 60", supplied
with Dominator Shafts and SuperPro Tips ...
There was a two day learning curve in regards to the Dominators and I
am very pleased with their performance ...

The Fiddleback Shafts on my John Madden Cue also perform well and are
quite visually appealing (for what it's worth) ...

I also need to mention my Coker Bacote Sneaky Pete which was supplied
with two super-stiff playing Shafts turned from 75+ yr. old Bowling Alley
Boards ...
They are not exactly beautiful to the eye, but performance is outstanding ...
 
I too dabbled in LD shafts for several months before switching back to maple.

Similar to your situation, the feel was what brought me back to maple dowel shafts.

I can definitely relate to the sense of doubt you feel at first - which is mostly why I sold all of my LD shafts at once -I tried keeping just a Predator around but I would always have the "D" word in the back of my head.

Deflection ended up being the scapegoat for a lot of the problems that I had in the game. Echoing SK's Buddy Hall story - I definitely feel as though I know more about pool now that I've manually dealt with deflection. There are times when I miss the technological advantage, but I don't miss it nearly enough to sacrifice the feel that I get from my maple dowels.

I also feel as though, similar to the effect of facing stronger competition, the prescence of the deflection has forced me to learn a lot more about throw. Since quitting LD shafts, I have been using throw MUCH more frequently and to much greater effectiveness. Dunno if that's just me or if others have felt the same way.

-Alan
 
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