Most of you know that I play with a Mike Bender cue and some of you know that I have been playing with a 314-2 shaft for quite a while.
I have liked the reduced cue ball deflection of the 314-2 and have gotten over some of the negative perceived idiosycracies of the shaft (feel, sound etc).
I have used OB Cues product in the past but the OB-1 shaft I used had a unique taper (Earl Strickland taper) which was a bout 20" straight leaving about 4 inches of conical taper. It played like a dyslexic magic wand. You never knew what was going to happen to a shot and I finally gave up on it.
I decided to give both of the OB shafts another try and I was a little reluctant to try the smaller diameter shaft on the OB 2. I don't like little pencil shafts. When I placed the OB 2 shaft on my Bender cue, the
11.75 mm shaft didn't look all that small, because the taper is cone shaped and I had also made a committment to give both of the OB shafts a real chance. (It is hard to switch equipment when you are not playing too poorly.) I wanted to put aside any perceived negative thoughts like (looks, feel & sound) while using the shafts. I wanted the performance of the shafts to speak for themselves.
The first night I tried out the two shafts was the handicapped tournament at Buffalo Billiards, racing to one, DE. I screwed on the OB 2 shaft because I figured I wouldn't play very long with it because of my predispostion to not liking narrow shafts. (remember I was trying to put aside my bias) :smile: The shaft barely screwed together and as I forced the shaft and the butt together, I realized that I was using all of my strength to put it together and started fearing the thought of taking it off. I started imagining the scew on my beloved Bender stripping out about the time that I missed a shot that I could have made one-handed. Since I had not hit a ball before the tournament with the new shaft, it wasn't really a good test so I lost another game and retired from playing for the evening and grimaced as I strained to unscrew the shaft. The next day I called OB cues to complain and they offered to fix the problem but also suggested me to try something else locally. I did and for the most part, the shafts screws on although it is VERY snug, I no longer shudder at putting the cue together.
The next night I practiced alone, hitting power shots and bank shots at full speed and then some. Many of the shots were shots that I had trouble with in the past and I started to make virtually all of them. My euphoria of playing well with new equipment is nothing new to me and I had to caution myself about writing anything about the new shafts but I was starting to like the OB 2 in a new kind of way. In the past, I have used a cue for the first time and liked it a lot only to find out in days to come that it wasn't all what I had hoped for so I laid low on my report.
On Friday, I played in a handicapped one pocket tournament and got beat by Eddie Brown getting substantial weight but only by a small margin (race to 2 SE). It could have gone either way so I wasn't overly concerned about the performance of the cue and myself as Eddie can and does put a lot of pressure on his opponents. I am happy to say that my road dawg, Paul Laplace put the ants on Eddie and won the tournament.
I came back later Friday night and hit balls for three hours straight practicing ten ball fo the Gem City Classic coming up July 10-12. I have never played ten ball before and I played the ghost and it was downright embarassing. I played on an old cloth TIGHT-AZZ Diamond table that would rather spit out balls than to have its cloth vacuumed. It gave me fits all night long until someone mentioned that the table had been playing extremely tough for a few weeks. That gave me a little solace but I wasn't happy with my inability to show the Ghost, I had a little heart and he beat me unmerciful for 3 hours. I would break and NOTHING would go in on the break. I bet I only made 5 balls on the break and only one at a time, the whole night.
Anyway, on Saturday I had some honey-do chores to accomplish and I was worn out from a full day of manual labor and decided to take a nap which lasted about 2 hours. I didn't realize how tired I was. One of my competitive practice partners was there when I arrived. It was 9 o'clock pm and he immediately racked ten ball which was a sure sign that he was ready to play me a match or two. He had not seen my OB shafts and inquired about them because he knew they were coming soon. I pulled out the OB 2 shaft and put the cue together and let him hit a few balls and he said he liked it so we started playing and while I had some personal breaking problems and the usual missing problems (on that BAD-AZZ Diamond table :smile
I started solving some of those problems. It was then that I realized that I hadn't even given the OB 1 a chance to play and that it was still in my case, nor did I want to give it a whirl. I then realized that my Predator 314-2 was not missed either.
Now keep in mind, this is only my perceived observations and no scientific experiment, but when I practiced hitting shots at 20 miles per hour it seemed that I was pocketing FAR MORE of them with the OB-2, than with the 314-2. I also was banking balls FAR BETTER as well. I beat my opponent who was having an off day because he wasn't playing regularly and I think that the OB-2 will be my shaft of preference for a long time. I tried out the cue ball deflection test where you put the cue on the head spot and shoot at the foot middle diamond with side spin to determine how far the cue ball squirts and I was AMAZED at how little the cue ball squirted. I don't use much side spin unless it is really necessary but my margin of error has been greatly reduced and I am fairly certain that the shaft helps me shoot the cue ball in a straighter path than I have ever shot before, regardless of whether it is a power shot, a spin shot or a finesse shot. The OB 1 will sit in the case until I have used up all of this new found enthusiasm the OB-2 has provided me with and that may be a long while. I did manage to hit a few balls with the OB 1 and it hit nicely but I am currently enthralled with the OB-2.
For those of you who are considering trying out a new shaft I would recommend the OB 2 shaft if you have been playing a while. If you are relatively new to the game or have an inconsistent stroke, the OB 1 might be a better shaft for you. I haven't played with a Z-2 and probably won't be for a while because I just don't want to spend any more money on cue shafts for a while. I must have 6 shafts for my Bender and don't want to spread myself any thinner. The OB-2 without a doubt has increased my potting skills especially with power shots, banks and spin shots of that I am certain. I am kind of shocked that I got the results and feel the way I feel about the slightly narrower shaft. None of this will probably help my cause at the Gem City Classic :embarrassed2: but maybe my report will help provide you with information that might help your game. If you do try out the OB-2, try to put aside any negative thoughts about looks, feel, hit and sound and you may be surprised too.
I would also be very curious to hear from other AZBers who have used the OB 2 shaft and what your experience has been.
Thanks,
JoeyA
I have liked the reduced cue ball deflection of the 314-2 and have gotten over some of the negative perceived idiosycracies of the shaft (feel, sound etc).
I have used OB Cues product in the past but the OB-1 shaft I used had a unique taper (Earl Strickland taper) which was a bout 20" straight leaving about 4 inches of conical taper. It played like a dyslexic magic wand. You never knew what was going to happen to a shot and I finally gave up on it.
I decided to give both of the OB shafts another try and I was a little reluctant to try the smaller diameter shaft on the OB 2. I don't like little pencil shafts. When I placed the OB 2 shaft on my Bender cue, the
11.75 mm shaft didn't look all that small, because the taper is cone shaped and I had also made a committment to give both of the OB shafts a real chance. (It is hard to switch equipment when you are not playing too poorly.) I wanted to put aside any perceived negative thoughts like (looks, feel & sound) while using the shafts. I wanted the performance of the shafts to speak for themselves.
The first night I tried out the two shafts was the handicapped tournament at Buffalo Billiards, racing to one, DE. I screwed on the OB 2 shaft because I figured I wouldn't play very long with it because of my predispostion to not liking narrow shafts. (remember I was trying to put aside my bias) :smile: The shaft barely screwed together and as I forced the shaft and the butt together, I realized that I was using all of my strength to put it together and started fearing the thought of taking it off. I started imagining the scew on my beloved Bender stripping out about the time that I missed a shot that I could have made one-handed. Since I had not hit a ball before the tournament with the new shaft, it wasn't really a good test so I lost another game and retired from playing for the evening and grimaced as I strained to unscrew the shaft. The next day I called OB cues to complain and they offered to fix the problem but also suggested me to try something else locally. I did and for the most part, the shafts screws on although it is VERY snug, I no longer shudder at putting the cue together.
The next night I practiced alone, hitting power shots and bank shots at full speed and then some. Many of the shots were shots that I had trouble with in the past and I started to make virtually all of them. My euphoria of playing well with new equipment is nothing new to me and I had to caution myself about writing anything about the new shafts but I was starting to like the OB 2 in a new kind of way. In the past, I have used a cue for the first time and liked it a lot only to find out in days to come that it wasn't all what I had hoped for so I laid low on my report.
On Friday, I played in a handicapped one pocket tournament and got beat by Eddie Brown getting substantial weight but only by a small margin (race to 2 SE). It could have gone either way so I wasn't overly concerned about the performance of the cue and myself as Eddie can and does put a lot of pressure on his opponents. I am happy to say that my road dawg, Paul Laplace put the ants on Eddie and won the tournament.
I came back later Friday night and hit balls for three hours straight practicing ten ball fo the Gem City Classic coming up July 10-12. I have never played ten ball before and I played the ghost and it was downright embarassing. I played on an old cloth TIGHT-AZZ Diamond table that would rather spit out balls than to have its cloth vacuumed. It gave me fits all night long until someone mentioned that the table had been playing extremely tough for a few weeks. That gave me a little solace but I wasn't happy with my inability to show the Ghost, I had a little heart and he beat me unmerciful for 3 hours. I would break and NOTHING would go in on the break. I bet I only made 5 balls on the break and only one at a time, the whole night.
Anyway, on Saturday I had some honey-do chores to accomplish and I was worn out from a full day of manual labor and decided to take a nap which lasted about 2 hours. I didn't realize how tired I was. One of my competitive practice partners was there when I arrived. It was 9 o'clock pm and he immediately racked ten ball which was a sure sign that he was ready to play me a match or two. He had not seen my OB shafts and inquired about them because he knew they were coming soon. I pulled out the OB 2 shaft and put the cue together and let him hit a few balls and he said he liked it so we started playing and while I had some personal breaking problems and the usual missing problems (on that BAD-AZZ Diamond table :smile
I started solving some of those problems. It was then that I realized that I hadn't even given the OB 1 a chance to play and that it was still in my case, nor did I want to give it a whirl. I then realized that my Predator 314-2 was not missed either.Now keep in mind, this is only my perceived observations and no scientific experiment, but when I practiced hitting shots at 20 miles per hour it seemed that I was pocketing FAR MORE of them with the OB-2, than with the 314-2. I also was banking balls FAR BETTER as well. I beat my opponent who was having an off day because he wasn't playing regularly and I think that the OB-2 will be my shaft of preference for a long time. I tried out the cue ball deflection test where you put the cue on the head spot and shoot at the foot middle diamond with side spin to determine how far the cue ball squirts and I was AMAZED at how little the cue ball squirted. I don't use much side spin unless it is really necessary but my margin of error has been greatly reduced and I am fairly certain that the shaft helps me shoot the cue ball in a straighter path than I have ever shot before, regardless of whether it is a power shot, a spin shot or a finesse shot. The OB 1 will sit in the case until I have used up all of this new found enthusiasm the OB-2 has provided me with and that may be a long while. I did manage to hit a few balls with the OB 1 and it hit nicely but I am currently enthralled with the OB-2.
For those of you who are considering trying out a new shaft I would recommend the OB 2 shaft if you have been playing a while. If you are relatively new to the game or have an inconsistent stroke, the OB 1 might be a better shaft for you. I haven't played with a Z-2 and probably won't be for a while because I just don't want to spend any more money on cue shafts for a while. I must have 6 shafts for my Bender and don't want to spread myself any thinner. The OB-2 without a doubt has increased my potting skills especially with power shots, banks and spin shots of that I am certain. I am kind of shocked that I got the results and feel the way I feel about the slightly narrower shaft. None of this will probably help my cause at the Gem City Classic :embarrassed2: but maybe my report will help provide you with information that might help your game. If you do try out the OB-2, try to put aside any negative thoughts about looks, feel, hit and sound and you may be surprised too.
I would also be very curious to hear from other AZBers who have used the OB 2 shaft and what your experience has been.
Thanks,
JoeyA
Seriously, I know you pay attention to the smallest details and if you are using one, it obviously is helping your game. 
