The new "OB Classic". (A bit on the long side)

Ponytail

...it's about consistency
Silver Member
Last year, when I was at the BCAPL nationals, I was over at the OB Cues booth, talking with Royce, and he handed me a cue and asked me to hit a few balls and tell me what I thought. (My regular player is a Predator P2, from the very first batch Predator made.)

So I hit about a rack. Spun the cueball quite a bit, and it did pretty well. One of my favorite LD cue checks is to do a stop shot with straight side spin. It did that really well. After, Royce asked me what I thought.
I told him it hit pretty much like all the other OB products. He asked if it felt the same. This made me think. No.. it didn't feel the same as the other OB shafts... It felt.... stiffer. Not as soft of a hit. When I stated this, Royce smiled (as he does) and said "Okay".
I knew something was up.. so I started asking questions. He explained that they were starting to work on a shaft that was a stiffer feeling hit. At that time, I let him know that I would be really interested in one when they came out. Over the last year, I've been checking in with Royce every time I see him, asking him how things are going.. when could I get one to try etc..

Well.. they're out now. I've seen another review up here on it, but wanted to add mine.
Royce contacted me last week, and said he had one for me and I should be getting it this week. It came in on Wednesday. It's a 12.75 mm tip. Comes with an Everest tip. 5/16 14 joint to fit my phillippi. (I have an OB-1 on it usually) First night I just played with it on my home table. 9' Brunswick with 4 1/4 pockets. centennial TV balls with an Aramith measle cue ball.
It felt great. Cue ball was going where I wanted it right off the bat. Then I started getting a bit more extreme. Started juicing the cue ball a bit. Put an object ball on a spot above the corner pocket at the foot rail, and the cue ball half a diamond off the head rail. Drawing the rock full table + fairly consistently. Extreme kill shots. Killing the cue ball off the rail etc.
Shaft was performing great, and felt great.

Thursday, went to league. I play in DEL (Dallas Eight-Ball League). Our match was at Clicks Billiards on Marsh Ln.
When I get there, one of my team mates is there already, so we start playing. While playing, I'm noticing a little cue ball deflection. Big Doc, who works with Royce and OB Cues was there and we start talking about it. He's a little at a loss for why it would be doing this. It has me a little puzzled as well, when another team mate shows up.
Even before he knew what was going on, he asked a question about our cue ball. He asked if we had checked it, because the week before, when we were playing there, we noticed the cue balls were extremely worn, and actually smaller and lighter that then should be.

Sure enough.. the cue ball was smaller and lighter. So.. I take out my Aramith red circle that I carry with me, and viola.. everything is right with the world again. No more mysterious deflection with soft hits.

When the match started, it started off rather ominously for me. I got broke and ran on. Okay.. np. My next game, I returned the favor. Next, my opponent Broke dry. I ran out. Next.. I broke dry. My opponent ran 5 balls and missed. I ran out. My last game. I broke and ran.
Basically.. other than the dry break. I didn't miss a ball. Cue ball did exactly what I was telling it to do.

I am very impressed by the OB classic, and would highly recommend everyone give it a try. If you've tried OB shafts before, but didn't like the softer hit, you may want to give this a test spin. I think you'll be impressed as well.

Michael Voelkering.
 
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I played with mine for the first time on Wed night at Docs tournament. That shaft is insane the way it plays. I will agree it has just a little more deflection than the OB2, but it was a 20 minute adjustment, barely even noticeable. The stiffness of the classic combined with the low deflection is something I have never seen. I am a fan of a stiff hitting cue, but the high deflection that comes with that was tough for a spin pool player like myself. Royce has found a way to fix that problem. I highly recommend the OB classic shaft. Highly Highly recommended.

Frank Cherry
 
Last year, when I was at the BCAPL nationals, I was over at the OB Cues booth, talking with Royce, and he handed me a cue and asked me to hit a few balls and tell me what I thought. (My regular player is a Predator P2, from the very first batch Predator made.)

So I hit about a rack. Spun the cueball quite a bit, and it did pretty well. One of my favorite LD cue checks is to do a stop shot with straight side spin. It did that really well. After, Royce asked me what I thought.
I told him it hit pretty much like all the other OB products. He asked if it felt the same. This made me think. No.. it didn't feel the same as the other OB shafts... It felt.... stiffer. Not as soft of a hit. When I stated this, Royce smiled (as he does) and said "Okay".
I knew something was up.. so I started asking questions. He explained that they were starting to work on a shaft that was a stiffer feeling hit. At that time, I let him know that I would be really interested in one when they came out. Over the last year, I've been checking in with Royce every time I see him, asking him how things are going.. when could I get one to try etc..

Well.. they're out now. I've seen another review up here on it, but wanted to add mine.
Royce contacted me last week, and said he had one for me and I should be getting it this week. It came in on Wednesday. It's a 12.75 mm tip. Comes with an Everest tip. 5/16 14 joint to fit my phillippi. (I have an OB-1 on it usually) First night I just played with it on my home table. 9' Brunswick with 4 1/4 pockets. centennial TV balls with an Aramith measle cue ball.
It felt great. Cue ball was going where I wanted it right off the bat. Then I started getting a bit more extreme. Started juicing the cue ball a bit. Put an object ball on a spot above the corner pocket at the foot rail, and the cue ball half a diamond off the head rail. Drawing the rock full table + fairly consistently. Extreme kill shots. Killing the cue ball off the rail etc.
Shaft was performing great, and felt great.

Thursday, went to league. I play in DEL (Dallas Eight-Ball League). Our match was at Clicks Billiards on Marsh Ln.
When I get there, one of my team mates is there already, so we start playing. While playing, I'm noticing a little cue ball deflection. Big Doc, who works with Royce and OB Cues was there and we start talking about it. He's a little at a loss for why it would be doing this. It has me a little puzzled as well, when another team mate shows up.
Even before he knew what was going on, he asked a question about our cue ball. He asked if we had checked it, because the week before, when we were playing there, we noticed the cue balls were extremely worn, and actually smaller and lighter that then should be.

Sure enough.. the cue ball was smaller and lighter. So.. I take out my Aramith red circle that I carry with me, and viola.. everything is right with the world again. No more mysterious deflection with soft hits.

When the match started, it started off rather ominously for me. I got broke and ran on. Okay.. np. My next game, I returned the favor. Next, my opponent Broke dry. I ran out. Next.. I broke dry. My opponent ran 5 balls and missed. I ran out. My last game. I broke and ran.
Basically.. other than the dry break. I didn't miss a ball. Cue ball did exactly what I was telling it to do.

I am very impressed by the OB classic, and would highly recommend everyone give it a try. If you've tried OB shafts before, but didn't like the softer hit, you may want to give this a test spin. I think you'll be impressed as well.

Michael Voelkering.

Michael,

Can you give us a direct comparison to a 314-2? You stated that you previosly used a P2, does the OB Classic's low deflection traits match that of a 314-2, is it a stiffer shaft? I'm planning on visiting Seyberts March 22 and I'm excited to give this thing a go. If it's basically on par with the 314-2 for deflection but is indeed stiffer, I'm sold. I do like my FAT a lot but why add extra deflection for stiffness if I don't have to?

Please let me know,

Jeff
 
Michael,

Can you give us a direct comparison to a 314-2? You stated that you previosly used a P2, does the OB Classic's low deflection traits match that of a 314-2, is it a stiffer shaft? I'm planning on visiting Seyberts March 22 and I'm excited to give this thing a go. If it's basically on par with the 314-2 for deflection but is indeed stiffer, I'm sold. I do like my FAT a lot but why add extra deflection for stiffness if I don't have to?

Please let me know,

Jeff

Jeff-

My original P2 came with a 314. The original 314. What I can say about the difference between the OB Classic and the original 314, is that the OB Classic seems to have less deflection than the 314. On my "favorite LD shot", where I shoot a stop shot with straight side spin, the OB Classic did marginally better than the 314. (where the 314 stopped dead, spinning, the Classic went the wrong way.. to the same side I was cuing, telling me I was compensating just a little when I shoot that with my 314. IOW, I shot with left hand spin, and the cue ball moved about half an inch to the left after contacting the object ball when using the OB Classic. I did this several times to check it.)
The "stiffness" was about the same. With the OB Classic being a little bigger than the 314 after so many years of use, it seemed marginally stiffer, but this is something that I liked.
Another difference between the 314 and the OB Classic is the tip. On the 314, I was using a medium hard Kamui black tip, where the Classic comes with the Everest. Both very good tips, but they are different.

Sorry I can't give you more info on the 314-2 vs OB Classic.

I hope what I was able to give did help some.
 
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I just tried out the OB1 the other day for the first time, and I have a P2 as well, with a 314-2 however. I was curious how much of a difference there is between the OB1 and the OB classic in your opinion. I absolutely loved the OB1 so I am definitely considering picking one of those up as my new playing shaft, but if the OB classic is just as good and even stiffer then I may consider picking up one of those in addition.
 
I just tried out the OB1 the other day for the first time, and I have a P2 as well, with a 314-2 however. I was curious how much of a difference there is between the OB1 and the OB classic in your opinion. I absolutely loved the OB1 so I am definitely considering picking one of those up as my new playing shaft, but if the OB classic is just as good and even stiffer then I may consider picking up one of those in addition.

Like I stated in my OP, my Phillippi normally has the OB-1 shaft. Now with the OB Classic, I like it even more. My results are very similar, but the feel is the kicker. I get more feed back from the cue, or at least I feel like I do.

To me, that's the only difference I noticed from the OB-1 to the OB Classic. The feel was a stiffer hit, with more feed back. Something I really like. They just keep makin' 'em better.

I urge you to try one.. I think you'll be even more impressed than you already seem to be.
 
I also have the OB1, OB2 and now just this week I picked up the B classic pro which is the same smaller diameter like the ob2. Hands down for me the classic gives you more feedback with each hit. I also think it generates more cue ball spin than my OB1 or 2 does. Im still a major fan of the OB2, but the ob classic pro has moved up to my full time playing shaft as of this week. Just my humble opinion. Good luck in your upcoming choice. Im sure when you try the classic, you will be sold.

Frank
 
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