What is the story of predator cues?

deanoc said:

This is not a trick question,don't read anythng into it

Paul Drexler,possibly the most talented cue maker ever in my opinion .Sold me a Revo shaft to go with a cue he made
Paul said hat Predator had done many scientific test with many players especially
pro players.The preferred shaft taper based on surveys etc produced what ever their standard taper is


Paul said that he has also used that taper on many of his current shafts because it is what people like.

I am merely wondering what kind of studies they have done. I only had one of their cues,a revo,I only tried it for a day.To be honest I never took predator seriously


Perhaps I was in error,if they are making great playing cues as a result of
smart studies,I would like to hear the story

I really don't know much about deflection or any of the technical stuff,I just pick up my cue look and shoot,it would be a shame to discover I could have been a better player

Also i have a question
IS THERE ANY REASON THAT A REVO SHAFT WOULD PLAY BETTER ON A PREDATOR BUTT THAN ON A DREXLER OR SCHON OR SOUTH WEST

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The only Predator I have is a Predator FAT 314-2 that I bought as a partial and had it matched to my Pancerny Titlist. To me, the FAT shaft hits better than their regular wood shafts, which have a thinner diameter. The FAT shaft was made to satisfy the Taiwan players. It is 13.2mm and doesn't feel as "hollow" as the thinner ones.

To quote them: "Designed exclusively for Taiwanese professionals by Predator. It uses the same technology as Predator's 3142 shaft for best-in-class accuracy. But with greater thickness and a stiffer feel, FAT Shaft will enhance your performance Taiwanese-style."

I should have bought more "partials" when I had a chance. They are hard to find now. My shaft has a long pro taper, but some of their other models have a conical (European) taper. I prefer the pro taper models.

I don't think there is any reason a REVO shaft would play better on a Predator butt than it would on another butt, assuming the butt was a solid, good quality butt.

I think the Becue carbon shafts probably hit better on a Becue butt, though, because they both are made of carbon fiber.

deanoc said:

Also i have a question
IS THERE ANY REASON THAT A REVO SHAFT WOULD PLAY BETTER ON A PREDATOR BUTT THAN ON A DREXLER OR SCHON OR SOUTH WEST

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Just me... I cannot feel/understand deflection. Cannot appreciate a LD shaft. I play good or bad regardless of the cue. I like the REVO equally on the Schon or Predator ... favorite values would be it stays straight and dingless. I’m coming from a 314-2 Fat.

Probably just me but if I had a Predator Revo shaft, I would want to use it on a Predator butt.
I know very little about the new Predator models, but I'm sure they have one that matches up perfectly to the Revo shaft.
As far a mixing and matching, if I don't like the shaft that came with the cue, then I don't like the cue.
I do have a couple LD shafts for Schon cues, with the Schon large radius brass
nubbin/pilot and Schon collar, but that's as far as I get from original.

cuesblues...I've been playing with my Samsara cues for nearly 20 years. I love the shafts that came with the cues. I have also played with G-Core, Tiger ProX, and now the Revo shafts for 2 years. All of them play great on the Samsara butts. Mine are all the big radial pins.

To me, the Uniloc joint means that any Predator shaft should fit on any Predator butt, so there's no "matching", with the exception of outward design.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

cuesblues said:

Probably just me but if I had a Predator Revo shaft, I would want to use it on a Predator butt.
I know very little about the new Predator models, but I'm sure they have one that matches up perfectly to the Revo shaft.
As far a mixing and matching, if I don't like the shaft that came with the cue, then I don't like the cue.
I do have a couple LD shafts for Schon cues, with the Schon large radius brass
nubbin/pilot and Schon collar, but that's as far as I get from original.

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playiing better

The butt can make a huge difference in feel. I have one rubber bumper between two butts. I never get around to placing a large order and ordering just a rubber bumper seems silly. I got tired of swapping the bumper and tried playing both butts without the bumper. Much to my surprise this changed the feel of both cues so much they were unplayable.

The performance of both cues remained the same, the feel was what changed radically. A result I wasn't expecting so the test is less open to question than getting the expected result.

All to say, the butt can make a major difference in feel for better or worse. Will it is another question that only testing can answer.

Hu

I can say I never liked predator shafts before but I was using a cue with a metal joint. When I picked up a road line cheap from someone I was just going to flip it but the butt made all the difference. I’ve had a lot of friends who never liked predator and played with my roadline and remarked how good it hit.

that was it

Bob Jewett said:

I suspect the rubber bumper was damping the post-hit vibration and without it the hit sounded and felt much harsher, sharper, or like glass breaking.

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That was it, felt and sounded much like a house cue with a crack in or near the butt area.(statement looks a little kinky!)

The lateral or radial harmonics are comparatively slow, the end to end harmonics much faster. My experience is more with harmonics in metal but I doubt very seriously that the harmonics affected performance in the least. It was the annoying feedback that was hard to get past. I went back to swapping the bumper after trying without one on each butt for thirty minutes or so. I prefer softer hitting cues anyway, why my player has ivorine four joint collars and G-10 pin although I don't know that the G-10 did more than save a tiny amount of weight.

Hu

Only played with first generation 314 shafts and they play great. I believe they were made from Florida as mentioned by the owner. Don’t know where they are made now as I never really cared for them till now. They are fantastic shafts or at least the one I played with. No cat logo just 314.

Looking forward to the Revo and what Mezz has to offer.

Bob Jewett said:

There used to be a sound absorber attachment on the market. I haven't seen it for a while. It looked like a round corrugated rubber thing that went on the butt. I think the claim was that it would help your arm.

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It's called a LimbSaver. They don't make them anymore for cues... they still do for guns and stuff I think.

I have played with one on my cue for years now and they do make a difference. I have a few of them and wouldn't play without one.

heavy

Bob Jewett said:

There used to be a sound absorber attachment on the market. I haven't seen it for a while. It looked like a round corrugated rubber thing that went on the butt. I think the claim was that it would help your arm.

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Best I remember the limbsaver was heavy, heavier than I wanted to put on the end of my cue. I think I saw one in the pool hall but I didn't know the guy playing with it and had lost interest due to the weight so I never hit with one. The weight on the end of the butt was in pretty much the worst possible place too as far as messing with balance. Maybe if something like that was built into the cue at about where the A joint bolt is, players looking for a softer hit might like it.

Riimfires and some centerfire rifles have a tuner that you can adjust to vastly affect harmonics and accuracy, at least on a rimfire. Never tried the centerfire version.

I considered trying a similar tuner instead of a weight bolt or behind the pin but it really seemed like a solution in search of a problem.

Hu

deanoc said:

I am merely wondering what kind of studies they have done. I only had one of their cues,a revo,I only tried it for a day.To be honest I never took predator seriously

Perhaps I was in error,if they are making great playing cues as a result of
smart studies,I would like to hear the story

Click to expand...

Predator seems to apply a lot of science and engineering in to their cues. This attracts customers that yearn for measurable or at least a sensible degree of tech. Nothing wrong with that. Marketing helps too, but that's another story.

Then there are customers that like the romance and quality of a custom cue with the history of a great cuemaker. In both cases, the "hit" is subjective and the appreciation for the attributes of the cue are as well.

I'm kind of in the middle. I like the explanations of tech that goes in to a cue. I appreciate old school/traditional methods of cue building, as well as the look of 4 pointers. The only Predator I own at the moment is a Willie Hoppe model with a 314-2 shaft.

Tech vs. Traditional really doesn't have to be a choice. Prefer one or the other, or appreciate both. Far too often, the more unattainable/unaffordable a cue is, the more desirable it becomes.

Bob Jewett said:

I suspect the rubber bumper was damping the post-hit vibration and without it the hit sounded and felt much harsher, sharper, or like glass breaking.

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In 1969 I made myself a Willie Hoppy style cue with no bumper.
Took it to the pool room and hit one ball.
Rang like a bell.
Took it back to the shop and cut out for a rubber bumper.
Played fine after that.

Bill S.

The Revo's have 2 different tapers depending on the size. The 12.4 is more of a pro taper while the 12.9 is more of a straight (conical) taper.

I like a straight taper, not pro taper and I also like thicker shafts. The 12.9 was the right choice for me (even though I don't really use it). Mine is not on a predator butt but I have shot with them on Preds and I can see no difference really.

Icon of Sin said:

The Revo's have 2 different tapers depending on the size. The 12.4 is more of a pro taper while the 12.9 is more of a straight (conical) taper.

I like a straight taper, not pro taper and I also like thicker shafts. The 12.9 was the right choice for me (even though I don't really use it). Mine is not on a predator butt but I have shot with them on Preds and I can see no difference really.

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I wanted to buy a 12.4 but couldn’t find one anywhere