These topics are so monotonous, all the people that like the revo shafts like them and advocate them, and those who like their spliced wood shafts like them, and the people who like their solid maple shafts like them.
Any statistics about one or the other are irrelevant because everyone plays this game differently than one another. There's no point in arguing, if you play better with something, use it.
True as true can be.
I collect cues and have played at a high level in the past. I have had some nice customs for long periods that I got used to such as Boar, Tad, Tascarella etc and could see subtle differences in each ones performance..
I also went through a stage early on trying the LD shafts and had a Revo recently for a short time. They all play good in their own way and it comes down to whatever floats your boat.
In terms of deflection, from testing the Revo against my ferrule-less Boar or Vollmer shafts there isn't any difference that would improve ones performance unless it was psychological. The deflection is almost identical IMHO and you definitely cannot play any more shots with one. I also think the price of a Revo is pretty close to one of Tony's shafts and the main reason everyone doesn't use one of his might be because he doesn't spend hundreds of thousands on global marketing each year.
I prefer solid maple so I stick with those. I have also played with ivory ferrules with loads of deflection which once you get used to them they are more of a pleasure to play with in terms of feel and pitch than a non wood shaft. In fact I ran 5 racks of 8ball once in a race to 5 money game using one which was more of a pleasure than if I had used a ferrule-less LD shaft because IMHO it took a lot more skill....The other guy had a Predator cue but....
So it really just comes down to what you get used to and sometimes newer players can get caught up in the hype trying to find that magic wand rather than spend hundreds of hours solo practising to get good which in reality is the only way to get really good. However, it is good to hear players picking up a cue or new shaft and it having a positive effect on their performance. On the other hand sometimes this placebo effect can quickly fade. Although in saying that I haven't seen many Revo's coming up for resale so there might be something in that.
Next week or month there will be another new shaft with even less deflection coming out onto the market which everyone will be talking about. However, do they really improve a players performance any more than some extra practise would?, or maybe a little more focus & concentration on each shot? or maybe just some more dedication to the equipment they already have? .
