need some feedback joint matrial / low deflection shafts and our future

steel joints i really dont play well them i went to a fury uni lock for 4-5 years then a few weeks ago broke out my 12 year old stealth sneaky and played like i was 18 again. another odd thing i guess to most people would be my opinion on these super low deflection shafts for 200 f ing dollars!!! what are you thinking? its a maple tree there are hundreds maybe more in my city over 100 years old. i think its a bit much any builder can put in sleeves and phenolic add ins or slice the wood lay it in and glue it up a special way, and make a shaft feel stiff. thats not the way it was meant to be better play or not. i dont like them. they might as well make hollow steel with a taper. its too much feedback and too stiff for me. give me a wood to wood seat and a pin (natural) any day over that $200 shaft technology. while where on the shaft end of things, phenolic tips and ferrules and anything else of the sort need to be ban from all real matches and tournament play. again its not how it was meant to be and that's not how our founding fathers played pool and we shouldent either.

I hit with a predator steel joint and a ob1 bad combo (for me) and a nasty looking price tag. furthermore played a predator z on a wood to wood joint players and a tiger tip and like the feel but not really for me still to stiff feeling. im old skool if i cant play with a bar stick then i dont need to play. but its nice to have consistency. i want a sneaky wood from ferrule all the way to the bumper. just dont care about inlays, wraps and joint work i want to shoot pool not draw attention and look pretty.

also want to comment on all the retail cue suppliers and cue builders that are hurting too. i know of one very well known company that in a few months went from 4 sales person staff to 1. and another that has almost zero stock. i have been in cue sales in some fashion since 2002 and have never seen it this bad. even 9/11 i hope billiards takes a turn around asap before we loose more good company's and suppliers. IE: viking gone, falcon going import etc. etc.

P.S. kamui tips are awesome but the company is a bunch of price gouging A holes and yes i know first hand. watch yourself there's something odd about that setup in japan from the ground up. if you aint got the $$$$ then you cannot order. bullshit little guys gotta eat to know what im saying.

please feel free to comment

jonathan powell
Eight Ball Bank Billiards
PO box 273
pewee valley, ky 40056

E mail: eightballbank@gmail.com

stljohnny said:

This is not a new argument, but I will say the same thing I told someone else who was griping about all this "new" LD tech.

It's evolution. It's a better tool for the job. However, those people who have been brought up using the old ways have no business trying the new stuff. They won't like it. It won't feel right to them. And that's fine. But, for the younger/newer players, there's absolutely no reason to shy away from it. I bought an LD shaft after playing (seriously) about a year and I absolutely love it. But I would not suggest to anyone who's been playing 5 or more years. The adjustment will wreak havoc in their brain.

I imagine old-school auto mechanics griped about torque wrenches when they came out. "Back in my day, you had to do it by feel. Now any dumbass with a pair of eyes that can read a number can put an engine together."

Phenolic tips... okay; that's fine, they damage the equipment. I support that. But just because something was invented one way doesn't mean it has to stay that way for ever.

How is needing to have the money available to order any different than any other purchase... anywhere in the world? I don't get your gripe about Kamui, at all. You want to order their product, you gotta pay for it. What's the issue?

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yes im with that. kamui, i had the money they wouldent give me the time of day to even look at my app after 2 emails. i see it as im not pulling down enough or that no big way to blow up there product. im the little guy behind the scenes. the company president is a jack ass. this is all personal stuff just wanted to see what people though or had the same issues. thats what a public board is for. =) $25 for a piece of leather great or not that robbery a triangle is damn close for 85 cents. but who am i

thanks for some input just a few things bothering me thought id share

thank you for shareing sir.

victorl said:

I work at an importer in japan and we've been getting tanned pigskins by the ton for use in cue tips. I cant tell you the cost but even factoring in production costs, i'd say the markup is beyond astronomical.

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