Any pro plays with 13mm shaft?

brilliance

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Does any pro plays with 13mm shaft and why most of new cues comes with 13mm shaft?
 

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
i do and that is the size most people want and the size most order.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
why most of new cues comes with 13mm shaft?
Probably because it's a comfortable width that's rigid enough when made from the most widely available material: wood.

But there may be other reasons too - for instance...

The miscue limit on the CB is 30 degrees from center. To hit that reliably you need a tip that's wide enough to have at least 30 degrees of arc per side - 60 degrees total. Common tip curvatures (radius of a dime to a quarter) encompass 60 degrees in 12mm or less.

So a 13mm tip is just wide enough to reach the miscue limit with a little room to spare (so you're not hitting right on the edge of the tip).

pj
chgo
 

J SCHWARZ

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Rodney Morris plays or played with a 13 or 13.25 at one time if I remember correctly. Josh Roberts's Lomax is stock size and taper just the way it comes from Lomax, unless he's changed it in the last year or so. I liked checking out the different pros cues for the year and a half I traveled with Ray covering the pro events and rarely saw a cue with a 13 mm shaft. Most were around 11.75 - 12.5 with custom tapers and 95% of them were some brand of LD shaft.
 
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jasonlaus

Rep for Smorg
Silver Member
Never liked a 13mm and a lot of the guys play with smaller - I'd bet more play with smaller shafts.
Jason
 

deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i don't really understand all the talk about
radius and miscue point

i do think that i can aim better on shorter shots with a smaller tip ,shaft
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I believe most play smaller than 12.5
Nothing wrong with that as long as you have a STRAIGHT/repeating stroke. Smaller sizes are far less forgiving of less than dead-on accuracy in tip placement.
 

HawaiianEye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I think most Taiwanese and Chinese pros play with wood shafts that are 13mm, or larger.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Nothing wrong with that as long as you have a STRAIGHT/repeating stroke. Smaller sizes are far less forgiving of less than dead-on accuracy in tip placement.
I can see how it might seem that way, but the good news is all tip sizes are equally forgiving. Tip curvature makes a tiny difference, not enough to notice.

pj
chgo
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I can see how it might seem that way, but the good news is all tip sizes are equally forgiving. Tip curvature makes a tiny difference, not enough to notice.

pj
chgo
You can say that til the cows come home but i for one can NOT play with anything under 12.5. Seems like i get spin when i need it the least with smaller shafts.
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
In the February issue of Billiards Digest there is a feature that compares all of the 10 pro players in the Mosconi Cup. Included in the comparison are their equipment, how they started playing, practice methods and various other stuff.

The largest diameter tip among the Mosconi Cup players was 12.9. The smallest was 11.8. The median was 12.5 or so.

Depending on how you want your cue to play, there are good reasons not to use a 13mm tip and good reasons to stay away from an 11mm. Or, your game may be better with one of those.

I have an old billiard book that recommends 16mm. That's just crazy talk. Maybe 13mm will be crazy talk in 20 years.
 

poolguy4u

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
.



13mm is a good starting point.

Over time it will get smaller.


Good to get it larger when new so you have some substance to take it down

to your desired diameter.


I like my shaft to be just under 13mm but a little bigger than 12.75mm.






.




.
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A true 13.0 mm shaft with a extended pro taper of around 17-18” feels great and all my cues have this
same shaft & also a 12.75 mm shaft and a couple of my cues have 3 & 4 shafts but still 12.75 & 13 mm.
The weight of the shaft is very important to me so I strive on getting shafts that weigh 4 ozs or heavier.
For 12.75 mm shafts, I wanted shafts that weigh 3.8 ozs or heavier and all the shafts use ivory ferrules.
I also made sure to install the same tips on the shafts so when I switch cues the difference is very slight.
 

deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Billy Incardone was discussing the smaller mm shafts that better players were using.

he told me that I might not benefit from the smaller shafts because my stroke consistency
was no good and I might find myself getting unintended spin.

He was offering me sincere advice intended to help me.

He also suggested that bigger pockets were better for me since I have trouble adapting to tight pockets. Play to your strength was his advice.

I used to be very knowledgeable about matching up,the relative value of different handicaps ,depending on things like pocket sizes when you are getting a spot.

As a rule It was thought to beneficial to the person getting a big spot to play on pockets that are smaller to slow the better player down,but I found that it slowed me down much more.
So I found that 5 inch pockets allowed me to play better and the good players seem to play
good on anything.

I suspect that shaft sizes can be personal preference too. I do not like pro taper though because it is unstable,and throws the cue ball, hits undesirable spin and straight or conical tapers are much better for me in every way,less deflection and more draw english
slow down the better player
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i think roberto gomez uses a 13mm or close to 13. might be wrong though

i'm at 12.3 playing cue, but my spare shaft is an old z-shaft well below 11. i sometimes play snooker with it
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Smaller sizes are far less forgiving of less than dead-on accuracy in tip placement.

Billy Incardone ... told me that I might not benefit from the smaller shafts because my stroke consistency
was no good and I might find myself getting unintended spin.
Does anybody who believes smaller tips produce more unwanted spin have a theory for why/how they do?

A smaller tip is just a larger tip with a tiny outer layer removed - the part that only contacts the CB when extreme spin is used. Otherwise they’re identical - and they contact the CB identically, even with stroke errors.

pj
chgo

P.S. Smaller pockets favor the stronger player - makes less difference to them.
 

Kim Bye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In the February issue of Billiards Digest there is a feature that compares all of the 10 pro players in the Mosconi Cup. Included in the comparison are their equipment, how they started playing, practice methods and various other stuff.

The largest diameter tip among the Mosconi Cup players was 12.9. The smallest was 11.8. The median was 12.5 or so.

Depending on how you want your cue to play, there are good reasons not to use a 13mm tip and good reasons to stay away from an 11mm. Or, your game may be better with one of those.

That data fits very good with my experiences as well, most players have shafts between 13mm and 12.5mm. Some players fall inn love with the "big cueball" you get when using a shaft under 12mm, but very few players plays consistently good with a small diameter shaft, and most resort back to a more normal tip diameter after a while.
 
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