My experience with Cuetec Cynergy and some thoughts about c.f. shafts and other stuff

It is now half a year have passed from the time I had my first experience with a c.f. shaft. That was Revo 12.9. It is good I have a student who bought Cuetec Cynergy shaft during his business trip to USA recently and so I'm his coach teaching in our pool school here in Kiev where he masters the game and practices...me and other my students now have possibility to try this new c.f. shaft which is really useful to find out some things. At the moment I have a group of students whose level varies when it comes to their skills and experience. On one of the lessons a few weeks ago we all had some fun trying and making some comparison between our current playing cues with wooden shafts and the cue with c.f. shaft. So I had 3 of my students:
- Alex 10 y.e. old learning the game for two years now. He plays with fairly cheap import cue from China with a cool built-in extension which is helpful for him at his age.
- Ivan 13 y.e. old who started to learn the game at the similar age as Alex. Plays with McDermott cue.
- Bogdan 24 y.e. old who is the owner of the shaft. I started to work with him around 3 years ago. He works in IT so he can afford to get a new equipment when the interest is there and it's a good time for it. He plays with a custom cue made here in Kiev. His previous playing shaft is Jacoby edge hybrid.
And the last student is Nikita who is 18 y.o. I started to work with him when he was almost 11 y.o. and he is the one it is the real pleasure to work with... so positive and motivated. He is not only naturally talented youngster but he is also very passionate about the game improving in many aspects and enjoying the process. I could continue talking about his talents, achievements and so on but I better let his stroke do some talking in a video I made with him
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg6WNUtGar8

Nikita plays with Predator roadline sneaky pete and 314-2 shaft.

It also happened so at the time Bogdan bought his Cynergy and came back we had changed the cloth on our old Brunswick table. This table out of our 4 tables is the favorite among our players who are the members of ukrainian national team and were going to participate in EPC in Treviso . The leader of our team Vitaliy Patsura who is three times european champion U-19, U-23, men, Atlantic Cup 2016 MVP in Illinois ..he first of all prefers this table to practice on. So we had new Simonis 860 cloth on this table before EPC to give our players some practice time on the new cloth. When our team went to the competition being there for more then ten days it was a pleasure to use that period of time practicing on a good new cloth.

During one of my practice sessions so as Bogdan as the owner of the shaft and the rest of the students were very curious and interested to try this new c.f. shaft I decided to let them just compare its performance on some straight in draw shots. So each one on his first try made 5 straight in draw shots when the distance between CB and OB was two diamonds and than the same when the distance was three diamonds. All of them performed these shots with their current playing cues on their first try and than with Bogdan’s cue in pair with Cynergy shaft. The exception was Nikita who performed longer draw shots 4 diamonds apart.
Of course this example does not pretend to be very scientific with any reliable outcome. We mostly had some fun trying the new shaft to feel the difference if there is any. As I told you the skill level of my students varies and of course some of them have certain flaws when it comes to their fundamentals we need to work on. I see and know this very good. What is interesting and obvious of course if your fundamentals are very good and solid you'll have no problem performing the shots either with your old school shaft or this new c.f. shaft. But it was also obvious this c.f. shaft makes these shots easier to perform first of all because with the same stroke and power you get more spin in our case drawing. Just look at the youngest Alex who has no confidence at all yet when it comes to draw the CB when the distance is around 3 diamonds or more. He's trying to use some power instead of relaxing and let the stroke flow …you know. It is no secret but demands time and patience to master. Look at the outcome while shooting with c.f. shaft. Had his stroke changed in five minutes so he managed to pocket 4 out 5 balls drawing the CB? Though performing the same shots with his cue the outcome was much worse with pretty much the same technique.
Here is a link for the video with my students https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJISzNMXufQ
It is not only me but all the students notice the same thing. With this c.f. shaft you get from 10 to 20% more action with the same stroke which is really good and allows you to be more accurate with the less speed. I repeat that is just mine and my students's subjective feeling about the difference in energy transfer. During my first experience with the Revo one of the first things I noticed about the performance was the difference in speed needed for some shots. Some long shots were so much more effortless and one of them was one of the standard shots from PAT3 – spot shot with the CB in the kitchen close to the side rail and pocketing the ball you try to hold the CB not letting it to stay at the bottom rail. So here I made some shots with the Cynergy and than with my current playing shaft trying to keep the CB as far from the bottom rail as possible. I can assure you with c.f. shaft it is easier and pretty effortless. You can easily make the CB come back from the side rail above the spot. With a wooden shaft you have to hit it really well to make it happen. Not to mention about making it to cross the center line on the table. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xU6ME7kIF6g

For those who bother about the deflection of the Cuetec Cynergy I would say it is fairly simple to get used to it after playing with 314-2 for example. My current playing shaft has very similar to 314-2 shaft's deflection and Nikita is playing with his 314-2 shaft. Both of us had no problems and did not experience any noticeable difference. Unfortunately I had only two hours of playing with the Revo 12.9 back than but me and Vitaliy Patsura noticed immediately the difference in deflection in comparison to 314-2. Revo 12.9 had a lower deflection so some time was needed for the adjustment where it was not the case with the Cuetec's Cynergy.
When it comes to so much talking about these c.f. shafts being the hype… I would say good quality new cloth makes even bigger difference when it comes to performance and certain shots. So if I have to decide between: to play on a good new cloth or to play with a good c.f. shaft. My choice is definitely a new cloth. I would say on a new cloth you don't really need that much power on most of the shots and it is mostly about controlling the speed. When I came to play on a new cloth after having so much time playing on a very old one…look every time I come to play on a new cloth it is so much easier to draw the ball …no such struggle with the long straight in draw shots as on the old one. Of course c.f. shafts have the other pros such as they are much easier to maintain its cleanliness and smoothness, they are more consistent when it comes to stay as they are once you got it and when it comes to their performance too. As a small side note I also noticed. With a c.f. shaft it is much more comfortable to perform shots in certain positions. For example when the CB is near the pocket and you have to bridge over that pocket with a wooden shaft once it touches the pocket you're in trouble because it does not go smooth on the pocket's surface, getting those black marks, getting sticky. Carbon fiber shaft slides much better on its surface making these shots much more comfortable.
So as the game is so much about also having fun in a perfect world it is great to be capable to afford playing with a good equipment on a new cloth. The problem is the new cloth is unfortunately a temporary thing and needs to be changed every now and than costing you close to this new c.f. shafts while the shaft itself will stay and last for a very long period of time and if it makes you enjoy the game helping your performance…well if you keep focusing on the other most important parts of the game it is not a bad investment at the end. Heck…what you're risking buying for example Mezz Ignite now if you can. The price for it on a secondary market is up to 1000 euros so if you get it from the dealer for its retail’s price you can always sell it in case it is not for you. We live in a crazy world and it is crazy times. Firstly it was pretty much Revo's time untill the other players came to the market which is a great thing.
Now I believe these c.f. shafts are here to stay. More and more young players of the next generation may choose c.f. shafts over wooden ones. The major retaining factor is still their much higher price but once they become more affordable we'll see another picture in the future.
P.S. I should add fairly important note ...it would be much better if I could compare the shafts of the same length because this Cynergy was standard 29” so as was the Revo earlier. It made my cue 29”+31” butt=60” when my current set up is 31”+31”=62”. I can say being fairly tall I feel much better and comfortable playing with my current set up. With 60” set up I start to feel the lack of the length especially on the shots where longer follow through is required. So I'm very curious and interested to try my set up with 31” c.f. shaft one day which is kind of a problem for the time being. I don't have very much choice here. There are only two manufacturers if I'm right at the moment. My favorites I'd like to use in my game…well they are not offering them in this length unfortunately.
Here are one of my favorite drills to repeat every now and than with this 60” set up with Cynergy. In a first drill you can see me holding the cue at the very end where I don't have any extra when I need to reach the shot with the longer bridge’s distance.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WUEdkzI8QSE

atlas333 said:

Thanks for the update. I always thought that I would stick with my maple shaft but I am starting to think that CF could be in my future.

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You're welcome. Using c.f. shaft does not mean you have to forget about your oldschool friend. I'm still enjoying my maple shaft and the wooden shafts having their own pros will stay for me. As the opposite to the c.f. where their consistency one from the other is one of the pros in a shaft out of some amazing old hard maple I do like its own unique character. I can give you one example. One of my friends Artem Koshovyi who is still the best pool player in my country in my opinion ...well I know him from his childhood when his father brought him to our school when we just started to work and looked for talented kids back than. He was growing on my eyes and in fact we had been mastering the game together, practicing, competing and facing each other during competitions too. He is a great example of a very talented player who was playing with one and the same cue with the oldschool solid maple shaft from his boyhood. Custom Prather cue he plays with was an award and present from his and my teacher and coach Jorgen Sandman and Jorgen's friend Dan Prather for his bronze at the World Junior's Championship 9-ball in Cydney. He played his best pool there after his left arm was hardly broken around two months before the event and he deserved his trip there after winning at EPC for youth. He spent most of the time before the championship at the hospital hoping the doctors take out the gypsum in time and allow to go. So they did around a week before the event and he was so motivated, looking forward for that trip and missing the game...Well Jorgen told me afterwards it was his best pool he witnessed so far. So of course his cue is so sentimental for Artem and he is so used to his shaft's deflection that after all those years and wins why to change something that works the best for you. He was offered sponsorship from Mezz back than when they came to the market. He had even got the package with the equipment from them to try and make his decision and as I said he was so connected to his cue he could not and did not want to waste his time for trying to adapt. So there are different cases and circumstances and what works well for one peson is not the case for the other.

JazzyJeff87 said:

I definitely agree that going from a 314-2 to the cuetec cynergy requires little to no noticeable adjustment. It plays so similar but feels a little better to me because it’s a bit stiffer and it has that nice long, straight taper. Mine did shed black dust for 2-3 weeks regardless of cleaning but has been fine ever since. I really love it.

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I've already mentioned in some other thread about the fact that this c.f. Cynergy is the stiffest shaft I've experienced with that so long and slim pro-taper. It just could not be done out of maple with that taper with the same stiffness at the end. I believe it is also a pain for a cue builder to make the solid maple shaft with such a long pro-taper to stay straight. So for those who prefers very long pro-taper and the stiffness at the same time I guess the winner is obviously c.f. shaft ...not necessarily Cynergy because there are the others out there which is also good.