Okay, my Christmas gift finally arrived today (APO is choked up this time of year)...I ordered a 30 inch Gulyassy SPTX (Strickland Pro Taper Extreme) for my Carolina Custom, with a Kamui Black Soft tip. I took it straight out to the pool room and logged in four hours--did everything I could think of with it to really test it out. Masse's as good as any shaft I've got, and I even jumped with it no problem (that's a 60 inch 20 oz cue, folks). I've never been a fan of LD shafts, having tried most of them out at some point since the very first Predators came out. Never saw that much advantage to them, and I hate the dead feeling of a hollowed out shaft. Not particularly a fan of laminated shafts, either, too stiff and kind of dead, too. So the idea of an LD shaft that's solid maple and has a pro taper really appealed to me. I wasn't disappointed, this shaft is phenomenal. My first three shots stunned me speechless. This shaft has more feel in it than any of my stock maple shafts.
First off, the taper is so long it's INSANE. On my shaft it goes back a full 20 inches before it rises up toward the joint collar. The Melamine ferrule is about 2/3 the size of my stock shafts' ivory ferrules...I assume the lighter, shorter ferrule and the extreme pro taper is what gives it its LD qualities. I find the deflection very close to first generation Predators and OB1 cues. I couldn't believe how far out I could hit the cue ball without a miss-cue (in fact, I only miss cued once all night, hitting the table and the cueball at the same instant. I could hit virtually anything with extreme inside english and had no issues making the shots. In fact, I was able to reliably run cut shots up the long rail without rubbing the rail at all more often than not--which I haven't been able to do in a LONG time. I ran a whole rack out with nothing but inside english. Spent a lot of time shooting 30 degree cut shots into the corner first with outside english, then set it back up and used inside english to see if I could put the cue ball in the same general spot...surprising how easy I was able to do that. Then I spent about an hour shooting nothing but slow soft spin shots--most fun I've had with my clothes on in decades!
The taper and the Kamui Black Soft really juice this shaft. A little bit goes A LONG WAY. The hit is medium-firm, probably firmer than it would be because of the shaft freeze. Drawing the cue ball was easy enough, but I was particularly impressed by the follow I could put on with this shaft/tip combo.
The shaft in no way feels "CUETech-ish" because of the shaft freeze. I couldn't feel anything, it was smooth as ice and felt like freshly sealed maple. If your hands get a little damp, you'll feel some significant drag, but just dry your hands! Or wear a glove, if you're playing in a very humid room or generally have sweaty hands.
You can spend a couple of hundred on much worse things...these shafts are so good they ought to be illegal.
First off, the taper is so long it's INSANE. On my shaft it goes back a full 20 inches before it rises up toward the joint collar. The Melamine ferrule is about 2/3 the size of my stock shafts' ivory ferrules...I assume the lighter, shorter ferrule and the extreme pro taper is what gives it its LD qualities. I find the deflection very close to first generation Predators and OB1 cues. I couldn't believe how far out I could hit the cue ball without a miss-cue (in fact, I only miss cued once all night, hitting the table and the cueball at the same instant. I could hit virtually anything with extreme inside english and had no issues making the shots. In fact, I was able to reliably run cut shots up the long rail without rubbing the rail at all more often than not--which I haven't been able to do in a LONG time. I ran a whole rack out with nothing but inside english. Spent a lot of time shooting 30 degree cut shots into the corner first with outside english, then set it back up and used inside english to see if I could put the cue ball in the same general spot...surprising how easy I was able to do that. Then I spent about an hour shooting nothing but slow soft spin shots--most fun I've had with my clothes on in decades!
The taper and the Kamui Black Soft really juice this shaft. A little bit goes A LONG WAY. The hit is medium-firm, probably firmer than it would be because of the shaft freeze. Drawing the cue ball was easy enough, but I was particularly impressed by the follow I could put on with this shaft/tip combo.
The shaft in no way feels "CUETech-ish" because of the shaft freeze. I couldn't feel anything, it was smooth as ice and felt like freshly sealed maple. If your hands get a little damp, you'll feel some significant drag, but just dry your hands! Or wear a glove, if you're playing in a very humid room or generally have sweaty hands.
You can spend a couple of hundred on much worse things...these shafts are so good they ought to be illegal.
