RBC
Deceased
Gideon
Sorry I hadn't responded to this already.
Most tips, at least the ones that I've measured, came out to a specific gravity of right around 1.0, give or take.
Most maple is around .65 to .75, so the tip is heavier than maple.
Most plastic ferrules are at least 1.25 with the majority coming in over 1.5, so the tip is lighter than most ferrules.
Now keep in mind that we don't really ever replace any wood or ferrule with the tip. The tip just goes on the top and it's mass is in addition to that of the cue shaft. So a thinner tip, with less mass, will have lower tip end mass than a thicker or taller tip. Since tip end mass is the primary contributor to cue ball squirt, the thinner tip will have less squirt. How much less is hard to tell, but the math does support it.
There are those who believe that a tall tip will "give" or push aside during contact reducing lateral force put into the cue ball and therefore reducing the cue ball squirt. This is certainly possible, but again the question is how much. The force it would take to make the tip "give" laterally could only come through the shaft itself. Meaning that the greater that force, the more length of the shaft would have to be holding that tip from moving sideways. The more of the shaft that's involved the more the cue ball squirt.
So, in my opinion, the primary factor in cue ball squirt is tip end mass. Yes, there are other factors that come into play, but the extent at which they do is small enough for me to not focus on them too much.
Royce