John cored a lot of his blanks, mostly for weight. He always cored after the the blank was built, not before the splicing was done. He actually made a walking cane for a friend of his that was a full spliced butt that was cored out so the shaft would fit inside the butt while it was being used as cane but then you could pull the shaft out of the butt and screw it on the butt and use it as a cue as well. Like the old import cue/ canes.
