Anyone playing with a 12mm shaft or smaller?

C

cornerhooked

Registered
More and more I see players with shafts that are far less than 12.5 mm. One guy has a Meucci with a 11.75mm shaft and its a Meucci shaft. It's practically a wet noodle, but he can get some ridiculous english on the ball. He's a good money player but he throws alot of shots, too much deflection. So my question is how many of you out there are shooting with a 12mm shaft or less and how are you doing with that? These shafts Ive seen are not just from wear. They are having the pro taper taken down to that. I think it compromises the integrity of the hit.
 
Snooker cues are far smaller, 10 mm or less.

I suspect that I can hit a spot on a cue ball more accurately with the smaller tip.
 
The backup shaft that I have is only 11.2mm. I used to use it normally but it was too small so I switched to 12.5mm. The deflection is less with the smaller shaft, but a larger shaft made me more accurate. I could hit closer to the spot I was aiming with a larger diameter shaft. I can still get crazy amounts of spin with that small shaft although I rarely use it. I realized that the ideal diameter for me is between 12.5- 12.75.
charles
 
I play with an 11.5 shaft. I think I play better with it than with a 12 or a 13. I feel I hit more accurate, as I have to focus more on each and every shot. Also I tend to use more english as I can put a ridiculous amount of spin on the cueball
 
cornerhooked said:
More and more I see players with shafts that are far less than 12.5 mm. One guy has a Meucci with a 11.75mm shaft and its a Meucci shaft. It's practically a wet noodle, but he can get some ridiculous english on the ball. He's a good money player but he throws alot of shots, too much deflection. So my question is how many of you out there are shooting with a 12mm shaft or less and how are you doing with that? These shafts Ive seen are not just from wear. They are having the pro taper taken down to that. I think it compromises the integrity of the hit.
Click to expand...

WHEN I PLAYED ALOT OF 3 CUSHION I WAS USING A 12MM TIP OR SMALLER. YOU GET BETTER ENGLISH WITH IT BUT YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL NOT TO USE TO MUCH....BUT I DO LIKE THE HIT I GET WITH A SMALLER TIP.........MIKE

dam caps lock....sorry not yelling
 
I play with the predator z shaft which is 11.75mm at the tip. At first the smaller diameter seemed strange, but after I got used to it I grew to realy like it. It has forced me to be more concious and exacting about where I strike the cue ball.
 
I haven't measured mine, but my main playing shaft has been considerably taken down, and to top it off, I have a taper on my ferrule too. Considerably less deflection, a more active cue ball, and I can see better. Not for everybody though. Trying to hit a long dead straight on shot without inadvertently putting some spin on the ball is much more difficult. As a matter of fact, the balls that I tend to miss are thicker cuts where I've unintentionally put spin on the cue ball causing the object ball to throw off course.
dave
 
Predator Z^2, 11.75mm. I love the Euro Taper of the shaft, very acurate, lot's of english when needed. Haven't played with anything else since the original Z cameout, whould't play without it.

Black Cat :cool:
 
I prefer a 12.25 or 12.50 pro taper. The cue I got, I ordered it with a 12.50 taper on both shafts, but the cuemaker made them 11.75, which is way too thin. The cuemaker was unresponsive to my complaints, so I got used to the diamater. I still don't like it very much, because every so often if I am not accurate with my compensation for sidespin, it throws quite a bit and I usually overcut alot of shots. On a positive side, it's gotten me back to using center alot more often, because I went into a phase where I was using sidespin on shots that it wasn't necessary for. I just got a new cue, and the shaft is 13mm, but I can still put alot of spin on the cueball, just as much as my cue with the thinner shafts. I don't think that having a thinner shaft allows you to put much more english than a standard 13mm.
 
If you look at modern bicycles, you will see that many use very large diameter tubes. Even though they appear massive, the tubes are made of very thin material, aluminum for example, and are much lighter than than old bikes made of small diameter steel tubing. The strength comes from the increased diameter.

The larger the diameter the stiffer the cylinder.

A rough rule for hollow tubes: strength increases by the square of the increase in diameter.

Double the diameter, quadruple the strength.

So the cue characteristics depend on the material and diameter. Those thin snooker cues are made of ash or maple. (Barry Bonds uses a maple bat.)
 
12 or smaller

I typically switch between my 12mm and my 11.75mm.

My 11.75 is my McDermott I-3 shaft with a european taper.

My 12mm is a McDermott shaft that I had turned down to 12mm and it has a South West taper.

I like both shafts, but here lately I haven't been using a lot of english so I have been using the heck out of the 12mm. I also prefer the 12mm when I shoot on a bar box.

I feel I get more english out of the 11.75, but I believe it is because it is a low deflection shaft. Even if I am not getting more english I am driving the ball far less off line.

Someone said the snooker cues are smaller, well yes they are. I have seen players with 10mm, and one even with a 9mm. The real reason for that is the balls are smaller.

I wouldn't use anything smaller than an 11.5 on 8 or 9 ball. Just my opinion though.
 
ive been shooting with a 12.00 on the scruggs i just got, it also has a 12.5, but i like the feel of the 12 better, its just damn hard to make a long, straight in, jacked up shot.
 
cornerhooked said:
More and more I see players with shafts that are far less than 12.5 mm. One guy has a Meucci with a 11.75mm shaft and its a Meucci shaft. It's practically a wet noodle, but he can get some ridiculous english on the ball. He's a good money player but he throws alot of shots, too much deflection. So my question is how many of you out there are shooting with a 12mm shaft or less and how are you doing with that? These shafts Ive seen are not just from wear. They are having the pro taper taken down to that. I think it compromises the integrity of the hit.
Click to expand...

Thinner shaft equates to more "english" on the cue ball. Translated, it's easier to juice up a shot. But the converse of this is, that's it's easier to mess up a shot to. You MUST make a good hit on the cue ball to use a thin shaft effectively.

And that's it in a nutshell.
 
My accuracy goes waaaay down with a shaft that is that small in diameter. Works for some people but I have found that 13 or even a hair over is perfect for me. I still get all the action I need AND get the desired accuracy.

I think I read somewhere that Thorsten Hohmann uses a 12.4mm shaft. While I could never play with that it obviously means he's got a lot better and more consistent stroke than me(no kidding huh). Again, to each their own.
 
I prefer playing with a 12 mm shaft. Have to be careful with occasional miss cues. There is no right or wrong size, just the one you feel most comfortable and consistent with.
 
My shaft is 12.75 mm. Which is a Predator 314. I recently had the tip upgraded to a Diamondback laminated tip. So far that new tip is SWEET. I like the narrow shaft because of the feel. And you're right, its all of the feel and its different from person to person.

For anyone wanting to see what Im talking about in reguards to the new tip they can go to www.killerstroke.com -- I really like it so far and just wanted to share that with my fellow pool bretheren throughout the land. Made the mistake of mentioning it in another thread and the Varney cue guy pounced all over me about the sniper tip. Which I politely explained that I have had sniper(s) twice and both times ( granted it was over 18 months ago) that the tip fell apart. I wasnt the only one who expereinced that but apprantly was just a bad batch and now sniper is doing okay for some people.

I shoot with a schon and have a predator 314 shaft. Is the OBI 1 shaft people gonna chastise me next? Geez.
 
Well I play with a 11.75 Z2 shaft.
I agree that you do NOT get more spin with smaller diameter shaft, just less obstructive view, i.e. easier aiming for some.

Oliver Ortmann uses some really really thin shaft...probably below 11.5.
 
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