Are Shafts Overrated and too expensive

[DAVE_M]

Yes, I would like to know the manufacturers cost of making a Z3 shaft and let everyone know the exact price it costs in factory to make. I bet that would open a lot of peoples eyes. Take a Nike shoe for example, you pay 250$ for a 10$ shoe.

Considering Predator shafts are made in China, I'd be willing to bet the manufacturing cost of a $200+ shaft is around $20-30 at most.

 

[macguy]

I think that they are too expensive,and im wondering why are they around 300$-220$ new(Predator,Ob,Vikore Viking) I can see any reason for that price.They dont use any sort of materials that are expensive,or exotic that would cause price to get high,are they fooling us about "Low Deflection"?Is that main reason for sliced piece of maple wood with few rings and plastic parts to be 300$???

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I kind of think so. I just like a regular shaft. But having said that I have also had a number of shafts I hated, including ones I made. Maybe with some of the new shafts you have a better chance of liking the shaft due to consistency.

 

[MalibuMike]

I keep going back to the Tiger Pro-X!

I'm fine with shafts around $200 for custom or LD....but when they start getting up to $300 like the new Vantage shafts, I just can't see the value there. I spent $185 on my Jacoby and traded into my Tiger. Both are good shafts and I'm happy with them.

I have a Runde on order and I plan to try playing with the stock shafts for a few months, but I'll be hanging onto my Tiger as well so I have the option of going back to it.

I had the Edge, the Mezz, The Pred, the SS230-2, a bunch of OBee's and I still keep going back to my Tiger 30" Pr0-X (Its also the only shaft that doesnt change its design every year so you have to buy the latest "improved" "Plus" shaft or other marketing nonesense, LD shafts are great, its too bad greed got in the way.
~M

The SS360-2 is a good shaft as well, then the Mezz and the Edge!
The Pred's and OB's are all marketing and running out of gas!

 

[galipeau]

your 100% correct, you should just make one yourself, because it really is as simple as you explained it.

That is if you have a lathe , a taper bar or a cnc or some way of tapering the shaft.
The boring bar or tap to make the threads in the shaft the dust control system,
a shop garage or spare bedroom to put all this stuff in.

A way to design and cut the strips of wood in pie shaped pieces or i guess you could laminate flat piece of wood together like meucci or you could core the solid maple dowel and stuff graphite rod in there or silicone or foam or balsa wood.
So add a gun drill in and a good table and band saw a big air compressor in too.

Don't forget the trial and errors of which glues to use and warping problems laminates de-bonding, weak tenons and ferrules splitting.

couldn't have said it better.

 

[MitchAlsup]

Supply versus demand::

If some recognized company suddenly dropped their prices from <say> $300 to <say> $150 and had a production and transportation cost of $50 total, they have just squeezed their profits from $250 to $100. So they would have to sell at least 2.5X as many to cover the factory overhead.

My inclination is that there are not enough shafts being sold (apart from whole cues) in order to cover any but a trifling of this.

And then, a company like Predator has to do something to separate the 314-2 from the 314-3 at least until they sell the last 314-2, simply so that the last 314-2 actually does sell.

 

[throne4]

Whether you buy in to the LD hype or not is irrelevant. The fact is they do work to some degree or another which puts them in to the added technology class. With that comes years or R&D which costs major dollars. Manufacturers sell the new items based on manufacturing costs and recovering there engineering costs, hence the higher price. That holds true for any new product to hit the market

 

[LAlouie]

I think that they are too expensive,and im wondering why are they around 300$-220$ new(Predator,Ob,Vikore Viking) I can see any reason for that price.They dont use any sort of materials that are expensive,or exotic that would cause price to get high,are they fooling us about "Low Deflection"?Is that main reason for sliced piece of maple wood with few rings and plastic parts to be 300$???

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Shafts are everything. Go to any poolroom and play with all the house cues. There will be a couple that play superior to all other cues. It's in the wood.