Best Shafts??

Coker has used Bowling Alley wood for his shafts also. Own several. Good hitting stick, nothing special. The Best? Barnhart, Capone, Franklin. No. 1- Jack Madden! Ob-1, Pred, etc? You can keep em. Never did understand buying a custom from a professional builder who has put his all in producing the finist stick he can. A stick that is perfectly balanced and a shaft that has 2 +years in the making only to be replaced by some high production aftermarket shaft? Always seemed like an insult to me. The great's never had them. But to each his own I guess.
 
Hi I'm looking to buy a LD shaft as well, but I don't know the size of my cue's ring... how do I find that out? My friend bought me my cue. All I know is that it is by Imperial..... I looked Imperial up and it didn't even show up on most sites so.. I don't know what shaft size to buy for it.
 
I've played with low deflection shafts for most of my life,then I heard about shafts made from old bowling alley wood.I got a Jim Pierce cue I bought from Tommy1351 with 2 bowing alley shafts about 40 years old.This wood is so dense and dark and has alot of grain lines (some people don't like that)but a ton of growth rings.These shafts are in a league of there own.As far as I know he has about 60 blanks left of this wood then it's gone.You'll throw every shaft you own in a firepit when you try one of these.Not saying its the perfect shaft but damn near close!

Maple . Custom made shatfs just find the right cue man...
 
Ob-1, Pred, etc? You can keep em. Never did understand buying a custom from a professional builder who has put his all in producing the finist stick he can. A stick that is perfectly balanced and a shaft that has 2 +years in the making only to be replaced by some high production aftermarket shaft? Always seemed like an insult to me. The great's never had them. But to each his own I guess.

Always felt the same way myself. Tough to improve on tight grained hard maple taken down over many months and tapered and constructed by my favorite craftsman. No glued plywood LD shafts for me - too old school I guess. :wink:
My vote goes to Tim Scruggs from my experience.
 
Terminator 3

I have been playing with 314's for a few years and have played with a couple of OB-1's. I like the low deflection traits buy the hit on both left something to be desired. While choosing a custom cue I played and chose an ArnotQ custom. This cue is available with Arnot's own version of a low deflection, laminated shaft. And it is one of the reasons I ended up ordering an ArnotQ cue. Its called the Terminator 3 or T-3 shaft. It plays great.
This shaft has very good deflection characteristics but is a solid lamination of 26 layers of hard rock maple. There are no hollow sections or foam fillers in thesei shafts and the hit is that of a premium conventional shaft. In other words to me, it is the best of both worlds. The taper is great (modified pro / hyperbolic) and very comfortable to play with. And its got enough spine to ensure excellent accuracy. These shafts ate available for just about any cue with all of the joint configurations. And the price is competitive. I think the Terminator 3 from ArnotQ customs is a very underrated low deflection shaft.
 
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Handmade cue shafts and OB/314/Gcore/mezz-hybird r quite different shafts to compare, if u have chance to test more shafts.....

u definetly find the best to suits u, it's u playing not shaft playing, linling told me(PHI)
 
Arnot-Q Terminatior shafts

Greetings,

If you like a stiffer lower deflection shaft but also want very good cue ball control and feed back then you should consider the T3 shaft that Arnot-Q has available(player & break shaft) You can custom the taper to your desire but remember that there is a trade off regarding the taper profile and performance if you start to make radical changes to the standard tapers.

In my experience, some players (usually those who need a little better stroke) who use less than a 13 mm shaft sometimes invariably will comment that they notice that drawing the ball is easier with a less than 13 mm diameter shaft. That maybe true due the fact that a smaller diameter tip has a smaller surface area and therefore more energy is concentrated into a smaller area and generally creates more cue ball spin for the same amount of stroke input but at a price....much less control.

However, cueing the ball lower and stroking the ball better produces very good results and drawing the ball table length distance becomes relatively very easy with some practice. Actually, using a T3 break cue shaft in your playing cue can also provide some very positive results in helping one improve their stroke and at the same time very good cue ball control along with very good cue ball feedback.

These are my observations but many other Arnot-Q T3 shaft users attest to this fact also. Anyway, from my perspective the T3 shaft has vastly improved my overall performance and took a little time to get used to but was very very well worth it.

Give it try and if you stick with it, it may be one of the better things that you can do to improve your game and most certainly increase your overall shot making capability. Just my two cents worth!!!!


Thanks





I have been playing with 314's for a few years and have played with a couple of OB-1's. I like the low deflection traits buy the hit on both left something to be desired. While choosing a custom cue I played and chose an ArnotQ custom. This cue is available with Arnot's own version of a low deflection, laminated shaft. And it is one of the reasons I ended up ordering an ArnotQ cue. Its called the Terminator 3 or T-3 shaft. It plays great.
This shaft has very good deflection characteristics but is a solid lamination of 26 layers of hard rock maple. There are no hollow sections or foam fillers in thesei shafts and the hit is that of a premium conventional shaft. In other words to me, it is the best of both worlds. The taper is great (modified pro / hyperbolic) and very comfortable to play with. And its got enough spine to ensure excellent accuracy. These shafts ate available for just about any cue with all of the joint configurations. And the price is competitive. I think the Terminator 3 from ArnotQ customs is a very underrated low deflection shaft.
 
Larry, I think I mentioned that the owner of my hall plays with a Scruggs and the shaft is showing its age. He was going to purchase a new shaft from the maker and was a little disappointed with the lead time. At any rate, he also tried the older Arnot cue with the T-3. He's old school and says he could card less about deflection...basically a feel player. He liked the hit and standard taper so much, he has decided to try a T-3 in his Scruggs. That's got to be an "ultimate compliment" if ever. And he's just basing it on feel. He also thought the workmanship was superb for a laminated shaft design. He had to put it under brighter lighting to confirm it was a laminated shaft.....which he says " usually feel like a box of rocks with a piece of plastic on the end". His T-3 will be a 5/16-14 type and wanted to make sure it would come with a brass pilot ....which it apparently will.
 
I've heard some pretty good things about Pete Tonkin's laminated shafts. I guess I'll find out for myself in about 3 months when he's done with my cue!
 
Szamboti-hands down

I like the 500-900 yr old shaft wood. Heavy weights ( 4.0-4.5 ) A shaft that you can break with- Ivory ferrules- Kamui tips.--- I prefer longer shafts- which is at a premium price.Shaft is 50 % , Balance and butt design 50%.
 
I may have to agree on Dmitry Komarov aka DBK shafts. I just bought one of his cues from Ron Baxter and although Ron tipped the cue I think Dmitry may have made the shafts. I only got to hit with the cue for about two racks as time didn't allow any serious playing but I did drop Dmitry an email asking what the shafts were made of. There is something sweet about the way the cue plays. It is neck and neck with my Searing and Gina at 1/10 the price. To be completly honest i am anxious to get some serious playing time in with this cue as it is seldom a cue surprises me. Id rate the finish on the cue a 9 it isnt perfect but in Russia they may not have the assets we do in the states to do a perfect finish but I am totally pleased with the cue.
 
Personally I have a custom turned Old Growth shaft. Southwest taper, Ivorine III, Kamui black tip. standard black phenolic rings....works great use it for everything from one pocket to straight pool...
 
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