Can I tell if my newly purchased predator shaft came with a medium tip?

Normally when I order cues, I usually purchase my desired (medium) tip separately, and since most of my shooting cue shafts have a Predator Victory medium tips on them, and since I ordered this shaft directly from the Predator website, I decided to have them put the Predator Victory tip on it, so what I'm saying is, I would have purchased the rPedator Victory medium tip anyway, and I'm sure Predator probably put a medium tip on it, but was just wondering if there was a way to verify that it is indeed a meddium tip on my shaft? That's all?
 
edcoopdeville said:
I recently purchased a Predator REVO 12.4 mm (5/16x14 Joint - White Vault Plate) shaft, directly from the predatorcues.com website, and it's sold with a Predator Victory soft tip. But I opted to have, and paid $29.00 to have, the soft tip replace with a Predator Victory medium tip.

So my quesstion is:
Is there a way I can tell if Predator actually replaced the default soft tip with a medium tip? Because I'd hate to think that I paid an extra $29.00 for a medium tip, and they just shipped shaft as is with a soft tip (for example, they just forgot to do the replacement and/or thinking I wouldn't be able to tell the difference)?
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edcoopdeville, Howdy;

Kinda reminds me of the old saw about ordering at a pricy restaurant. You know the ones with
no prices. If ya gotta ask then ya can't afford to eat there.
Same goes for the tip. If ya can't tell then you'll never know. Practice acceptance, if it's a soft it
will firm up just keep an eye on the amount of mushrooming. Dress it up as necessary and keep
on playin'.

hank
 
edcoopdeville said:
The default tip (which I'm assuming they automatically put on all their non-break cue shafts) is a soft tip, and if you want a medium or hard tip instead, it'll cost you $29.
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My Predator 314-3 came with the medium tip. I didn't try another tip on that shaft, but the medium tip was pretty firm. It sucks to not be sure of what you have. I don't know how soft the Predator soft tip is but the medium I had was definitely firmer than the other soft tips I've tried.
 
edcoopdeville said:
most of my shooting cue shafts have a Predator Victory medium tips on them, and since I ordered this shaft directly from the Predator website
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You should know when you hit with it then. I'd imagine a company like Predator has robust order tracking and inventory control so I wouldn't be too worried about them messing up your order.
 
The only way that i can tell is by feel.

The issue that I find with Revo shafts is the feel of the shaft on the hit is firmer. If you see that most CF shafts come with soft tips, but if you look at wood shafts most come with medium tips. So going to a medium tip from wood to CF the feel of the tip is going to be harder on CF
 
edcoopdeville said:
I'm sure Predator probably put a medium tip on it, but was just wondering if there was a way to verify that it is indeed a meddium tip on my shaft?
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Well, if you are questioning it then you are not so "sure".
But, to answer your question, no you cannot tell for sure, short of any specific color, design difference or other marking on the tip. You may have to take it on faith and reputation of the company.
Pool players that order expensive custom shafts and expensive tips are a niche market. They probably don't get all that many orders so it shouldn't be a problem to get the orders correct. This isn't like selling iPhones or TV sets!
 
edcoopdeville said:
I recently purchased a Predator REVO 12.4 mm (5/16x14 Joint - White Vault Plate) shaft, directly from the predatorcues.com website, and it's sold with a Predator Victory soft tip. But I opted to have, and paid $29.00 to have, the soft tip replace with a Predator Victory medium tip.

So my quesstion is:
Is there a way I can tell if Predator actually replaced the default soft tip with a medium tip? Because I'd hate to think that I paid an extra $29.00 for a medium tip, and they just shipped shaft as is with a soft tip (for example, they just forgot to do the replacement and/or thinking I wouldn't be able to tell the difference)?
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If you try it and you don't know or can't tell the difference, you wasted $29
 
hang-the-9 said:
If you try it and you don't know or can't tell the difference, you wasted $29
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And unless you have a durometer reading it's all murky. One person's soft is another's medium, and the tip is likely to change some in the next month.

A cuemaker friend of mine did have a durometer. He found that the labels on the boxes meant very little and he re-sorted all the tips according to their actual hardnesses.
 
Bob Jewett said:
And unless you have a durometer reading it's all murky. One person's soft is another's medium, and the tip is likely to change some in the next month.

A cuemaker friend of mine did have a durometer. He found that the labels on the boxes meant very little and he re-sorted all the tips according to their actual hardnesses.
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Even with layered tips?
 
KyHighball said:
Even with layered tips?
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I think we discussed this after layered tips had been out for a while and I don't recall any special comment about them. It seems like they should be able to control layered tips better, but I don't know.

The most accurate way to figure out the hardness of a tip is to install it, play with it for a while and then measure it with the right equipment. That's the hardness you're really interested in. I suppose you want to measure before install as well to help select tips in the future.

When I'm getting a new tip, I usually say, "Sure, one of those. Why not?" About half the time I install my own.
 
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Bob Jewett said:
A cuemaker friend of mine did have a durometer. He found that the labels on the boxes meant very little and he re-sorted all the tips according to their actual hardnesses.
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I'm under the impression that Elkmaster, Le Professional, and Triangle tips use different tanning processes. If I have a firmer Le Pro and a softer Triangle, so they are the same hardness, could anyone tell the difference?
 
Bob Jewett said:
I think we discussed this after layered tips had been out for a while and I don't recall any special comment about them. It seems like they should be able to control layered tips better, but I don't know.

The most accurate way to figure out the hardness of a tip is to install it, play with it for a while and then measure it with the right equipment. That's the hardness you're really interested in. I suppose you want to measure before install as well to help select tips in the future.

When I'm getting a new tip, I usually say, "Sure, one of those. Why not?" About half the time I install my own.
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LOL, that kinda has been my thing also, the guy that built my cue also does most of the tips we use, I just want a round-about soft tip and then he tells me what stuff he has, some new some old, and I just pick a random one to try out.

I think the only consistent one I would pick now is the Searing tips, I think they are consistent and keep the hardness longer than Kamui tips.
 
tomatoshooter said:
I'm under the impression that Elkmaster, Le Professional, and Triangle tips use different tanning processes. If I have a firmer Le Pro and a softer Triangle, so they are the same hardness, could anyone tell the difference?
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Years ago I use to use LePro, They are notoriously inconsistent. I would probably change 3-4 tips till I found the right one. Towards the end of using them I found poking them using a TipPik was a good way to see the hardness of them. I found LePro's to be very hard in general and Triangles to be softer.
 
Zerksies said:
Years ago I use to use LePro, They are notoriously inconsistent. I would probably change 3-4 tips till I found the right one. Towards the end of using them I found poking them using a TipPik was a good way to see the hardness of them. I found LePro's to be very hard in general and Triangles to be softer.
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It must be the inconsistency, but the Triangle I have is a good bit harder than either of the Le Pros I've used. Obviously it's a small sample. I love the Triangle but I'm concerned that my next one will not play the same.
 
tomatoshooter said:
It must be the inconsistency, but the Triangle I have is a good bit harder than either of the Le Pros I've used. Obviously it's a small sample. I love the Triangle but I'm concerned that my next one will not play the same.
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That’s why I learned how to change my own tips. It was $10 at a time and this was 20 years ago. I’m using a layered tips now. What’s good about them is they are pretty consistent tip to tip. I go through tips fast. I’ve probably changed about 6-7 in the last year and very consistent. To me it’s worth the $20+
 
Zerksies said:
That’s why I learned how to change my own tips. It was $10 at a time and this was 20 years ago. I’m using a layered tips now. What’s good about them is they are pretty consistent tip to tip. I go through tips fast. I’ve probably changed about 6-7 in the last year and very consistent. To me it’s worth the $20+
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At some point I will need to learn how to change my tips. I take mine to a guy with a nice lathe. I know the lathe isn't strictly necessary, but if I was changing a tip and there was a lathe sitting there, I would use it, so I'm going to the guy with the lathe. This Triangle looks like it should give me a good 6 months, the tips before that quit at about 4 months. One day I would notice they were getting thin around the sides and a week later they were useless.
 
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