~~~ Conical Vs. Pro Taper ~~~

[icem3n]

Conical Vs. Pro Taper

Some believe in conical stiff taper and
some prefer more flex to them 12~16" pro taper (straight ).

Will any of them assist in reducing deflection(not to compare with low deflection shaft)?
Are there any test to back up any of this claim?

Players like Earl and SVD like it long straight right?

What are the Pro & Con of this Shaft Taper?

What do you guys think?

Which would be more suitable for playing (not breaking)?

 

[Rich93]

Conical tapers usually have a smaller tip (12mm or less) and therefore smaller mass at the end of the cue, so in that sense they reduce squirt compared to, say, a 13mm pro taper shaft (non LD). They usually have a shorter lighter ferrule and that helps also.

I think the main claimed advantage of a conical taper is not so much lower squirt but more consistency in the way the cue performs, that is, for a given type of hit the cueball reacts the same from shot to shot. For example, if two tips of right english shot at a given speed gives you x amount of squirt and y amount of spin, it will give x and y consistently, and its consistency will be greater than a cue with a pro taper. I don't know if this is true.

A conical taper doesn't slide as easily through the fingers. That's why you see world class carom players, who almost all use conical tapers, using gloves more often than pool players. If someone is used to a pro taper, he will probably want to turn a conical cue into firewood after a few strokes. They really take some getting used to.

 

[worriedbeef]

yeah the main difference to me is not the stiffness per se but not being able to use a closed bridge as comfortably, (usually) having a smaller tip. heck it's also the stiffness I'm not too keen on either lol. give me my OB-1 and wood to wood joint any day!

 

[JAW725]

Hello,

I always liked the taper on the BK2, it's kind of in between, more pro but stiffer. I wanted to convert the BK2 into a playing shaft because it was stiff and still had very low deflection but the new FAT Shaft has a taper like the BK2 so I will try that.

 

[ShootingArts]

neither one

I don't like a european taper or a pro taper. For some shots a closed bridge is best and a european taper doesn't work well with a closed bridge and a long stroke.

With a pro taper there are often undesirable flex characteristics when a shaft is new, even more common is for the pro tapered shaft to get "bottlenecked" over time and develop undesirable flex characteristics. That is why many people including myself use a modified pro taper. The shaft has a very slight taper in the "pro section" to insure that it flexes how and where we want it to.

Hu

 

[Rich93]

I don't like a european taper or a pro taper. For some shots a closed bridge is best and a european taper doesn't work well with a closed bridge and a long stroke.

With a pro taper there are often undesirable flex characteristics when a shaft is new, even more common is for the pro tapered shaft to get "bottlenecked" over time and develop undesirable flex characteristics. That is why many people including myself use a modified pro taper. The shaft has a very slight taper in the "pro section" to insure that it flexes how and where we want it to.

Hu

According to Ray Schuler, if I recall correctly, Herman Rambow was the first to offer a pro taper but that his cues always had some growth in the pro section. The pro section was later modified by other cuemakers to be strictly cylindrical, which Ray considered a mistake.