After a long layoff from this game, I have to reinvent myself. And I'm still working on it. Aim, stance and stroke. Twenty years ago, I also was a gym rat and an athlete. I don't have the stamina to play long matches any more. My eyes and body get very tired, quicker.
When I started playing again, pool had/has a foreign feel. It actually feels worse than when I was growing up in the game. Back then everything was new, now its frustrating knowing how I played and not being able to execute. Ignorance was bliss.
The TAD no longer handles the same for me. Its too heavy, 19.7 oz, I now play with 19 oz. I've switched to OB Classic LD shafts which FOR ME, allows me to do things with the cue ball that I much more ease. So after buying a few cues here from my AZ friends, I've chosen Carmeli's as a very nice replacement cue. Its a long story why I need multiple cues but I travel a lot. I need a cue for the different cities that I live in. Its very difficult to find 1970's TAD cues just to leave in different cities.
thanks for asking.
I think a ferrule size like 12.75mm or slightly smaller with a long taper will be softer than a stiff thick taper, but to soften your hit with any cue or shaft size just go with a soft tip. The tip softens the hit based on the hardness of the tip. Put on an Elk Master tip and you have an instant softer hit than you had with a harder firm layered tip. I'm not sure you could notice the difference in hit with different joint types. I've played with all the different joint types and since i'm not a pro the joint of the cue doesn't make that much difference to me in the hit. The only cue joint that i've noticed a difference in the way it hit was a 5/16x14 piloted ivory joint on a Paul Mottey/James White cue. It may be my imagination, but I felt like I could feel a difference hitting with that joint over the same configuration in stainless steel.
