I want to preface that I'm not meaning this disparagingly or anything, just mainly discussing my opinion on it.
I get it but with an engineering mindset think of it this way. Your project has a budget and a timeline. Is it worth focusing X amount of man hours and budget on a problem that will only improve your final product by 2% or is it better to use the same man hours and budget to fix something that will improve the final product by 20%?
Please note, I am not saying this stuff doesn't matter at all, and it is fun to discuss. I'm saying it's so minute that unless you build a robot to stroke the cue for you it's beyond the point of diminishing returns. Plug the hole in the bucket first and then you can worry about making the outside look shiny.
No matter how scientific, engineering minded, good at physics, etc you are... we are still only human. Stroke errors will contribute to a much higher percentage of error than taper. So will fundamentals, mental errors, strategic errors, etc. Focusing on something with such a
tiny percentage of improvement isn't being efficient with your resources and time. You would probably find more improvement in your pool game by taking a daily vitamin. No joke. If you don't like conical taper then use some form of pro taper. If you bridge 8" away consistently, get a 12" pro taper, if you bridge 12" away, get a 20" pro taper. It's not an exact science, the point is you don't want the taper to change as it goes through your bridge... a conical does this. Some people like them and can play perfection pool with them. I don't. It's personal preference and what you like. A preference, and just like arguing if catsup or mustard is better, there is no hard truth to it. Try your friend's cues or see if you can try some belonging to the regulars at your pool hall. Try the ones they have for sale at tournaments, etc.
Sure, it's fun to nerd out on the minute details but it isn't an efficient use of your time and resources until you are so good that you MUST chase the small diminishing returns. Plug the hole in the bucket to begin with, then at some point worry about how shiny it is.
I'm not saying to use a house cue or a broomstick. Obviously playing with better equipment can help. I'm saying that unless you are world class at pool your resources would be better focused elsewhere. Any cue in a normal range will serve you well. Once proficient at it you will be able to form opinions such as taper, weight, balance point, tip curvature, etc. Anyway, sorry for the wordy reply, hope everything works well for you.
I don't know just how in depth of an answer you are looking for but there has been a lot of things discussed amongst cuemakers, and some things that they keep as secret. You can get into the speed of sound in different woods, wave propagation and all sorts of things. You might even google some of the stuff in the cuemaker's forum. You might find some interesting stuff in the archives. I vaguely recall Meucci doing extensive deflection testing that was posted in older pool magazines. There's a plethora of variables. Probably enough you could spend an entire lifetime studying them and never figure it all out.
