First L/D
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The first I recall was when Predator shafts hit the market, like early to mid 90's. The complete Predator cues didn't come out as soon as their aftermarket shafts if I recall correctly.
I owned Meucci Pool Cue (not black dot) for almost 20 years, it was not advertised as low deflection, but the shaft made of light weight wood, which gave it LD property. I guess the LD marketing gurus started with Meucci black dot before the 314 ! i could be wrong.
Shafts do vary in their LD properties it plausible and accurate, i wanted to know too, i bought few cheap cues from sears one day and certainly each one has different squirt level, the most squirt i got from the Graphite cues 6", great cue for break and jump for $35.00.
What makes it not so credible is the consumer is not told in "small prints" or otherwise that Squirt can be canceled with proper shooting techniques for every cue.
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I guess for sake of argument it may be Bob Meucci. I remember very clearly in 1975 I put on a tournament and Bob Meucci came with a cue display. He would demonstrate his cues and discuss deflection and so on. His ferrules were thin walled and plastic and he used a long taper.
All his discussions of his shafts and cues seemed to revolve around deflection most of which no one even understood at the time. Bob would go on and on explaining it often sounding like a nut to some people. Bobs ferrules by the way were renowned for breaking due to the thin walls. It was something he would not change as he believed it was an important part of the playing quality of the shaft. If it broke just send them the shaft and they would fix it for you N/C.
I have to say, a lot of good players really liked Meucci cues back then and no one was paying them to play with a them. One quality they seemed to have was they all played about the same. They were like a disposable cue in a way. If one got broken or stolen you just bought another. It didn't matter they all felt the same.
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Dufferin came out with a flat laminated shaft way way before
Predator came out with there version.The big difference was marketing.
Predator hollowed out there's so that made it LD but Dufferin shafts were 12.5
so there's were LD as well cause of the less weight at the front but again
it was never marketed that way.
IMO Dufferin was the first. Just to add,dufferin also made some of there butts flat laminated splices as well.
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the very first was Longoni Italy check these links
http://www.achro.gr/pdf/S2 Patent.pdf
http://www.achro.gr/eng/categories/Shaft_for_Pool_Cues_Longoni
at 1982 if the above links are correct
http://www.achro.gr/pdf/S2 Patent.pdf
http://www.achro.gr/eng/categories/Shaft_for_Pool_Cues_Longoni
at 1982 if the above links are correct
I think Dufferin came out with there's in the 70's when they were based in Canada.
I believe all shaftwood have degrees of deflection, as wood is organic and no two are exactly alike. Therefore, some of the better cuemakers have a more exhaustive selection process. They take the time to sort out shaftwood, and this shows up in tighter quality control (minimize cue to cue variation). This process also adds cost of time and labor.
You are right, lamination isn't what Predator or OB1 rely on for low deflection. Looking at the lumber industry, lamination (plywood) is a process which allows a finished product to have a higher level of consistency than possible from the raw material. Meaning, wood that was previously rejected is now usable.
For years, people noticed the smaller diameter of snooker cues also had less deflection. Look at the Predator Z series shafts with their sub 12mm cuetips, which have higher LD than the 314.
Maybe OP should be asking, who first started marketing or making LD claims. I believe Predator was the first with mass marketing campaign.
You are right, lamination isn't what Predator or OB1 rely on for low deflection. Looking at the lumber industry, lamination (plywood) is a process which allows a finished product to have a higher level of consistency than possible from the raw material. Meaning, wood that was previously rejected is now usable.
For years, people noticed the smaller diameter of snooker cues also had less deflection. Look at the Predator Z series shafts with their sub 12mm cuetips, which have higher LD than the 314.
Maybe OP should be asking, who first started marketing or making LD claims. I believe Predator was the first with mass marketing campaign.
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For marketing purposes
I agree with you that Predator brought it to the forefront of the industry.
I don't think players really thought to much about it till stats and testimonials came
out.
Now LD shafts are like the'' billiard drug'' and Predator was the main dealer to get
your fix.
There shouldn't be.
And I'll have to check my notes, but laminated shafts (not low squirt) were used many decades before Clawson or Dufferin, according to Thomas Wayne's Rosabelle, Believe.
Laminated shafts and LD are not necessarily synonymous
That is true but like with anything you want to eliminate as much guessing as possible. On a long tough cut with spin you will have to do some compensating regardless of what shaft you have. If you play one pocket, straight pool or even 8 ball you don't really hit the cue ball hard that often and it comes into play less. 9 ball is where you have to do tough things whether you want to or not maybe hit the cueball with a lot of spin and so on.
These subtle abilities to do these things with a high degree of consistency that the better players have are what separate them from the rest of the average players. The LD shaft may offer a little help to the average player and added confidence, but only to a small degree, they are not game changers.
They are absolutely not synonymous, never mind "not necessarily".
Freddie <~~~ that's what he said
I concur, except that, everyone once know their cue secrets should play consistent from cue stand point, other issues remain such as stroke, aiming, follow through, and many other factors reserved for more than average player.
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