I went back today...

Maniac

Maniac

2manyQ's
Silver Member
No, not to leagues. Not to my first wife. Not to Pepsi cola.

I went back to my LD (OB Classic) wood shaft, possibly leaving the CF shaft in my case for a while. I got to where I was having more bad days than good days digging the feel of the CF vs wood. It's a personal preference. I'm not posting this to bash CF shafts in any way, shape, or form. They are great shafts. I just couldn't adjust to the way the feel of the hit was. YMMV
 
Maniac said:
No, not to leagues. Not to my first wife. Not to Pepsi cola.

I went back to my LD (OB Classic) wood shaft, possibly leaving the CF shaft in my case for a while. I got to where I was having more bad days than good days digging the feel of the CF vs wood. It's a personal preference. I'm not posting this to bash CF shafts in any way, shape, or form. They are great shafts. I just couldn't adjust to the way the feel of the hit was. YMMV
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I believe if the CF shafts had came out for under a hundred dollars you couldn't have beaten people into playing with them. Most I have tried remind me of the aluminum cues sold at the discount stores years ago. They hit funky, they sound funky, they work. Most wouldn't have played with them long enough to discover that. The aluminum cues worked for a little while too, if you got past the sound and feel. Then the joint wore out.

I have hit with exactly one CF shaft that I really liked hit and all. I think it was a proto-type so there may not be another like it in the world.

I like a soft or medium tip. However I think the hard tips might have paved the way for the CF shafts. I didn't like the way they sounded or hit either! Sounded like half the people in the pool hall were miscuing every hit.

I think the CF shafts are here to stay for one reason, consistency. Once a generation grows up playing with them they will be the norm and most people won't dig wood.

It is an evolving world. I'll be left behind unless I can get my hands on that one shaft, and it ain't for sale.

Hu
 
I,m having the same problem here in Canada ,went back to my original Tiger ultra X wood shaft it just feels better to me nothing against CF i parked it for now.
 
Trends seem to swing. I suspect going forward, high quality carbon fiber will be cheaper to produce than high quality wood shafts. Once its all settled, I personally believe a high quality wood shaft optimizes the best of all inputs and would become a premium option over a high quality, low cost, carbon fiber shaft that can seemingly be more easy to mass produce and control variable inputs.

But, the wood shaft would be more bespoke at the top end. Cost / performance of carbon fiber usually wins and it has a strong value proposition that makes wood difficult to compete with it at scale.
 
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Lawnboy77 said:
Still don’t know what a CF hits like, never tried one. This game is hard enough as is. I think I’ll pass on learning new tricks.
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The big deal is they are the same 360 degrees the best one piece wood shafts are consistent within three percent I have read long ago. After indexing my cue for over fifty years I find myself trying to turn the CF shaft to find a sweet spot, there isn't any. It all hits the same, and that is pretty sweet!

I would like some comparison testing done, shafts from each manufacturer, maybe ten shafts each manufactured over at least a three month period to determine how each shaft plays and how consistent it is batch to batch.

My wooden shaft blanks cost me six to eight dollars bought a gross at a time. Of those, maybe thirty percent became shafts so they were closer to twenty dollars for each usable blank plus a lot of labor. A wooden shaft used to be one of the better deals in pool for the end user.

An opinion and admittedly not a terribly well educated opinion, the price of CF and one piece wood should eventually settle at a price that would be $200-$300 in today's dollars. In terms of labor that is still a good deal for top quality wooden shafts.

Hu
 
Well, I shot a few, can't remember which as I was not all too Impressed.
I could not get used to the "tink",.........(aim) "tink" routine.
I know a room owner that bought one. He practiced and later played a "local" some 1-pocket for "a beer."
Apparently, he could not get used to "tink" on every hit too; he went back to wood mid-match.
Next time he was using wood.
I see little advantage,(if any at all), compared to gloves and a laminated LD Predator shaft.
I will agree with "The Indians," THIS TIME as concerning carbon fiber I don't see any arrow advantage.
Add in the price,(I'm not CHEAP, I'm "thrifty"), and I see it primarily as a marketing ploy. JMHO.
 
CF shafts lasted 5 minutes in my hands - I doubt ever to return again. Even moderate taper roll on a wood shaft will not affect a truly straight stroke. The feeling from wood is just what a cue is all about for me.
 
I was a wood player for 20+ years and i love my CF shaft. All the issues that i had with the shaft made of wood are gone. It's consistent daily. I have no effects of humidity swellings or texture finnish issues because of moisture . I don't have to pull dents out of my shafts weekly with Carbon Fiber. I don't need to wear a glove like most players.

The only issue i run into is if i get any powder near the shaft it feels like sandpaper or dirt gets on the shaft
 
To play with pros/9' Tables a perfectly straight follow thru or a CF set up are needed.
Some woods tho/Lemonwood? I've not hit with.
But if your able to find the correct grip/weight/length.... and it hits as solid as the best Balabuska, then pull the trigger.
It's allot cheaper than any bu$ka, you know you can sell it, because it hits too good.
Less is More.

bm
 
I'm old and stuck in the past and still use a wood shaft. I just started hitting balls again after a 25 year hiatus and betwixed between good and bad shots and thinking WTF how'd I miss that easy dog. There is no magic cue/shaft that'll help me as it's a combination of old age/eyesight/health etc that needs fixing. The CB is doing what imput I'm giving it and only a matter of time before I get on track and correct it all with a better stance/stroke and be able to say get you some of that lol.
 
George the Greek said:
I'm old and stuck in the past and still use a wood shaft. I just started hitting balls again after a 25 year hiatus and betwixed between good and bad shots and thinking WTF how'd I miss that easy dog. There is no magic cue/shaft that'll help me as it's a combination of old age/eyesight/health etc that needs fixing. The CB is doing what imput I'm giving it and only a matter of time before I get on track and correct it all with a better stance/stroke and be able to say get you some of that lol.
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tools have improved in that time vastly
i bet you dont use a 25 year old phone,tv or computer
 
I have not had to get a dent out of my wood shaft for at least 5 years, I think I had to do it twice in over 10 years, its a non issue for me. I kept my shaft very nice, many people who try my cue are surprised how nice my pool shaft feels and I don't wear a glove.

Every CF shaft I have tried so far (they all belonged to people I shoot pool with) have sounded and felt like it had a marshmallow on the end instead of a tip, very dead feeling. I didnt get into specifics with them about shaft brand or kind of tip. Most of the time when I miss a shot I know its because I did something wrong, not the cue. I will happily stick with my wood shaft for now.
FWIW Justin Bergman still plays with a wood shaft.
 
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