Is a second shaft necessary?

kaylaemarx said:
If you are a professional pool player, you can buy two or more shafts of various sizes amd makes for various purposes. Otherwise, one shaft is sufficient.
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One shaft is not sufficient for a professional. I can guarantee that if you surveyed 100 pros, 163 would say they do not and would not choose to play events without a a backup shaft.

How did you form your opinion?:confused: read the equipment failure I linked above, so easy to basically ensure that never happens...those who play seriously do many things to assist their own success. Having a spare shaft or 2 is a no- brainier.

Woul you opine that one does not need a spare tire in his vehicle's trunk.
 
"Necessary", no, but I prefer to carry two. I like mine to be as close as possible spec wise. When it's time for a new tip, I put the other shaft on and play that tip down and have the other tip replaced. Rinse and repeat.

As others have said here, great to have when needed. Playing our state tourney some years ago someone walked by and knocked my cue into the edge of the table. Nice ding in the stroking area. I switched out to the other shaft, played out the tourney and had a nice finish. Took the ding out of the other when I got home.
 
Agent 99 said:
I like having two shafts. Now I play a lot, nearly everyday, so I use the shafts alternately so they are always pretty much the same. I maintain my shafts with Mylar fine grit sheets. So over time, several years, they do get thinner, marginally. But they always feel exactly the same.

Two shafts are a must for me to experiment with new tips. And it's nice to always have a shaft to play with when one is getting a new tip. :thumbup:
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yeah i agree about the tip-wise,
i think it is about the person. some people they enjoy different shaft, but most people having a second shaft it is like having a 5th tyre in the car :P

sam
 
The extra shaft isn't necessarily just for "back up"

If you have your first shaft made between 12.25 - 12.75mm for a 9' table I'd recommend getting another one made 12.5 - 13mm for bar table or 8' table.

The extra shaft isn't necessarily just for "back up" in case a tip falls off, it's also used to play on different equipment sizes, or playing atmospheres (more humidity/bigger shaft).


The Piper said:
So that's my question. I'm in the process of having a cue made, and well I only ordered one shaft. I can add a second one, it's going to be a while, but I'm wondering why I should? Thoughts?

I do not play in tournaments, where I could see a second shaft being necessary if a tip pops off etc.

and I will never sell this cue. So should I have another shaft made?


Also this will be players cue, and there is no extra fancy ringwork on it.
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I've always had spare shafts. I see no downside to keeping a spare in the case. I used to send my shafts to a repair guy the other end of the country so it would take upto 3 weeks to get a shaft back for something as simple as a tip change so I'd feel lost without a spare. I change my own tips now, but its nice to know the spare is there if I ever need it.
 
It's about having options. Different sized shafts12-13mm, different tips, i know some people that have different tapers, one straight taper & one conical taper.I like a soft tip for playing 1 pocket & prefer a hard tip for rotation games. If not for anything else just to have a choice, different shafts play differently. If you have a choice of at least 2 once your new cue is delivered and give equal time to each shaft for a period of time I'm sure you'll find you will prefer how 1 shaft plays over the other, that becomes your main player & the one you like less becomes your spare. It's always nice to have options.
 
Happened to me once and I was thankful to have a second shaft.

macneilb said:
Personally I think two shafts is always a good choice. The general reason most people give is "what if you're in the middle of a big $$ game or tourney and the tip pops off...". But how often does that happen, really?:rolleyes:. My main rationale is if one shaft gets a ding or needs some sort of repair, heck even if it needs a new tip or ferrule, you always have the second to play with while the other is being worked on. Plus, if you play alot, and clean your shafts even semi-often, they will wear down over time - very slowly if you don't sand them, but still.. Better to have two shafts that you can split the wear of many hours of play between.
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Two shafts I think is reasonable, the second one as a back up...
But three or more? That for me is unnecessary.
 
Yeah... I like a second shaft, maybe even a 3rd shaft because of the different games I play. Pool, Snooker, Golf & so on...
 
I feel that shafts will differ slightly in weight, balance, stiffness, deflection, etc., so getting several shafts, trying them out and picking your favorite one is part of the fun of getting a new cue.
 
So far I have not used the second shaft on any of my cues. On some of the cues I bought a 30" "extra" to how it plays. I would say do not buy an extra at this point. If you do ...buy a Predator or OB when you'e bored with the current one.
 
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