Is it possible to speed up the break-in process of new shafts?

[Flex]

Just wondering if the OB-1 shaft plays so well from the get-go because the wood in it was stress relieved during the manufacture.

I've read that new shafts need to be broken-in. Is there any way to speed up the process? Something like bending the shaft and going around the world with it, so to speak, to get it playing well sooner?

Or am I all wet behind the ears?

Flex

 

[BLACKHEARTCUES]

Just wondering if the OB-1 shaft plays so well from the get-go because the wood in it was stress relieved during the manufacture.

I've read that new shafts need to be broken-in. Is there any way to speed up the process? Something like bending the shaft and going around the world with it, so to speak, to get it playing well sooner?

Or am I all wet behind the ears?

Flex

ALL shafts are stress relieved. I've never heard of "breaking in" a shaft.????????...JER

 

[rhncue]

Just wondering if the OB-1 shaft plays so well from the get-go because the wood in it was stress relieved during the manufacture.

I've read that new shafts need to be broken-in. Is there any way to speed up the process? Something like bending the shaft and going around the world with it, so to speak, to get it playing well sooner?

Or am I all wet behind the ears?

Flex

If anything, I have found that I like the way new shafts play over used ones, to a degree. I could, of coarse, be wrong but It seems that after a shaft has been used for a couple years the flexing of the shaft stretches the fibres some and the shaft becomes a little more whippy. It happens so gradually that a person never feels it until a new shaft is put onto the butt. Just my 2 cents worth with no scientific backing.

Dick

 

[a9ballbr8k]

You really never want to bend a shaft anyhow!

 

[Flex]

If anything, I have found that I like the way new shafts play over used ones, to a degree. I could, of coarse, be wrong but It seems that after a shaft has been used for a couple years the flexing of the shaft stretches the fibres some and the shaft becomes a little more whippy. It happens so gradually that a person never feels it until a new shaft is put onto the butt. Just my 2 cents worth with no scientific backing.

Dick

A few years ago I retapered a Meucci black dot shaft, and made it somewhat of an hourglass shape: The four inches from the tip of the cue backwards were tapered from about 12.5mm down to about 11 mm, then the 11 mm consistent thickness continued down the shaft to a total distance from the tip for about 15 inches, then the taper from that point gradually merged into the original taper. My idea was to keep the larger tip diameter, as I had heard that a larger tip makes it somewhat easier to pot balls than a small tip, yet the front end mass of the shaft was somewhat reduced. I also drilled out the shaft ala Predator for about 3 inches to further reduce the end mass. I really wanted to reduce cue ball squirt with all this. Surprise, surprise, it worked, big time, and I called the Meucci shop to tell them I had found a way to further reduce cue ball squirt. They told me that I had juiced the shaft, and that normally after about a year of playing the shafts flexed even more and played better than new. I don't know if they are right about this, but I did notice the cue shot a bit straighter when shooting with english.

All this may be an old wives' tale, and that's why I posted my question, to find out what the cuemakers had to say about it.

Flex

 

[Jack Madden]

Just wondering if the OB-1 shaft plays so well from the get-go because the wood in it was stress relieved during the manufacture.

I've read that new shafts need to be broken-in. Is there any way to speed up the process? Something like bending the shaft and going around the world with it, so to speak, to get it playing well sooner?

Or am I all wet behind the ears?

Flex

The way to "break in" a new shaft is to play with it Don't think there is anything in "to get it playing well sooner" --- only going to play as well as the player plays.