BHE and my default offsets do the mechanical job. It's only a worry if you haven't worked on the zone.
keilwood for suckers
- Thread starter whammo57
- Start date
billiards_watch
Well-known member
This sums it up perfectly. What separates good players from average players is learning how to play with deflection in mine. In my opinion there are 2 types of aiming.
#1- Point and shoot- line up the ball and make the ball.
#2- Deflection aiming- this is what the legendary pool players of the past excel at. They know how to aim and compensate for this. It's the path to the object ball. This is what all players are trying to master with their preferred cues.
New equipment made people better since now they don't have to compensate or think about #2. If you are a high level player then the new equipment isn't going to help you. If you are a beginner then its best to fast track and avoid #2.
Now if you've been playing for a long ass time and can't seem to get better and still miss certain shots than a low deflection cue may be your answer. I've seen old timers make the switch and their game has gotten better. Now they just aim and shoot and still get shape for the next shot.
I know the advantages of both. I still prefer wood because for me the patterns look so much prettier than the more powerful carbon and physics defying carbon english, as I like to call it, insane english applied and making the cue ball do things never seen before. LOL
If Keilwood does indeed provide a low deflection quality, it just might be a savior for cue makers. Why, because looking at a carbon fiber shaft on a beautiful hand made cue seems obscene to me. Why would anyone spend good money for a beautiful personal cue only to be traumatized with a carbon fiber shaft?
I didn’t know that about Mizerak. I found this very interesting and reassuring. Some readers have been giving me a hard time about my “unusual” request about how I want a couple of KW shafts made. I called lots of cue makers and nearly everyone declined or didn’t bother even calling me back. Well, apparently I share the same opinion about the cue shafts and Kielwood isn’t any different to my way of thinking but I’ll concede I could be wrong about KW shafts.
However, I’ve tried several that were too light and the KW shaft I did get plays better than the other brands I’ve tried. I attribute that to how it was made and the heavier weight I want. JoeyInCali speaks about that which he knows well and was one of the first persons to contact me about my KW shaft threads.Thanks Joey and also to Mike Mosconi’s post about Mizerak. Well, I have 2 KW shafts being made and after they arrive, I’ll post photos and my review.
I’m hoping the shafts are even a little heavier than 4 ozs with a long pro taper /(12.65-mm). I now play with a 12.85mm KW shaft weighing 3.81 ozs which is the lightest shaft I want to play. My original cue shafts weigh 3.8 ozs. - 4.15 ozs which is what I want in a KW shaft. I feel reassured after reading Mike’s post about Steve Mizerak and a few cue makers like JoeyInCali. He was one of the first to confirm a KW shaft can be built heavier than what most cue makers are building. KW shafts offer less deflection which I why I’m switching.
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billiards_watch
Well-known member
It seems like you are more concerned with the weight and balance rather than the hit.
No explanation or concern of how your shaft hits but only weight.
I'm assuming if you found a great hitting shaft the weight would be the least of your concern. Which leads me to believe the shafts can hit like crap but you will still like it as long as it feels good in your hands but shoots crooked.
Do you think that was by accident or intentional? Regardless, the very best names in cue making built and still build shafts weight proportional to the cue butt. Just do the research or have a discussion with a talented cue maker. I have and there is a weight ratio the best cue makers used building cues. I’ve posted about this for over a decade on Az but everyone is entitled to think, buy or believe whatever they like. Freedom of choice is great but making informed decisions is better. A shaft isn’t going to imbue you with a better stroke but it can help you play better.
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The specs I gave on how I want the shaft built is because of the balance which affects the stroke which connects to the hit and feel. Build the shaft the way my cue makers built all my other shafts would make me very happy. I’ve previously posted before about KW shafts and my search to find anyone to undertake building it exactly to my specs which is the only thing that is of importance or concern to me. My KW shaft specifications include more than just its weight.
You are mistaken in your assumption and your sense of humor or desire to be facetious falls woefully short. I wouldn’t just stick any shaft on my Prewitt or Scruggs cue which has a Barnhart roasted maple shaft I bought last October from Superior Cues. I posted my review of my KW shaft and it did not focus only on the weight of the shaft. It happens to be the lightest shaft I own but it does fall within my parameters otherwise I’d never have purchased it.
Buy what you like. If someone will accommodate your needs, who gives a crap what anyone else thinks?
If you've ever picked up one cue, and it felt better in your hand than another...There's a reason.
There are cues that feel OK, there are cues that feel good, rarely there is that perfect cue. A lot of things that aren't usually talked about go into making that cue perfect for you. Somebody else might rate it merely OK.
Hu
Perfection is a unattainable goal. To think otherwise results in endless pursuit or else settling for less but thinking
nonetheless you really hadn’t. Perfect is a subjective determination and so there is no such thing unless we all agreed
on what perfect was. Since we’re entitled to independent, individual thoughts and opinions about a variety of topics, if
not everything in the universe, what is perfect for you, well, it doesn’t have to be, and likely isn’t, for others like myself.
However, there are going to be times when you really like something a lot and that’s when most of us start using hyperbolic descriptions, like I love my cue or car. You cannot love an inanimate object but you can have emotional attachment to things. So since there is no such thing as a perfect pool cue, what we can agree on is some cues play better than others for a pool player. The challenge is figuring out why and determining how to reproduce that in a cue if you ever have one made.
When you figure that out, you still won’t have reached perfection but you will know how to tell a cue maker exactly what you want in your new cue besides just weight, shaft diam. and tip brand should you get a cue built. Anyway, for some pool players that’s all they need to know about their pool cue. However, there’s a lot more to consider or else you default to whatever the cue maker decides. Keep in mind there aren’t standards to adhere to for cue makers.
nonetheless you really hadn’t. Perfect is a subjective determination and so there is no such thing unless we all agreed
on what perfect was. Since we’re entitled to independent, individual thoughts and opinions about a variety of topics, if
not everything in the universe, what is perfect for you, well, it doesn’t have to be, and likely isn’t, for others like myself.
However, there are going to be times when you really like something a lot and that’s when most of us start using hyperbolic descriptions, like I love my cue or car. You cannot love an inanimate object but you can have emotional attachment to things. So since there is no such thing as a perfect pool cue, what we can agree on is some cues play better than others for a pool player. The challenge is figuring out why and determining how to reproduce that in a cue if you ever have one made.
When you figure that out, you still won’t have reached perfection but you will know how to tell a cue maker exactly what you want in your new cue besides just weight, shaft diam. and tip brand should you get a cue built. Anyway, for some pool players that’s all they need to know about their pool cue. However, there’s a lot more to consider or else you default to whatever the cue maker decides. Keep in mind there aren’t standards to adhere to for cue makers.
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it means they sound good
They draw a Bowstring across the wedges to see if it tweaks.
billiards_watch
Well-known member
What's going on with the funny noises these modern shafts make when drawing the ball. It's like a thunk.
If I can replicate that sound every time then I know I hit it correctly. I don't remember regular shafts making these sounds.
If I can replicate that sound every time then I know I hit it correctly. I don't remember regular shafts making these sounds.
I know this is crazy but try to stick with me.. some people think carbon fiber looks good on any cue.. I being one of them. Everyone likes different things. We aren’t all the same. That’s why. Hope this helps
exactly.
I hit with a lot of southwests. Never understood the big deal about them.
I think black boars are so beautiful and I’ve been very fortunate to hit with many as I have a friend who is a flipper. I wanted so bad to love them but in the end I just hated the way they play.
I had a Timmy Scruggs that was a monster cue. The most beautiful cue I’ve ever owned. 6 point . Ebony and silver all through it. Everything white was ivory. Even had ivory joint protectors with his insignia inscribed on them which I haven’t seen before or since. An absolute show stopper. I had people begging me to sell it to them all the time. It’s the only cue I have a picture up on my wall of. I tried so hard to get used to that cue but in the end I don’t like the soft compression feel that ivory gave and sold it . I never forced myself to love a cue again either I love how it hits or I don’t.
I guess the moral of the story is one man’s magic wand is another man’s old piece of wood lol
It’s part of the reason.
I’ve used the same shaft on various butts and I get different feel and since it’s the same shaft, it’s the same joint type.
So the butt does have an influence and it’s not just weight and balance, it actually influences the softness or hardness of the hit as well
I used to think like that.
At first CF looked ugly to me and reminded me of the cheap fiberglass and graphite cues. And I also thought that it didn’t look good on most cues but it’s just something to get used to and now I find it to look great in most cases.
Nobody cares about the shaft when it comes to a collectible cue, they don’t put the shaft on display at shows… and since people never play with them, why even bother getting a shaft that just takes space…
Paul_#_
Well-known member
If you want to test out shaft-weight effects, get shafts with large differences in weights--- something like 6 to 11 ounces versus normal shaft weights of 4 ounces. https://www.blackbladecarbon.com/
they're still ugly