Low deflection isn't always a good thing

LoGiC said:
You cannot blame the shaft for missing a shot, just as you cannot praise it for making a shot.

Any shot that is physically possible is possibly with any shaft- your play style and mental aspects depict what you want. Feel you are superior- but equipment is preventing you from being better- then buy a pred/ob/tiger shaft.

Your game is gonna be good so long as you practice- not based on what equipment you use.
Try playing with a Cuetec fiberglass coated shaft.:D
 
i'm using my 5 piece K-Mart cue now wit hthe screw on tips and man I love it, I threw the Szams in the trash last night....Sorry Barry. The bushkas are next to go. Ramin wood and Brass is the only way to become a real champion.
 
StevenPWaldon said:
I think there's a big thing missing here -- some "normal" shafts are quite low deflection. Just because the Predator logo isn't on the shaft doesn't mean it's not a low deflection shaft.

Softshot, what to make of this? Are these players playing with a single piece of maple inferior to you with a house cue?

Good point.

but it still boils down to knowing your shaft. and that can be a long and difficult process especially for beginners.

To be honest the cue nuts who buy several a year would likely be the best at adapting to a house cue or any other cue.. but its the old jack of all trades master of none syndrome.

A lot of good pool players don't wanna mess with the voodoo they are not going to change a good thing once they have it down.

they are not the ones that will buy a shaft to change their game. the guy looking for a change is either in a slump (which you have to shoot your way out of regardless) or someone who can't shoot in the first place.. he may be halfway home with his old shaft but gets frustrated that its not progressing fast enough. Even though the shaft isn't the most important thing for his game at this point, but he sees an ad and buys a new LD shaft and has to start the whole process from the beginning again. adding more frustration...

I see LD shafts as making bad players worse. and the good players don't really need it in the first place.

knowing your deflection is more important than changing your deflection.
 
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Fatboy said:
i'm using my 5 piece K-Mart cue now wit hthe screw on tips and man I love it, I threw the Szams in the trash last night....Sorry Barry. The bushkas are next to go. Ramin wood and Brass is the only way to become a real champion.

I've got one with a plastic goldfish in a bright blue liquid just below my wrap and when I hit really hard with it the fish swims in tight circles...my walmart cue is better than your k-mart cue.

Mine was the inspiration for the liquidwick ;)
 
BPG24 said:
Sounds like you don't understand that there ARE advantages to using them. You keep screaming hype but you never acknowledge that there are real advantages.

There may be some hype, it's the way marketing teams get you to try their product. You act that that is not normal.


They are different... and LD shafts for the most part do what they say they do..

To some deflection can be an advantage a minor masse type effect allowing a higher deflection shaft to squeeze past a ball that a LD shaft won't. therefore I can make a few shots that you can't make. there may be a few that you can make that I can't (given equal skill) but I'm not convinced and would need a couple examples..

I see it as a difference not as an advantage.
 
I might have given my 314 a longer test run but at the end of the day I hate the varnish. its not as smooth as the bare wood on my McDermott I'd consider having it turned.. but doesn't that void the warranty?

if I did that and still don't like it.. then I can't even sell it.

but thats unlikely I have had my McDermott for a little over a year. I've got it pretty well dialed in.. so I'm not messing with the voodoo.
 
softshot said:
I might have given my 314 a longer test run but at the end of the day I hate the varnish. its not as smooth as the bare wood on my McDermott I'd consider having it turned.. but doesn't that void the warranty?

if I did that and still don't like it.. then I can't even sell it.

but thats unlikely I have had my McDermott for a little over a year. I've got it pretty well dialed in.. so I'm not messing with the voodoo.

If I'm not wrong, you can turn the 314 down to a limited diameter without voiding the warranty. There are also enough players who like a smaller diameter of the 314 then the normal size.
 
I didn't want to open a new thread, but I see you guys talkin about shafts, i'd like to ask one thing... I recently bought a 314-2 predator shaft. which is nice.. it is 12.75mm shaft, I'd like to make it 12.50mm is it possible to do it by myself, or even a guy who know how to do it? because yesterday i asked some friends.. and they said that i cannot make predator shafts go thinner... and they say some funny thing too, they said that a predator 314 is unique and that it can be thinner and thinner by itself.. the more you use it, the thinner it will be.. is that true?
 
Squirt is OK.

softshot said:
Good point.

but it still boils down to knowing your shaft. and that can be a long and difficult process especially for beginners.

To be honest the cue nuts who buy several a year would likely be the best at adapting to a house cue or any other cue.. but its the old jack of all trades master of none syndrome.

A lot of good pool players don't wanna mess with the voodoo they are not going to change a good thing once they have it down.

they are not the ones that will buy a shaft to change their game. the guy looking for a change is either in a slump (which you have to shoot your way out of regardless) or someone who can't shoot in the first place.. he may be halfway home with his old shaft but gets frustrated that its not progressing fast enough. Even though the shaft isn't the most important thing for his game at this point, but he sees an ad and buys a new LD shaft and has to start the whole process from the beginning again. adding more frustration...

I see LD shafts as making bad players worse. and the good players don't really need it in the first place.

knowing your deflection is more important than changing your deflection.

My theory is a little radical and I have met only one other person who plays well that agrees with me. :) I don't tell a lot of people about my theory because most simply think I'm Jeff'n :D

It is my belief that some deflection in a shaft is a good thing. If you play in low humid conditions and great equipment (meaning new or clean cloth & clean anmd/or polished balls) you don't have to worry about swerve that much. While swerve isn't really significant on most short distant shots, the longer the distance the cue ball has to travel, the more important swerve becomes especially on surfaces that provide increased friction.

My radical theory is that if you are playing on older cloth, dirtier cloth, dirty balls etc as which is found in many pool halls around the country, you may be better off playing with a shaft that has enough deflection in it to cancel out the effects of swerve. That being said, I have moved toward traditional smaller diameter maple shafts to avoid the large amounts of squirt that can often be found in many larger diameter, solid, non low-deflection shafts.

If I were to go back to a low deflection shaft I would probably go back to the OB-1 shafts because I had some good experience with them. When playing nine ball I had some difficulty dealing with the swerve and lack of significant deflection on particular power shots using low-outside spin.

My $.02.

JoeyA
 
softshot said:
They are different... and LD shafts for the most part do what they say they do..

To some deflection can be an advantage a minor masse type effect allowing a higher deflection shaft to squeeze past a ball that a LD shaft won't. therefore I can make a few shots that you can't make. there may be a few that you can make that I can't (given equal skill) but I'm not convinced and would need a couple examples..

I see it as a difference not as an advantage.


Judging by your posts on the subject, you need alot more experience with these shafts before you post anymore about them. Like I said before you don't understand the advantages
 
JoeyInCali said:
Try playing with a Cuetec fiberglass coated shaft.:D

I used to, but a few years ago while breaking, the shaft shattered apart. I still have the butt to it though.

End of my $20 cuetec.
 
LoGiC said:
I used to, but a few years ago while breaking, the shaft shattered apart. I still have the butt to it though.

End of my $20 cuetec.
Must be the ultimate low deflection shaft.
 
To some deflection can be an advantage a minor masse type effect allowing a higher deflection shaft to squeeze past a ball that a LD shaft won't.

This is nonsense. There is no shot that either kind of shaft can make that the other can't.

pj
chgo
 
crappoolguy said:
That is sound advice, but low deflection will always be better if you are used to it.
i agree, with higher deflection there is more variation between strength of the shot. the pivot point takes care of the angle at any amount of spin but is still different depending on how hard it is hit. it is the same percentage variation, however, when appling that percentage to a smaller deflection, the overal deflection variation is smaller as well, which is the key.

this is not an issue of compensating for squirt, that is done with the pivot point or whatever method you use.

i used someone's z2 shaft today and i didn't like the feel compared to my bare wood fury.
 
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Patrick Johnson said:
This is nonsense. There is no shot that either kind of shaft can make that the other can't.

pj
chgo
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With low def shaft, you are liable to scratch on that shot ( high parallel left english ).
???
 
Me:
There is no shot that either kind of shaft can make that the other can't.

JoeyInCali:
With low def shaft, you are liable to scratch on that shot ( high parallel left english ).

There is no shot that "you are liable to scratch on" because of a low squirt shaft. If you think so, explain why.

pj
chgo
 
JoeyInCali said:
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With low def shaft, you are liable to scratch on that shot ( high parallel left english ).
???

deflection simply changes where the cue goes in relation to the cue stick. if you line it up so the cue ball hits the 1 ball in the same place (different angles with the cue stick depending on deflection) with the same amount of spin, the result is the same. the only thing deflection does is change where you must aim the cue stick to get the cue ball to go. there is other things like swerve and english throw depending on how much english is put on it, which i guess can vary through different amounts of deflection and tip size.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
There is no shot that "you are liable to scratch on" because of a low squirt shaft. If you think so, explain why.

pj
chgo
The low def shaft would make that cueball less likely to squirt the cueball to the right. If you apply too much sidespin, you might miss too as it would grab the ob to the direction of the english.
THis is how ex world class player Wayne Nocross tests deflection at Danny K's.
 
The low def shaft would make that cueball less likely to squirt the cueball to the right.

Then you just aim it more to the right. Low squirt shafts are aimed differently - that's the point of them.

If you apply too much sidespin, you might miss too as it would grab the ob to the direction of the english.

Low squirt shafts don't apply any more sidespin than other shafts.

THis is how ex world class player Wayne Nocross tests deflection at Danny K's.

That's nice, but it doesn't have anything to do with your assertions.

pj
chgo
 
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