Mezz shafts & radial consistency

[ddadams]

A few guys @ the DCC were explaining their opinion on the importance of playing with a LD shaft vs maple and the radially consistent part of the equation.

Got me thinking, but I don't think I'm going to switch. But if I ever DID I figured I'd get a Mezz as they're advertised as solid maple but with a modified front end to create a LD property.


But are these shafts radially consistent? Or are they not?

 

[cuejo]

Radially consistent shafts will be made with pie shaped laminations.

 

[opiesbro]

Were they talking for sure about radial consistently or concentricity?

 

[bdcues]

A few guys @ the DCC were explaining their opinion on the importance of playing with a LD shaft vs maple and the radially consistent part of the equation.

Got me thinking, but I don't think I'm going to switch. But if I ever DID I figured I'd get a Mezz as they're advertised as solid maple but with a modified front end to create a LD property.


But are these shafts radially consistent? Or are they not?

You can not build radial consistency into a one piece shaft. The shaft will bend different on the edge grain sides than it will on the face grain sides. Sometimes this difference is fairly large, sometimes not. The effect on the hit is fairly minimal but as in all things it makes a difference. Meucci thought it made enough difference to come out with the Red Dot shafts, which simply measured the spine resistance of the shaft and than put a dot on the side with the highest resistance. His advice that the way to use the shaft was to hold the dot up all the time so that the cue would hit the same each time was incorrect though. The dot should be directed toward the center of the cue ball on each stroke to achieve the desired results. Laminated shafts generally have higher radial consistency but construction techniques can make a difference.