Just wanted to share my recent experience. I live in Massachusetts and have known Mike Webb for maybe 18 years. He has always been a good upstanding guy, and he has a genuine passion for what he does. He takes extreme pride in his work, and it really shows in the way his cues consistently look and play outstanding.
Just this week I tried out his newest low deflection shaft offerings. One was 12mm and one was 11.75. They are essentially identical except for the size, and the tip. The 12mm had a triangle and the 11.75 had a Kamui clear brown medium. Here is what I experienced:
Looks, finish, cosmetics: Mike finishes his shafts beautifully. The wood is a natural looking medium brown, not those kinda fake looking ghost white bleached shafts. The shaft is velvety smooth and a joy to hold and stroke. The wood is nice solid maple, clean, nice grain patterns, just all around a great looking shaft that in every way appears to be solid maple. I would say the fit and finish is about as close to perfect as I have ever seen.
Feel, hit: I think it would be hard to distinguish the hit of these shafts from a high quality traditional maple shaft. I guess that is because on the surface that is exactly what they are. Mike is fairly secretive about his techniques, but I must assume the end of the shaft is somehow drilled out. He uses his own proprietary ferrule material. Ferrule appears to be about 1/2" long. The taper when looking at the shaft looks kind of conical, but when actually stroking the shaft it seems like a nice long pro taper. To be honest, I really don't remember what the taper actually is, but I can say it feels excellent. The hit is superb. For what it's worth, the 11.75 shaft weighs 4 oz. And that is with a radial pin joint...no metal. Now that is a dense shaft!
Performance, Squirt: Wow. Ok, I'll elaborate. WOW!!! I currently shoot with a Predator 314-3. I needed to make some adjustment when I tried out the 12mm shaft. *The other way*!!! I mean that it seemed to have lower deflection than my 314-3. I was hitting balls too full using lots of inside. I thought it was the tip, but I experienced the same odd thing with both shafts...it felt as though the tip was adhering to the cue ball and literally pulling it back to the aim line during contact. I don't know how the physics works here, but it sure felt like that was happening. When I tried the 11.75, it was just ridiculous. I had to aim pretty much dead parallel even with a LOT of english. I think the 11.75 might be the lowest deflection shaft I've ever tried, with the possible exception of an OB2 that was particularly light weight and had a super hard tip. What was cool was the felling that I could really dig into the ball quite far from center with practically no deflection. It seemed too good to be true. It really felt like the tip glued to the cueball, and I could generate silly amounts of action on the ball. Over the years, I've tried a million different LD shafts from all kinds of sources, including some of Mike's and other custom makers. Every time the custom ones would be *fairly* low deflection, and hit very nice, but not really in the league of Predator or OB as far as squirt is concerned. Well, this is NOT that. This is an *EXTREMELY* low deflection shaft, that hits like a solid maple shaft, that is finished perfectly and beautifully to a level that the mass market guys can only dream of.
Overall, I would have to say that this might be the best shaft I have ever tried. I find myself wishing I had one. Mike said he thinks he could get the same performance in 12.5mm that I experienced in the 12.0. If he can, I'm almost ready to place an order! Just need the budget to free up some cash! Speaking of which, I believe the cost was $220. This included the matching ringwork for one of his cues. I don't know if he gives special pricing for people that already bought one of his cues. I'm not sure if the cost is the same with a plain black ring, but regardless the shaft is a steal at $220 given that it is TOP caliber in finish, hit, AND squirt.
Mike this is seriously a great achievement! I strongly recommend anyone that has the chance to try out one of these. Maybe I will see if Mike wants to send one with me to the BCA this July. If he agrees, I'll post my info so people can look me up and take a test drive. Damn...I literally just converted over to the 314-3 and it really is a nice shaft. Why'd you have to get me thinking again Mike?
KMRUNOUT
Just this week I tried out his newest low deflection shaft offerings. One was 12mm and one was 11.75. They are essentially identical except for the size, and the tip. The 12mm had a triangle and the 11.75 had a Kamui clear brown medium. Here is what I experienced:
Looks, finish, cosmetics: Mike finishes his shafts beautifully. The wood is a natural looking medium brown, not those kinda fake looking ghost white bleached shafts. The shaft is velvety smooth and a joy to hold and stroke. The wood is nice solid maple, clean, nice grain patterns, just all around a great looking shaft that in every way appears to be solid maple. I would say the fit and finish is about as close to perfect as I have ever seen.
Feel, hit: I think it would be hard to distinguish the hit of these shafts from a high quality traditional maple shaft. I guess that is because on the surface that is exactly what they are. Mike is fairly secretive about his techniques, but I must assume the end of the shaft is somehow drilled out. He uses his own proprietary ferrule material. Ferrule appears to be about 1/2" long. The taper when looking at the shaft looks kind of conical, but when actually stroking the shaft it seems like a nice long pro taper. To be honest, I really don't remember what the taper actually is, but I can say it feels excellent. The hit is superb. For what it's worth, the 11.75 shaft weighs 4 oz. And that is with a radial pin joint...no metal. Now that is a dense shaft!
Performance, Squirt: Wow. Ok, I'll elaborate. WOW!!! I currently shoot with a Predator 314-3. I needed to make some adjustment when I tried out the 12mm shaft. *The other way*!!! I mean that it seemed to have lower deflection than my 314-3. I was hitting balls too full using lots of inside. I thought it was the tip, but I experienced the same odd thing with both shafts...it felt as though the tip was adhering to the cue ball and literally pulling it back to the aim line during contact. I don't know how the physics works here, but it sure felt like that was happening. When I tried the 11.75, it was just ridiculous. I had to aim pretty much dead parallel even with a LOT of english. I think the 11.75 might be the lowest deflection shaft I've ever tried, with the possible exception of an OB2 that was particularly light weight and had a super hard tip. What was cool was the felling that I could really dig into the ball quite far from center with practically no deflection. It seemed too good to be true. It really felt like the tip glued to the cueball, and I could generate silly amounts of action on the ball. Over the years, I've tried a million different LD shafts from all kinds of sources, including some of Mike's and other custom makers. Every time the custom ones would be *fairly* low deflection, and hit very nice, but not really in the league of Predator or OB as far as squirt is concerned. Well, this is NOT that. This is an *EXTREMELY* low deflection shaft, that hits like a solid maple shaft, that is finished perfectly and beautifully to a level that the mass market guys can only dream of.
Overall, I would have to say that this might be the best shaft I have ever tried. I find myself wishing I had one. Mike said he thinks he could get the same performance in 12.5mm that I experienced in the 12.0. If he can, I'm almost ready to place an order! Just need the budget to free up some cash! Speaking of which, I believe the cost was $220. This included the matching ringwork for one of his cues. I don't know if he gives special pricing for people that already bought one of his cues. I'm not sure if the cost is the same with a plain black ring, but regardless the shaft is a steal at $220 given that it is TOP caliber in finish, hit, AND squirt.
Mike this is seriously a great achievement! I strongly recommend anyone that has the chance to try out one of these. Maybe I will see if Mike wants to send one with me to the BCA this July. If he agrees, I'll post my info so people can look me up and take a test drive. Damn...I literally just converted over to the 314-3 and it really is a nice shaft. Why'd you have to get me thinking again Mike?
KMRUNOUT
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