This is a mini-review of the phenolic-tipped jump/break shaft that I recently purchased off of Ebay. I have had this shaft for about two weeks now and used it on 6 days of shooting. The reason I purhcased this shaft was due to shoulder injuries I sustained 15 years ago which make power breaking difficult for me. I have been using a Cory Deuel-like soft break for about 10 years now, but with mixed results. Consequently when I heard about phenolic tips I was intrigued enough to want to try them out for myself, but didn't want to spend a lot of money and find out they were all hype. This shaft seemed a reasonable test bed for me.
I had two choices of distributors with this item: Carlscues and Absolutely Fabulous Deals. I chose AFD because they were slightly cheaper in both price and shipping fees (the difference is about $5.00). There were no problems with the transaction and I received the item within one week.
The shaft itself will screw onto a 5/16 x 18 joint, so virtually any Meucci will work. The shaft is actually a bit thicker at the joint than most of the Meuccis I own, creating a slight overlap. However, I found that the Stealth jump/break cue butt that I had lying around will accept the shaft as well, and fits flush at the joint. It (the shaft) is also fairly straight-tapered to a black tip that is about 14 mm. This thickness required me to slightly change my bridge, but it only took a dozen breaks or so to adjust. The taper and thickness also makes this close to a broomstick for relative stiffness. I tried driving into the cloth several times and found it difficult to get the shaft to flex.
For those that are not familiar, phenolic tips are hard, as in like a rock. I tried breaking a couple times without shaping the tip (twice without chalk) which naturally turned out to be an excellent way to miscue. After asking around about the advisability of shaping/roughing up a phenolic tip, I used my willards tool for this task.
In fact, I used a technique most of us would not use on our playing cues. I set the butt on the floor and holding the willards tool over the tip, I placed my foot against the buttsleeve and spun the cue back and forth twenty or thirty times (maybe a few more than that but you get the picture). The result was not exactly a dime shape but a definite improvement in shape and it also would accept chalk readily.
Considering I had been about to throw the Stealth butt away (it was never good at either breaking or jumping and the original shaft warped after just two weeks in my care) abusing it this way did not seem like a very big deal.
Well, it worked beautifully, and was a lot less work than the advice I got from most people I asked about how to shape/rough the thing. So if you have an old butt with a 5/16 x 18 joint, this technique will save you a lot of elbow grease.
Once shaped/roughed the shaft does break with more authority than the original shaft, a house cue, or even this shaft screwed onto one of my Meuccis. After consideration it is my belief that the stainless steel collar is translating power more efficiently than my ivorine-collared playing cues. In short, this shaft breaks hard without me physically having to ram the cue at the ball. I can go three-quarter speed and get a nice stiff break.
Furthermore, I can put English on the CB with this tip. It is tougher to do (I experimented by trying some draw shots and bruised my jaw when it hit the floor after getting a four foot draw from the thing), but with concentration on technique it can be done.
Note: this tip requires that you visually check to ensure that there is chalk on it. Without chalk, miscues are nearly a certainty. It does not have to be plastered on there, but at least a fair dusting is needed.
But where I was really impressed was with the ease with which I can now jump. Bear in mind that I do not typically jump, not during a game, a tourney, not in practice sessions. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I have tried a jump over the last six years. For me, it was just easier and I had more control if I just masseyed the CB. But the very first time I tried jumping with this shaft I not only cleared the obstructing ball easily I actually landed on top of the object ball. It is actually so easy I jumped two balls in a tourney this past weekend, both table-length shots, making one of two.
As I said, I have only used the shaft on six different shooting days, but in a short recap this is what I learned:
The shaft seems to be of good quality rock maple, is thicker than most normal shafts, and will break hard consistently with less effort from the player. It does require shaping and roughing to prevent miscues. A willards tool worked well in this regard. The shaft performs admirably as a jump shaft, far outperforming my original jump shaft. Coincidentally a buddy I play with has a dedicated jump cue (I do not know the brand, sorry) and after trying my Stealth conversion told me my set up was easier than his cue.
Questions I will have to wait to answer include, how long will the tip last? How long will the shaft last? How often will I have to/be forced to shape/rough the tip?
Overall, I would recommend this shaft and its distributor to those who are interested in a phenolic-tipped cue but do not feel comfortable paying the full amount for a whole cue just yet. This was the case in my situation and I found out what I wanted to know about these tips/shafts for less than $30.00. And lucked out by breathing new life into what I originally viewed as a complete waste of $50.00 in the Stealth jump/break cue.
I had two choices of distributors with this item: Carlscues and Absolutely Fabulous Deals. I chose AFD because they were slightly cheaper in both price and shipping fees (the difference is about $5.00). There were no problems with the transaction and I received the item within one week.
The shaft itself will screw onto a 5/16 x 18 joint, so virtually any Meucci will work. The shaft is actually a bit thicker at the joint than most of the Meuccis I own, creating a slight overlap. However, I found that the Stealth jump/break cue butt that I had lying around will accept the shaft as well, and fits flush at the joint. It (the shaft) is also fairly straight-tapered to a black tip that is about 14 mm. This thickness required me to slightly change my bridge, but it only took a dozen breaks or so to adjust. The taper and thickness also makes this close to a broomstick for relative stiffness. I tried driving into the cloth several times and found it difficult to get the shaft to flex.
For those that are not familiar, phenolic tips are hard, as in like a rock. I tried breaking a couple times without shaping the tip (twice without chalk) which naturally turned out to be an excellent way to miscue. After asking around about the advisability of shaping/roughing up a phenolic tip, I used my willards tool for this task.
In fact, I used a technique most of us would not use on our playing cues. I set the butt on the floor and holding the willards tool over the tip, I placed my foot against the buttsleeve and spun the cue back and forth twenty or thirty times (maybe a few more than that but you get the picture). The result was not exactly a dime shape but a definite improvement in shape and it also would accept chalk readily.
Considering I had been about to throw the Stealth butt away (it was never good at either breaking or jumping and the original shaft warped after just two weeks in my care) abusing it this way did not seem like a very big deal.
Well, it worked beautifully, and was a lot less work than the advice I got from most people I asked about how to shape/rough the thing. So if you have an old butt with a 5/16 x 18 joint, this technique will save you a lot of elbow grease.
Once shaped/roughed the shaft does break with more authority than the original shaft, a house cue, or even this shaft screwed onto one of my Meuccis. After consideration it is my belief that the stainless steel collar is translating power more efficiently than my ivorine-collared playing cues. In short, this shaft breaks hard without me physically having to ram the cue at the ball. I can go three-quarter speed and get a nice stiff break.
Furthermore, I can put English on the CB with this tip. It is tougher to do (I experimented by trying some draw shots and bruised my jaw when it hit the floor after getting a four foot draw from the thing), but with concentration on technique it can be done.
Note: this tip requires that you visually check to ensure that there is chalk on it. Without chalk, miscues are nearly a certainty. It does not have to be plastered on there, but at least a fair dusting is needed.
But where I was really impressed was with the ease with which I can now jump. Bear in mind that I do not typically jump, not during a game, a tourney, not in practice sessions. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I have tried a jump over the last six years. For me, it was just easier and I had more control if I just masseyed the CB. But the very first time I tried jumping with this shaft I not only cleared the obstructing ball easily I actually landed on top of the object ball. It is actually so easy I jumped two balls in a tourney this past weekend, both table-length shots, making one of two.
As I said, I have only used the shaft on six different shooting days, but in a short recap this is what I learned:
The shaft seems to be of good quality rock maple, is thicker than most normal shafts, and will break hard consistently with less effort from the player. It does require shaping and roughing to prevent miscues. A willards tool worked well in this regard. The shaft performs admirably as a jump shaft, far outperforming my original jump shaft. Coincidentally a buddy I play with has a dedicated jump cue (I do not know the brand, sorry) and after trying my Stealth conversion told me my set up was easier than his cue.
Questions I will have to wait to answer include, how long will the tip last? How long will the shaft last? How often will I have to/be forced to shape/rough the tip?
Overall, I would recommend this shaft and its distributor to those who are interested in a phenolic-tipped cue but do not feel comfortable paying the full amount for a whole cue just yet. This was the case in my situation and I found out what I wanted to know about these tips/shafts for less than $30.00. And lucked out by breathing new life into what I originally viewed as a complete waste of $50.00 in the Stealth jump/break cue.
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