Muecci black dot shaft??
- Thread starter tigerseye
- Start date
I have never played with one but I certainty wouldn't like having to add another step to my psr to look for the dot every time. I wonder if an authority on sticks could enlighten a few of us if wood is like metal, if you continually bend it in the same spot it eventually weakens and break. Any difference if it was plywood?
From the pic of the construction, the layers of laminated wood sheets are parallel to the slate with the dot up.
Like ply wood, the shaft would be stiff when hitting the CB on the side with right and/or left english. Conversely the shaft will be more flexible when hitting the the CB high (top) and/or low (draw).
If you shoot most shots with english, the cue tip will wear out on the left and right. Conversly, if you shoot most shots with top or draw, the ip will wear out on the top and bottom. If you try to compensate for even wear by rotating the dot, you will get different squirt/deflection.
I prefer a homgeneous shaft without a dot, but that's just me.:wink::thumbup:
Like ply wood, the shaft would be stiff when hitting the CB on the side with right and/or left english. Conversely the shaft will be more flexible when hitting the the CB high (top) and/or low (draw).
If you shoot most shots with english, the cue tip will wear out on the left and right. Conversly, if you shoot most shots with top or draw, the ip will wear out on the top and bottom. If you try to compensate for even wear by rotating the dot, you will get different squirt/deflection.
I prefer a homgeneous shaft without a dot, but that's just me.:wink::thumbup:
yes. yes i do. and that opinion is they are garbage.
I tend to agree,,,,,,,,and the black dot is for identification only and has absolutely nothing to do with alignment. The predecessor to it, the red dot , was used to mark spine, which according to Meucci would be slightly more consistent if aligned the same way on every shot, but the black dot has never had such a claim.
I have a black dot for my Schon cues and it plays better than any predator shaft I've ever had.
I hate referring to products this way, but I have to agree with this quote.
I don't know why, but even after light sanding, buffing etc. I could still feel the laminates. They would be my last choice for a ld shaft.
?????
The Meucci Black Dot Shaft
What makes the Meucci Black Dot Shaft different from other shafts on the market? The primary difference is in the construction. Utilizing similar technology to the Predator shaft, the Meucci Black Dot Shaft is made with 35 flat Northern Hard Rock Maple laminations to give pool players reduced deflection.
Unlike the Predator "pie" structure, the black dot shaft Meucci stacks the 35 layers as you can see in the image. The black dot on the shaft marks the area where there is less than 2% spine differential for those who can detect the slight nuances this may cause. The result is a shaft less deflection. In fact, Meucci states that black dot shafts "out perform all other competitors' shafts by a minimum margin of 50% less deflection, with increased power as a bonus." With the exception of the 9701 Sneaky Pete, all Meucci pool cues sold at PoolDawg features the black dot shaft.
The focus of the Meucci cue is to offer the player more power with less effort. Some additional selling points for Meucci cues include:
* Unique joint and ferrule design allowing maximum performance with minimum effort
* High quality woods and materials
* Amplification of stroke with the unique butt splice design
* Full year guarantee against manufacturing defects and material flaws.
* Unmistakably distinct in design.
* One of the most recognized name in the billiards industry.
http://www.pooldawg.com/article/pooldawg-library/the-meucci-black-dot-shaft
If you watch the black dot videos comparing just about any low deflection shaft in that time period they appear to out perform pretty much all of them. There is no visible effort in those video's to align the black dot shaft a certain way, they just screw them on the butt and fire. None of the lower selling points mentioned in your post are specific to the black dot shaft, but rather the construction of Meucci Butts. I no longer play with Meucci cues because I like a harder hit, but I do have a black dot shaft with a Schon joint that I like better than any other LD shaft I have tried, although I rarely use it, as I prefer my Schon IV shafts.
Crock of sh*t. It is not the laminations that give less deflection.
Also, other cuemakers were using flat lam shafts for some time before Meucci and are still using them so how can Meucci claim to "out perform all other competitors' shafts by a minimum margin of 50% less deflection, with increased power as a bonus."
Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
Bob's correct, albeit methinks he needs to be easy on LAMas, for LAMas didn't write that blurb, but merely pasted it in.
The laminations have more to do with radial consistency than they do deflection (and yes, that includes flat laminations, too).
What does affect deflection, is the end mass of the first six inches of the cue's shaft. Many manufacturers (e.g. Predator, OB, Barioni Cues) "hollow out" the first six inches, and either leave that hollow as-is, or else fill it with a very light material -- e.g. silicone, styrofoam, balsa wood, cork (in the case of Barioni Cues), etc.
Here's a great video Mike Page did, that demonstrates the "mass of the first six inches of the cue's shaft" concept related to deflection, by first shooting a side-spin shot without the vise grips, and then shooting that same shot with vise grips clamped onto the ferrule:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mXJ7bDafTms#t=5m50s
(Note: this video link will jump you to 5:50 in the video, going straight to the vise grip demonstration. Though, I'd recommend folks watch the entire video, start to finish.)
And, a note to LAMas -- methinks you might want to use a better quoting mechanism to quote those little snippets you contribute from other websites. This is the second time that folks though that something you pasted-in from a website, was actually written by you. Methinks you don't want to be lambasted for stuff that you didn't actually author.
Hope this is helpful,
-Sean
Thanks Sean. I realized that the text was just lifted from another site and should have said so in the last post. An ad is not an answer to the OP's question. The OP asked what do you think? Not what kind of advertizing is there for the Black Dot. My response should have included that not just try to show that the ad is false. And LAMas, please don't take my first post as an assault on you, as I realize those were not your words but also understand that an ad for Meucci was not an answer to the OP's question.
Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
My personal experience with the Black Dot was that it performed better than the current {at that time} 314. I got to try a 314-2 in March and would have to say it was the same or a bit better than the BD.
My current cue has low deflection shafts of the cue maker's own design and they play better than any other ld shaft I've played with. And, I don't think they're laminated, they certainly don't look it.
My current cue has low deflection shafts of the cue maker's own design and they play better than any other ld shaft I've played with. And, I don't think they're laminated, they certainly don't look it.
Subjective, opinion like mine.
I played with 314 and preferred it over BD.
On a sidenote, why would anyone wanted to turn the cue to the dot all the time in order to get consistent hit?
BTW. I was not in love with 314 so I went with OB1.
When 314^2 came out I switched back to Predator.
The performance of my 314^2 is light years ahead of BD.
As for cuemaker LD shafts have and had many and most are nothing to write home about.
Having said that I like both Anwar and Mezz WD700 shaft which are not laminated.
Everyone, has their own preferences.
I shot with one a long time ago. I added it to an older, better meucci some years ago. It played alright, but after a year or so the laminates came undone and it was like shooting with a cracked cue. I actually still own the broken shaft, but i shoot a custom carmeli now, so i havent even pulled it out in years. Just my 2 cents.
It's not really necessary to orient a black-dot shaft in the same way for each shot.
A regular maple shaft is not radially consistent in all orientations. But few players bother to mark regular maple shafts and turn them to the same point before each shot. One great player -- Buddy Hall -- did do that with regular maple shafts. And the idea for Meucci's red dot shafts came from Buddy.
Bob Meucci told me that the black-dot shafts are more radially consistent than Meucci's regular-maple red dot shafts. So there is even less of a need to use the black dot for orientation purposes. Bob said there might be only a handful of players who could discern any difference in a black-dot's performance orienting it in one direction versus a different direction. That seems counter intuitive given all the flat layers of wood and glue, but that's what he told me.
Meucci did originally have a problem with black-dot shafts warping. My understanding is that Meucci fixed that problem.
Some of the best playing I've ever done was with black-dot shafts, and mine have remained straight.
It took a while to get used to the difference between a pre-dot Meucci Originals shaft and a cue I bought with a BD shaft... for a while I just didn't shoot with the BD and my new cue stayed in the closet. Like any low deflection shaft, it takes getting used to. Whether it's the same, better, or inferior to another shaft is too subjective to determine; it'll be about preference.
I actually like having to line up the black dot, whether it's required for the LD benefits or not. I mark the ferrule with a sharpie mark corresponding to the dot, and it gives me something to land on when I spin the cue... a habit I developed while playing with slightly warped house cues. For better or worse, I like the BD shafts.
I actually like having to line up the black dot, whether it's required for the LD benefits or not. I mark the ferrule with a sharpie mark corresponding to the dot, and it gives me something to land on when I spin the cue... a habit I developed while playing with slightly warped house cues. For better or worse, I like the BD shafts.