Hi, I am about to order a new cue, but am unsure exactly what shaft taper is. I think it's the thickness from the end to where it connects to the butt. Is that correct? The cue i'm ordering is 14.5 to 16 taper. Is this pretty standard. I don't want it to be too think in my bridge hand. I currently have a players and like the shaft width. Does anybody know if the new cue will have a similiar width. I used to have a rage, and it was way to thick. Thanks.
Taper referes to how much the size of the cue changes from the tip to the joint. You have different types of tapers. the two most comon are conical and pro.
In a conical taper the size grows steadily from the tip to the joint at the same rate.
In a pro taper the size stays close to the same from the tip until a set size back from the tip then starts to get bigger
Think of a conical taper as a bar cue. Usually it is the same growth rate from the tip to the butt end. So lets say the tip is a 12 mm tip. it will be 12 mm at the tip and then slowly start to rise in size untill it gets to the butt end always growning at he same rate.
Think of a pro taper as most of your production cues. Usually they stay relatively the same for the first foot or more then start to grow at the same rate. So lets say you have a 12 mm tip on the cue With a 14 to 16 inch pro taper. The tip will be 12 mm then if you measure the size of the shaft at say 15 inches it will usually be about 1mm bigger or 13 mm. Then from there it will grow at the same rate like the other one did untilll it gets to the joint.
Depending on the cue maker is how long the taper will be. In my experience i have found that most cheap cues (walmart) do about 5 to 8 inch pro taper. Then your production cues do about 12 to 14 inch pro taper and your custom cues do anywehere from 12 to 18 inch pro taper depending on the maker. Most of the time a conical taper is mainly seen in bar cues or cuse wher eyou want a really solid hit like a 3 cushion cue or masse cue.
The benefit to the pro taper is that if you use a closed bridge you will not feel it "grow and shrink" in your fingers as you run it back and forth like you do with a conical taper. The con to a pro taper is you get mor flex in the shaft at the point of the taper giving you a less solid hit. It is very minimal and it you are not slamming your shots you probably will never notice it.
The benefit to a conical taper is there is never a week point in the shaft so you can do more extreme shots easier like masse, break, jump, stuff like that because the shaft is not flexing. the con is that it feels like it is opnening and closing your fingers if you use a closed bridge.
Well I hope this helped you.
Edit: just seen that you said you use a players cue. There is a better than average chance that the shaft you use now has a pro taper. if you look at it, it will holds the same size for about a third of the length of the shaft from the tip to the joint.
