OB-1 Shaft Owners

JoeyA

JoeyA

Efren's Mini-Tourn BACKER
Silver Member
I wanted to start this thread and ask all of you who have used an OB-1 to make your contributions about your experience with the shaft here in this thread. It would help to funnel the information to one another more easily and primarily I would like input from people who have actually used or use the shaft for their opinions.

My opinion is newly formed but I think I am quite happy with what I have.
It is a Gulyassy cue with a OB-1 shaft that Mike custom fitted to his standard cue since OB-1 doesn't make a standard stock joint for it.

As to the features and benefits of the shaft:

It seems that this combination imparts more spin than what I normally am able to get and I don't believe it is imagination either. I have always used a lot of side English and so it isn't much of a change except that I have more of it now. I also seem to be able to draw the cue ball better than I have in the past. Drawing the cue ball 6 feet after shooting the cue ball 4-5 feet toward the object ball used to give me more inconsistency than I prefer but that is just the burden of being an amateur. Now it seems that I make the object ball more often and the cue ball draws back with less effort.

I can now make difficult shots that require large amounts of Side English more consistently.

The only down-side appears to be on relatively easy shots of 10-20 degrees and am shooting at a half a pocket. These shots I used to put a little outside English to throw the ball into the pocket but I am missing this particular shot/angle more than I have ever missed before. I was wondering if anyone else suffered this embarassment and what you did in particular to correct it.

Also the cue is quieter than any cue I have ever played with and so far that isn't bothering me. The non laminated leather tip seems to be hard because it doesn't mushroom nor does the shape change. I break softly with it but will probably go back to a Predator break cue. I don't know how I will carry all of the stuff I want to carry but I would like to have a jump cue in addition to the two other cues along with a back up shaft. :D

With my older Jack Justis case I do not have room for all three cues and already I feel like a pack mule. :)

Anyway I look forward to perspectives and your experiences with the OB-1 shafts.

Thanks,
JoeyA
 
i definitely can get alot more spin on the cueball with my ob-1, if i had to quantify it id probably say an additional 30 to 40% spin than my standard schon shafts. I also can make alot more shots with extreme english, so id say the deflection is definitely less as well. If i had one negative thing to say about the ob-1, it would be the lack of feel when i shoot with it. I guess its the foam and the construction, its probably one of those tradeoff things that cant be helped. I dont exclusively use the ob1.....on good equipment i like my stock shafts, i dont have to work as hard to move the cueball, but on slow cloth, the ob1 definitely comes out.
 
I like it. I've had to adjust my game by hitting a little closer to center on most shots, but that's probably better for me anyways. The shaft is very quiet and there is no noticable pinging sound like with a lot of other shafts, even with a harder tip. The standard tip on the OB shaft is a layered Talisman so chances are Gulyassy replaced it with one of his own. By the way, break as hard as you want with it. I have used all my OB shafts for breaking and actually have one OB shaft that I only use for breaking. All of them have held up well and no ferrule or any other problems have occured.
 
JoeyA said:
The only down-side appears to be on relatively easy shots of 10-20 degrees and am shooting at a half a pocket. These shots I used to put a little outside English to throw the ball into the pocket but I am missing this particular shot/angle more than I have ever missed before. I was wondering if anyone else suffered this embarassment and what you did in particular to correct it.
Click to expand...
Joey, I just got a 30" OB-1 last week, and I love it. I agree with what you've said about the shaft. It does feel much softer, probably because it's filled with foam.

The the simple shots you described that you missed are probably because you're subconsciously allowing for squirt-- the way your old shaft would perform. With the OB-1 you can shoot right at the aim point and the cueball doesn't deflect! I find myself overcuting shots where I use outside english, because of the lack of squirt.

I'm sold! I think it'll improve my game. But since you also have an OB-1, I'll still need 9-6...:cool:

Doc
 
English is applied with less effort than my stock Viking shaft, and there is definitely less deflection which makes it easier to pocket balls while using english. I absolutely love love LOVE my OB-1 for both of those reasons, but I love it twice as much for the CONSISTENCY that it puts out. I've never felt a more uniformed and consistent hit in a cue before and I can't express how much I love that.
 
I just shot with one!

Hey Joey,

I just shot with an OB-1. It shot just like yours! Oh yeah now I remember . . . . :D

Actually, I was just posting a reminder, there is a stack of cues behind the counter at Buff's with some mighty fine break cues in there.

Hu


JoeyA said:
I wanted to start this thread and ask all of you who have used an OB-1 to make your contributions about your experience with the shaft here in this thread. It would help to funnel the information to one another more easily and primarily I would like input from people who have actually used or use the shaft for their opinions.

My opinion is newly formed but I think I am quite happy with what I have.
It is a Gulyassy cue with a OB-1 shaft that Mike custom fitted to his standard cue since OB-1 doesn't make a standard stock joint for it.

As to the features and benefits of the shaft:

It seems that this combination imparts more spin than what I normally am able to get and I don't believe it is imagination either. I have always used a lot of side English and so it isn't much of a change except that I have more of it now. I also seem to be able to draw the cue ball better than I have in the past. Drawing the cue ball 6 feet after shooting the cue ball 4-5 feet toward the object ball used to give me more inconsistency than I prefer but that is just the burden of being an amateur. Now it seems that I make the object ball more often and the cue ball draws back with less effort.

I can now make difficult shots that require large amounts of Side English more consistently.

The only down-side appears to be on relatively easy shots of 10-20 degrees and am shooting at a half a pocket. These shots I used to put a little outside English to throw the ball into the pocket but I am missing this particular shot/angle more than I have ever missed before. I was wondering if anyone else suffered this embarassment and what you did in particular to correct it.

Also the cue is quieter than any cue I have ever played with and so far that isn't bothering me. The non laminated leather tip seems to be hard because it doesn't mushroom nor does the shape change. I break softly with it but will probably go back to a Predator break cue. I don't know how I will carry all of the stuff I want to carry but I would like to have a jump cue in addition to the two other cues along with a back up shaft. :D

With my older Jack Justis case I do not have room for all three cues and already I feel like a pack mule. :)

Anyway I look forward to perspectives and your experiences with the OB-1 shafts.

Thanks,
JoeyA
Click to expand...
 
I love the two OB 1's I own and you are right about backing down on the outside english for cut shots, I used to use two tips outside english on extreme cuts with custom cue shafts and I shoot them now with 1/2 tip while using the OB 1. Shawn Putnam told me a couple years ago that he started winning tournaments when he found out he could make balls with center cueball because its easier to stay in line without alot of sidespin, since I got my table at home I've worked on this and I see what he meant. I think Shawn played with 314 with sniper tip which feels sorta like but not as good as the OB 1 to me.

Leonard
 
I have an OB-1 shaft custom joined to my custom cue (http://pool.fojavi.com/mycues.html). I've been playing with it for almost a year and I love it. It is very consistent hitting. I also love the Talisman pro medium tip that comes standard. It keeps shape well, hits firm, and holds chalk well without depositing it all onto the cue ball every shot. The only thing that I don't like about my OB-1 is that it has tiny slivers of wood missing along the shaft in spots which makes it hard to burnish the shaft perfectly smooth.


Vinnie
--------------
 
Vinnie said:
The only thing that I don't like about my OB-1 is that it has tiny slivers of wood missing along the shaft in spots which makes it hard to burnish the shaft perfectly smooth.
Click to expand...

Same here. Other than that, it's a nice shaft I'm proud to own. Consistent, lively, gives a solid hit.
 
Why would it have tiny slivers of wood missing? Will they make it right?
 
I have used one for a while now. Royce at OB Cues called me out of the blue and told me about his product which was at the time in prototype stage. He sent me prototypes to try and to test and I knew after the first time I hit balls with it that the shaft would be a hit.

I had previously worked for Predator for almost 8 years and had been using a 314 shaft for almost 10 years at the time when Royce sent me the shafts. I switched to an OB-1 on a Schon (I like the thinner Schon butt) and feel that the OB-1 performs the same as the 314-2 but the OB-1 feels better. In our testing, the OB-1 came out almost identical to the 314-2 and for all intents and purposes of a pool player (as opposed to a robot) they are the same (deflection wise)

You can see the test results here:
http://www.platinumbilliards.com/rating_deflect.php

I still sell alot of 314-2 shafts but I now also sell a bunch of OB-1 shafts and considering how new the OB-1 is and how many we sell, I think Royce and crew need to build a bigger factory because they are going to get very big IMO
 
shanesinnott said:
In our testing, the OB-1 came out almost identical to the 314-2 and for all intents and purposes of a pool player (as opposed to a robot) they are the same (deflection wise)

You can see the test results here:
http://www.platinumbilliards.com/rating_deflect.php
Click to expand...
Shane, that's very interesting research; and pretty comprehensive! It would be interesting to see the results of the testing using only the 12 mm-from-center data in comparison for the various brands, since that's the most extreme example you used. 6 mm is probably just the average mis-hit!:D Care to show a picture of the shooting machine? Thanks~

Doc
 
I am currently using an OB1 on a schon butt which I use for breaking and playing. The talisman tip is ok-hasn't mushroomed but miscues sometimes even after a good chalking.

Playing:
The feel is good in my opinon and I especially like it on cut shots with inside english. Just sold my scruggs as I feel this shaft is more consistent. Lots of spin with less effort. With a good stroke the cueball comes alive.

Breaking:
Super consistent. I am able to hit the balls as hard as I can and still hit the head ball square, bounce back and park whitey. I like the leather tip for breaking because I have more control and I have yet to jump the cueball off the table. I get a good spread consistently breaking with the OB1.
 
6 pocket Mike!

I dont think it is possible with the construction of the cue. look
Click to expand...


Shrink your dang picture! You should have saved it to your computer and then shrank it in a paint program or something.

Better yet you could have just posted the link to that picture!

As far as your quote I think you are wrong! I have two OB-1 shafts and neither have any slivers of wood missing from them.

I think that guy should call Royce and send it back. I am sure OB-1 would make it right.
 
txplshrk said:
I think that guy should call Royce and send it back. I am sure OB-1 would make it right.
Click to expand...


I wish I could, but the shaft is a CUSTOM joined (3/8X11) partial I purchased a year ago.


Vinnie
 
Ob_1

Well I made the decision to purchase two of these fine shafts at 12.2mm, and had the Sniper tips put on it.

Everyone in my League has wanted to shoot with it, and see what the big deal is with it. I would say about 10-12 people have shot with it now. And I got the same reaction from all of them. "Wow, that thing plays great! It has a great feel, and holy crap I can put a lot of English on the cue ball!"

Then I show them how you can use the same aim point when using English, and they are all freaking out over it.

Anyway, to me the shaft feels perfect. It has a nice soft hit, but a firm hit to it. Anyone that has been playing long enough will notice how firm it hits.

I get a kick out of these people saying they can't feel when they hit the cue ball. That is total B/S! Yes it feels a lot softer, and yes it doesn't feel like you are poking a coat hanger through a cue ball, but you still feel when you strike the ball. How could you not? Are you too drunk to feel anything?

I don't care what you use to hit another object, when the two collide you will feel it. It just so happens that the OB-1 doesn't shake your teeth loose when you hit the cue ball. To me that is a very good thing! They didn't give up a solid hit to make this thing play nice and soft. The hit is very solid, and doesn't lack any performance.

Yes for most people there will be a learning curve, and I am still working on some shots because I forget and try to compensate for squirt too. Once I get that out of my head and just play I will be good to go.

On a side note, why would you want to break with this thing? On a break cue I would think you would want a hard stiff cue. Cause most people wouldn't care if the shaft is a low or high deflection when breaking. I don't know, maybe I just don't get it. I have never been a fan of breaking with my playing cue anyway though.
 
My OB-1

I got my OB-1 on my Ariel Carmeli with 3/10 modified G-10 pin, with the weight 19.2. I never shoot with anything more comfortable! yes that is the way I would describe it.

I had a similar problem, with the sealer and I have sent the other shaft to Royce. Still waiting for the shaft :(

Royce, pls email me...
 
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