OB-1 shaft - whippy?

BillPorter

BillPorter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I got my OB-1 shaft a few days ago. I've played with it for a few hours and like the shaft. I let a good player try it out the other day and he didn't like it much. He commented that it felt kind of "dead." I think what he called "dead" is what I call "solid." I think he was put off by the lack of a "tink" or "click" sound he was getting from his own cue which has a very hard tip. (The OB-1 I got came with what looks like a Talisman tip, probably a medium.) He also said the shaft seem to lack stiffness and was whippy. I hadn't noticed any lack of stiffness myself. Then we took the OB-1 and a regular solid shaft and flexed them by placing the joint end of the shafts on the rail of a table with the tips down on the surface of the table. I was surprised by how much easier it was to bend or flex the OB-1. In other words, pressing down on the middle of the shaft, it flexed downward much more than the solid shaft with the same pressure applied. Any thoughts or comments?
 
I personally think that whippiness helps with deflection. I also noticed the OB1 was less stiff near the tip than a Predator 314...but it has much better feedback than a Predator as well, IMO. I shot with one that has a Moori M though.
 
I thought the flexibility in the shaft was what helps to prevent the CB deflection seen in other traditional shafts. Predator's website says something to this about their shafts and I assume the OB-1 is similar. I am going to order one myself as soon as I unload some extra gear on Ebay.
 
Flexibility of OB-1 compared to a Predator shaft

SpeedStar said:
I thought the flexibility in the shaft was what helps to prevent the CB deflection seen in other traditional shafts. Predator's website says something to this about their shafts and I assume the OB-1 is similar. I am going to order one myself as soon as I unload some extra gear on Ebay.
Click to expand...
I think the main variable in determining deflection is the end mass of the shaft. A shaft that is simply lighter the last 4-5 inches below the tip produces less deflection. I don't think shaft flexibility has as much effect as end mass. I just used some calipers to measure the OB-1 and a Predator (both for radial pins). I noticed that my OB-1 was slightly smaller than the Predator at the tip and definitely smaller a few inches back from the tip. Now I'm not saying this is good or bad, but the OB-1 is definitely more flexible over the area 10-14 inches back from the tip that the Predator. Just takes less force to bend it in this area. All that being said, I still like the feel/sound of the OB-1 better than the feel/sound of the Predator. None of that hollow feel/sound that most Predator shafts display.
 
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