OB Phoenix 11.8mm 30” shaft initial review

[Gravey39]

I ordered a new Phoenix 30” shaft fro OB cues. One of the last 11.8mm shafts that they made. They no longer make the 11.8mm. My initial thoughts are that it’s an awesome shaft. I’ve always like the torrified wood hit. The taper is a conical/pro hybrid. You can’t really tell with the conical part unless you’re on longer shots when you’re stretched out. I don’t mind a conical taper anyways. The shaft has a very nice solid hit without any whippiness. Pairs well with my meucci. My meucci has a softer hit and with this shaft I’d say it’s right in the middle. Deflection/swerve there’s only a very small amount. Way less then the black dot that I replaced this with. So I have to get used to aiming without accounting for any deflection/swerve. I’m liking the shaft so far and it goes great with my meucci. I’ll write a review after shooting with it for a couple weeks.

 

[hang-the-9]

How many LD shafts have you tried? Because to me, the Phoenix is not a very low deflection cue. I would put it in midpack for that, behind things like the Revo, Z, about where a 314-2 and OB 1 shafts are. Has a nice hit to it though, and the look is a nice match to cues, better than the black or maple shafts IMHO. I tried it for a bit but it made me change the aiming point well off what my normal shafts did.

 

[Gravey39]

How many LD shafts have you tried? Because to me, the Phoenix is not a very low deflection cue. I would put it in midpack for that, behind things like the Revo, Z, about where a 314-2 and OB 1 shafts are. Has a nice hit to it though, and the look is a nice match to cues, better than the black or maple shafts IMHO. I tried it for a bit but it made me change the aiming point well off what my normal shafts did.

I’ve tried a bunch of LD shafts. Katana, meucci’s, predator and McDermotts. The kielwood is supposed to be a low deflection shaft more so then regular maples. Because of how light they become and forward mass is less then that of a regular maple. Then the shaft also has similar traits as carbon fiber after baking the wood. I’d say it’s less deflecting then all those other shafts. I did a test with measuring all last night after receiving the shaft against the katana, meucci and McDermott LD shafts.

 

[Thunder Thighs]

Did yours come with an Everest tip? Mine did but I found it much harder than the old Everests.

 

[Minnesota Phat]

Did yours come with an Everest tip? My did but I found it much harder than the old Everests.

I got an OB Phoenix 11.8 mm shaft about a month ago - it came with a Piku Trifecta tip - it's a Made in USA, multi-layer tip.
I'm new to serious pool, so I won't venture my uninformed opinion about how it compares to other tips, but I do like it.

 

[Catalin]

I’ve tried a bunch of LD shafts. Katana, meucci’s, predator and McDermotts. The kielwood is supposed to be a low deflection shaft more so then regular maples. Because of how light they become and forward mass is less then that of a regular maple. Then the shaft also has similar traits as carbon fiber after baking the wood. I’d say it’s less deflecting then all those other shafts. I did a test with measuring all last night after receiving the shaft against the katana, meucci and McDermott LD shafts.

None of the shafts you mentioned are really LD except for the Predator. There are 3 companies that make true LD shafts - Predator, Mezz and Cuetec. Among the 3 of them they have something for every taste. Why someone would even bother with something else I don't know.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

 

[buckshotshoey]

None of the shafts you mentioned are really LD except for the Predator. There are 3 companies that make true LD shafts - Predator, Mezz and Cuetec. Among the 3 of them they have something for every taste. Why someone would even bother with something else I don't know.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

McDermott does also.... the Ipro.

 

[Gravey39]

None of the shafts you mentioned are really LD except for the Predator. There are 3 companies that make true LD shafts - Predator, Mezz and Cuetec. Among the 3 of them they have something for every taste. Why someone would even bother with something else I don't know.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

Huh? Their called Low deflection shafts? I’m not going through and screenshot thing every shaft. But this is the shaft that came with my katana cue. Actually the katana shaft is considered one of the best LD shafts lol. Especially since it’s not over priced marketing junk like the brands that you stated

 

[Gravey39]

Did yours come with an Everest tip? My did but I found it much harder than the old Everests.

No mine came with the piku trifecta tip and I’m not sure if I like it or not. It’s already glazed over and that’s only after two nights of play. I’ll probably replace it with a hard precision tip once this one need changed.

 

[Gravey39]

I got an OB Phoenix 11.8 mm shaft about a month ago - it came with a Piku Trifecta tip - it's a Made in USA, multi-layer tip.
I'm new to serious pool, so I won't venture my uninformed opinion about how it compares to other tips, but I do like it.

Does yours glaze over often and need scuffed often?

 

[hang-the-9]

None of the shafts you mentioned are really LD except for the Predator. There are 3 companies that make true LD shafts - Predator, Mezz and Cuetec. Among the 3 of them they have something for every taste. Why someone would even bother with something else I don't know.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

More companies that that doe it, Players has PureX (HXT), Tiger, Pechauer has the Pro series, Jacoby has a bunch, OB. Many are not as low deflection as the lowest of the models, but that is not always the thing to look for, just getting the lowest possible deflection is not really the goal, but to find a cue that matches how someone aims and has a good hit feel. The Pheonix is on the mid of the LD line, I have to aim quite a bit off the normal aiming line with spin when using it. That's why I asked the OP how many other LD shafts they used if they thought it had very low deflection, since that has not been the case with the one we have.

 

[Minnesota Phat]

Does yours glaze over often and need scuffed often?

I had mine re-shaped as soon as I got it. I also re-shaped it myself recently using the 5 in 1 tip tool. I use pricey chalk (Kamui at first and now Taom).
I haven't noticed any glazing, and it seems to hold chalk fine. I hit several balls between chalking when I'm practicing. Maybe it does flatten quickly - I don't have much basis for comparison. I have it rounded to close to a dime radius.

 

[Gravey39]

I had mine re-shaped as soon as I got it. I also re-shaped it myself recently using the 5 in 1 tip tool. I use pricey chalk (Kamui at first and now Taom).
I haven't noticed any glazing, and it seems to hold chalk fine. I hit several balls between chalking when I'm practicing. Maybe it does flatten quickly - I don't have much basis for comparison. I have it rounded to close to a dime radius.

Yeah I reshaped mine to a dime. I also use taom chalk. Maybe I got a bad one or something then. Which can happen.

 

[SKILLZELITE]

@hang-the-9
In your experience with LD shafts , which models would you say have the least deflection?
How would you rank them from 3,2,1. ?

 

[Gravey39]

More companies that that doe it, Players has PureX (HXT), Tiger, Pechauer has the Pro series, Jacoby has a bunch, OB. Many are not as low deflection as the lowest of the models, but that is not always the thing to look for, just getting the lowest possible deflection is not really the goal, but to find a cue that matches how someone aims and has a good hit feel. The Pheonix is on the mid of the LD line, I have to aim quite a bit off the normal aiming line with spin when using it. That's why I asked the OP how many other LD shafts they used if they thought it had very low deflection, since that has not been the case with the one we have.

Idk when I did the test on my 8” table at home. I barely got any deflection at all. There was some, but wayyyyyyy less then any of the other shafts that I have. I’d put this up there on the top of any LD wood shafts. Better then some carbon fiber shafts too. But behind the top carbon shafts.

 

[Minnesota Phat]

[...]The Pheonix is on the mid of the LD line, I have to aim quite a bit off the normal aiming line with spin when using it. That's why I asked the OP how many other LD shafts they used if they thought it had very low deflection, since that has not been the case with the one we have.

Just out of curiosity, what's the shaft width/tip size of your Phoenix? If I understand correctly, smaller tips have less deflection, correct?
Also, I was wondering which version of the shaft you have? Mine (which I think is the most current model) is an OB Phoenix-3. There's a small "III" Roman Numeral next to the picture of a Phoenix.

 

[Gravey39]

Just out of curiosity, what's the shaft width/tip size of your Phoenix? If I understand correctly, smaller tips have less deflection, correct?
Also, I was wondering which version of the shaft you have? Mine (which I think is the most current model) is an OB Phoenix-3. There's a small "III" Roman Numeral next to the picture of a Phoenix.

The 3 is what I have. He’s had to of had a different model or something. Because this shaft has phenomenal low deflection. I’d set it above several carbon shafts that I have tried and also done tests with. It’s probably the least deflecting wood shaft that I’ve ever tried. I mean that’s the point of roasting the wood in the first place. It gives the wood properties and characteristics similar to carbon fiber with a wood hit.

 

[hang-the-9]

Just out of curiosity, what's the shaft width/tip size of your Phoenix? If I understand correctly, smaller tips have less deflection, correct?
Also, I was wondering which version of the shaft you have? Mine (which I think is the most current model) is an OB Phoenix-3. There's a small "III" Roman Numeral next to the picture of a Phoenix.

12.8, it's a pretty new one, a friend of ours bought it but did not really like it so it ended up with us. We actually went through 3 of them prior they kept sending the wrong diameter and in one case a wrong length hehe, we ended up returning all those and have this one now.

 

[hang-the-9]

The 3 is what I have. He’s had to of had a different model or something. Because this shaft has phenomenal low deflection. I’d set it above several carbon shafts that I have tried and also done tests with. It’s probably the least deflecting wood shaft that I’ve ever tried. I mean that’s the point of roasting the wood in the first place. It gives the wood properties and characteristics similar to carbon fiber with a wood hit.

Pretty sure the OB we have is the latest one, it was bought maybe 3 months ago. We have had 5 different keilwood shafts, two custom ones, the OB, a Hsunami and some other one. None of them have a hit or deflection like the Revo or Ignite, they all still feel like wood shafts, but are a bit stiffer. We have had a few Hsunami shafts, one of them was pretty close to the feel of the Revo and lower deflection than the other wood shafts, probably similar to a Predator 314-3, but not as little as the Z or the Revo.

The other model CF shafts are a lot more similar to wood ones, and we tried pretty much all of them either owning them for a bit, borrowing from friends or at SBE, they are really a sideways move from an LD wood shaft vs a new type of shaft, Revo and Ignite are the two I think stand out as truly different. Another pretty good CF shaft we just got is a Tickles one, on a break cue, that has a pretty good hit feel and different from a wood shaft.

 

[hang-the-9]

@hang-the-9
In your experience with LD shafts , which models would you say have the least deflection?
How would you rank them from 3,2,1. ?

Revo with least, the Z3 and Ignite probably next. This is based on not just with hitting with them for a test to see how full they hit a ball at other end of the table but also with how I can pocket balls with them. With just about any other shaft I need to adjust 1/8-1/4 ball off depending on distance and spin amount, that included CF shafts from Jacoby, Cuetec, Pechaur and Meucci. I also have a few custom made LD shafts that I play with well and have pretty low deflection, about the Z3 level. We have a few cases full of shafts LOL, so quite a few to test between what we actually own and from friends we try things from.

I've posted before the test I do with the shafts, place an object ball at the end of the table, place cueball on the spot, just hit to the side with a parallel shift aim, meaning I slide my bridge hand to the left or right instead of shifting my back hand, so the cue is always pointed straight at the object ball. Then I see where it hits. The Revo and the other really low defection shafts hit very close to center ball. The Phoenix hit 1/4 ball or more further out. Granted I'm not a robot, but I shoot the shots several times to try to average out the speed and aiming differences.