Pinstriped shaft

D

derangedhermit

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I put a 1/8" black vinyl pinstripe (Autozone:grin:) from the joint collar to the start of the tip on my playing shaft. I think it will be an interesting thing to try shooting / practicing with. There's nothing against it in the BCA rules on equipment I can find.

First try, on the kitchen table, it's very obvious when you curl or flex your wrist it during the stroke. The stripe moves like a spiral, you can see it when you're in your stance, and a person watching can too.

I think it might also help with cue-cue ball alignment and with aiming.
 
Somebody was making shafts with an inlaid stripe in them. I don't remember who.

.
 
well ok

derangedhermit said:
I put a 1/8" black vinyl pinstripe (Autozone:grin:) from the joint collar to the start of the tip on my playing shaft. I think it will be an interesting thing to try shooting / practicing with. There's nothing against it in the BCA rules on equipment I can find.

First try, on the kitchen table, it's very obvious when you curl or flex your wrist it during the stroke. The stripe moves like a spiral, you can see it when you're in your stance, and a person watching can too.

I think it might also help with cue-cue ball alignment and with aiming.
Click to expand...

im not sure why you would want a pin strip going down the shaft of your cue if nothing else you could put a tinny black dot on your ferrule.

i had a buddy got drunk and got a barber poll tatoo on his shaft in honk kong. must have the same ,meaning. each there own!

i want to focus on the shot. not how i have the cue turned.

I have cues for sale no matter how you turn them they shoot lights out, no mark needed :thumbup:


Are you using a LD shaft ?
MMike
 
A black dot (or better, a short line) on the ferrule alone would do if I was only interested in aligning the shaft the same way each time or aiding cue tip - cue ball alignment.

I was breaking with a measles ball last night, lining up a dot right where I wanted to make contact. I found out that I don't make consistent contact, and either that or my aim spot is off by enough to make my break erratic. I'm talking being off by 1/16-1/8". I'm not sure what combination of faults is producing what I'm seeing.

Anyway, I hope the pinstripe instead of a dot will let me also easily see if I'm twisting the cue with my wrist or shoving it sideways during my stroke. The high contrast makes it pretty easy to pick up in peripheral vision.
 
I may be wrong but I think Dave Kikel has a patent on something very similar to what is descrbed here. It's late and I just got home from a night of pool otherwise I would look it up.
 
derangedhermit said:
I put a 1/8" black vinyl pinstripe (Autozone:grin:) from the joint collar to the start of the tip on my playing shaft. ...
Click to expand...

Do you use an open bridge all the time? I'm wondering how the vinyl would stay on the shaft long term with a closed bridge.
 
twisting the cue

hi
i was having a little fun with you.
twisting your cue. im not a instructor but when at one time i was twisting the cue.
i had way to tight of a grip and i was hanging on to far up the grip.

if possible have someone video tape you 2 or 3 racks and have someone watch you play they can tell you what your doing wrong.

a good healthy stroke goes along ways.

anyway best of luck getting it figure out
strip the wax of the shaft run a snap chalk line down the shaft, then wax over the chalk line
mike
 
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AtLarge said:
Do you use an open bridge all the time? I'm wondering how the vinyl would stay on the shaft long term with a closed bridge.
Click to expand...
I'm wondering that same thing too. I usually use a closed bridge. This is an experiment. If it is useful, I could have a permanent black stripe that was flush with the shaft (probably 1/16", 1/8" looks a little large to me so far) made somehow.
 
derangedhermit said:
I put a 1/8" black vinyl pinstripe (Autozone:grin:) from the joint collar to the start of the tip on my playing shaft. I think it will be an interesting thing to try shooting / practicing with. There's nothing against it in the BCA rules on equipment I can find.

First try, on the kitchen table, it's very obvious when you curl or flex your wrist it during the stroke. The stripe moves like a spiral, you can see it when you're in your stance, and a person watching can too.

I think it might also help with cue-cue ball alignment and with aiming.
Click to expand...

True.

I have a cue that has the same stripping that I practice with. (have a table at home)

In your peripheral (spelling) vision you will also see if your stick is going in a straight line to the shot.

John
 
Here is a link to the patent Dave Kikel has for this shaft. He took a standard shaft and split it down the middle lengthwise and then laminated a different color wood in the middle. When you open this link the open the PDF file and you can see the description of this aiming shaft..

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4949965.html
 
I have an OB1, a couple of years old, that has one segment considerably darker than the rest. I found myself at times purposely turning the cue to have the darker wood at 12 o'clock. I've often wondered about the effects of that "line", and if it helped in any way to establish a reference to an aiming point, or possibly verify the straightness of my stroke. I now use a different shaft, but I must say, this thread makes me believe others have considered the same. I have to say though, if it does enhance shot making in some way, it's use would be widespread by now.
 
Quesports said:
Here is a link to the patent Dave Kikel has for this shaft. He took a standard shaft and split it down the middle lengthwise and then laminated a different color wood in the middle. When you open this link the open the PDF file and you can see the description of this aiming shaft..

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4949965.html
Click to expand...

That would be a very pretty shaft, with a permanent alignment aid in the shaft construction itself. I think the described notches in the ferrule would weaken it, but it may not be an issue. The patent was written more narrowly than I would have done (I've written 20+ patent applications).

By the way, a vinyl pinstripe, or painted or burned line, in no way infringes on the patent.
 
silghtly different

same results, i video taped myself playing pool about 10 years ago, i just turned the recorder on and forgot about it, i played by myself for about 2 hrs. then i sat down and watched the entire thing.
the shots i was missing were all the same, time after time i missed the same shots. i have never tried the strip down the shaft, but if helps your game go for it.
it ain't rocket science
 
.

I bought a Laser Stroke. It attaches to the cue shaft. It is a great tool that shows if you are twisting your wrist along with other faults.




.
 
It seems to work very well for me :)

I tried out the pinstriped shaft tonight for about 3 hours. I shot better than average. Here's what I noticed:

- When my stroke is wobbly, it is very visible (distracting) in my peripheral vision. A couple times I stopped at the end of the backstroke because the waving stripe caught my eye. It really got my attention when the stripe swayed. On the other hand, when my stroke was straight, I didn't notice the stripe at all once I started the stroke. I guess that's because peripheral vision is very sensitive to motion, and if the stripe stays on track, there's not a motion that catches the eye.

- The stripe stayed on top of the shaft, so I seem to not rotate / roll the cue with my wrist.

- The black line does, for me at least and in my opinion, allow for finer alignment, both cue to CB and shot alignment. I say this because it just seems easier visually when you start with the stripe on top, and also because several times I positioned the cue tip and aimed carefully with the stripe rolled to the bottom, and then rolled it to the top. I usually felt the need (and ability) to make a fine adjustment to cue tip position and aim line.

- The vinyl stayed on even with my closed bridge.

All in all, a surprising success. I'll keep using it. Since it comes in 40-foot rolls and I still have 35 feet (it took two tries to get it straight on the first one), now I think I'll add it to my break shaft as well. I should really see some weird motion then.:D
 
Update

After a long time, an update. I've added the auto pinstripe (still having many feet of it) to every shaft I have.

For me, and maybe no one else in the world, it helps both in aiming, and in noticing how straight my stroke is during the stroke itself.

It's stayed in place. On my closed bridge, it seems to be that a knuckle is naturallly above the shaft, giving a place with no contact with the shaft, so I don't feel the pinstriping at all. Still, I would prefer one of the very thin decal-type stripes that are addedt to cars, or to have it painted on, and I think thinner or somewhat tapered would be more pleasing to look at. It needs to be bold enough to see out of my peripheral vision, though.

I trimmed them all down with a razor blade to stop at the beginning of the ferrule, for ferrule and tip maintenance. On the other end, I run it almost to the joint, but I haven't paid any attention to how much shorter it could be.

I now subconsciously rotate the cue with my butt hand to get the line on top before eaqch stroke.
 
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