Players HXT LD shaft vs. other LD shafts

[baalpeteor]

Thanks for the opinion, but it's a 4 year old post, and the wall of text writing makes it a bit hard to read. I am thinking the guy is already used to the shaft by now hehe

Not for me, but I am one who loves to read and gain knowledge. But I can see that if you have a very short attention span like most people today, you won't be able to read or gain any knowledge from such a great and insightful post.

I currently own an on+2 shaft, a mezz wx900 shaft, a jacoby edge hybrid shaft, and a pure X htx shaft. I played for 5 years with a mezz wd-700 shaft prior to buying these and it warped. Instead of buying another one I decided to buy all these new shafts to try to find "the perfect shaft". Which would make me play better. Haha.. foolish me, thinking that the shaft would make me play better... I tried them all over the course of a year, trading them back and forth. They all play well. (Any shaft you are use to will play well for you). Lowest deflection to highest deflection. The ob+2 is the lowest, followed very closely by the jacoby edge hybrid. The difference between the ob and the jacoby was very minimal. Next was the mezz wx-900. It had noticably more deflection than the ob or jacoby. The pure X htx shaft had a little bit more deflection than the wx-900 does. The one I ended up going with was the pure-x htx shaft. After playing with the mezz wd-700 shaft for so long I got really use to the deflection if it and knew exactly how it would play and where I needed to aim when applying right and left hand English on the cue ball in order to pocket my ball. Any time you switch shafts, you need to re-learn how to aim again because the difference in deflection means you have to aim different when applying any side English to the cue ball, than you did with your old shaft. For me, I could never get use to the ob, jacoby, or mezz wx-900 because they squirted differently the my old mezz wd-700 shaft did. And I was unable to make a lot of the hard English shots reliably with these new shafts that I was easily able to with my old wd-700 shaft. The pure X shaft played the closest deflection wise to what I was used to with my old mezz wd-700 shaft, and I could play the best with it because of that. I plays great. Sure, if I would have just picked one if the other shafts and kept playing with it religiously for a year then I would have learned how to play with it, but didn't want to keep losing games in the mean time during leagues trying to figure out the new deflection. And honestly, I prefer to have some deflection. You can do things to get ball position utilizing deflection that you cannot do with no deflection. You have to adjust your game accordingly.
I did this and I see other people getting hung up on the deflection if thier shafts. And the truth is that it really makes no difference. The only thing that matters is that you are use to your shaft and can reliable know how to aim with it in any given shot. There is not really any big advantage to using a very low deflection shaft. I think the middle ground of the pure X htx shaft is perfect, cause you get the best if both worlds. Some if the best players around my area use regular maple shafts that came with thier cues. And they are almost professional caliber players. One of them does compete on the pro circut. Just remember, the shaft doesn't make you play better. You learning to play better and practice makes you play better.

I have had the HXT for over 3 years and just became serious about my pool skills last month. I have been looking at various cues, from the REVO to the Cuetec 15k CYNERGY, to even the Meucci Carbon, and now lastly just a regular Meucci (I love the casino line). I may still buy a CF just to have a second cue, as I love challenges and learning every possible technique and way, but it won't be a REVO. My newest challenge as a lefty is learning to play right as efficiently as my left. But in any case, I believe I will try the HXT skinny first, as I can hit all kinds of banks and everything you could hope for with a regular HXT, and there's no reason to change and relearn. The skinny shaft will give me more cue ball control which I desire, and also the ability to try a new (and hard) tip, as the original tip it came with is still on (3+ yr old Kamui S). With the regular HXT, I can reliably hit 5-6+ full table banks in a row just placing them randomly.