playing tip
- Thread starter sciarco
- Start date
Ain't one best.
That's up to you to decide what you shoot best with. I like a 12.5 mm. On a TAR episode SVB told Reyes he had the smallest tip he had ever seen and Reyes did not let him measure it, his buddy Busamante uses a 12.75 or larger, SVB was using a 12 mm. I think most use around a 12.25 to 12.75. I think I would shoot about the same with a 12.25 to 12.75 if I got used to it. You probably would too.
That's up to you to decide what you shoot best with. I like a 12.5 mm. On a TAR episode SVB told Reyes he had the smallest tip he had ever seen and Reyes did not let him measure it, his buddy Busamante uses a 12.75 or larger, SVB was using a 12 mm. I think most use around a 12.25 to 12.75. I think I would shoot about the same with a 12.25 to 12.75 if I got used to it. You probably would too.
hmm i use 12.75mm (i think) that comes standard with 314 shaft.
But was thinking recently that with a bigger diameter like 13.25mm to 13.5mm, you make straight in shots easier.
because you will hit the ball more squarely.
Not sure how true is that because I do not have a bigger shaft to test out this theory.
But was thinking recently that with a bigger diameter like 13.25mm to 13.5mm, you make straight in shots easier.
because you will hit the ball more squarely.
Not sure how true is that because I do not have a bigger shaft to test out this theory.
Couldn't be further from the truth. A lot of people have this misconception that a bigger tip contacts the cue ball more or longer. The size of the contact area on the cue ball, regardless of tip size is its shape. In simple terms, if you have a 13.5mm shaft, and an 11.75mm shaft with identical tips (hardness and shape) then the same amount of tip would contact the cue ball.
Still the same I would imagine. The tip is in contact for such a small amount of time that the shaft flex/ deflection is done mostly after the ball has left the tip.
Blue, have you ever used a snooker cue with a strong conical taper? They're extremely stiff, far stiffer than any cue over used with a big tip and pro taper. Stiffness id say is more down to the taper and type of wood used. Generally smaller tip means less cue ball squirt, but its not always the case. If a 11.75mm shaft has a heavy, say, brass or copper ferrule and a thicker shaft has a lightweight plastic ferrule then you may be surprised at what shaft creates more squirt.
Personally, I prefer 40mm. They get the job done :thumbup:
Answer is the same as what is the best meal. All what you like. Same as the radius of the tip, hardness/brand and type of shaft.
Try some, see what you like.
I think the reason people think that a fatter shaft makes it easier to hit straighter shots is that with a fatter shaft there's less wiggle room in your possibly bad front hand bridge and it probably doesn't hurt that the balance of the cue can be more forward with the usually heavier shaft.
The unstable bridge was probably my biggest problem since I returned to pool and now shaft size is more a matter of comfort in my bridge and level of deflection. If you have a good stable front hand bridge and fairly straight stroke. I don't think the size of the shaft has much to do with making straight in shots. Of course it will almost always feel like you hit more of the ball with the thicker cue shafts which tend to be stiffer in feel but that's not exclusive to the larger diameter shafts. For example, I have a 21 year old Schon made 12.3 mm shaft which still happens to be 4 ounces that hits as stiff as what most people would expect a 13mm plus shaft to feel like but the deflection is clearly a bit lower.
Good Shooting to all. ,
Kevin
I tried playing with snooker cues before, I believe they are around 9mm in diameter. surprisingly stiff I would say, still I felt that smaller tip diameters leads to more misses in straight ins shots.
maybe it's due to my flawed stroke i guess. whereby a thicker diameter would be more forgiving?