Predator breaking cue vs modified cuetec
- Thread starter Saijin
- Start date
You've answered your own question.If your getting results
that your fine with,there's no need to change because of hype or brand name.
I'm also a firm believer that a shaft with more flex breaks a lot better.One of my best break shafts was an older Meucci shaft
that was god awful to play with but a dream to break with.It almost felt like it as being sling shot into the pack.
I never liked stiff shafts to break with.Give me a noodle shaft any day to break with.
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Saijin
Registered
Don't noodle shafts give you less control compared to a stiffer shaft for breaking?
Meucci shafts are nice for breaking. You are in control, not the shaft.:smile::smile:
I've done my own little test on breaking.Now i'm not
a big breaker,maybe between 20-22 in break speed but controlled which I think
is most important.
I found with a whippy shaft like a Meucci shaft,I made more balls than with
a BK2,and this was out of 50 breaks each, with a wooden rack.
If you use a magic rack,you could use the back of any cue and make a ball(I hate magic
racks)
It could be just the style of my break but give it a try sometime and tell me what
you think.
Yes.
One should try different weights, different tapers on the shaft, and different tips, and find something that one likes. There is no magic in break cues, and there certainly are very cheap cues which do the trick for most players. Maybe not, however, for everybody. There are also people who prefer the feel of an 500$ break cue in their hands, and there is nothing wrong about that.
However, you ARE asking about this, thus there is a reason why you do ask.
Are you truly happy with your break and if not, do you think it's because of your technique or because of the cue?
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Saijin
Registered
I just have no experience and there's no place that has those break cues I'm interested in.
But then again, the cuetec I have that has the phenolic installed has been good to me.
I played again yesterday and on the first shot I aced the table. And I pocket at least 1 ball to 3 balls after that.
As long as I hit the cue bll square and hit the 1 ball square it feels good and I get an explosive result.
So I don't think I'll be spending any $$ on expensive break cues.
Btw, I was told by my builder that the cuetec I have can also be used as a jump cue???
But then again, the cuetec I have that has the phenolic installed has been good to me.
I played again yesterday and on the first shot I aced the table. And I pocket at least 1 ball to 3 balls after that.
As long as I hit the cue bll square and hit the 1 ball square it feels good and I get an explosive result.
So I don't think I'll be spending any $$ on expensive break cues.
Btw, I was told by my builder that the cuetec I have can also be used as a jump cue???
Pathetic Shark
Banned
You can buy a handle that fits into the end, but I wouldn't bother. A buddy has one and it's next to useless, although it should be pointed out he doesn't have a phenolic tip on his.
About whippy vs. stiff shafts, a lot of people have a misconception about this.
It's kind of a classic example of how pool players overthink their cues and claim to feel things that
aren't really there. Doing a blindfold pepsi challenge, most of us could not tell the difference between different tips, shafts, and butts. A lot of us would fail at guessing the weight even though there are only 3 popular weights.
Low deflection shafts (Predator, OB, etc.) are soft, whippy, flexible, like a wet noodle, etc.
Some bar cues, old Meuccis, and so on are stiff, rigid, etc.
It's common sense... a shaft where the last 5 inches is hollowed out and filled with rubber tubing or
some kind of hardened foam is obviously going to flex more easily than a solid slab of maple.
When players think a shaft is "Whippy" they may be thinking of the fact that a stiff shaft vibrates
more violently when you hit the cue ball hard. They assume this means the shaft is softer and more flexible
and that's why it's vibrating. It's actually because the shaft is not flexible. It doesn't "give" on impact
and absorb some of the force of the hit. So the whole cue shakes and you really feel it.
Absorbing force rather than passing it on to the cue ball is generally a bad thing, for a break cue.
So I would probably also prefer some older cue to a predator for breaking.
But the tradeoff is that if you screw up and hit a little off-center... the cue ball will not deflect
as badly off to the side. So even if you lose 1 mph, maybe an LD cue is worth breaking with.
I guess it depends on how solid and repeatable your break stroke is.
It's kind of a classic example of how pool players overthink their cues and claim to feel things that
aren't really there. Doing a blindfold pepsi challenge, most of us could not tell the difference between different tips, shafts, and butts. A lot of us would fail at guessing the weight even though there are only 3 popular weights.
Low deflection shafts (Predator, OB, etc.) are soft, whippy, flexible, like a wet noodle, etc.
Some bar cues, old Meuccis, and so on are stiff, rigid, etc.
It's common sense... a shaft where the last 5 inches is hollowed out and filled with rubber tubing or
some kind of hardened foam is obviously going to flex more easily than a solid slab of maple.
When players think a shaft is "Whippy" they may be thinking of the fact that a stiff shaft vibrates
more violently when you hit the cue ball hard. They assume this means the shaft is softer and more flexible
and that's why it's vibrating. It's actually because the shaft is not flexible. It doesn't "give" on impact
and absorb some of the force of the hit. So the whole cue shakes and you really feel it.
Absorbing force rather than passing it on to the cue ball is generally a bad thing, for a break cue.
So I would probably also prefer some older cue to a predator for breaking.
But the tradeoff is that if you screw up and hit a little off-center... the cue ball will not deflect
as badly off to the side. So even if you lose 1 mph, maybe an LD cue is worth breaking with.
I guess it depends on how solid and repeatable your break stroke is.
CreeDo, I value your opinions and generally agree with them....but I'm not sure I agree with the one quoted above.
LD shafts are usually of a laminate design. The lamination process was designed for the purpose of strength and stability. I know that the advent of laminated wooden rifle stocks were for the purpose of keeping the action/barrel of the rifle stable without the wood shifting due to moisture (i.e. warping), and messing up the gun's accuracy by rubbing on metal parts. I realize that cue shafts and rifle stocks have different purposes, but the gist of the lamination process is strength.
IMO, a laminated stock is less whippier than many solid maple shafts. I say many instead of all, because of the variation in the grains. Depending on which direction a solid maple shaft is flexed....the amount of flex will be determined by the direction (up & down, or side to side) the grain flows.
A laminated shaft, in theory, should flex the same no matter what direction it is bent from, due to the fact there are no discernible grain patterns in the laminates.
If an LD shaft feels whippy...which they do to many people...I'd say it is due to the cored out end of the shaft, whether it if filled with foam (or some other material) or not. Then, there's the fact that almost all LD shafts are 12.75mm diameter (or smaller) with slender tapers, while a lot of solid maple shafts (unless custom built to certain specifications), are around 13mm.
I'd be willing to bet that in a pair of human hands, a laminated shaft would be harder to snap in half than a solid maple one would.
Again....these are just opinions. No disrespect intended, and not trying to be argumentative.
Maniac
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I gotcha maniac, and I can see where the impression comes from.
In OB's marketing material they mention their shaft is laminated from pieces of "rock-hard maple".
Which makes it sound like they product a stiffer shaft than a typical non-laminated maple shaft.
Predator too - "10 Radial Spliced Hardrock Maple pieces".
I think that's their way of assuaging people's fears that an LD shaft's hit is too soft and "mushy"
or that laminated shafts are flimsy and easily broken.
I base my understanding on Dr. Dave's site which I trust more than the marketing stuff.
His section on "Whippy" shafts clears it up though I think the wording is still kind of confusing:
http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/cue.html#terminology
"low-deflection" (LD) shaft =
"low-cue-ball-deflection" shaft =
"low-squirt" shaft =
"low end-mass" shaft =
usually flexible (AKA "whippy", compliant, not stiff, "like a wet noodle") shaft end =
usually large cue shaft flex (i.e., "high deflection" of cue tip) with an off-center hit
He's saying "low-deflection" shaft = very flexible shaft end.
Very flexible shaft end = "large cue shaft flex" (aka "high deflection" of the cue's tip).
So if you're not careful it almost reads like "whippy = high deflection".
But what it really means is that whippy LD shafts bend away (aka deflect) from the cue ball very easily,
which means the cue ball itself travels straighter (aka it squirts less).
So "low deflection shaft" = "the cue TIP deflects away from ball a lot but the cue BALL deflects less".
That's what makes LD shafts 'whippy', they flex away from the ball at the moment of impact.
In OB's marketing material they mention their shaft is laminated from pieces of "rock-hard maple".
Which makes it sound like they product a stiffer shaft than a typical non-laminated maple shaft.
Predator too - "10 Radial Spliced Hardrock Maple pieces".
I think that's their way of assuaging people's fears that an LD shaft's hit is too soft and "mushy"
or that laminated shafts are flimsy and easily broken.
I base my understanding on Dr. Dave's site which I trust more than the marketing stuff.
His section on "Whippy" shafts clears it up though I think the wording is still kind of confusing:
http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/cue.html#terminology
"low-deflection" (LD) shaft =
"low-cue-ball-deflection" shaft =
"low-squirt" shaft =
"low end-mass" shaft =
usually flexible (AKA "whippy", compliant, not stiff, "like a wet noodle") shaft end =
usually large cue shaft flex (i.e., "high deflection" of cue tip) with an off-center hit
He's saying "low-deflection" shaft = very flexible shaft end.
Very flexible shaft end = "large cue shaft flex" (aka "high deflection" of the cue's tip).
So if you're not careful it almost reads like "whippy = high deflection".
But what it really means is that whippy LD shafts bend away (aka deflect) from the cue ball very easily,
which means the cue ball itself travels straighter (aka it squirts less).
So "low deflection shaft" = "the cue TIP deflects away from ball a lot but the cue BALL deflects less".
That's what makes LD shafts 'whippy', they flex away from the ball at the moment of impact.
Because of the low end-mass at the last 5 (or so) inches of the shaft.
I think we think the same thing...we just get to that point from different paths.
Shoot 'em well, my friend!!!
Maniac
Download breakshot pro on your smartphone and clock the speed of your break with the cuetec vs the predator break cue.
I will add that a lot of pros use a breaking cue because it generates more power with less effort. In my mind if the professional players are using a break cue there is something to it.
I will add that a lot of pros use a breaking cue because it generates more power with less effort. In my mind if the professional players are using a break cue there is something to it.
Good summary. An LD shaft can be whippy. A whippy shaft bends or flexes (i.e., "deflects") a lot during an off-center hit; and because whippy shafts usually have low endmass, they usually create less squirt (cue ball "deflection").
A whippy shaft "deflects" more, but it creates less "deflection." That's why I and others prefer the word "squirt" or the phrase "cue ball deflection" so there isn't confusion.
Regards,
Dave