Q about buying low deflection shaft

[PKM]

Right now I'm playing with a basic Viking cue, original shaft. If I'm looking to buy a low deflection shaft, how should I decide what kind of butt to use for it? I suppose I could just use my Viking, but I figure I should upgrade, although maybe it's not necessary. Quite frankly, I don't know enough about what characteristics I'd prefer in a butt (that's on cues, not women). You cue experts might say, in that case, why bother upgrading, but humor me here.

I figure if I'm looking at a Predator shaft, why not consider buying one of their cues? Good idea?

 

[McChen]

i have both a predator sneaky pete and a p2, as well as predator shafts on a bunch of other butts. even a cheap cuetec butt. to be honest, the butt doesn't really matter that much, they all play pretty much the same with the predator shaft to me. i mean, yeah, the balance is a bit better on some of them, but unless it's horridly off, it's a minor thing. i think the bigger thing for me is the diameter of the butt, if it's too thin or thick, but i haven't run into that many on the extreme ends of this.

 

[Flex]

to be honest, the butt doesn't really matter that much, they all play pretty much the same with the predator shaft to me.

Respectfully, this is one area where I must non-concur.

I have several cues, all with the 5/16 X 18 joint, and all the shafts can be used on all the butts. I also had a Predator 314 shaft until a few months ago, when a friend bought it from me. It may be that the various butts you have aren't very different, and differences in the way the shaft plays are apparently minor. But let me tell you that using these different butts with the Pred shaft really changed the way the ensemble played. The butts were a Meucci HOF-2, Excalibur sneaky pete 19 oz, Excalibur sneaky pete 18 oz, Excalibur sneaky pete 17 oz, Sterling with a steel joint, and a few others. EACH butt played differently, and enough so that on any critical shot, real differences in aiming needed to be made to consistently pot the ball.

Been there, done that.

My suggestion is to find a butt whose feel is to your liking and get the shaft for it.

I no longer have the 314 shaft because I didn't like the quality of the hit, just wasn't pleasing to me, felt dead, even if it did play very well.

Good luck!

Flex