Scruggs Shaft Action?

[forty6and2]

I've been shooting with a predator for years, but I think I'm going to try switching it up to a scruggs sneaky. How are his shafts? I've never played with one, so I can't go out and try it, unfortunately. Can you still get a lot of action compared to a predator?

Thanks!

 

[randallt6]

your game will go down for a while, going from a low deflection to a high deflectino shaft will hurt your game for a good while....just use a predator shaft on his butt.

 

[EtDM]

....just use a predator shaft on his butt.

In my opinion, that's removing the #1 reason for buying a Scruggs sneaky in the first place- the butt on its own won't play much differently than really any other similarly pinned sneaky pete with Predator shaft on it.

 

[hang-the-9]

I've been shooting with a predator for years, but I think I'm going to try switching it up to a scruggs sneaky. How are his shafts? I've never played with one, so I can't go out and try it, unfortunately. Can you still get a lot of action compared to a predator?

Thanks!

You'll miss almost every single shot with side spin on it for a long time if you go from a low deflection to a single shaft. But for feel, a good regular shaft is tough to beat, especially compared to a Predator, all of which that I tried feel dead.

As far as getting spin on the ball, a low deflection shaft with a small tip will do more with less effort than a standard shaft.

 

[j_zippel]

I went from Predator to a custom. My custom has a hard maple shaft with a pro taper and kamui medium tip. The first couple weeks I really struggled playing with any english. I've been using it for 3 month now and i'm glad I made the switch. The feel is much better in terms of a solid hit and it has forced me to simplify my game because I'm not tempted to do as much with the cue ball. I'm not opposed to LD shafts, I actually think i'd go back to them in the future, whether it's a Mezz wd700 or a predator 314-2, but the change definately forced me to play smarter and rely more on fundamentals.

 

[ArtOfTheCue]

You'll miss almost every single shot with side spin on it for a long time if you go from a low deflection to a single shaft. But for feel, a good regular shaft is tough to beat, especially compared to a Predator, all of which that I tried feel dead.

It doesn't happen with everyone - when I switched from a Predator (with the Z2 shaft) to a custom with a regular maple shaft, my accuracy actually improved and my game jumped significantly. It may have been new cue syndrome, or it may have been that I wasn't good enough to adjust for deflection consciously and just did it naturally. Back hand english works well for me. I played with the predator for 5 years, and it's been almost that long since I switched. I'm having another custom built for me now - I doubt I'll go back to the LD shafts.

OP, if you want to try it out, go for it. I've never heard anything negative about Scruggs sneakies, and I know a lot of people who swear by TS cues. If you're worried about adjusting to the regular maple shaft, do you know anyone who has a custom cue you can play around with? It probably won't feel like a Scruggs, but you'll get a feel for how well you'll be able to accommodate having a little more deflection. Hell, you could even just try playing with a house cue for a few nights.