Visual characteristics from experiences are all you can really use to determine if the shafts will be a good playing shaft. I must have played with more than a thousand plus shafts from production to high end fancy cues and some of the best playing shafts always seem to carry similar visual characteristics (Very straight grain line from top to bottom, shimmer in the shaft). One characteristic that's very common, is the shimmer on the shaft in the light like diamonds (not flame, curly etc), some people call it vertical grains (Shaft pertina??) and some uses a lupes to look at them. What is this characteristic really called in wood term?
Just a questions, do you season cue builders strive to build cues to hit consistently the same in term of sound, hit, etc. to all your cues regardless of the other custom requirement like weight, length, wood, etc?
I mean, it doesn't matter what you build, sneeky or fancy, do you strive to build a cue that always hit a certain way? Does the way your cue hit itself become your signature.
Do all you cues play the same or it depends on what your client want in term of how he want it to play?
I think with SW cues, most hit amazing..but once it a while you get a SW and it doesn't play like a SW (wonder if this has to do with the shafts quality??). SW and a few others builders have a signature hit that is recognizable by the playing community.
Sorry for the rambling, but I guess if this true for builders striving to build their signature hit. I would guess that to achieve that same hit, most of the shafts have to be selected with similar characteristics. Eg. Sorry to keep referencing SW but all their shafts grains are always straight especially the pre date SW cues. I have owned and played with over 30 SW cues and this visual characteristic is in 95% of their shafts.
Duc.