shaft question

[pooljunkie0082]

an interesting question

this is an odd ball question that i think is a very interesting one. a good buddy and myself were at the pool talking the other day about cue's and shafts and the way the future is shaping everything. i was telling him about my new cue and all its specs. when we got into talking about shafts and shaft sizes. now i have a 12.75mm sized shaft, while i believe he said he used a 11.5 to 12 mm, i cant remember exactly. anyways when i asked him how come he liked his shaft so thin he simply stated "you guys with your fat shafts dont know where your hitting the ball, you're just guessing." if i understood him correctly the reason he perfered a skinnier shaft was because he believed that it allowed him more precision. that instead of hitting in a desired area on the cue ball he was hitting an exact spot. i found this so very interesting because i never saw the shaft in that kind of way, and it got me thinking of how true this might be. but at the same time when is to thin, to bad. what do you guys think, or have heard? with the way some companies(ie..mcdermott, predator) and cue makers are making shafts now i wonder how much they have considered this?????

 

[drivermaker]

this is an odd ball question that i think is a very interesting one. a good buddy and myself were at the pool talking the other day about cue's and shafts and the way the future is shaping everything. i was telling him about my new cue and all its specs. when we got into talking about shafts and shaft sizes. now i have a 12.75mm sized shaft, while i believe he said he used a 11.5 to 12 mm, i cant remember exactly. anyways when i asked him how come he liked his shaft so thin he simply stated "you guys with your fat shafts dont know where your hitting the ball, you're just guessing." if i understood him correctly the reason he perfered a skinnier shaft was because he believed that it allowed him more precision. that instead of hitting in a desired area on the cue ball he was hitting an exact spot. i found this so very interesting because i never saw the shaft in that kind of way, and it got me thinking of how true this might be. but at the same time when is to thin, to bad. what do you guys think, or have heard? with the way some companies(ie..mcdermott, predator) and cue makers are making shafts now i wonder how much they have considered this?????

Well...all I can tell you is that I emailed Allison Fisher a couple of years ago and asked her what size tip she used and why. The first thing that astounded me was that she was gracious enough to actually email back with her answer. What a great way to get a fan for life, and I am. But she said that she uses a 13mm tip because anything smaller produces too much unwanted and unnecessary spin on the CB, and this is from a woman that was suckling on a snooker tip like a pacifier since infancy.
That was enough for me since I was experimenting with smaller tips but always preferred a 13mm to begin with. 13mm it is......

BTW...do you know what happens if you DON'T hit the CB exactly where you planned on hitting it with the smaller tip due to your stroke being off a little or use backhand english? Take a guess...

 

[Billy_Bob]

I would say it is like the difference between driving an 18 wheel truck and a small sports car. With the 18 wheel truck, you are between the lines on the highway period. With the small sports car, you can drive on the left side of the lane, in the middle of the lane, or on the right side of the lane.

And while an 11mm dime shaped soft tip may give better english and more precision, shoot one hard shot and your tip needs reshaping!

Using a dime shape on a 13mm tip does not leave much room to reshape your tip as the curve will go down almost to the ferrule.

While I think a smaller softer tip will get better english/draw/precison, I also feel that a smaller tip will not hold its tip radius very long. And I feel that it is important to always play with the same tip radius. Makes for more consistant playing if you ask me.

Since I prefer a dime shape on my playing cue, I think 12.5mm is about as large as I can go. And I prefer as large a tip as possible so my tip retains its radius (dime) longer. (I use a Moori Q [hard])

With my breaking cue, I use a very very hard breaking tip (Tiger jump break) and quarter shape, so it is 13mm. (Don't need to reshape it very much if any.)

And my jump cue uses a very very very hard phenolic tip which will not compress or change radius. It is dime shaped and 13mm. (Never needed to reshape it.)

So there are good things and bad things about using smaller tips. And good things and bad things about using larger tips. I guess the question to ask is what is best for all around play, soft shots *and* hard shots, consistant play, etc.

If you have the time and money, experiment with an 11mm dime shaped very soft tip. Then change it to quarter shaped. Then try dime vs quarter with a 13mm. And soft, medium, hard tips. Then Moori tips, leather tips, etc. Very interesting learning experience!

 

[beerlover]

years ago, I've been playing with cue that had a 12 mm shaft. And during this year I found myself losing control or using english more than enough. Then I've turned to 12.75 shaft and I'm feeling more comfotable and having more control on CB. In my opinion, 11-12 mm is more suitable for playing snooker. CB in game of pool is bigger and with 12.5-13mm tip you can add more control.
Good draw shot or other shots with english are the question of fundamentals and technique. O don't need soft or small tip to make good draw.

just my experience and opinion