Stiff hitting cue?

A

Ak Guy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I often read on this forum about stiff hitting cues. Is that a very desirable feature for a cue to have? If it is then why and is that stiff feel controlled by tip diameter a. shaft length and taper?

4 of my playing shafts are 30" long with a 12.5 tip diameter.and have an extended taper that keeps that diameter from the tip to the first 18 inches of the cue. So it seems logical a 29 inch shaft with a 13 mm tip and same shaft diameter for 15" only would be stiffer..

Is a laminated shaft stiffer then the same diameter maple shaft if both have the same length and taper?

I think some things are hard to describe and difficult to prove like, "hits a ton" and "gives great feed back", but I think stiffness would be easier to detect.
 
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There's more BS about shaft stiffness than almost any other cue concept, in my experience. I've heard about as many people say you want a stiffer shaft to get less squirt as people who say the exact opposite. And neither is probably true.
 
A conical taper will be stiffer than the pro taper you mentioned. There are a few other factors as well such as forearm woods, etc, but it seems like you understand the gist of it... I hope this helps.
 
As the tip diameter gets smaller, a standard rock maple shaft gets whippier and more flexible. So one way to combat this whippiness is to construct the cue in a laminated fashion and this makes the cue stiffer. A Predator Z or Tiger Pro or OB Pro or McDermott i-3 are some examples of this kind of shaft construction and the tip diameters are usually offered somewhere around 11.75mm. a stiffer shaft can also be associated with a non-laminated single piece hard rock maple shaft that is 13mm or more. People shave these shafts down as they get a feel for what they like over time and whittle them down to like 12.5mm or somewhere around there in their own personal magic sweet spot of flex in the shaft.

Meucci shafts were known for being quite whippy. Nothing against Meucci, they make a fine cue... but their shaft wood left much to be desired. I could talk all day about old growth and growth rings and grain and god knows what-all... but it all comes down to what you like... what puts the little balls in the giant holes easiest for you. start BASIC..... and then move from there... a hard rock maple 13mm shaft. Cant get more basic than that.

Regards,

Lesh
 
A stiff shaft is a personal preference.
The first Szamboti cue i ever hit a ball with felt like a steel rod way too stiff for my liking.
This was back in the early '80s and i knew Gus and could have had one made for $425 and that was easily affordable at the time.I passed on getting one because it just didnt feel right to me.
I had a whippy Meucci at the time and preferred it.
 
Stiff

Lesh said:
As the tip diameter gets smaller, a standard rock maple shaft gets whippier and more flexible. So one way to combat this whippiness is to construct the cue in a laminated fashion and this makes the cue stiffer. A Predator Z or Tiger Pro or OB Pro or McDermott i-3 are some examples of this kind of shaft construction and the tip diameters are usually offered somewhere around 11.75mm. a stiffer shaft can also be associated with a non-laminated single piece hard rock maple shaft that is 13mm or more. People shave these shafts down as they get a feel for what they like over time and whittle them down to like 12.5mm or somewhere around there in their own personal magic sweet spot of flex in the shaft.

Meucci shafts were known for being quite whippy. Nothing against Meucci, they make a fine cue... but their shaft wood left much to be desired. I could talk all day about old growth and growth rings and grain and god knows what-all... but it all comes down to what you like... what puts the little balls in the giant holes easiest for you. start BASIC..... and then move from there... a hard rock maple 13mm shaft. Cant get more basic than that.



Regards,

Lesh
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All the laminated LD shafts I have played with I would not ever consider any of them as a solid hitting cue.........
Laminated LD shafts are designed to be flexible, extremely flexible around the ferrule.

Personally I think its impossible for any shaft that is laminated together with thin strips of wood glued together turned round then bored down the center and silicone pumped in the hole to stop the cue from sounding hollow like a cracked bell.
Simply put the Solid maple shafts have more mass to bend then any laminated LD shaft.....................
IMO Laminated LD shafts are not stiffer then solid maple shafts ............
 
Is a hollow tube more rigid than a solid tube?

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Lesh said:
Is a hollow tube more rigid than a solid tube?

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Click to expand...

No.
Pound for pound, they are . But, not technically more rigid .
A 1/2" by say 1 ft tube is not going to be more rigid than a 1/2" by 1 ft of rod of the same material.
But, the weight of the rod in tubes might be stronger if stranded together .
Like in air planes .
Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
mortuarymike-nv said:
All the laminated LD shafts I have played with I would not ever consider any of them as a solid hitting cue.........
Laminated LD shafts are designed to be flexible, extremely flexible around the ferrule.

Personally I think its impossible for any shaft that is laminated together with thin strips of wood glued together turned round then bored down the center and silicone pumped in the hole to stop the cue from sounding hollow like a cracked bell.
Simply put the Solid maple shafts have more mass to bend then any laminated LD shaft.....................
IMO Laminated LD shafts are not stiffer then solid maple shafts ............
Click to expand...

I agree, and why I like LD shafts. They are not "whipping" by any stretch of the imagination but not as stiff as solid maple cause they would not be able to do their job.

Personally, I like the "sound" of full maple, but I like the results of the LD better.
 
Coupled with a conical taper... which most smaller diameter shafts use, the shaft becomes even more rigid. But perhaps there is something to what you say since these design enhancements are materializing in the market. Maybe they need to be cored out and have a conical taper to even be remotely playable. Interesting... see, now I have to read stuff... thanks a ton Joey.

Lesh

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Shafts

ChicagoRJ said:
I agree, and why I like LD shafts. They are not "whipping" by any stretch of the imagination but not as stiff as solid maple cause they would not be able to do their job.

Personally, I like the "sound" of full maple, but I like the results of the LD better.
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Hi RJ

Sound of different cues, I can only guess its because I built engines most of my life and one of the major ways of seeing if the engine parts were not cracked was to ring them with a hammer or just throw the part on floor a listen to the part ring.
This was the normal way of testing if the push tubes in a engine.
Straight up A cracked push tube could destroy a 1/4 million dollar engine.
So if I wanted to keep my job I needed to make sure my engines stayed together.
I can only think that I was trained to hear certain sounds.

The sound that a Laminated LD shafts makes is the same sound that I would hear in some of the parts I would throw away because they were cracked.

The sound is really distracting too me and I found myself looking over the ferrule and tip to see if there is anything loose or cracked two or three times a rack.

Personally I think it was that brand of laminated LD I had a issue with....
But it really soured me toward most if not all laminated LD shafts.
I also repair cues and I see allot more laminated LD shaft come in that are cracked and or delaminated then solid maple.

So all my life I have been trained to fix or make things that will run or last a long time.
I also owned a welding shop where I produced certain parts for the gold mines blast hole drills and I won these contracts because my stuff held together ................
And honestly its easy to look at the parts that have failed and design stronger parts, and that is exactly what I did ...
only problem is these parts had to be man handled at times so they needed to be light so I made allot of parts out of aluminum.

I am glade that you like your Laminated LD shaft and that it helps improve your game.
I feel exactly the same way about solid maple shafts.

Have a great day...
 
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No

Lesh said:
Is a hollow tube more rigid than a solid tube?

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Click to expand...

No, a solid wooden dowel is more rigid then a hollow wooden dowel of the same size .....................
I don't consider a pool cue shaft as being a tube.............
A shaft doesn't or is not a description of a tube.....
Most shafts are not describe as being a tube.

How many times have you heard any one calling there cue shaft as a cue tube ....
 
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Man I wish I had money to bet. LOL

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JoeyInCali said:
A solid tube would not be a tube. It'd be a rod.
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1446465972741



:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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Shaft taper

I'm not sure if I'm asking a question that's already been asked.
Is a Conical tapered shaft the same as European taper?
 
mortuarymike-nv said:
No, a solid wooden dowel is more rigid then a hollow wooden dowel of the same size .....................
I don't consider a pool cue shaft as being a tube.............
A shaft doesn't or is not a description of a tube.....
Most shafts are not describe as being a tube.

How many times have you heard any one calling there cue shaft as a cue tube ....
Click to expand...

If tubes were more rigid than rods, then re-bars would be tubes .
 
Well I'm just a player, not a maker. I've read all of this stuff about thin shafts being whippy so I guess all the shafts on my Scruggs must come from a magical forest. I have 3 shafts, 30" long, custom 21" pro taper, 11 3/4, 12, 12 1/2 mm respectively so by all the explanations and theories they should be whippy but in fact are the stiffest shafts I've ever played with. How is this possible then?
 
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