Super cool, super unique shafts

Shooter08 said:
I wish people would stop ruining their shafts. Do not use anything that takes wood off the shaft, no matter how minimal it is. Cue builders know what they are doing and every bit of wood you remove, screws up what there original taper was and effects how they wanted the cue to perform. If your shaft needs to be taken down more that .25 I personally believe the original shaft maker should do it at least and they will probably tell you to just get a additional shaft. We pay for the ability of a cue maker and than some just destroy what they paid for, I don't get it.
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While I do not agree with you Shooter I do kinda get where you're coming from. It's not that I don't respect the work done by a cue maker I still consider a pool stick a tool. Amd to me a tool should be used however it needs to be to accomplish the job. So if I'm about to shoot a nine ball hill hill for a $1000 and I think " slicking " my shaft will help me get it done so be it. No matter how pretty, rare, expensive it is still a piece of wood at the end of the day. For the record we are not talking about 5 figure cues either though honestly that probably wouldn't make a difference to you or me. Truthfully once a cue maker produces a cue and sells it for as much as they can, I believe it is now the new owners to do with it as he sees fit - no?
 
agreed

BmoreMoney said:
While I do not agree with you Shooter I do kinda get where you're coming from. It's not that I don't respect the work done by a cue maker I still consider a pool stick a tool. Amd to me a tool should be used however it needs to be to accomplish the job. So if I'm about to shoot a nine ball hill hill for a $1000 and I think " slicking " my shaft will help me get it done so be it. No matter how pretty, rare, expensive it is still a piece of wood at the end of the day. For the record we are not talking about 5 figure cues either though honestly that probably wouldn't make a difference to you or me. Truthfully once a cue maker produces a cue and sells it for as much as they can, I believe it is now the new owners to do with it as he sees fit - no?
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If you can get the shaft exactly to your liking, I'm all for it. My issue is with people who have no real knowledge and than ruin a shaft. I want to puke when i see a guy with a grinding a shaft down with no idea why they are doing it.
 
Shooter08 said:
If you can get the shaft exactly to your liking, I'm all for it. My issue is with people who have no real knowledge and than ruin a shaft. I want to puke when i see a guy with a grinding a shaft down with no idea why they are doing it.
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Hey Shooter I just noticed something funny - you mentioned the .25. Well I recently just bought a new cue and I ordered it with a 12mm shaft. I actually called them back and changed it to 12.25mm, said better leave a little for me to take off with my green scrubby lol. Not kidding 😊
 
Shooter08 said:
I wish people would stop ruining their shafts. Do not use anything that takes wood off the shaft, no matter how minimal it is. Cue builders know what they are doing and every bit of wood you remove, screws up what there original taper was and effects how they wanted the cue to perform. If your shaft needs to be taken down more that .25 I personally believe the original shaft maker should do it at least and they will probably tell you to just get a additional shaft. We pay for the ability of a cue maker and than some just destroy what they paid for, I don't get it.
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Frankly, I don't give a damn how the cue builder wants the cue to perform. I want the cue to perform the way I want it to. I find whatever cue builder makes the closest to what I want and then I fiddle with it to make it fit my style of playing.

Every cue builder will tell you his cue plays the best. If that is the case, everybody would be using the same thing.

I can play with any kind of cue if I play with it long enough, but I have a certain feel that I'm more comfortable with.

I don't get why anybody buys a cue that they can't play with. I know people with $4,000 cues that can't make three balls in a row. Learn how to play and then decide what cue is best for you. If you just want a "looker", buy something with all kinds of inlays and whirlybirds on it. If you want a "player", you buy something that you can play with and then fine tune it to your game.
 
Black stained purple-heart should do it for you if you want an all black shaft.


P.S. The shaft sanding discussion has been beaten to death before. At the end of the day, its your cue, do what you want. The fact remains that there are better ways to clean and seal a cue shaft than by sanding it.
 
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beneath_the_sur said:
why are purple heart and curly maple shafts NOT used or made as much

id personally love a ph shaft
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I've heard that PH is more stiff for playing shafts than maple though I've never played with one.

I have played with Curly and Birdseye shafts before. The birdseye shaft had warped, but it was pretty old. The curly maple shafft plays nice and it's certainly a unique look.
 
ideologist said:
I have a shaft that was made from a Titlist, with points at the joint collar. Plays great, very different and extravagant use of a blank in my opinion.
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That shaft is BADASS!

I seriously need to pull the trigger on it.....

And I may yet.



.
 
BmoreMoney said:
I would also like to be able to hit it with a green scrubby to slick it up, the same as I do with any of my cues without totally messing it up.
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OMG!

IMHO that is shaft abuse.

Please stop. There are better ways.


When I see a cue on Ebay with a green scrubby in the case in the background I PASS IT UP. Guaranteed. Every time.


.
 
When deciding on a shaft design, I suggest doing a mock up of the shaft and trying to play with it. I have found that any pattern or distinctive texture is distracting to me during practice srokes. I like the shaft to look as uniform as possible when I'm sighting down the cue. I had a Burton Spain with birdseye shafts and a shaft made from a highly figured wood - loved the look until I tried playing with them, then disliked it. Even ash shafts, used a lot in snooker, look odd and distracting to me.
 
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The highest quality ash shafts generally have very tight "chevrons" running in a point in the grain towards the tip. I personally don't use it for sighting but understand some do, then again the only ash shaft I own is only mediocre at best and the grain isn't perfect and it doesn't fall where I like it to when I grip the cue when it's screwed together. I personally have seen some worked shafts that I liked but the points generally come from the collar and aren't "floating" as I've seen on some shafts.
 
how do the words "same ole" apply to a shaft? why would you care what it's made out of, who made it, it's "design" or any of that other crap? There's only one requirement for a shaft, does it allow me to play to my full potential? Yes = good, no = try something else. Any other questions asked about a cue and shaft are completely irrelevant inho
 
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