It can be a couple of things...it can be sanding out of round (probably the rarest IMHO), it can be movement (warpage, the most commoon) and it can be settling/compression (a lot of shafts do this, especially with lower ring counts/less dense maple. That's where the first 6 inches or so at the joint area compresses a little and the shaft needs refacing to get it back in line with the butt when put together. Some makers have said (Ronnie Powell is one, although some think he's a little nuts :wink

that ALL shafts need a least one refacing after the first few hundred hours of play to zero them back out after this initial "seasoning". I've got one shaft that after a couple of months developed several tiny circular lines/cracks in the finish at the joint and up about 6 inches. And, sure enough, that shaft wobbles a little when rolled on a rail...although it barely shows any movement in a lathe. I think it's a compression issue that would be repaired with refacing, we'll soon see.
I don't pay much attention to the changes in light under the shaft being rolled on a flat surface...put the cue together, put the butt on the table and roll the cue along the rail with the joint, shaft and tip above the rail. Watch the tip. Any wiggle and that's either facing or warpage, NOT taper roll (which is uneven, non-uniform roundness of the surface of the sides of the shaft). Another good way to tell warpage is put the shaft in a lathe and watch for fuzziness along part of the length...that's the section that's not perfectly straight. There are about 10 cues on AZB getting flipped back and forth that report "taper roll"...nobody will call it warpage. They get sold about every two months, no one will hang onto them. To be fair, most sellers are honestly pointing out very minute movement in the shafts so that there's not misunderstanding, and it's so small than you wouldn't even notice it.
Who really cares, anyway? Shafts are expendable. So long as the butt stays straight, a perfectly straight, new shaft is just a phone call/online purchase away. I've bought two shafts online and ironically, they both fit perfectly and are laser straight together and apart with the butt...funny how the shaft makers don't seem to have a problem delivering a straight shaft...
As far as I'm concerned, if the cue rolls with no lift in the joint or tip, then it's basically straight for shooting--you won't be able to tell the difference. If there's lift, then I definitely notice it when shooting and can feel a difference when rotating the cue in my hands while doing measuring strokes down on a shot. And I don't like that one bit.:frown: