Testing a LD shaft
- Thread starter jeffj2h
- Start date
Let me clarify something. I'm not trying to reproduce a mechanical arm in my house out of duct tape and chewing gum. Really I'm just trying to answer one question: How do I decide if this LD shaft is better for my game then my plane old hard maple shaft? The cost of the shaft is not a concern, but I don't want to switch shafts just for the fun of it.
First I would shoot a dozen or so balls with no spin just hard enough to go three rails the long way. This will get your stroke in a groove for speed.
Then with the cue ball a foot away from the middle of the head rail, aim at the middle of the other end with a tip and a half of english. The idea is to make the cue ball spin off the foot rail and pocket the ball in a corner pocket, a one rail bank, using the same speed from step one. Adjust the amount of spin, two tips perhaps, untill you can come close to the pocket every time. Using a striped ball placed with the stripe vertical may help you.
Now that you have a somewhat repeatable spin stroke grooved in, put a ball on the foot rail in the middle. Aim just to the right of this ball with left english.
With a standard shaft you will see the cue ball squirt to the right and hit the rail a good bit to the right of your target ball. With a good LD shaft you should hit pretty close to where you aim.
The other things you want to check for are draw, top spin and general feel.
It will be much better if you have two whole cues to try back to back instead of changing your shaft all the time.
For me, the reason to switch to a LD shaft was to be able to make long shots with side spin. If this is not a problem for you, don't fix it. In my experience a good maple shaft will have a better feel, possibly a MUCH better feel.
Good luck and report back!
Then with the cue ball a foot away from the middle of the head rail, aim at the middle of the other end with a tip and a half of english. The idea is to make the cue ball spin off the foot rail and pocket the ball in a corner pocket, a one rail bank, using the same speed from step one. Adjust the amount of spin, two tips perhaps, untill you can come close to the pocket every time. Using a striped ball placed with the stripe vertical may help you.
Now that you have a somewhat repeatable spin stroke grooved in, put a ball on the foot rail in the middle. Aim just to the right of this ball with left english.
With a standard shaft you will see the cue ball squirt to the right and hit the rail a good bit to the right of your target ball. With a good LD shaft you should hit pretty close to where you aim.
The other things you want to check for are draw, top spin and general feel.
It will be much better if you have two whole cues to try back to back instead of changing your shaft all the time.
For me, the reason to switch to a LD shaft was to be able to make long shots with side spin. If this is not a problem for you, don't fix it. In my experience a good maple shaft will have a better feel, possibly a MUCH better feel.
Good luck and report back!
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Freeze the cue ball between two balls on the foot rail...now move one ball 1/4 inch out...now remove the cue ball, go to the head spot and shoot center ball to hit the rail between the two object balls (which are now one ball plus 1/4 inch apart), without hitting either. Now add half tip of english (either way) and see if you can still hit the spot between the balls without touching either. That's pretty LD...Try it with the stock shaft (no BHE cheating, now) and you should see the difference right off.
Now shoot straight in shots with low right and low left English. Stock shafts require some adjustment, LD shafts less so...try both on the same shot, and you'll see the difference.
Now shoot straight in shots with low right and low left English. Stock shafts require some adjustment, LD shafts less so...try both on the same shot, and you'll see the difference.
the way i alway determine how much a shaft reduces squirt is to shoot a shot from 1/2 ball to the right of the head spot to cut a ball that is frozen to the foot rail on the middle diamond with extreme inside english rail first to cut in the left foot corner pocket and then see where i need to aim to make it. For example with my shon i need to aim for a 1/4 ball hit on the wrong side and with my z2 i have to aim 1/8 ball hit on the correct side.
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Which shaft?
Play your standard shots... 1 2 and 3 rail position with both inside and outside. Shoot each shot 5 or 10 times so you learn the shot. After this, you will realize the difference between this shaft and your standard deflection shaft. If you like the difference you observe or not is your personal preference.
Do this instead of just playing a few racks... The repetition of the shots is key to learning them with the new shaft.
Do this instead of just playing a few racks... The repetition of the shots is key to learning them with the new shaft.
It took me a long time to figure out how to play with a Predator 314,after so many years of maple shafts.Honestly it took me months,too unlearn all I had learned about aiming and adjusting,and re-learn how to play with the Predator!
But after all that I would still recommend a Predator to just about anyone,unless they where an accomplished player with a standard maple shaft.Then I would not recommend any LD shaft.
But after all that I would still recommend a Predator to just about anyone,unless they where an accomplished player with a standard maple shaft.Then I would not recommend any LD shaft.
pj
chgo
......
K varnery
You might consider one of kevin Varney LD shafts .
MMike
You might consider one of kevin Varney LD shafts .
MMike
The results are in. This turned out to be harder then i thought. I was testing the OB-1 vs the OB-Classic. OB makes 4 LD shafts. The above two use a pro taper and 12.75mm ferrule. That matches what I've played with forever, so I tested them. After doing various, inconclusive, experiments with my hard maple shaft and the two LD shafts I decided I needed to make it easier and eliminate one of the LD shafts. OB describes the OB-1 as having a "soft, quiet" hit and the OB-Classic as having a "firm, hard" hit. The classic hit matched my hard maple shaft feel well so I went with it.
I did various tests suggested in this thread but was getting inconclusive results. I found it was because I was using BHE, back hand English, which compensated for squirt. Once I started using English while keeping the cue parallel to the aim line (as though I was using no English) the results became obvious. I justify this methodology by assuming I want less variation in my play. A lower LD shaft will require less BHE to compensate and I will have fewer missed shots due to accidentally not compensating.
Next I tried the experiment suggest by the poster who suggested placing three balls in the center of the end rail, separating the end balls slightly, and removing the center ball. Then putting the CB on the foot spot and trying to hit between the two balls with English. With my maple shaft I did this successfully 1 time in 6. With the LD shaft I did it three times and the other three thinly hit one ball (the hard maple shaft hit the object ball thicker).
Next I placed an object ball in the center I the table and the CB about 2 diamonds away, creating a long straight in short along the diagonal of the table. Shooting hard (but not break speed by any means) and with lower left or right, made the object ball 10% with the hard maple shaft. All misses were to the side expected due to squirt. With the LD shaft I made it 40%-50%.
I played a league match with the OB-Classic and had no issues. I'm going to order it.
Thanks to everyone for the tips.
- Jeff in Frisco
I did various tests suggested in this thread but was getting inconclusive results. I found it was because I was using BHE, back hand English, which compensated for squirt. Once I started using English while keeping the cue parallel to the aim line (as though I was using no English) the results became obvious. I justify this methodology by assuming I want less variation in my play. A lower LD shaft will require less BHE to compensate and I will have fewer missed shots due to accidentally not compensating.
Next I tried the experiment suggest by the poster who suggested placing three balls in the center of the end rail, separating the end balls slightly, and removing the center ball. Then putting the CB on the foot spot and trying to hit between the two balls with English. With my maple shaft I did this successfully 1 time in 6. With the LD shaft I did it three times and the other three thinly hit one ball (the hard maple shaft hit the object ball thicker).
Next I placed an object ball in the center I the table and the CB about 2 diamonds away, creating a long straight in short along the diagonal of the table. Shooting hard (but not break speed by any means) and with lower left or right, made the object ball 10% with the hard maple shaft. All misses were to the side expected due to squirt. With the LD shaft I made it 40%-50%.
I played a league match with the OB-Classic and had no issues. I'm going to order it.
Thanks to everyone for the tips.
- Jeff in Frisco