Thank you to Chris Renfro of Ki-Tech Tips

M

Muziq

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Chris,

I wanted to take a moment to write you publicly to let you know I sincerely appreciate the work you put into developing your Ki-Tech tips. You make an EXCELLENT product that’s very consistent based on my experience. I purchased an OB Classic Pro shaft with the order of my Keith Josey cue and originally strongly disliked the shaft. The hit didn’t feel right to me at all, it felt too hard. I ordered it with the Ultraskin Pro tip but this tip felt harder than it should on this shaft. My standard Josey shaft had the same Ultraskin pro tip but this one felt great; it was soft and really gripped the cue ball. I’m not sure why the one on the Classic Pro didn’t feel the same. However, I took the shaft to a tip installer I use to get one of PoolDawg’s Milk Dud’s installed but this tip also felt harder than what I’m accustomed to using in comparison to this same tip being installed on my Predator shaft.

Please note that I’m NOT speaking negatively about Tom’s Ultraskin or Jeff’s Mild Dud’s because I use and appreciate both brands. They were what I was using them prior to trying your tips.

I recently read a post (not sure of the thread or author) but the poster stated something like it may be more important to combine the right tip with the right shaft. Meaning, it’s not solely about the preference of tip brand, but is more about which tip softness or hardness works best with a specific shaft based on the taper and hit of the shaft. Prior to reading that thread/post, I never considered that idea.

All I know is I’d reached the point of giving up on the OB Classic Pro and was ready to try to sell this shaft. However, I remembered I had a few of your tips left. Therefore, I decided to try the soft to see if it would soften the hit so I could really determine if I liked or disliked the Classic Pro. I got your soft tip installed and from the very first shot it felt like a true soft tip. I got it installed Friday and played with it again Saturday night and it felt the same.

I now understand what you told me about starting with the soft and then moving up one level of hardness if you’re coming up short on certain shots. My Predator P2 cue has two shafts. One is the 314 it came with and the other is the Tiger X Pro, which I also like. I have your Soft tip on the Tiger X Pro and the Medium on the Predator. When shooting with the Tiger X Pro with the Soft tip, I come up short on certain shots. When shooting with the 314 with the Medium, it feels just right and the results are what I expected unless I did something wrong.

Once again, thank you for making a truly wonderful and consistent product and for taking the time to explain the difference in your products.

Thanks to all of the knowledgeable AZ Billiards Posters that share information that helps the less informed or less experienced like me so we have valuable information to consider on the road to discovering what works or feels best to us when it comes to products.

In closing, I’ll be keeping my OB Classic Pro with the Ki-Tech Soft. I’ll also be ordering another supply of the Ki-Tech Soft and Medium tips for future needs. I only wish I’d tried the Ki-Tech Soft on the OB Classic Pro BEFORE ordering the Gulyassy SPTX LD shaft for my Josey. It’s too late now, but I definitely hope I like the feel and taper of this shaft too. I’m sure with continued experimentation, I can find the right tip for this shaft too.

If any of you are wondering why I have two shafts for my Josey, it’s because I was used to playing with the Predator LD shaft on my Predator P2 cue and wanted another LD shaft to use when needed while learning how to aim with side-spin with a traditional maple shaft. When I ordered my Josey, which I love, I wanted to try the OB shafts due to the positive reviews many of you posted. I now know why you like this product too.

I’m grateful to each of you for the value all of you add to this forum. Keep up the great work!

Chris--Keep producing your tips and make sure the quality doesn’t change. You’ve definitely got a GREAT thing going and I wish you the best of success in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Muziq
 
I've been an avid supported of the medium now for months. Let a couple guys hit with my stick and they loved the tip so much they wanted some on the spot. Both are not computer literate that much so I ordered a three pack of mediums. Sold them all (they want more). I';ll be ordering more shortly. I sold them to them for what I bought them and told them the website to order them. Try a medium you can't go wrong !
 
I ordered three med's myself yesterday.

Miziq, if you want to unload that OB classic pro let me know
 
I played with the hard tip today
It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Certainty not as hard as a Le Pro Or Triangle.
I would say it's a medium hard as compared to really hard tips.
Because there is no standard to go by it's all subjective to ones own feel.
But i did like the hard tip a lot.
I had a friend of mine hit balls with Ki-Tech soft and hard tip and he did not like the soft but loved the hard tip.
It made a nice sound also.
I like these tips.
 
measureman said:
I played with the hard tip today
It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Certainty not as hard as a Le Pro Or Triangle.
I would say it's a medium hard as compared to really hard tips.
Because there is no standard to go by it's all subjective to ones own feel.
But i did like the hard tip a lot.
I had a friend of mine hit balls with Ki-Tech soft and hard tip and he did not like the soft but loved the hard tip.
It made a nice sound also.
I like these tips.
Click to expand...

I'll go ahead and let the cat out of the bag on where we are heading.... All of the tips we make are within 10 points on the durometer.... Calling them Soft Medium or Hard has been what has been done since day one I guess... That creates and entire ocean to swi around in in trying tips... At 72 on the durometer I can create anything from a soft to a hard as far as feel is concerned... It's about elasticity, COR and surface density more than hardness as far as the way we look at things....

This makes it a little hard to say if you like brand X's Medium you will like our medium... This is the reason I have been telling people to start with our soft and keep moving up until the cueball is doing what you are expecting it to do in your imagination....

Even with where we are on covering the differences some people will still fall in the cracks and prefer other tips than the Ki-Techs and that is OK... Tom's tips and Pooldawg's duds are good tips and if they play the way you want a tip to play there is no reason to just try a new tip just to try a new tip....

I have handed samples to more people than I can count over the last few years and I ALWAYS say to them to try it when they need a new tip because theirs is worn out or not acting right... I would never tell someone to cut a perfectly good tip off that is playing good for you just to try one of ours....

I do want to thank Muziq for the great review and the guys that jumped in behind him to talk about their experiences as well...

We will keep working on keeping and bettering our quality and our Medium/Soft is under development but may be the biggest PITA yet.... I won't just overpress or underpress one of the other grades to get there....

Chris
 
OK, I now understand what I have been feeling (presently using a soft on three cues) and have now grown accustomed to the feel. I know it felt different than anything I have used before. I believe that difference is good but would make one request. Since your soft tip is 72 on the durometer, can you make something that has a durometer value of 66 - 68? I would love to give that a try.

Al
 
Medium worked for me........

Houstoer said:
I've been an avid supported of the medium now for months. Let a couple guys hit with my stick and they loved the tip so much they wanted some on the spot. Both are not computer literate that much so I ordered a three pack of mediums. Sold them all (they want more). I';ll be ordering more shortly. I sold them to them for what I bought them and told them the website to order them. Try a medium you can't go wrong !
Click to expand...

I can't even fathom it getting any better than this I will look no further........

Thanks again chris.......
 
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