The benefits of playing with a standard shaft?

Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know lot of people prefer standard shafts to low deflection ones, but I wanted to ask here on AZ to get some opinions from you folks as to why that's the case.
Robb Saez tried a predator for 6 months but didn't like it, and I know some other really good players don't like them either. Corey Harper told me that there are some shots he can make with a regular shaft that he can't make with a low deflection one.

How many of you guys have tried a low deflection and went back because you felt that it wasn't good for your game?
 
I have been wondering about this a lot lately . I look forward to the answers on this one thanks for asking .

Joe its great seeing you on the forums I always enjoy your posts good rep sent your way Sir.

Thanks ....... Larry
 
I'm considering a switch from my 314. I like it, and feel like I get a consistent hit, but there is one shot I can't execute with it. I call it a flinger, where I have to put an absurd amount of English on the cue ball. Of course I probably shouldn't have to put that much English on the ball in the first place, but it's fun. If I do make the switch I will give you a shout and let you know how it turned out.
 
Joe Rogan said:
I know lot of people prefer standard shafts to low deflection ones, but I wanted to ask here on AZ to get some opinions from you folks as to why that's the case.
Robb Saez tried a predator for 6 months but didn't like it, and I know some other really good players don't like them either. Corey Harper told me that there are some shots he can make with a regular shaft that he can't make with a low deflection one.

How many of you guys have tried a low deflection and went back because you felt that it wasn't good for your game?
Click to expand...
Joe the only thing I can say is I played with a Predator for a few months awhile back and I noticed for some reason when I kicked at balls it seemed to kick shorter and some other different variables so if you cant adjust to it I think you wont like the shaft.I prefer a regular shaft but have shot some good pool with a Predator,will I give it a try again one of these days,sure I will. :)
 
Every time I have tried a LD shaft I get frustrated and go back to a traditional one. Basically I don't think the benefits of the low deflection shafts I have tried out weigh the frustration and time spent learning to play with them. I can see how someone just learning or someone who plays enough could benefit from them but they are just not for me.

I know Shane tried one for awhile and did the same thing as Rob. I think it is even harder for an elite player to convert from traditional to low deflection shafts because they rely on executing consistently under pressure. After you miss a ball or two that really counts it is easy to start second guessing the shaft and asking "Is it really worth it?" On the flip side I know guys who swear by them. All comes down to the individual I think.
 
I just recently made a switch back to a standard shaft. I have been playing with my Predator 314 for 10+ Years. For the longest time I was dead set on Predator shafts. It took me a solid 2 weeks to get used to it but after that I was in love. I just got a Sugar Tree and forced myself to play with it due to how much money I spent on a Sneaky :). I do believe I will never look back at a Predator shaft. I think someone who shoots with a standard Hard Rock Maple shaft should try out a Predator shaft because they may be missing something. Now with that said, I dont think I could go to just any shaft and enjoy it more than my predator. My predator shaft on my Meucci Original will always be my crutch. Im not sure that was helpful at all but I thought I would put in my .02.

Alex
 
I've tried 'em all over the years and keep going back to the standard shafts. If the cue maker uses good shaft wood, then the stock shaft is what I prefer.
 
Tried Both Predator Shafts Back To The Old Huebler Or Should I Say New Huebler To Me, In My Room Nobody Is Using Predator Shafts
 
JCIN said:
Every time I have tried a LD shaft I get frustrated and go back to a traditional one. Basically I don't think the benefits of the low deflection shafts I have tried out weigh the frustration and time spent learning to play with them. I can see how someone just learning or someone who plays enough could benefit from them but they are just not for me.

I know Shane tried one for awhile and did the same thing as Rob. I think it is even harder for an elite player to convert from traditional to low deflection shafts because they rely on executing consistently under pressure. After you miss a ball or two that really counts it is easy to start second guessing the shaft and asking "Is it really worth it?" On the flip side I know guys who swear by them. All comes down to the individual I think.
Click to expand...

I know there are some shots where I've grown up shooting them with a standard shaft, and when I aim at them with an LD shaft I have to think about it, where if I was using a standard shaft I just go on memory.

I usually play with a low deflection shaft, but last night I was shooting with a southwest that I've had for 14 years, and although it's kind of hard to describe, it seemed like I just "knew" where the ball was going better with it.
 
JCIN said:
Every time I have tried a LD shaft I get frustrated and go back to a traditional one. Basically I don't think the benefits of the low deflection shafts I have tried out weigh the frustration and time spent learning to play with them. I can see how someone just learning or someone who plays enough could benefit from them but they are just not for me.

I know Shane tried one for awhile and did the same thing as Rob. I think it is even harder for an elite player to convert from traditional to low deflection shafts because they rely on executing consistently under pressure. After you miss a ball or two that really counts it is easy to start second guessing the shaft and asking "Is it really worth it?" On the flip side I know guys who swear by them. All comes down to the individual I think.
Click to expand...

You are completely correct, it really is an individual choice. Different people like different things in their cues. Some like hard hits, some soft. Some like whippy shafts, some like them rigid.

For me, I really like the Predator shafts, and especially the Z. I got mine over 3 years ago now. When I first got it, I was an APA 4, close to a 5, and I had been playing league for about 2 years. When I got it, my shot making ability dropped to a SL 2 for a couple weeks. I could barely make 1 or 2 balls, and was consistently missing shots that, for me, should have been 95% or better shots. I played almost every night for the next 6 weeks, probably 25-30 hours each week, and by the end of that time I was shooting better than when I got the cue. I am not saying that the cue was the whole difference, as I was shooting more than normal, but I do believe it made some of the increase possible. Once I got used to the cue, it really made a difference. When the Z2 came out, I picked one up, and have been shooting with that ever since.
 
Joe Rogan said:
I know there are some shots where I've grown up shooting them with a standard shaft, and when I aim at them with an LD shaft I have to think about it, where if I was using a standard shaft I just go on memory.

I usually play with a low deflection shaft, but last night I was shooting with a southwest that I've had for 14 years, and although it's kind of hard to describe, it seemed like I just "knew" where the ball was going better with it.
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I know exactly what you mean.

Whatever you decide to go with you better not put a Predator on a 14 yr old South West. The cue gods would smite you.

They are busy looking for Louis Ulrich now because he traded in his SW on a baby poop green cue.

:D
 
For what it's worth Antonio Lining, a player that Efren Reyes says is one of the best Filipino players, plays with a low deflection shaft. When I handed him my JMW with a standard shaft on it he couldn't make a ball with it. I've never had any interest in those types of shafts, Predator, OB-1 etc..., and that solidified it for me.
MULLY
 
Joe Rogan said:
I usually play with a low deflection shaft, but last night I was shooting with a southwest that I've had for 14 years, and although it's kind of hard to describe, it seemed like I just "knew" where the ball was going better with it.
Click to expand...

I started out playing with 314 and then ob-1 shaft. Now I'm just a regular guy. I think "feel" is the biggest part of favoring solid maple shaft. I made the switch from low deflection shaft when I started learning 1 pocket.

Now when I try to use 314, I can't "feel" as well and also can't adjust to swerve of ob-1 shaft.
 
JCIN said:
Every time I have tried a LD shaft I get frustrated and go back to a traditional one. Basically I don't think the benefits of the low deflection shafts I have tried out weigh the frustration and time spent learning to play with them. I can see how someone just learning or someone who plays enough could benefit from them but they are just not for me.

I know Shane tried one for awhile and did the same thing as Rob. I think it is even harder for an elite player to convert from traditional to low deflection shafts because they rely on executing consistently under pressure. After you miss a ball or two that really counts it is easy to start second guessing the shaft and asking "Is it really worth it?" On the flip side I know guys who swear by them. All comes down to the individual I think.
Click to expand...


Years ago when Predator came out I tried it and liked the concept. However I couldnt use on very good.
I quit pool for 6 years and during that time had sold all my cues. I went by the room one day and a guy offered me a game I wanted to try. I had no cue and a cue loaned me his.
Seeing the Predator marking I was a bit nervous but found that I liked it.
I have been with one ever since.
I think its all what you get used to but in my head I cant help but think that less deflection is better in the long run.
 
Joe Rogan said:
I know lot of people prefer standard shafts to low deflection ones, but I wanted to ask here on AZ to get some opinions from you folks as to why that's the case.
Robb Saez tried a predator for 6 months but didn't like it, and I know some other really good players don't like them either. Corey Harper told me that there are some shots he can make with a regular shaft that he can't make with a low deflection one.

How many of you guys have tried a low deflection and went back because you felt that it wasn't good for your game?
Click to expand...

I have 2 black dot shafts, had a Predator 314, and have an OB-1.

I no longer really use the OB-1, but I've kept it to put on a butt for friends to shoot with.

What I use is a very low deflection shaft, with normal design: 11mm tip, 15 inch pro taper, 1/2 inch ferrule, milk dud tip.

What's it give me the other shafts mentioned above don't? A much better hit, and more power too. I'll leave a physics explanation about why it is more powerful to those who can explain it, for I can't. But it definitely is more powerful, and the feedback it delivers is superior, IMHO.

Flex
 
jay helfert said:
I've tried 'em all over the years and keep going back to the standard shafts. If the cue maker uses good shaft wood, then the stock shaft is what I prefer.
Click to expand...

... what Jay said.
 
Joe,
I played with standard shafts, then went to predator 314, then on to the McDermott I shafts. Personally I like the I shafts the only drawback on them is they are light around 3 ozs. So I added weight to them, they are hollow so I drilled through the plastic threaded insert and I filled them from the inside and added 1 oz to each of them. I have two I2 and one I3 shaft and really like them. I do not know if they are considered low deflection or not to be honest with you.
Dan
 
Joe Rogan said:
I know lot of people prefer standard shafts to low deflection ones, but I wanted to ask here on AZ to get some opinions from you folks as to why that's the case.
Robb Saez tried a predator for 6 months but didn't like it, and I know some other really good players don't like them either. Corey Harper told me that there are some shots he can make with a regular shaft that he can't make with a low deflection one.

How many of you guys have tried a low deflection and went back because you felt that it wasn't good for your game?
Click to expand...


I played Cory here at home the other day, with a huge spot and I was winning easily until my back went out, and he swithed shafts, After that it was ugly for me, but thats another story. Ask him about that shaft next time you talk to him, its 12.75mm with a long taper, its a great shaft and its the old yellow wood too.

Seriously I agree with Cory there are some shots a low deflection shaft is great, one trick shot thats a bank shot is pretty easy with a Pred. Shaft and impossible with a real high squirt shaft, What I use is a old Szam regular shaft thats from the mid 70's, I dont know when Gus got the wood it looks older than the butt of the cue thats a mid 70's it looks more like a Bushka shaft(perhaps Gus used old wood way back then, it looks 40 years old or more) its a very hard yellow maple and its hard as carbon fibre, however it dosent play real stiff and gives alot of feed back and minimal deflection, thats a tough shaft to find. But I have tried/owned alot of low deflection shafts and they arent my bag.


Joe I was also talking to Eric Crisp from Sugartree Cues and he told me in his experience the yellow straight grain maple makes the best shaft wood not the bright white stuff thats everywhere, I asked him what happened to the yellow stuff-it couldnt have all disappeared, he said they are using it on pallets for masonary products, I thought about that for a while and i'll be damned he is right when I had my 58,000 sqft paver stone drive way in my house installed there were 100's of pallets with the bricks on them and it was yellow wood, I didnt know it was maple. Eric said the white stuff sells at a premium so the yellow goes to plallets, aint that nice.


Barry has some and a few other cue makers-Cory might too, with your juice i'm sure you could find some and have a shaft built. If you ever get to vegas I'm les than 10 mins from the Bay where you work, come by, I'll have one of my drivers pick you up if my back is bad and come for 15 minutes or what ever you like Ill show you what I mean, I have alot of shafts of all different kinds,

take care

eric P
 
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First of all, I just don't like the feel. That aside though....

I tried a Predator for a little bit and couldn't make a freaking ball. (I play about a low B speed on the east coast, just for reference.) My main complaint for me was I have my own way of adjusting for english/throw, I know how to "feel" the shot, and where and how and what speed I want to contact the object ball with.

With the predator, I was lost. It seemed like it was all different. And, the shafts reduce deflection, they don't eliminate it entirely, so its not exactly point and click. I shoot with a schon cue and shaft so its like opposite ends of the spectrum.

I guess I just couldn't get used to it, and realized that I didn't want to. The company does do alot for pool IMO though, so while I'm not a fan of their shafts, I do like their events.

Justin.
 
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