To taper or not to taper...that is the question!

[HawaiianEye]

Aloha all,

Having laid off pool for so many years, up until recently, I still experiment around trying new things in the hope of regaining my eye and stroke somewhat.

For MANY years I played with a 14mm tip and I could play position and handle the cue ball with just as much spin and flair as anybody else. MOST of the time, spin ISN’T needed very much unless you are trying to get back in line anyway and the 14mm provides a much "smoother" ride (kind of like comparing a Cadillac to a Dodge Colt). I could masse the ball as well as anyone (anyone notice masse cues are usually 14mm?) and draw the ball from end-to-end and back on slow 9-foot tables and during one tournament a guy started calling me “Monster Stroke” and kept telling everyone I was doing it with a “bazooka” instead of a cue.

NOW, many years later, I am attempting to come even close to what I once could do with I considered “ease”.

Yesterday I was playing with a custom 13mm “regular” shaft for a while and then my custom Predator 314-2 FAT shaft before I decided to try my Adams production shaft on the same Titlist butt. This shaft came with an Adams HOF Balabushka cue and has a very “distinct” SHORT taper before the cue starts “widening” up rather quickly at about 8 inches from the tip. There is no comparison between the tapers of those shafts with this one…they both have LONG Pro tapers.

I think the shorter tapers are more “old school” and some suggest that they allow for more “precision” in cue ball control. That is up for debate. I know when I ordered cues from Richard Black many years ago, he used a taper that was 8-10” and he claims that is what Balabushka used. I spoke to him just a month or so back and he reminded me of that when I was discussing getting another cue made.

LONG story, SHORT!

When I started using this shaft yesterday, my game went up quite a bit. The tip is a bit less than 13mm and I originally was going to return it because I ordered it as 13mm and wasn’t really fond of the taper. I DON’T think the difference in my game was so much the diameter of the tip as it was the “taper” of the shaft.

The short taper allowed me to “feel” just how far my cue was passing my bridge because I could “feel” the difference in taper when the cue passed through my fingers. I think “THIS” let me keep MOST of my strokes consistent because I was using the “SAME” amount of follow-through on MOST of my shots. When you use a longer Pro taper, you can’t really feel “how far” the shaft has passed until the shot is done. With the shorter taper you have the ability to feel your stroke “distance” a bit more as the cue is passing through your fingers…IMHO.

When I had my "last remaining" 14mm restored by McDermoot they had to "shave" it down to 13mm to get it "evened" out a bit from the use and fine sanding I had put on it. The cue and shaft are 30 years old.

I am thinking of getting another shaft made to my 14mm specs that I orginally used with Richard Black, back as far as 1978 when he made my first custom cue. My "original" discovery of playing with 14mm shafts came from a road player from Texas who was the "greatest" road player I ever saw when it came to controlling the cue ball on BOTH bar tables and large tables.



Anybody else got any thoughts on tapers and/or 14mm shafts?

Happy New Year to all.

 

[HawaiianEye]

I made the post above a couple days ago to possibly give people some insight on how their games "may" be improved upon by something relatively simple. Letting the taper of the shaft "help" you determine if you are doing things "consistently". I've highlighted in red the portions that have information that was covered in their One-Minute Tip.

http://www.americanbilliardradio.com/

Listen to Scott Lee and and Randy Goettlicher at the 19:12 minute mark of this broadcast which was tonight on 9 January. It covers EXACTLY what I just spoke of. I didn't learn it from anybody...I learned it from experience and trial and error. It has NOTHING to do with my idea of shaft taper, but it explains what I was talking about in "consistently controllable follow-through".

According to THEM, it is IMPERATIVE to know how far your "follow through" should be and it should be the SAME WAY consistently.

If the taper of the shaft will HELP you do this CONSISTENTLY then it may be something for people to think about when selecting a cue that fits their style.

Maybe I shouldn't give these little tidbits of information away for nothing. Seems like everybody who tries to help on here always catches hell and people say that they don't know what they are talking about.

I have NEVER came on here and said that ANYTHING worked...even a LITTLE BIT...unless I actually experienced it helping ME.

If it helps only one person to play better then I've accomplished something.

Aloha.

 

[jaetee]

Wow... 14mm is huge!

Interesting comments.

I have an old McDermott D-26 that came with two 13.25mm shafts when I bought it. That's as big of a tip as I've ever played with. Almost right away I had one of the shafts turned down to around 12.75mm, which is the diameter I ultimately learned to prefer. But the other shaft is still well over 13mm. And the taper on the old McD shafts is what one would call a "pro" taper as well, but I did notice that some on of the new generation LD shafts from McDermott have that conical type taper you mention.

I may give what you are saying some experimentation time... Also, I recently purchased one of those $30 cheapo ebay shaft to use on my Espiritu cue that is 13mm and has the abrupt taper style you mentioned. The shaft is straight and actually seems to be of surprisingly good quality. That cue/shaft have been relegated to break cue duties and the plan was to eventually have that one turned down to 12.75 and give it a taper along the lines of what I'm used to... Now you have me thinking I'll have to bust out that other shaft and put it to a proper test and give it and my McDermott renewed test drives. Thanks for the project.

 

[HawaiianEye]

Wow... 14mm is huge!

Interesting comments.

I have an old McDermott D-26 that came with two 13.25mm shafts when I bought it. That's as big of a tip as I've ever played with. Almost right away I had one of the shafts turned down to around 12.75mm, which is the diameter I ultimately learned to prefer. But the other shaft is still well over 13mm. And the taper on the old McD shafts is what one would call a "pro" taper as well, but I did notice that some on of the new generation LD shafts from McDermott have that conical type taper you mention.

I may give what you are saying some experimentation time... Also, I recently purchased one of those $30 cheapo ebay shaft to use on my Espiritu cue that is 13mm and has the abrupt taper style you mentioned. The shaft is straight and actually seems to be of surprisingly good quality. That cue/shaft have been relegated to break cue duties and the plan was to eventually have that one turned down to 12.75 and give it a taper along the lines of what I'm used to... Now you have me thinking I'll have to bust out that other shaft and put it to a proper test and give it and my McDermott renewed test drives. Thanks for the project.

Thanks for the interest...let me know what you think if you do some experimenting. You know us SCIENTISTS always like to publish our findings.

I see you have an OLD SCHOOL McDermott...one of the BEST hitting cues I have ever hit with and own is a McDermott C-14 that I have mentioned on here and posted pictures of. It hit SO GOOD it became my PLAYER over the second custom-ordered cue that I bought off Richard Black.

I bought it brand new from the company through a pool hall I used to work at. I had them make me a 14mm shaft for it instead of the normal 13mm. It came with their standard pro taper, but since it was OVERSIZED I could sand it down a bit and put a TAPER that MATCHED ME on it. I think that is part of FEEL that people DON'T REALIZE when they go from cue to cue. Once you have a cue that you think YOU can CONTROL, then it becomes part of what we consider the "feel" or "hit" of the cue.

Many cue makers will say that the SHAFT is the KEY to a cue. Why do many cue makers have their OWN taper? Because THEY or SOMEBODY has CONVINCED them that SOMEHOW THEIR taper is the BEST.

Some people try those cues and LOVE them...others will HATE the same cue. Why is that? The people who LOVE the cue are COMFORTABLE with the taper because it gives THEM a BETTER "feel" for the cue and therefore it is MORE CONTROLLABLE for THEM. The people who HATE them aren't COMFORTABLE with them at all and prefer shafts from a DIFFERENT maker and therefore a DIFFERENT taper. One that more suits their playing style.

Before I go TOO FAR, I'll say that TAPER isn't the ONLY important part in the "hit" or "feel" of the shaft, but it is an IMPORTANT part. Wood quality, the ferrule,and the tip also play IMPORTANT parts.

Given that thought, wouldn't it be EVEN BETTER to FINE TUNE THAT shaft down to YOUR "feel" as CUSTOMIZED by YOU? Who uses your cue and determines its "hit" or "feel" or "control" at the FINAL DETERMINATION?

YOU DO!

Now that you caused me to have a FLASHBACK to the days I worked in the pool hall and played some of my best pool and I can remember ALWAYS picking the BEST hitting OVERSIZED house cue I could find in our inventory of a hundred or so OLD house cues that were made back as far as the 50s or earlier. (NONE of them were Titlists, but many or MOST were made by Brunswick...even the newer ones).

I COMPLETELY customized the shaft to my liking...and ALL by HAND or SIMPLE machinery in the pool hall. OLD SCHOOL stuff, like a shaft and ferrule cutter that you put your cue in and "shaved down" into a tendon or into "NOTHING" if you WEREN'T paying attention in a contraption that looked like a LARGE pencil sharpener.

I used whatever tip I thought hit best out of our inventory (very limited), whatever ferrule I put on it, and whatever taper I thought felt best for ME. ALL of this by hand and to MY INDIVIDUAL FEEL.

I have another "hair brained" idea in my head that I'm thinking of writing up to see what people think about. It may sound a LITTLE "Confucius-like" to a LOT of people, but players who have "ever" entered the "Zone" a few times and those that have entered and stayed in it for LONG periods of times will RELATE to it IMMEDIATELY.

It concerns the MENTAL aspect of pool. If you have played pool well enough or long enough you will know that your game CHANGES EVERY TIME YOU PLAY. Sometimes you are BETTER and sometimes you are WORSE. It could be by hardly identifiable measurements up or down, or you could go from being Earl one match into rather the "different" Earl the very next match.

What is different in SVB, Earl, Biado, Orcullo, or any other pros game from day to day? One day they can run many racks in a row and the next day they can't run a 2-pack. They are on the SAME table, using the SAME equipment, under almost identical playing conditions.

Some may say their opponents are DIFFERENT, but unless you make a MISTAKE you are ONLY playing the TABLE...the OPPONENT is SITTING down (hopefully...and not ranting and sharking). NO MATTER where your opponent leaves you, if you have played enough pool you will "real eyes" that you have seen "this shot" or a very similar shot...OVER and OVER. Other than an equipment error (miscue, tables falls on you,etc.) why do you feel "COMFORTABLE with the shot one time and make a MISTAKE on it at other times?

I "THINK" that the KEY to playing "consistent" pool at whatever level you may be at has more to do with the BRAIN than many people think. When the BRAIN works like a machine then things work out more consistently because it is using a "code" (if you will) that tells the rest of your body what to do. If you play pool at a HIGH level your body should ALREADY be "programmed" for this "code" through the muscle memory, stance, line up, pre-shot routine, etc. IMHO, I think the MAIN reason people make mistakes in these situations is that the BRAIN has sent DIFFERENT information to the body. It has either sent TOO MUCH information (you don't know what to do because you are overloaded with choices), TOO LITTLE information (causing you to leave a KEY part of the process out of the shot) or CORRUPTED data (which in its most serious form could be called a "melt down".

What causes this data to change and how can it be fixed? Normally a machine (computer, your brain, your car, etc.) operates at the SAME level until some "outside" stimuli affects it.

Your car wheel started squeaking because an "outside" stimuli affected it...FRICTION. You fixed it by putting some lubrication on it and it works PERFECTLY until it is affected again.

Your computer worked FINE until an equipment malfunction occured or you got some outside stimuli (virus, corrupted file, etc., etc,) that affected its BRAIN (the CODE).

Your MENTAL game worked fine until it was CHANGED by SOMETHING! That could be anything from a fight with your spouse, a worry about something other than the game at hand, a distraction in the middle of your shot, etc, etc. etc.

Like the very used line from the 1967 movie, "Cool Hand Luke" starring Paul Newman goes. This was a line from the Captain (Stother Martin) to Luke (Paul Newman)

"You run one time, you got yourself a set of chains. You run twice, you got yourself two sets. You ain't gonna need no third set 'cause you're gonna get your mind right. And I mean RIGHT. [To the other inmates] Take a good look at Luke. Cool Hand Luke?"

What I am saying is, "that if you can GET YOUR MIND RIGHT" then things will go according to PLAN if EVERYTHING else is the SAME.

HOW you get YOUR mind right is DIFFERENT than the way other people may do it. Some meditate between shots, some look completely away, and some stare right INTO their opponents game as though they are studying it. Others have resorted to alcohol or drugs in order to "get their mind right".

When you start seeing improvement in your game and can't contribute it to anything other than being in the "zone" it is YOUR MIND for the MOST part...NOT your EQUIPMENT. Forget finding the magical cue...what you need to be able to control MORE is your MAGICAL MIND!