I posted this in the Main Forum to get an idea of what the "players" think, so now I'll get the "makers" to explain what is really happening. 
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.
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.
