What is a spliced shaft?

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Laura Friedman

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Hi. I just ordered a custom cue. The cue maker offered me a normal shaft. But he also said he had some “spliced shafts” he made which are supposed to be lower deflection. It seemed as though they are made of four pieces of wood spliced together. Anyone heard of this technique? Does it actually produce a shaft with less deflection? Thanks.
 
JoeyInCali said:
Splicing has nothing to do with cue ball deflection.
It has more do with stability or stiffness .
The front end has to be drilled to reduce mass and cue ball deflection .
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Thanks. Will it make a better shaft/hit? Should I try it? He’s offering me one of each with the cue, or two of the same (normal or spliced). Thanks.
 
Laura Friedman said:
Hi. I just ordered a custom cue. The cue maker offered me a normal shaft. But he also said he had some “spliced shafts” he made which are supposed to be lower deflection. It seemed as though they are made of four pieces of wood spliced together. Anyone heard of this technique? Does it actually produce a shaft with less deflection? Thanks.
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Search AZB for, Laminated/spliced shaft vs. standard maple thread. A lot of info and opinions
 
Laura Friedman said:
Hi. I just ordered a custom cue. The cue maker offered me a normal shaft. But he also said he had some “spliced shafts” he made which are supposed to be lower deflection. It seemed as though they are made of four pieces of wood spliced together. Anyone heard of this technique? Does it actually produce a shaft with less deflection? Thanks.
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More radial consistency. As said in other post it has nothing to do with deflection. Front-end still has to be lightened to get lo-deflect. properties. Some hit good, some are deader than HulaHoop.
 
Laura Friedman said:
Hi. I just ordered a custom cue. The cue maker offered me a normal shaft. But he also said he had some “spliced shafts” he made which are supposed to be lower deflection. It seemed as though they are made of four pieces of wood spliced together. Anyone heard of this technique? Does it actually produce a shaft with less deflection? Thanks.
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Many LD shafts use splices in the LD shafts, which is why those shafts to many have become synonymous to low deflection, even though you can make an LD shaft without splices and make a splices shaft not low deflection. It's been done for quite a while and several makers have very different ways of doing it. Jacoby does a flat laminate shaft with a ton of laminations, OB has a interesting interlocking splice, Predator may be one of the earliest and well known makers of splices shafts, they do just straight forward pie splices. Tiger has a square center dowel in the shaft with 4 splices around that.

I'm a bit curious how you ended up good enough or knowledgeable enough to order a custom cue, but not have heard of splices shafts since they are pretty common now.
 
hang-the-9 said:
Many LD shafts use splices in the LD shafts, which is why those shafts to many have become synonymous to low deflection, even though you can make an LD shaft without splices and make a splices shaft not low deflection. It's been done for quite a while and several makers have very different ways of doing it. Jacoby does a flat laminate shaft with a ton of laminations, OB has a interesting interlocking splice, Predator may be one of the earliest and well known makers of splices shafts, they do just straight forward pie splices. Tiger has a square center dowel in the shaft with 4 splices around that.

I'm a bit curious how you ended up good enough or knowledgeable enough to order a custom cue, but not have heard of splices shafts since they are pretty common now.
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Weird, huh? Maybe because I’m just starting to play a bit again after like a 10 or 15 year hiatus. Some people here probably remember me.

You kids have made this game so complicated with all your new fangled technology. I just can’t keep up.
 
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Laura Friedman said:
because I’m just starting to play a bit again after like a 10 or 15 year hiatus. Some people here probably remember me.

You kids have made this game so complicated with all your new fangled technology. I just can’t keep up.
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It's not totally new, Predator been at it for more than 25 years https://www.predatorcues.com/usa/innovation/25-years-of-innovation.html, the 314 shaft came out in 1994. I remember all the talk about them back in the pool hall I first learned to play in, along with the Moori tips that were also new about the same time.

And I'm a grandfather, but I guess still a kid to my parents LOL

Having an LD vs a non-LD shaft is more of a difference than a spliced or one piece shaft, if you never played with an LD shaft, it's worth a try.
 
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Laura Friedman said:
because I’m just starting to play a bit again after like a 10 or 15 year hiatus. Some people here probably remember me.

You kids have made this game so complicated with all your new fangled technology. I just can’t keep up.
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A good player with a pos house-cue will still beat a banger with his hi-tech toys. EVERY time. Equipment is way over-rated. Whatever cue you had 15yrs ago will still do the job.
 
hang-the-9 said:
It's not totally new, Predator been at it for more than 25 years https://www.predatorcues.com/usa/innovation/25-years-of-innovation.html, the 314 shaft came out in 1994. I remember all the talk about them back in the pool hall I first learned to play in, along with the Moori tips that were also new about the same time.

And I'm a grandfather, but I guess still a kid to my parents LOL

Having an LD vs a non-LD shaft is more of a difference than a spliced or one piece shaft.
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I have one of those first shafts. Looking to sell it actually.
 
garczar said:
A good player with a pos house-cue will still beat a banger with his hi-tech toys. EVERY time. Equipment is way over-rated. Whatever cue you had 15yrs ago will still do the job.
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Sold it when I didn’t think I could play anymore. And practicing with house cues is making me sad. I’m a grown up who can buy a cue if she wants. That’s the nice thing about being an adult. I can also eat ice cream for breakfast and watch tv until midnight. Except I fall asleep at 10 regardless. Because I’m old.
 
Laura Friedman said:
Sold it when I didn’t think I could play anymore. And practicing with house cues is making me sad. I’m a grown up who can buy a cue if she wants. That’s the nice thing about being an adult. I can also eat ice cream for breakfast and watch tv until midnight. Except I fall asleep at 10 regardless. Because I’m old.
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I hear ya. Just don't expect too much from the new stuff. I use a Mezz with a semi-LD shaft that plays real close to a 25yr old Schon. Full LD is still a little weird to me. I think some squirt/deflect. is beneficial at times.
 
Since y’all are so curious, here’s what I’m having made. Red heart& ebony with lime, turquoise and dark purple veneers. Because f*ck ordinary. Tried uploading a photo but it said the file with too big. Stoopid technology again. No idea how to reduce the size.
 
garczar said:
A good player with a pos house-cue will still beat a banger with his hi-tech toys. EVERY time. Equipment is way over-rated. Whatever cue you had 15yrs ago will still do the job.
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There is definitely a psych-out factor to being a woman who plays pretty decent with a house cue. However I find it very difficult to shoot off the rail with them. Anything even a touch off-center leads to the cue ball flying off to the side. I’m not a great player so it’s hard for me.
 
Laura Friedman said:
I have one of those first shafts. Looking to sell it actually.
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The early 314 shafts are almost a collectors item now, the "pre-cat" stuff is like "pre flag" Masters chalk. There is a For Sale section here to sell it through. But if you have a 314, that is a spliced shaft so you already knew about them. They actually used more splices back in the first few generations, and a longer ferrule as well.
 
Laura Friedman said:
Since y’all are so curious, here’s what I’m having made. Red heart& ebony with lime, turquoise and dark purple veneers. Because f*ck ordinary. Tried uploading a photo but it said the file with too big. Stoopid technology again. No idea how to reduce the size.
Click to expand...

Assuming you are on a Windows computer, right-click the image, select Edit, will open it in Paint. Click resize on top left area of the toolbar, select 50 in both height and width, save it as another name so you don't over-write the first one, upload that image.
 
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