A friend of mine (he's on here, but can't remember his name) has went through a couple Predators and an OB1 with a combination of Lucasi and predator butts. The only ill-advised combo that he ever came up with was the OB1 with a wood to wood joint. The hit was so absolutely muted, like hitting a tennis ball rather than a cue ball. Same shaft/same tip with a unilock into a steel joint hit fine, though softer than the stock shaft.
I had myself at one time a Players sneaky butt with a Z shaft and liked it alot. Had to put it down after moving to a new bar to play league though, due to having very fast cloth. My stroke was starting to come back to me, and couldn't keep control of the cue ball to save my life. Loved it as a break cue from then on.
If I learned anything from messing with LD shafts is that there is a learning curve getting used to the cue. As long a the cue's hit/feedback is familiar, everthing else will fall into place eventually.
