What shafts and tips are the pros using these days?
- Thread starter tigerseye
- Start date
Kamui Blacks have popular lately, but of course they all have their preferences from Triangles to Moori to Elk masters. There also seems to be a growing trend with many of them using Predator, and contrary to popular belief, not all of them are sponsored or endorse by Predator.
Wooden shafts and leather tips, that is about as far as the similarity's go. Some use LD some regular maple 11mm-14mm around others use ash shafts (mostly Europeans with a snooker background.) You will see all types of tips from le pro to the most expensive kamui tips, super soft to extra hard. A local pro here in Charleston uses the samsara break tips on his playing cue and plays lights out with it.
Your generalization is generally true.
I love my OB-1 and Onyx tip, but if someone walked up to me and said they would give me free equipment and $25,000/yr to play a 314-2 with a Kamui Black, I'd do it in a heart beat (not sure what sponsors will actually pay... just pulled that number out of my a**).
I can't say you're wrong... and I can't say I blame them.
i dont know how to politely say this, but this seems, "generally", to be an argument bad players make to rationalize why good players have moved to LD shafts. when many good players first got their hands on an LD shaft, they instantly, and intelligently realized that this would improve their game. just because you are one that happens to not know what is going on when you hit with one of these, and your game deteriorates, dont rationalize this move that good players have made! there is a huge percentage of the best players in the world using these shafts, they use them, they dont put a 314 stamp on their old cue or anything. and to suggest they use them for money also indicates that people dont know much about a good player's thinking on this matter..... in my experience, all good players think about one thing, how to play better. if you think a great player is going to use a cue for money just to get money, and not because it plays better, that is just crazy, these guys want to win.
the last thing i will note is that within the percentage of great players that have not switched to LD shafts are no doubt many players who are just simply too accustomed to shooting with their normal shafts. this isnt bad, but the point is, if the timing was different, and they grew up with LD shafts available, im sure youd see many of these guys going LD as well. again, even many of the players who dont use LD shafts, WOULD probably use them under different (timing) circumstances.
Posts like this are exactly why top players get paid to play with a specific product. They know someone will want to play with the exact gear their favorite pro uses. For the most part, I don't think the pro's care what they play with. I'm sure they could all beat me using the wrong end of a warped house cue. And why do they most have LD shafts now? Because there is a larger profit margin on them than normal shafts. So, you give the person you are sponsoring the products that give you the largest profit. Simple business sense.
Brian
Brian
Politeness is overvalued...and I don't offend easily anyways.
I don't believe you either, if your point is that LD shafts are better for everyone who plays pool at a high level.
I don't believe you either, if your point is that LD shafts are better for everyone who plays pool at a high level.
Consistency is the biggest difference
I think most of them use Laminated or "engineered" shafts because of how consistent the shafts are from one to another.
Take 10 shafts of hard rock maple from any custom cue maker in the world and after hitting with those 10 most people will find a few out of there that play better than the rest for whatever reason.
Now Take 10 engineered shafts and they all play pretty much the same. Also if you play with a custom cue and want to get new shafts made they will not play like the ones you're used to playing with. However if your a top pro traveling the world you can go anywhere and get a Laminated shaft that plays exactly like the one you took off.
Just my 2 cents
I think most of them use Laminated or "engineered" shafts because of how consistent the shafts are from one to another.
Take 10 shafts of hard rock maple from any custom cue maker in the world and after hitting with those 10 most people will find a few out of there that play better than the rest for whatever reason.
Now Take 10 engineered shafts and they all play pretty much the same. Also if you play with a custom cue and want to get new shafts made they will not play like the ones you're used to playing with. However if your a top pro traveling the world you can go anywhere and get a Laminated shaft that plays exactly like the one you took off.
Just my 2 cents
It's a combination of what plays better and what they get paid to use. If a pro tests out the *insert LD shaft here*, and likes the way it plays, why not go for a sponsorship by the maker? If Valley offered them more money to play with their one-piece house cue than Predator did to play with the Z2, do you honestly think we'd see pro's playing with house cues? I don't. They have to like the way it plays for them to even use it in the first place, if they get paid on top of it then it's gravy for them.
Huh?! The reality is this....there are many players that are playing professionally who have no sponsors and are self-funded. They play with that equipment which they can afford, or that they already have. They play with that which brings them the most success. It may be a good ol' fashioned maple shaft, it may be an aftermarket laminated shaft, it may be an LD shaft. It's whatever they have or can afford.
It's a no wonder that the game cannot get a foothold...it has been gimmicked and gadgeted to death. Everyone is looking for the latest and greatest to make them a better player. If they took half the money they spent on this stuff and actually spent it practicing and playing the game itself...they might see the improvement they're hoping for.
I, for one, have a greater respect for the champions of old simply because they were able to accomplish what they did with a simple pool cue, with a single layered tip....and perseverance and TALENT.
I miss the days when the game was unpolluted with break cues, jump cues, masse cues, specialized shafts, uber-layered tips, specialized break tips...ad nauseum. Not to mention the time wasted running back and forth to get each specialized piece to make the shot.
You simply cannot buy hard work and talent.
Lisa
I use a laminated shaft - but even so-----
Stop with the b.s. saying that LD shafts make people better. Before there were LD shafts, the pros were STILL running 9 packs of 9-ball, etc. Mosconi ran his mega-run with a cue none of us would consider using. If the only cue available to man-kind was a Meucci---- we'd all use one and STILL run out WELL.
The ONLY benefit of LD shafts / laminated shafts is consistency. Outside of that, it's like the putter in your golf bag--- it's all about your personal feel.
Gee whiz - it's a wonder how anyone made a ball before a LD shaft
Stop with the b.s. saying that LD shafts make people better. Before there were LD shafts, the pros were STILL running 9 packs of 9-ball, etc. Mosconi ran his mega-run with a cue none of us would consider using. If the only cue available to man-kind was a Meucci---- we'd all use one and STILL run out WELL.
The ONLY benefit of LD shafts / laminated shafts is consistency. Outside of that, it's like the putter in your golf bag--- it's all about your personal feel.
Gee whiz - it's a wonder how anyone made a ball before a LD shaft
Didn't we just establish in another thread with research via Dr. Dave and others that LD shafts do nothing scientific to improve someone's game? They they only change a cue's pivot point, and thus where the player should be bridging from on any given shot. Other than that, it's a mental thing.
Bottom line, buy and shoot with what you like! :thumbup:
Bottom line, buy and shoot with what you like! :thumbup:
Very well said! :thumbup:
The reason I do not buy this argument is because most players who are traveling the world make sure they have spare shafts with them just so they don't have to go looking for one during a tournament/event.
Don't you think they would rather have spares that have been maintained by their maker/repairman with them over running out and buying a shaft that might not quite have the same taper or tip? Just because it's an aftermarket shaft doesn't mean it hasn't been tweaked a bit for their preferences...slight taper change or tip.
Lisa
Aw schucks!
I see it this way...I have more respect for the player who just tells me that the reason they like playing with an LD/aftermarket shaft is because of how it feels to them. It makes them a better player because of the confidence it provides. This I can understand simply because when a cue instills confidence, we tend to play better with it...no matter the cue/shaft's construction technique....or whether it is a custom or production cue. As previously stated, the game is hugely mental.
But please don't tell me that an LD/aftermarket shaft is the Second Coming and that any player worth their salt should be playing with one...or if I wanna play like a pro, I need to play with one. Simple fact is, Strickland, Archer, Varner, Reyes, etc...were all great players long before these types of shafts appeared on the market.
Lisa
Not only that, but the players that you mentioned still use conventional (not LD) shafts. Just further proof that there is no best and it all comes down to personal preference.Aw schucks!
I see it this way...I have more respect for the player who just tells me that the reason they like playing with an LD/aftermarket shaft is because of how it feels to them. It makes them a better player because of the confidence it provides. This I can understand simply because when a cue instills confidence, we tend to play better with it...no matter the cue/shaft's construction technique....or whether it is a custom or production cue. As previously stated, the game is hugely mental.
But please don't tell me that an LD/aftermarket shaft is the Second Coming and that any player worth their salt should be playing with one...or if I wanna play like a pro, I need to play with one. Simple fact is, Strickland, Archer, Varner, Reyes, etc...were all great players long before these types of shafts appeared on the market.
Lisa
That is very interesting...