White Shafts vs Players' Shafts?

JoeyInCali

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
I have reallllly white shafts that look pretty.
Medium ring counts, around 12-15 in most of them.
I have a bunch of yellowish brown shafts I got from one guy who hates cuemakers. Obscene ring counts. Like so many I don't bother counting.
Bouncing the two kinds for tone is not even close.
The ugly ones win hands down.
Too bad the market has dictated white shafts are more desirable.
I guess I'll use the ugly ones for petes next yeart and tell the people who are getting petes they are getting ugly shafts.
Joey~Just venting~
 
JoeyInCali said:
I have reallllly white shafts that look pretty.
Medium ring counts, around 12-15 in most of them.
I have a bunch of yellowish brown shafts I got from one guy who hates cuemakers. Obscene ring counts. Like so many I don't bother counting.
Bouncing the two kinds for tone is not even close.
The ugly ones win hands down.
Too bad the market has dictated white shafts are more desirable.
I guess I'll use the ugly ones for petes next yeart and tell the people who are getting petes they are getting ugly shafts.
Joey~Just venting~
Click to expand...

I'll take one of those ugly ones on my cue. :D
 
JoeyInCali said:
I have reallllly white shafts that look pretty.
Medium ring counts, around 12-15 in most of them.
I have a bunch of yellowish brown shafts I got from one guy who hates cuemakers. Obscene ring counts. Like so many I don't bother counting.
Bouncing the two kinds for tone is not even close.
The ugly ones win hands down.
Too bad the market has dictated white shafts are more desirable.
I guess I'll use the ugly ones for petes next yeart and tell the people who are getting petes they are getting ugly shafts.
Joey~Just venting~
Click to expand...

This may be considered sacrilegious, but can you bleach them a bit lighter to appeal to tastes while still maintaining a superior shaft ?

How much for an ugly pete ? If it's cheap enough I won't care what you tell me :)

Dave
 
JoeyInCali said:
I have reallllly white shafts that look pretty.
Medium ring counts, around 12-15 in most of them.
I have a bunch of yellowish brown shafts I got from one guy who hates cuemakers. Obscene ring counts. Like so many I don't bother counting.
Bouncing the two kinds for tone is not even close.
The ugly ones win hands down.
Too bad the market has dictated white shafts are more desirable.
I guess I'll use the ugly ones for petes next yeart and tell the people who are getting petes they are getting ugly shafts.
Joey~Just venting~
Click to expand...
and those are usually the guys that let there shafts turn blue with chalk and gunk :D :) :p ;)
i don't know how other people play pool,
but i don't look at the shaft when shooting :eek:
 
back when i first got into cutting my own shaft wood i contacted 4 respected cuemakers for advice on buying wood. the response was almost identical white sells and dark plays.

mark smith
mark smith custom cues / beezers billiards
russellville arkansas
 
Joey, if you ever get a chance to build me a cue, please set aside and reserve two of the old nasty, dark, dense shafts for me. :D

Anyday for my player, but you are right, for resale the white shafts win hands done. It's a crazy world we live in....pretty over performance !!
 
I swear by the darker honey shafts & don't mind some sugar marks. You'll notice most of my shafts are over 4oz. The darker & denser the better as far as I'm concerned. I save the 3.4oz white shafts for Moochie replacements when needed.;)
 
The truth is that you can have clean, clear, bright shafts that are absolutely superb in all respects. Ugly shafts or high ring counts do not equal a great performing shaft by any means. That's mostly marketing hocum. A shaft can be ugly and play good, but they can also be exceptionally clear and play good too. (We'll assume that someone who tapered the shaft had an idea of what they were doing.) Those are the shafts that I like and those are the shafts I want on the cues I buy. The most critical factor is the supplier and how the wood is selected and then processed. BTW, IMO asking someone in the cue business where they get there shaftwood is on a par with asking if you can sleep with their wife or girlfriend!:D It is a sad fact that it is a lot easier to buy poor quality shaftwood than top quality.

Martin


cueaddicts said:
Joey, if you ever get a chance to build me a cue, please set aside and reserve two of the old nasty, dark, dense shafts for me. :D

Anyday for my player, but you are right, for resale the white shafts win hands done. It's a crazy world we live in....pretty over performance !!
Click to expand...
 
what kind of crazy buyer wants a snow white shaft?? I'll take all ugly all the time
 
That's mostly marketing hocum

Bright white shafts was a marketing hohum of good ole Bob iirc.
 
I have to agree with Jazznpool. The same darker shafts that some are saying play better could have been much whiter if they had been cut, stickered and dried in the correct environment. Most Maple is used for furniture and bowling lanes and they want a darker, warmer color. Extra steps and cost are needed to keep the Maple white, which is it's original color. Normally log buyers and mills don't take these extra steps but those who are in the shaft supplying business, know what steps are needed and have spent the money to be able to supply them. It's true, you will never find white shaft wood at a normal supplier. If cue builders don't feel they need white shaft wood, why do they buy from suppliers? Why not just go to dealers and go through the Maple boards and find what is desirable to you? Hard Maple can be had as little as 3.00 to 6.00 a BF. Why pay the shaft suppliers price of 30.00 to 75.00 a BF?

Dick
 
No sir, clear, clean white maple shafts have long been valued and prized--it is not hokum. It was a the cost effectiveness of vacuum kiln methods and availability of vacuum kilns that has made it more popular, IMO. I have to say that sometimes, vacuum kiln dried shaftwood is too white, making it hard to read the grain. Don't forget, if processed effectively, conventionally dried maple is about 95% as white as vacuum kiln dried, and, overall, its harder. Its my belief that many cuemakers are either too cheap to pay for good shaftwood or they don't know where to get it. Its not that easy. Maple shaftwood is a real specialty business and I have deep respect for the guys who find suitable logs, process and sell top grade shaftwood.

Martin


JoeyInCali said:
That's mostly marketing hocum

Bright white shafts was a marketing hohum of good ole Bob iirc.
Click to expand...
 
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