Why is maple used for shafts?

[Stylez777]

I was always curious to ask this. I have seen many different types of woods used in the Butt of a cue but the shaft is always maple. I know maple is in the middle of the Janka Hardness scale (1450ish). I just wanted to hear from the cuemakers why maple is always the standard and if other woods have been tried in shaft making and what results have been.

As for a break shaft wouldn't it be logical that the hardest/stiffest wood available would transfer energy better? If I had a Break cue made that had a very hard wood used in the butt (say Gaboon Ebony for example) with a shaft that was made of a similar hard wood that had a G-10 ferrule and a BCA hard legal tip that I would get maximum energy transfer at cueball impact?

 

[greyghost]

I was always curious to ask this. I have seen many different types of woods used in the Butt of a cue but the shaft is always maple. I know maple is in the middle of the Janka Hardness scale (1450ish). I just wanted to hear from the cuemakers why maple is always the standard and if other woods have been tried in shaft making and what results have been.

As for a break shaft wouldn't it be logical that the hardest/stiffest wood available would transfer energy better? If I had a Break cue made that had a very hard wood used in the butt (say Gaboon Ebony for example) with a shaft that was made of a similar hard wood that had a G-10 ferrule and a BCA hard legal tip that I would get maximum energy transfer at cueball impact?

more things than just the wood are going to effect the quantity of energy, weight which effects mass is one of them. Mass effects vibration, the more mass the more vibration, especially when more mass is present at the ends of the cue. Maple is probably used b/c its about the most neutral visually, its right in the middle as in density/weight and hardness which means you should be able to do more with it with less. It's just a more versatile wood than most in regards to everything your going to put in a cue especially the shaft.

 

[Stylez777]

First time i searched i must have typed in something wrong cause i couldn't find anything. Just tried again and found a bunch of topics that pretty much answered my questions.