turning down 314shaft

[marek]

Hi,
I am considering to buy a new cue (McDermott African Gekko). I saw an option of extra 314shaft turned down to 12.30 which I would like but I have a question here: is there any change to low-deflection characteristics on turned-down 314 shaft? I tried Z-shaft and its good in means of low-deflection and that its quite thin (maybe too much for my liking) but I dont like the taper of Z-shaft, I like the taper of 314 much more.
Another question - what are characteristics of basic mcdermott shaft?
thx for the reply.
Marek

[KJ]

Marek,
Thank you for your question and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability. Simply stated, Predator is the ultimate low-deflection shaft. This is so because of the engineering that is incorporated into the front-end of the shaft. The first 5" of the shaft being hollow, the ferrule material and it's design, the tenon design and the radial placement of the 10 pie-sliced segments of the shaft all come together to provide the lowest deflection characteristics of any performance shaft that is currently available today.

Turning down ANY shaft will give it lower deflection characteristics due to the reduction of weight to the front-end of the shaft but as with any tweaking of physics, there is a trade-off. As the shaft gets thinner it also gets 'whippier' (for lack of a better word). To better understand this, consider the extremes for example; broom handle vs noodle. The broom handle would hit solid/stiff with no flex resulting in massive deflection. The noodle would flex/whip like, well, a noodle. Much less deflection true but I doubt you'd like the hit. The more you reduce the diameter of the shaft the closer you approach the characteristics of the noodle.

I'm always caused to wonder why a player would specify a T/D to a specific diameter when they haven't yet played the shaft. Predator chose 12.75mm (314) for a reason and I trust their engineering. Start tweaking the physics and you'll find that there is a trade-off. Maybe it's something that you can live with or maybe the trade-off is more than you bargained for.

The standard McD. shaft is quite acceptable. The long taper is easy to play and it's deflection characteristics are something you could get used to.

[marek]

Hi!
Thank you very much for your answer. I will try to make my motivation more clear to you. I play with 314 shaft for about 4 years and I like the way it plays. But the truth is that I would like the shaft on my cue to be thinner, I think I would benefit from thinner cue on some shots (playing from the rail, jack-up)+it is more comfortable to stroke with thinner shaft. I tried Z-shaft and loved the almost-non-existent-deflection but also found out that I didnt like the taper+the shaft was maybe too thin, somewhere between 314 and Z (in terms of width) should do it. Both 314 and Z shafts have „dead“ hit in my eyes but it doesnt bother me much, as long as I hit the cue ball straight with 314 or Z, balls do what I want them to do. Why did you think that I wouldnt like the hit of turned-down 314? The hit being more „dead“ or was it something else? I really do appreciate your opinion as it makes some things more clear to me.
You also mentioned that standard mcdermott shaft is also good choice to play with. If I understand your thoughts correctly turned-down mcdermott shaft (12.25) would have had lower deflection characteristics than a standard 13mm shaft. If it is so how would it compare in that aspect to 12.75 314shaft? How about the hit?
I am asking all these questions because in my country (Czech Republic, Europe) is very small selection of cues to buy and no custom cue makers at all so I dont have the chance to shoot with different cues than the standard ones.
Marek