Ultimate maple cue ahaft?

[Oldgit]

I wonder if anyone on here can tell me what makes a maple cue shaft 'ultimate' quality?

I obviously understand that if you ask a cuemaker to make an 'ultimate' ash cue then you can specify things like dead straight side grain and 'perfect' arrows although everyone's idea of perfect arrows may be different.......but with maple I just wondered what makes an 'ultimate' maple shaft special and what maple cue makers look for. Is it colour? Blemish free? Maple also has grain and arrows so what do cue makers look for?

I realise that looks and playability don't always go together and a really horrible looking ash or maple cue may play wonderfully!

Thanks in advance
Oldgit

[Master Blaster]

I wonder if anyone on here can tell me what makes a maple cue shaft 'ultimate' quality?

I obviously understand that if you ask a cuemaker to make an 'ultimate' ash cue then you can specify things like dead straight side grain and 'perfect' arrows although everyone's idea of perfect arrows may be different.......but with maple I just wondered what makes an 'ultimate' maple shaft special and what maple cue makers look for. Is it colour? Blemish free? Maple also has grain and arrows so what do cue makers look for?
I realise that looks and playability don't always go together and a really horrible looking ash or maple cue may play wonderfully!

Thanks in advance
Oldgit

They look for it to old growth maple sunk by native American Indians in a lake for 200 years so it becomes denser, has more colour, tighter grain and plays better. No kiln maple cue JP produces is gonna be any near ultimate compared to that.

http://www.auroracues.com/about.php

[j6uk]

depends what maple your talking about but generally its grain pattern an the straightness of that, not forgetting the taper
you could look into the maple A grading system

[Oldgit]

They look for it to old growth maple sunk by native American Indians in a lake for 200 years so it becomes denser, has more colour, tighter grain and plays better. No kiln maple cue JP produces is gonna be any near ultimate compared to that.

http://www.auroracues.com/about.php

Is it now impossible for anyone to ask a question on the forum without getting sarcastic irrelevant answers?

[ADW147CUEMAN]

I wonder if anyone on here can tell me what makes a maple cue shaft 'ultimate' quality?

I obviously understand that if you ask a cuemaker to make an 'ultimate' ash cue then you can specify things like dead straight side grain and 'perfect' arrows although everyone's idea of perfect arrows may be different.......but with maple I just wondered what makes an 'ultimate' maple shaft special and what maple cue makers look for. Is it colour? Blemish free? Maple also has grain and arrows so what do cue makers look for?

I realise that looks and playability don't always go together and a really horrible looking ash or maple cue may play wonderfully!

Thanks in advance
Oldgit

ive been wanting to no this for some time as maple just looks plain £30-£1000 and if its clean and straight how do you no exactly , nice one oldgit sounds bad calling you that lol

[Leo]

No such thing as an ultimate shaft IMHO that being maple or ash, it's just a money making gimmick aimed at the most gullible.

[billabong]

Is it now impossible for anyone to ask a question on the forum without getting sarcastic irrelevant answers?

Thing is, MB believes all that he writes.

It is sarcastic and irrelevant ravings to 90% of the forum, but Mr Blaster ain't trying to be these things, it just comes across like that.

Well it's irrelevant , but not sarcastic.

Maybe Trevs will come on and lend some info on a select maple shaft properties. .

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[The Doctor]

I'd say density of wood and blemish free. Meaning no rings or brown spots.

[trevs1]

Thing is, MB believes all that he writes.

It is sarcastic and irrelevant ravings to 90% of the forum, but Mr Blaster ain't trying to be these things, it just comes across like that.

Well it's irrelevant , but not sarcastic.

Maybe Trevs will come on and lend some info on a select maple shaft properties. .

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No, he won't.

He will speak with Mike tomorrow when Mike calls him.

Edit....Speak to you tomorrow Mike....watch that back.

[Master Blaster]

I'd say density of wood and blemish free. Meaning no rings or brown spots.

Exactly, and the denser the maple, the better. That's where old growth bog wood maple from the lake comes into play, compressed by lots of water for a jolly long time. Juss sayin :biggrin-new:

But failing that, old growth maple is desirable as Aurora attest and let's face it, they're in Canada. Hang on a minute there MB, where does all that maple come from son?! Deroo say the same thing about old growth maple.

[Master Blaster]

No such thing as an ultimate shaft IMHO that being maple or ash, it's just a money making gimmick aimed at the most gullible.

Ok, so the word 'Ultimate' does have some marketing to it I'll agree. But is does describe a selection process to find the shaft with the best, straightest grain, how tight you want that grain, number of chevrons, stiff or whippy, etc. If I go and buy a twenty quid Riley am I going to get a shaft as nice as that on your Thai cue, are all shafts just the same and it's all a con and price makes no difference? Is it just a piece of ash and every piece of ash or maple is just the same?

[trevs1]

Exactly, and the denser the maple, the better. That's where old growth bog wood maple from the lake comes into play, compressed by lots of water for a jolly long time. Juss sayin :biggrin-new:

But failing that, old growth maple is desirable as Aurora attest and let's face it, they're in Canada. Hang on a minute there MB, where does all that maple come from son?! Deroo say the same thing about old growth maple.

Are you sure you aren't correlating the comment of "the denser the better" with your head MB.

Denser doesn't always mean better fella, honestly.

[j6uk]

give me a tight fluffy pringy curly maple all day

[sanman]

Wasting your time Trevor. Like banging your head against a rock. This is a guy who believes in the unscientific principle that a water saturated piece of wood will experience compression due to water pressure. If that were to be true the Titanics wreck under 4km of water which respresent aproximately 405 G forces would be a layer of flat metal on the ocean floor. But that isnt the case. Like I said banging your head against a rock. Just an exercise in futility, unfortunately there are some who actually believe this. The part that floors me is quoting Aurora as authority in this. They who are confirmed thives liars no good con artists. Need I say more

Are you sure you aren't correlating the comment of "the denser the better" with your head MB.

Denser doesn't always mean better fella, honestly.

[Byrom]

I think that is a really good question - and maybe you know the answer - its a nonsense by John Parris putting a ultimate badge on a maple cue and charging more for the same thing than the guy down the road.

Personally in terms of maple I prefer the overseas cues - like the Maximus range - just nice clear white maple really. Best modern maple cue I tried myself was made by Crispian Jones - don't know if it was an import but it was nice - lovely finish - maple not really my thing though. The best older maple cue I ever tried was a Riley Dufferin - I borrowed one night lovely cue and the most responsive maple cue I ever used and that was curly maple I think that's what it was - well it had sort of rings in it if you know what I mean?