OB-1 Cue Shafts

The OB-1 Cue Shaft is an extremely low cue ball deflection shaft that excels in the areas of Feel, Spin and Control.
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OB-1 SHAFTS HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED AND ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE. 

Why Should I Play With the OB-1?

You should play with the OB-1 because it is the best shaft on the market. The OB-1 shaft has the best combination of the four primary characteristics affecting shaft performance:

Low cue ball deflection
"Cue ball deflection" is the phenomenon that occurs when the cue shaft contacts the cue ball left or right of center ("English"). Instead of traveling along the center line of the cue stick, the cue ball will travel down the table at an angle to the line on which the cue is pointing.

When using side english, "Cue ball deflection" must be compensated for in your aim. The more you have to compensate, the more likely you are to miss. Since side english is often necessary to play position on the next ball, "Cue ball deflection" is something we all have to deal with.

"Cue ball deflection" is affected by the weight difference between the tip end of the cue and the cue ball. Obviously, we can't change the weight of the cue ball, so we focused on the tip end of the shaft. By reducing the weight of the tip end of the shaft, we have reduced "Cue ball deflection". The OB-1 tests virtually equivalent to the lowest deflection conventional taper shaft on the market.

Combine low "Cue ball deflection" with the other benefits of the OB-1, and you have the best shaft on the market.

Good overall shaft feel
By far, the comment we get most often when people hit with the OB-1 is how good it feels. Recently, a highly respected BCA certified instructor said, "It feels like a single piece cue." Comments about the feel are even more common than comments about deflection.

"Exceptional feel" is not an accident. To start with, the tip end of our shaft is solid wood, including the ferrule. Secondly, the central core of the OB-1 is composed of vibration and sound dampening material, which contributes to the excellent feel. Finally, the construction and taper and radial consistency of the OB-1 add to this exceptional feel and provide an extremely consistent hit.

Good performance and good feel are no longer mutually exclusive.

Combine this "exceptional feel" with the other benefits of the OB-1, and you have the best shaft on the market.

Exceptional playing consistency
The patent pending design of the OB-1 provides for an extremely consistent cue shaft. When the cue shaft performs the same every time, a player becomes more confident.

The OB-1 shaft is constructed using six "stress relieved" segments. Each of the six segments is made of laminated hard rock maple and is machined in a manner that removes the internal stress. "Stress relieved" segments means the shaft stays straighter and is more stable.

The very nature of wood grain causes solid shafts used by competitors to have more stiffness in one direction than another. All flat laminated shafts are stiffer in the same manner. The OB-1's radial construction provides for consistent stiffness in all directions.

Straighter and more stable shafts play very consistently, which leads to confidence, and confidence helps everyone play better.

Combine this "consistency" with the other benefits of the OB-1 and you have the best "Over All" shaft on the market.

Efficient cue ball spin
The unique construction of the OB-1 combined with the long taper makes it easier to apply spin to the cue ball. Being able to spin the cue ball more gives a player confidence.

The unique patent pending construction of the OB-1 allows the use of a longer taper. Long tapers used with solid shafts typically play inconsistently, but with the added stiffness of the OB-1, the long taper gives increased cue ball spin without the loss of control or consistency.

As an added bonus, the increase in spin means less cue ball deflection. The same amount of spin is achieved by hitting closer to the center of the cue ball, which naturally deflects it less.

Combine this "added spin" with the other benefits of the OB-1, and you have the best shaft on the market.

We all want to win more games. In order to win more games, we must miss less often. Playing with the OB-1 instills a strong feeling of confidence, and this is what is required to make more shots and win more games.

How does it do this? The thing that most players talk about is how good it feels, and how confident they are playing with it. When you play with equipment you trust to help you make more shots and get better position, you are more confident and win more games.

With the OB-1, Low Deflection is Just Part of the Story

“Cue Ball Deflection” is just part of the story

The fact that, when playing with the OB-1, you don’t need to worry about deflection is just part of the story. The entire construction has deviated from the conventional path.

Straightness
Unlike “Pie piece” laminated shafts, our shaft is made up from six “stress relieved” segments. Each of these segments is made from straight grained laminated maple and machined in a manner that removes the internal stress to help insure the shaft is straight and stable. These six segments are then assembled into the shaft “blank” that is the start of the OB-1.

Radial Uniformity
Due to the unique construction of the “blank” for the OB-1, the shaft has extremely consistent stiffness no matter how you rotate it. Any Flat Laminated shaft is always stiffer in one direction than the other depending on how it is rotated. What this means for you is that you don’t need to rotate the cue to put a mark on the top before you shoot.

Control
The taper on the OB-1 is longer than most cues. In a normal shaft, this leads to inconsistent cue ball control. Due to the stiffness of the unique construction of the OB-1, there is no whippy or inconsistent feel. Actually, the longer taper combined with this stiffness gives you the benefit of increased cue ball spin when you need it.

Feel
By far the most common comment we get when someone hits with the OB-1 is how good it feels. Good performance and good feel are no longer mutually exclusive. With the OB-1, you get the performance of low deflection combined with a shaft that feels like a real shaft should feel. Part of that comes from the fact that our shaft is not hollow on the end. The final 4 inches of our shaft is all wood, including the ferrule. The other part of it comes from the use of a high density, vibration dampening foam in the core of the shaft.

You haven’t felt “solid” until you have hit with the OB-1 cue shaft.

Building the OB-1 cue shaft is a unique process in its own. Obviously, the shaft differs from other shafts out there so the construction methods are also different.

The OB-1 starts as flat laminated "Hard Rock Maple" boards. These boards
are then cut into strips, six of which will be used for each shaft. Two of these strips are shown below.

These "Strips" are then turned between centers in order to "stress relieve"
them. This step helps to ensure the shaft is straight, and stays straight.

The strips are then machined to allow them to be joined together into a bundle of six pieces.

The bundle is glued up and put in a clamp to ensure complete glue coverage and no voids or gaps.

The "Blank" comes out of the clamp ready to be made into a shaft.

The ferrule is made from flat laminated "Hard Rock Maple". The laminations are arranged so that the grain is "clocked" 45 degrees with each layer. The ferrules are made in a block that is then machined into the individual ferrules.

 

After installing the sound dampening foam core, its mostly common shaft construction steps from this point.