Are Taper Tips beyond their use by date?

[Daves]

Have read a bit of history on the evolution of tip types and sizes. Short version seems to be that Taper Tip was originally designed to help the fixing/gluing process, back when the glues available weren't that good. Parallel tip seems to be more versatile and cheaper to manufacture. Apparently, all steel shafts start out parallel tipped and are rolled again to form the Taper tip. A strong attachment to the DG shafts by the Pros was also cited as a reason why Taper Tip has persevered for so long.

So what are the Pros and cons? Would we be better off if all manufacturers moved to the .370 Parallel as the standard?

[pt73]

I've read that many OEMs like tapers as they have less assembly to do i.e. only one cut for final length

[Daves]

I've read that many OEMs like tapers as they have less assembly to do i.e. only one cut for final length

I guess that is true. On the other hand you can trim parallels for flex as well as length, and there is no need for specific shafts for each club, as all uncut parallels (of a particular model) start out basically the same as I understand it.

[goonie]

The thing I like about tapers over parallels is that most tapers are constant weight, so the shaft in your 3i is the same weight as your PW, where as most parallels (that are one length blanks) aren't (DG, Rifle, KBS), so your 3i or longest shaft is the heaviest, and your wedge shafts are the lightest, this also shows that the shafts are made differently, which you can see if you compare the step patterns on the different versions of DG shafts.

I actually like what Nippon did with the 950GH WF shafts where the short iron shafts are a little heavier than the long iron shafts

Parallels would fine if they were made as individual shafts that were constant weight or weight flowed like the nippons, I think the Project X parallels shafts are constant weight.