The driver I originally used was a Ping G425 Max. This G425 Max driver is a good driver, but it has one chronic design issue. Specifically, the weight screw on the back of the driver breaks. When the screw breaks, you can't remove it, so you have to send it in for service.
After sending it in for service twice, Ping said they didn't have the head in stock and gave me a new G430 Max instead. They also just gave me the shaft that was on the G425 Max I used before. It's just a Ping stock shaft (Alta CB). Anyway, that's how I ended up with an extra shaft.
The problem was that while I sent the G425 in for service with Ping, I went out for a round without a driver. US Ping has excellent customer service, but they're very slow with their work. For about 3 weeks, I teed off with a 3-wood without a driver, but I eventually couldn't help myself and bought a Cobra Dark Speed LS driver. After practicing with the Dark Speed LS driver for about a month, Ping sent me a replacement new G430 Max driver.
So in conclusion, I ended up with 2 drivers (G430Max, Dark Speed LS) and 1 extra shaft.
The extra shaft wasn't anything fancy like a Ventus, so I just put it away. Over the course of about a year, I alternated between using the G430 and Dark Speed while practicing, and gradually began using the Dark Speed as my main driver. They both fit well, but the Dark Speed felt better when hitting.
Even though it fit well, I was bothered by the occasional mishits, so I got a free fitting from a friend Peter. The conclusion was that the stock shaft on the Dark Speed LS was too heavy. It was 65R. Out of 14 driver tee shots in a round, the fact that 10 or 11 of them hit well is because I've adapted myself to the heavy shaft and am hitting it well, but the 1 or 2 mishits are happening because the heavy shaft reduces my swing speed, causing inconsistent left-right misses. So he said I need to use a shaft with lower weight in the 50 range and strong stiffness (because I've been hitting 65R all the time, so my basic swing itself is fast). The conclusion is to use Ventus. Haha.
So I said okay, next time I'll come and get a proper fitting and try the right shaft, and I went home.
And when I got home, I saw an Alta CB shaft lying around. This shaft is 55R. Of course, the G430 Max that's lying around also has a 55R shaft installed, but I just wanted to use the Dark Speed LS. So since it's a shaft I'm not using anyway and I'm going to get a fitting later and buy an aftermarket shaft, I thought, why not put a Cobra on the Alta CB shaft for fun and test it before then?
To do that, I needed to remove the Ping sleeve on the Alta CB shaft and attach a Cobra sleeve. When I looked it up on YouTube, I found that you need special equipment to remove a driver sleeve from a graphite shaft. But the important thing was the two steps: heat to melt the epoxy, then pull out the sleeve. I just torched it. I succeeded in removing the sleeve, but as expected, the end of the shaft got damaged. I guess the heat was too high.
So I boldly cut off the end of the shaft. I unintentionally did a tip cut. I heard that this increases shaft stiffness, but I guess that's how it is.
And I ordered a Cobra sleeve from the internet, glued it on with epoxy, attached the Dark Speed LS head, and tried hitting with it. The feel isn't bad.
I'll go out for a test round, and if it's okay, I'll use it for a while, and if there's something wrong, I'll need to go buy a shaft.
