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Is it worth it?

Shaft flex vary, so it's a good idea to have all the shafts in a set of irons match. One way to do this is to get fregquency matched set of shafts.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by frequency balancing, but I'm guessing you are inquiring about a "frequency-matched" set of irons? If so, here's the low down on this. Is it worth dissembling your current set to nibble at the shaft tips to get a perfect freq. slope? -- Absolutely not. Even stock irons bought off a rack SHOULD be close enough. If you are noticing inconsistencies then you can get them checked easy enough. One of the reasons I'm a big proponent of custom-made sets is that these issues are never in question. But, when the ole' lady over in China assembles these box-store sets, who knows what she is doing. But anyway, for most golfers the irons will get stiffer as they get shorter. This does not have to be a perfect slope, but something close is appropiate. Now, seniors or slow-swinging ladies may of have need for a very shallow slope, or none at all. When a clubmaker touts a frequency-matched sets, its little more than eye-candy for customer letting him know that this guy probably has a good idea of how to assemble a set properly.

From an expense standpoint, it wouldn't be worth redoing an existing set of clubs, but from a performance standpoint, it would have to be. Otherwise why bother to frequency match a custom set. I know that incorrect splining is much more evident in graphite shafts than steel, but it does make a difference which usually shows up in some form of inaccuracy in individual irons within a set. There are many other factors than can cause problems, but for the sake of argument, let's stick to shaft frequency and splining. If you have irons within your set that you can't seem to hit as accurately as the others, it's highly likely there is a problem with the splining of that shaft. Incorrect splining of a graphite shafted driver is readily apparent as soon as you hit it. The club will have a dead-feel, no feedback, will tend to spray the ball to one side and will probably result in shorter driving distance. I've had a couple of drivers like that and probably all of us have because most of the club manufacturers don't spline their clubs. But one thing you can bank on, all the pro's clubs are splined correctly and are as perfect as humanly possible. I'm not a club builder, but I know all shafts have a natural direction they want to bend and if they are forced to bend some other direction, the performance of that product will be compromised whether it be fishing rod or golf club. Interested to hear any comments- never to late to learn something!!!

From an expense standpoint, it wouldn't be worth redoing an existing set of clubs, but from a performance standpoint, it would have to be.

I'm not sure I'd agree with this. You say it's not worth the expense, but how much would it be worth to play better golf, maybe 2 or 3 strokes less per round? If the clubs you're playing are not set up right, and it's costing you a few strokes per round, how much would it be worth to correct that? Fact is most golfers will pay $400 for a new driver that will not reduce their score at all. So why not spend that money and have a set of irons rebuilt when you say it makes a difference? Assuming the heads and shaft are of good quality, why not spend the money to have the set corrected?

I think it would depend on the clubs, and how much it means to the owner to play well.

A couple of things here. I will disagree whole-heartedly with the arguement that its more important to spine-align graphite shafts than steel. From experience steel shafts have much larger spines overall than do quality graphite shafts and therefore more inconsistencies can result if a set of irons are not orientated in the same fashion. This effects feel, precision, and frequency. Secondly, if your current set is OEM and there aren't any really odd feeling irons in the set, there is a very good chance that the frequency slope is close enough. Again, it is not worth the expense to have them matched, IMO. Besides, do you know exactly what slope is best for you? The exception is if you NEED adjusting. That is, if you are a particularly strong golfer, for instance, you may want to increase the frequency differences between clubs. Or, if you use a 4-iron from 150, you may want to soften up the short irons so the slope is flatter. Even the biggest hack hobbyiest can follow mfg. tipping suggestions and ensure a 7g differential between heads when assembing. This, a vast majority of the time, will result in a freq. slope that will work for the average golfer. Again, seeing a qualified clubmaker for a custom set eliminates alot of questions, which, in itself, may help your game as well.

Now, is it worth dissembling your current set to spine the shafts? This, imo, is a much more interesting question. But, even so, it is still debatable. The important question is -- how do you feel with your current set? Is your 7i lacking distance or harsh feeling?

I will not build a wood or irons with a graphite shaft, without doing a spine alignment on the shaft first. And while I agree with you on steel shaft for iron sets. I'm not having any succuss with a spine finder with steel shafts. I don't honestly know why, but I can't seem to find a spine with steel shafts. No problem with graphite shafts, just steel one. It would appear I'm missing something, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong or just not doing.

Well, I got the steel shaft problem taken care of with a call to JB at J. Ballard Enterprises, the maker of the spine finder I'm now using. With his help, I'm good to go.

Absolutely no way.

Stock Iron shafts tend to be the most diametrically misaligned set of shafts a clubfitter will find.

I cannot tell you how many times we've pulled OEM iron sets and found the shafts having a deflection differential of 13 -15cpms or more...meaning that within one set of irons, the shaft flex varied over an entire flex.

Matter of fact, as I'm sitting here in my shop typing this, I can tell you theres a set of Mizuno pull outs that were grossly misaligned and had shaft wobble like a drunken sailor on New Years.

Indacup: I agree with you on this, and it's one good reason I don't recommend any buy a driver on E-bay. Sure, the price may be pretty good, but the shaft may be installed in the wrong alignment, and the club doesn't play like the one the person tried at a shop. So unless a person intended to pull the shaft and have it aligned properly, E-bay is not a good idea. One could get lucky of course, but the odds are against it.

After reading this I feel like running to my clubmaker...

Yes, a clubfitter will find that the shafts are wobbling all over the place, its ubiquitous. However, the fact remains that 90% of the customers won't notice benefit by tweaking the frequencies so that there is a perfect slope between the irons. I was strictly talking about frequencies there. As in, leaving the orientations of the shafts alone and tip trimming the individual irons. Look, I know the official answer for clubmakers as far as spine aligning, freq. matching and the like. What I'm saying is that if OEMs follow standardized tipping for a set of Iron shafts, they will be playable for the average consumer. It has to be, otherwise you know what would happen. The original question was if it is worth the money to pull the shafts, nibble the tips and spin them and have them reassembled. Will it help? Probably, it definitely won't hurt...is it worth $200 lets say? I guess its up to the individual and their financial situation.

Now you went into shaft orientation which introduces a whole new dimension of added benefits. Yes, orientation and frequency are related but my quote there was in reference to freq. only. Now, if you were to ask me if its worth $100 to pull the shafts, spine align and frequency match each iron and I may give you another answer. Otherwise you are abdicating guys spending $800 on a set of clubs and then another $200 to take them apart. What we need to do is educate the recreational golfer and have their first inkling to be to go to a custom component outfitter and have the set not only freq. matched and the shafts flo'd, but have the clubs custom fitted right from the start. But, as it stands now, the vast majority of guys simply go to Dick's and buy the shiney new clubs sitting in the rack. These are probably not the guys asking if its worth it to have the shaft pulled and worked on, because if they were that concerned about performance they would've gone to see a PCS guy right from the start.

Steel shafts are usually much more consistant in their wall thicknesses and don't show a spine as easily as graphite since they are made by extrusion. Graphite is rolled on a mandrel like toilet paper, and that means one side will always have one more layer than the other, so the spine is much more pronounced and easier to find.

wb4tjh: You make is sound like they wrap one layer of cloth around the mandrel, and that means there is a part of the shaft with one more layer than the rest. NOT TRUE. Most all graphite shafts have at least 8 thinner layers, with the ends of each layer staggered around the mandral at egual increments, which means there or 8 seams, not one, with equel spacing between the seams. Some of the better shaft have 20 or more really thin layers of cloth, again with equal spacing of the seams, for even better consistance around the shaft. While I agree, with most graphite shafts you can find a spine, it's not because the wrap the cloth around the mandel like toilet paper.
As for steel shafts. I'm not aware that they make them by extrusion. I could be wrong, but it believe all steel shafts are made by bending the steal around a mandrel, and welding it at the seam. If you look inside a steel shaft, you can see the welded seam, so I don't see how it could be an extrusion, which wouldn't have a seam.

Wasnt sure about the whole frequency balancing thing before i read this thread,now however it is all as clear as mud,maybe after a few beers i could follow it,will try again in a minute or three.