@louierev07 well, as a general rule every 2 inches you cut off will increase the flex by 10 (total stick length). I guess the Ai9, that is cut higher will have a different position of flex point than the other one cut at different height. If the total length is equal, there will be nearly no difference in overall flex. Though, these two sticks may feel different, you will have to try. What I experienced in the past, plugs do affect stick feel and flex! Wood plugs, if long enough (> 1 inch ), will more or less stiffen the shaft. You can get an oggie plug that flexes more with the shaft than wood plugs, but it will also change feeling and flex. I've not tried a lot with compostie plugs, so not much experience for that. For the last stick, that I converted for myself, I tried out wood plugs with increasing length to stiffen it up the way i like the flex. It was a pro stock Warrior DT1 (+ Warrior Dolomite Blade) with shaft flex 80 ... and I prefer something like ~ 85 - 90. The final wood plug did the trick for me (~ 2inches).