Wingnut, I hadn't thought to try a soft wood. I'll definitely give that a go though. Heck, maybe even something like balsa from the hobby store would work, though that's probably too far the other extreme. There must be some other suitable soft woods too though.
YORNOC, I have considered aluminum, and tried some of the larger JAZZ that were laying around. But I came to the conclusion that none of them would be soft spined enough for an arrow that short, at that low a draw weight. Was that conclusion incorrect, do you think?
Thanks for your thoughts, guys.