Aramith Cue Balls - Some History from Tom Simpson
Here's a 2000 RSB post from Tom Simpson (the Elephant Balls guy) with some interesting info about the Saluc/Aramith cue balls.
Apparently the red circle and blue circle cue balls are made from different resins, which means they could act differently even if the same weight. Nothing here about the measles ball, but it could also be made of a different resin.
The other interesting stuff here is that both kinds were being made by another company before 1981 and were identical then, and that back in those days the manufacturer made lighter "super draw" cue balls for room owners.
pj
chgo
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From: tom simpson <tsimp...@columbus.rr.com>
Subject: Re: Blue Circle vs. Red Circle - the truth is out there
Date: 2000/04/25
[snip another poster's comments]
::You must have spoken with my buddy Bob Simpson (no relation)
:: of Hyatt Ball. I called him today to look into this matter.
::He made the Centennials until 1981, when Saluc "stole the
::contract by taking a big loss on it." He assures me that yes
::indeed, when Hyatt made them, the Blue Circles and the Red
::Circles were identical. The only difference was the Blue
::Circles were held to a tighter tolerance (+/- .001).
::
::I suspect that Saluc is not maintaining this similarity.
::Their web site says they are using a different formula for
::the Amariths vs. the Aramith Super Pro's, so it's entirely
:: possible that the material is different.
::
::Here's a tidbit that may clear up some ancient mysteries for
::some of you: Bob told me that he would occasionally get
:: orders for "draw cueballs". He would make batches of
::cueballs up to 10% lighter than normal (with the same
::diameter) and fill these orders. Ten percent! He said they
::were usually bought by room owners. We speculated that the
::room owners had the idea that players would feel they played
::well and got lots of ball action on Room X's "great
::equipment." The draw cueballs were not marked in any way.
::
::I have an inquiry in to Saluc, and I'll report what I learn
:: (if anything) in this thread. It's pretty silly that we
::don't know this basic fact.
::
:: tom simpson
It took two months and three tries, but today I got a response
from Saluc. Here it is:
Dear Mr. Simpson,
Please find below our comments on your April 25 e-mail.
1. In our top line of American Pool balls 2" 1/4 we are
manufacturing two sets :
a) "SUPER ARAMITH PRO" set (blue box) with a red triangle cue
ball
b) "BRUNSWICK CENTENNIAL" set (Brunswick box) with a blue
circle cue ball
For your information, the above 2 products are exactly the
same : the only difference is their design.
2. The "red circle" cue balls are produced with a different
kind of cast phenolic resin. This is the only difference with
the above 2 cue balls.
Best regards,
SALUC S.A. - Belgium
At least now we know SOMETHING! I replied with more questions
about why the different resin, is the resilience the same, and
so on. I'll report further, if I get anywhere.
It could still be true that the Blue Circles and the Red
Circles are different weights, since they are different
materials, but they didn't specifically address that question.
I'm sure the language barrier is part of the problem.
tom simpson