enimrac said:

I took a few years from playing off, but coming back into the scene i'm pretty surprised by the price of these cues now. I had an ebay era DP cue that was given to me sometime around 2013 when they were around $150. It played well and had a lot of work for the price. Its crazy to me now seeing them posted for $600-700.

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Yeah people are posting them up on eBay at those prices but there not selling.

I've bought two 1/1 cues in the past year and did not pay more than $150 for either. I also purchased one of his pre-retirement cues that supposedly cost $1900 new for $275.

The single greatest driver of price bumps on the cues is people hitting Buy Now without doing any research thinking there getting a great cue and then actually doing their homework afterwards. Talked to one seller on eBay that bought a 1/1 locally for $300 not knowing the history thought he was going to flip it for 1k and sold it to me for after having it listed for a year for $150.

Please don't confuse ask with get....

I took a few years from playing off, but coming back into the scene i'm pretty surprised by the price of these cues now. I had an ebay era DP cue that was given to me sometime around 2013 when they were around $150. It played well and had a lot of work for the price. Its crazy to me now seeing them posted for $600-700.

5 pointer made for me by Dan Janes at the Joss shop.

If the points are real splice (half of full) it changes the the feel and hit.
The splice was used to get better contact in times when the glues that was used wasn't that good.
Inlay point are just for looks trying to emulate the splice look.
Rings and inlays were used to adjust weight and balance point that also affect the feel and hit.

With modern construction methods, you don't need point, rings or inlays but they sure do look nice.

JPB2 said:

I see what you are saying but I think the veneered ones are sharp. The main point can look a little rounded but they avoid the look you get with the rounded veneer ones you see on some cnc points. The construction of the cue is not old school splice, which we can argue about. But building them on a core I think leads to a good, solid feeling cue. I’m not dogging on full splice or short splice cues, I like them. Just saying some of the new Joss cues look good to me and I often like classic looking cues.

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you can get sharp points with CNC inlays. I don't get why they the big American brands use cheap machines that can't get the job done.
Bill McDaniel made sharp CNC points 30 years ago (if not before), you have Asian cheap cues that have sharp points (real inlay) like this Elite cue (I actually have it) that looks very nice.
The only thing I don't like about my Schon cues is the rounded points, but they play great... so I try to ignore them.
I'm pretty sure that Joss can custom make a cue for you with sharp points and a design that you like.

Don't buy cheap, you'll end up thinking that you are missing something (and you are and will) and eventually spend more on upgrading/changing/testing.... buy the best fro the start.
Get the Predator Revo shaft. I would go with the 12.9mm as it is closer in feel to a 314 shaft.
Non of the CF shafts feels or sound like wood, if you like wood, stick with it.
The JFlowers SMO is somewhat closer to 314 in flexibility but they don't make it in 5/16x14

CocoboloCowboy said:

My best Pool playing friend and I were debating weather Points, Inlays, Veneers, ringwork, and other embellishments effect the hit of a Cue.

He says his next custom Cue will be a plane jane with no nothing to effect hit of a cue.

I think he is gone off the deep end as his best hitting cue has 8 points in the Forearm, and another 8 points in the Butt, and it is his best playing cue.

I do not think embellishments effect a cue hit, but it does make em pretty.

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Maybe wraps, pins, joints, finish and weight bolts have negative affect on cues. Just get a long stick and put a leather tip on it and you should be godd.