penguin said:

Several WNT pros I have talked to have said that the undercutting is intentional.

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overlord said:

I don't think Ernie is still working.

If he was, a refinish and rewrap along with a new shafts would be the ticket.

Those old shafts probably aren't straight.

Who else could do the work and match the rings........?

If the butt is warped then it ain't worth much......

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fjk said:

I can't tell for sure, but it may have some veneer missing here. Maybe it's a reflection.
View attachment 909287

This is not normal. I have the same cue (original) and mine are jet black. The bottom shaft doesn't match.
View attachment 909288

In terms of a refinish, opinions very on this. Personally, I'd refinish as opposed to having it look like that. Plus, sealing a cue protects it.

I have an old Gus with no finish left on it. Every time I see Bary he runs his hands over the points. He said as long as he can't feel the points, he'd recommend leaving it as-is. He said when he starts to feel the points though, it's time to protect the cue.

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David in FL said:

I think I would probably take the under, but ball in hand after the break makes an enormous difference, as does a magic rack…

I don't think either of us would be stealing with whatever we picked though...

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DieselPete said:

OK, I think that a lot of us would have a break and run in ONE day if we are actually breaking and trying to run out, over and over, and only have to do it one time.

But if the goal, as I assume it is, is to say, "I will break and run THIS RACK, and this is my ONLY attempt today," then it could take quite a while (or it randomly could still be done in a day or two).

QUESTION:

ChatGPT (for what that is worth) tells me that a 600 Fargo could break and run 5-10% of the time on a 9-foot table.

For a small wager, would you bet a 600 Fargo would need 10 days or less, or 11 days or more to break and run, when they only have ONE chance per day, and the rack is identified in advance. It CANNOT be ten racks in a row on one day. It must be ONE rack/attempt per day.

I would bet the over. 11 days or more.

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muskyed said:

They look to be too much cleaner to me. When blowing up your pictures the balls appear to be coated. That comes from trying to clean them multiple times in a row with full strength solution, especially when trying to make old balls shine like new. Not only will you get marks like that when doing this, the balls will not play right.
When I built my Diamond clone ball polisher and first started using it, I got marks like that. I really got those marks when I offered to do a set of well used balls on one of the bars I go to tables for them. Polished them once and didn't see much difference, so I polished them multiple times. Went back a couple days later and the balls looked terrible. Just full of those collision marks. Did the same thing On my good set of balls at home, polished them a couple times in a row and got collision marks like that.
While the balls will look shinny, if you look close they will have a somewhat ripple look to them. That is polish build up. I quickly learned to only polish once, and dilute the Aramith polish about 20% with alcohol, then only use about 2 drops per 8 balls per cycle. I polish the balls I use at home about every two weeks, they look like new, play like new, have no wax build up, and have no collision marks now.
Others on here use a much more diluted solution of Aramith, but spray it on and have good results, so are probably ending up with the same amount of solution on the balls.
So to summarize, by what I see in your pictures, it looks like collision marks, and or cue tip marks from using too much cleaner. You need to get that buildup off, manually or by playing a lot without cleaning them again. Then go to regular Aramith cleaner in small quantities. Do not ever put a drop of cleaner on ea ball.
Two drops per 8 balls is plenty. The balls in your picture have a very coated look.

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