Bump.

Honey, I'm just going to the bathroom.

"I love this time of year, I just cruise around turning heads. Made these outa wood." (Not me)

WildWing said:

I've had different length points, forearms, and buttsleeves from the same maker, even with equal length butts. I've got two 58 inch Joss cues, one very early, probably late 60s, the other, 1976. The early one has a longer handle and longer points than the 1976 one, very noticeably.

Could be conjecture, but I think it's fair to say that cuemakers of that era ran into issues with wood and such, and adjusted as they went, with the making of a cue.

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Yes indeed. But these aren't so old.

It looks to me like they have 2 or 3 dimension sets they work from for these. Of course there would still be variation.

These cues span from the early 90s up to about 10 years ago by the way.

So what I am saying is that in their production they probably have sets of jigs and templates for the design and build off that at stations. We know they work at production stations. So there is a degree of consistency with variations.

On the top cues, the ones on the right, the rings line up. And the points are even. That's assembly and QC. They are the more expensive cues. The cues one the left, the Cobra cues, have the most variation in consistency of their construction. Rings don't line up, and points are uneven.

Beyond that though, the dimensions of the butt sleeves, handles, and forearms seem to run in sets and are consistent among a particular brand. So, it seems a particular set of jigs and templates might be dedicated to a run for a brand.

Just the musings I have based on what I have seen. Lots I don't know or have any idea about but it's fun to consider the possibilities. In any case these cues definitely display the spectrum of quality available short of the best KaoKao has made. The best are challenging to differentiate from the best Adam/Helmstetter made.

Glad for the players that this new event, with nice prize money, has been added. Calling it a world championship is, of course, comical. Soon, we may have sanctioned world championships in eight ball last pocket, one ball one pocket, spot shot shooting, and maybe even payball.

If this trend of calling anything and everything a world championship continues, the next generation of players may produce a player with twenty world championships. Earl Strickland, with a mere three, will be largely forgotten.

JPB2 said:

In Las Vegas this year he spent some time at the booth with a billiard table set up. He was very enthusiastic about it and giving advice on shots. I enjoyed that. Did you stick with pool or did you venture into caroms? I don’t know how good he is strictly as a 3C player but he clearly knows what the cue ball is doing and has the accuracy and stroke to play anything well.

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I have seen him play 3 cushion and he definitely knows what he is doing. He loves all games.

My research strongly indicates that replacing the facings reduces the problem.

jay helfert said:

You don't lose the game in the above case. You are forced to actually play the game! Big difference. I guess some people like watching pros clear the table like it's nothing. I don't. I want to see some play between where they are forced to play safeties and smart pool. You know, like a real game of pool. But that's just me.

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At a pro level. 8-ball should be elitist…..take those bar rules to a league.