How to examine if a cue's straight or not?

timothysoong

timothysoong

TS Billiards
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Okay here's what happen, a friend of mine bought a custom made cue, which has a standard pool size shaft, whereas the butt, he chose to have it smaller like 29.5mm - 30mm. And then when he got the cue, he played with it, he said it was awesome. And he played way better than when he used the house cue back then. then he hold the whole cue horizontally to check if its straight, and he said its straight. However when he'd do like most people normally do, which is roll the whole cue on the pool table, it was kinda like bumpy as in not straight, but when he roll the shaft itself and butt itself, its so straight. I tried playing with it, its fine, but the fact that its not straight when he'd roll it on the pool table bothers him so much, that its affecting his pool game. So yeah, what i think that caused this was because the butt was smaller and the shaft was standard size. So yeah, whats the best way to examine if a pool cue is straight or not.
 
D-X69 said:
Okay here's what happen, a friend of mine bought a custom made cue, which has a standard pool size shaft, whereas the butt, he chose to have it smaller like 29.5mm - 30mm. And then when he got the cue, he played with it, he said it was awesome. And he played way better than when he used the house cue back then. then he hold the whole cue horizontally to check if its straight, and he said its straight. However when he'd do like most people normally do, which is roll the whole cue on the pool table, it was kinda like bumpy as in not straight, but when he roll the shaft itself and butt itself, its so straight. I tried playing with it, its fine, but the fact that its not straight when he'd roll it on the pool table bothers him so much, that its affecting his pool game. So yeah, what i think that caused this was because the butt was smaller and the shaft was standard size. So yeah, whats the best way to examine if a pool cue is straight or not.
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Rolling them is generally a good way. If they both roll perfect when taken apart, it could be the joint is bad? Or maybe it was just because of the diameter of the butt?
Really hard to say without seeing the cue. Take it to a repair guy in your area.
 
If both the shaft and the butt roll straight seperately and the cue rolls with a wobble when together my guess is the joint it off. Either the pin is sightly crooked or the facing on the joint where the shaft meets the butt is off.

Personally I would get it fixed if I were him, if the joint is off and the cue is thus a slight bit of a V then it can actually mess up the shots. In effect if you are aiming senter ball and the point of the exagerated V is to your left then as you stroke through the cueball the tip is moving right as you stroke through the ball.
 
D-X69 said:
we'd bring it to several repair factories, they'd said its pretty straight. =S
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Why in the heck did you post this same message 3 times in a flipping row? I could understand if it was lag induced or a computer freezing, but those 3 posts are all spaced out over the course of 1/2 hour.
 
D-X69 said:
Okay here's what happen, a friend of mine bought a custom made cue, which has a standard pool size shaft, whereas the butt, he chose to have it smaller like 29.5mm - 30mm. And then when he got the cue, he played with it, he said it was awesome. And he played way better than when he used the house cue back then. then he hold the whole cue horizontally to check if its straight, and he said its straight. However when he'd do like most people normally do, which is roll the whole cue on the pool table, it was kinda like bumpy as in not straight, but when he roll the shaft itself and butt itself, its so straight. I tried playing with it, its fine, but the fact that its not straight when he'd roll it on the pool table bothers him so much, that its affecting his pool game. So yeah, what i think that caused this was because the butt was smaller and the shaft was standard size. So yeah, whats the best way to examine if a pool cue is straight or not.
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Good example of why you should not roll cues on pool tables.

Hold the cue like a rifle and sight down its length - if it looks straight,
it's straight enough to be a cue.

Dale
 
lay it on a flat surface.... gently roll it in one direction... and LOOK...

if you can't see a wobble.. there isn't one

it doesn't get much simpler than that..:rolleyes:
 
Your cue might be bipolar. Or check the joint. See if the two pieces are flush to each other. If not, the screw is crooked. If they are flush, check to see if the joint itself is straight to the butt. If you still don't see any discrepancies, check the table. If the table say "Mattel" or "Lego" on the side, then it's the table.
 
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Celtic said:
Why in the heck did you post this same message 3 times in a flipping row? I could understand if it was lag induced or a computer freezing, but those 3 posts are all spaced out over the course of 1/2 hour.
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Sorry I didn't did it intentionally or spammed, I was using a mobile device, and I had set an auto reload of 20mins, and I post that post and then I forgot to exit my browser and it auto reloads so it repost till I realized I had reposted it 3 times. My apologies

softshot said:
lay it on a flat surface.... gently roll it in one direction... and LOOK...

if you can't see a wobble.. there isn't one

it doesn't get much simpler than that..:rolleyes:
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There was a wobble, but strangely and from the wobble I hold the cue like a rifle to check the bend, but its still straight. And when I play with it, its perfectly straight. Strangely, there is a wobble, and its not the table, I tried other cues(standard size butt 32mm) its rolling flawlessly. I wonder whats the problem. =S
 
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It's possible too that either the pin or the tapped hole is not dead center. If there's an insert in the shaft it's very easy for this to be the case. The OD could be centered while the inner thread is not.
 
To find out if your cue is truly straight, take it to a reputable cuesmith. He'll put it between the centers on his lathe and check the runout (he'll spin it).
He should also place the butt in the headstock, with the joint pin protruding out a couple if inches, and spin it to check for a straight pin.
Sometimes a less accomplished cuemaker will install a pin off-center, then, rather than remove it and start over, he will put the butt and shaft together and turn the cue as one piece, mating the shaft to the butt. This is poor quality work and should never be tolerated.
By-the-way, if you are at the poolhall and want to check a cue for straightness, unscrew it and place the butt on a table with the bumper-end resting on a rail and the pin end-resting on the table surface. Roll the butt back and forth in a small arc and look for straightness. Especially in the pin.
Repeat this procedure with the shaft. Look at the first couple of inches on the tip end. If there is a slight wobble there the cue has probably been used to break with.

Oh, yeah. "MERRY CHRISTMAS".
 
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Tramp Steamer said:
To find out if your cue is truly straight, take it to a reputable cuesmith. He'll put it between the centers on his lathe and check the runout (he'll spin it).
He should also place the butt in the headstock, with the joint pin protruding out a couple if inches, and spin it to check for a straight pin.
Sometimes a less accomplished cuemaker will install a pin off-center, then, rather than remove it and start over, he will put the butt and shaft together and turn the cue as one piece, mating the shaft to the butt. This is poor quality work and should never be tolerated.
By-the-way, if you are at the poolhall and want to check a cue for straightness, unscrew it and place the butt on a table with the bumper-end resting on a rail and the pin end-resting on the table surface. Roll the butt back and forth in a small arc and look for straightness. Especially in the pin.
Repeat this procedure with the shaft. Look at the first couple of inches on the tip end. If there is a slight wobble there the cue has probably been used to break with.
Oh, yeah. "MERRY CHRISTMAS".
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This can happen? From breaking.
 
Never roll the cue or even sight down it to see if it is straight. Instead just shoot with it until you miss and then you will know the cue is crooked. And from then on blame all misses on the crooked cue. If you roll it and find it is really straight you willl no longer be able to use that excuse. So that is why you never roll it. :smile:
 
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