Kenny Koo Kue Review
I received the cue from Kenny Koo about 4 weeks ago and have been playing with it since. It is time to do a review of this fine cue.
First the technical stuff:
Butt
28.875" joint to end of butt cap
Joint .850" flat faced, brass 3/8 x 10 pin
Butt cap 1.260" on straight taper
Weight as delivered 15.56 oz
Weight bolt in butt cap end
Balance point around 18.25" from butt cap end
Shaft:
4 oz, 29" long, modified european taper, 12.85mm tip, .750" ivory ferrule, medium kamui tip (brown) as delivered.
Description:
Straight grain maple forearm, 4 long ebony V-groove points, black ring at joint, 3/8 x 10 flat faced joint, ebony butt sleeve with ivory hoppe ring, short black linen butt cap with screw in bumper, black elephant ear wrap.
Build quality:
Cue is straight both apart and together as verified on the lathe. Finish is about perfect. Clear is Dupont Chromaclear sanded to a very smooth surface and polished to a high shine. Sighting down the cue I can find no
dips, wiggles or waves in the finish and no divets or imperfections, very nice! Simple black collars at the joint are matching on both butt and shaft. 4 long ebony points into a slightly figured warm caramel color straight grain maple forearm. The forearm is 11.75" to the "A" joint and the points are 8.5" long or about 2.75" from the bottom of the joint ring, very pleasing size for a plain point cue with no veneers. The ebony points are dead even and razor sharp with 3/32" gap between the base of the points. I dont say this lightly, this is Kenny's first cue in which he cut the points in and built the forearm entirely himself. This is outstanding for a first attempt! The wrap length is 12.5" long and is the perfect elephant ear wrap that Kenny's wrap reputation is built on, enough said! Ebony butt sleeve with 5/16" ivory hoppe ring and 5/16" black linen butt cap. The butt cap is recessed for a 1" diameter screw in bumper attached to a weight bolt. The hoppe look is well executed in good proportion on this cue. I like the traditional look of a hoppe and the thinner ivory rings, Kenny captured it well. The fit of the shaft threads are smooth and snug with no slop when threaded onto the joint pin. The shaft is smooth and slick without taper waves. The joint finish of the shaft matches the butt finish in quality. The ivory ferrule is .750" long and threaded through without a cap and makes no ping or tink noises.
In use, the cue has no unusual noises, rattles or tinks. I would put Kennny's build quality on par with any well established cue maker, it is outstanding.
Playing impressions:
After playing with the cue, as delivered, for a few days, I could not get use to the weight/balance combination and changed the weight bolt, from steel to aluminum, dropping the weight to 19 oz on the cue. This seemed to work
perfectly for me. I really like the medium black kamui tips better than the standard medium and also changed this to my liking. The cue delivers a crisp and fairly stiff hit but still gives good feed back. The cue was very easy to adapt to and I was stroking quickly. Although hit is subjective, this cue works well for my style of play working like a natural extension of my arm. I believe the only item Kenny forgot to build into this cue was the "does not miss" button on the bottom. If you order one, have him install that for you!!! A hardy well done goes out to Kenny Koo for this simple, elegant and fantastic player cue!
BTW This cue also came with a set of joint protectors constructed by Alton of Cue Caps fame! All I can say about these......they are just perfect, thank you.
With regards,
Kenneth Murrell
I received the cue from Kenny Koo about 4 weeks ago and have been playing with it since. It is time to do a review of this fine cue.
First the technical stuff:
Butt
28.875" joint to end of butt cap
Joint .850" flat faced, brass 3/8 x 10 pin
Butt cap 1.260" on straight taper
Weight as delivered 15.56 oz
Weight bolt in butt cap end
Balance point around 18.25" from butt cap end
Shaft:
4 oz, 29" long, modified european taper, 12.85mm tip, .750" ivory ferrule, medium kamui tip (brown) as delivered.
Description:
Straight grain maple forearm, 4 long ebony V-groove points, black ring at joint, 3/8 x 10 flat faced joint, ebony butt sleeve with ivory hoppe ring, short black linen butt cap with screw in bumper, black elephant ear wrap.
Build quality:
Cue is straight both apart and together as verified on the lathe. Finish is about perfect. Clear is Dupont Chromaclear sanded to a very smooth surface and polished to a high shine. Sighting down the cue I can find no
dips, wiggles or waves in the finish and no divets or imperfections, very nice! Simple black collars at the joint are matching on both butt and shaft. 4 long ebony points into a slightly figured warm caramel color straight grain maple forearm. The forearm is 11.75" to the "A" joint and the points are 8.5" long or about 2.75" from the bottom of the joint ring, very pleasing size for a plain point cue with no veneers. The ebony points are dead even and razor sharp with 3/32" gap between the base of the points. I dont say this lightly, this is Kenny's first cue in which he cut the points in and built the forearm entirely himself. This is outstanding for a first attempt! The wrap length is 12.5" long and is the perfect elephant ear wrap that Kenny's wrap reputation is built on, enough said! Ebony butt sleeve with 5/16" ivory hoppe ring and 5/16" black linen butt cap. The butt cap is recessed for a 1" diameter screw in bumper attached to a weight bolt. The hoppe look is well executed in good proportion on this cue. I like the traditional look of a hoppe and the thinner ivory rings, Kenny captured it well. The fit of the shaft threads are smooth and snug with no slop when threaded onto the joint pin. The shaft is smooth and slick without taper waves. The joint finish of the shaft matches the butt finish in quality. The ivory ferrule is .750" long and threaded through without a cap and makes no ping or tink noises.
In use, the cue has no unusual noises, rattles or tinks. I would put Kennny's build quality on par with any well established cue maker, it is outstanding.
Playing impressions:
After playing with the cue, as delivered, for a few days, I could not get use to the weight/balance combination and changed the weight bolt, from steel to aluminum, dropping the weight to 19 oz on the cue. This seemed to work
perfectly for me. I really like the medium black kamui tips better than the standard medium and also changed this to my liking. The cue delivers a crisp and fairly stiff hit but still gives good feed back. The cue was very easy to adapt to and I was stroking quickly. Although hit is subjective, this cue works well for my style of play working like a natural extension of my arm. I believe the only item Kenny forgot to build into this cue was the "does not miss" button on the bottom. If you order one, have him install that for you!!! A hardy well done goes out to Kenny Koo for this simple, elegant and fantastic player cue!
BTW This cue also came with a set of joint protectors constructed by Alton of Cue Caps fame! All I can say about these......they are just perfect, thank you.
With regards,
Kenneth Murrell
:grin-square:
