On a 58 inch cue where do you like your balance point. Most of the cues I have played with had the balance point at 19 - 19 1/2 inches. My present cue has the balance point at about 18 - 18 1/4 inches and I find I like it. Just wondering what the consensus is.
BalancePoint
- Thread starter AK-Stick
- Start date
you could get banned using language like that!!
What do you mean "consensus"?? You trying to start trouble? The one thing we can count on about AZB, we will never have consensus on anything!
While we usually measure the distance from the back, the balance point from the tip of the cue is what matters. My sixty inch cue has a balance point a little over twenty inches from the back, rare for anyone trying it to even notice that it is long. Likewise, your cue balances very close to the same place a 59" cue does, both measured from the front.
Favorite balance points vary. Open bridge fans tend to like a little more forward weight, closed bridge shooters might be just as happy with something neutral. What really feels funky if you aren't used to it is a rear balanced cue with the weight behind your grip hand. The tip wants to point up at the ceiling all the time and you have to hold down pressure on your bridge to shoot with an open bridge.
I guess I like my balance point about 39.5 to 40 inches, from the tip.
Hu
What do you mean "consensus"?? You trying to start trouble? The one thing we can count on about AZB, we will never have consensus on anything!
While we usually measure the distance from the back, the balance point from the tip of the cue is what matters. My sixty inch cue has a balance point a little over twenty inches from the back, rare for anyone trying it to even notice that it is long. Likewise, your cue balances very close to the same place a 59" cue does, both measured from the front.
Favorite balance points vary. Open bridge fans tend to like a little more forward weight, closed bridge shooters might be just as happy with something neutral. What really feels funky if you aren't used to it is a rear balanced cue with the weight behind your grip hand. The tip wants to point up at the ceiling all the time and you have to hold down pressure on your bridge to shoot with an open bridge.
I guess I like my balance point about 39.5 to 40 inches, from the tip.
Hu
I'm not an experienced player, but measuring from the tip makes more sense to me.
I believe the bridge hand location is similar for many people ? But the stroking hand location is different depending on the persons height/wingspan ?
Maybe a short armed person prefers a more forward balance point since to get their stroke forearm 90 degrees to the cue, their hand location is more forward compared to a long armed person ?
If this thinking has any validity, then measuring from the tip seems to be a better method ?
I believe the bridge hand location is similar for many people ? But the stroking hand location is different depending on the persons height/wingspan ?
Maybe a short armed person prefers a more forward balance point since to get their stroke forearm 90 degrees to the cue, their hand location is more forward compared to a long armed person ?
If this thinking has any validity, then measuring from the tip seems to be a better method ?
The bridge length you use has a great deal to do with where your rear hand falls on the cue. Probably even more than arm length.
Maybe I'm an idiot, but I find where my grip hand falls on the cue has much more to do with the shot itself than anything else. I prefer a bridge between 8 and 10 inches, but I find in the course of the game that my actual bridge is anywhere from 1 to 15 inches, again, depending on the shot. My preference for bridge length seems to affect my ability to adapt to a different length more than it affects where my hands hit the cue or how I react to the way the cue balances. That being said, I prefer the balance point to be in the forearm, just anywhere between the joint and the "grip", because I know no matter how wonky the shot, I'm never going to grip the cue at the joint.
If your grip hand is going to be in the best position at contact with the cue ball which is straight down from the elbo the place where it falls on the cue will vary based on how far your bridge hand is from the cue ball.
I like Bobs avitar
I ask all my customers where the balance point is relative to the tip. That is a constant value that does not change. When measuring from the butt of the cue, did they include or exclude the length of the bumper. That is more of a differential than the height difference of a cue tip.
The tip of the cue is the reference for bridge length , which in turn is the bases of where the cue is held on average.
I think the only reason for measuring the balance point from the cue butt is because it can be easily measured with a Yard stick.
I ask all my customers where the balance point is relative to the tip. That is a constant value that does not change. When measuring from the butt of the cue, did they include or exclude the length of the bumper. That is more of a differential than the height difference of a cue tip.
The tip of the cue is the reference for bridge length , which in turn is the bases of where the cue is held on average.
I think the only reason for measuring the balance point from the cue butt is because it can be easily measured with a Yard stick.
I think it's the other way around. Your wing span (the distance between your back and front hands) should be constant, so the question is how much of the cue sticks out in front and back. Front (bridge length) is obviously the important measure.
pj
chgo
I agree totally with that but the poster i was directing that at seemed to indicate his grip hand was about the same no matter what bridge length he was using and i found that very strange.
I might have worded my thoughts poorly.
I was suggesting many people regardless of size, place the bridge hand in a similar position, but the grip hand location varies more due to differences in peoples wingspan.
Even on long stroke shots where all players move the bridge hand down the shaft, a short wingspan persons grip hand will be more forward than a long wingspan person.
Measuring balance point from the tip could be a better method because the bridge hand location is more similar person to person regardless on wingspan size, vs. grip hand location which varies more due to wingspan size.
Hope that better explains my thinking.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=174416&highlight=balance
A poll I did on the topic a while back.
A poll I did on the topic a while back.
I think I must have read your post too quickly. On second reading it seems that we agree - I should have said rear hand position is determined by bridge length and wing span.
pj
chgo
One thing I've learned is that cues with the same balance point can feel very different because the weight distribution is different. A cue with an ebony forearm and a brass piloted shaft can have a balance point that suggests it is very forward-weighted, but still not feel the same as a cue with a dense, thick shaft which pushes more of the weight that's forward of the balance point out towards your bridge.
The short of it is that I've almost given up on worrying about balance point. I know what total weight I like, and how much of it I like to be in the shaft vs the butt and so if I can't try a cue out in person, I look for cues within those parameters.
The short of it is that I've almost given up on worrying about balance point. I know what total weight I like, and how much of it I like to be in the shaft vs the butt and so if I can't try a cue out in person, I look for cues within those parameters.