What do you think the real purpose of using a Sneaky Pete pool cue is?

Tramp Steamer said:
This type of cue came into being during the prohibition years of the early 1930's.
A guy by the name of William Peter Mendelbaum was running illegal whiskey from Canada to the north side of Chicago, a very dangerous occupation, and one that required stealth and daring.
William Peter, or Pete, as he was most commonly known by his associates, also an afficionado of the cue sports, was just that kind of man.
One afternoon, after suffering a hummiliating loss at the One Pocket table, due in part, according to Pete, to the horrible conditions of the house cues of the day, he decided to buy a cue of his own.
Being the surreptitious person earlier alluded to, and not given to ostentation, Pete decided to have a cue made that was plain and unadorned, yet one that possessed quality, and good balance.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of: "The Mendelbaum Story; The Cuemaker's Delimma."

:smile:
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Wow! Cut it out, Tramp!!! I can't wait for part 2! Three cheers for tramp!!!
Best Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
They can be sneaky.

Had a road player come thru T-town a couple of months ago.His SP looked like a house cue,the only way you could tell was by the taper unless you got real close to it.

Normally you wont fool to many people with a sneaky pete but he had me for hours.
 
In my mind they are a custom cue, that hits like a custom, without paying the big price of all the inlay work. I know a custom maker very well and his sneakies hit just as good as the $$$$ cues. Same birdseye, same shaft, same joint. It comes down to how much does a person want to spend, and what does he/she want the cue to look like. Nothing more.
 
Winner winner chicken dinner!
flash5153 said:
They are out-dated now. They are a pre 1970 thing.

Back in the day,,,when hardly anyone had their own cue and very few played pool well. Yes,,I mean hardly no one could run a table out. Jumping was a very very rare thing.

Back in the day,,,a few people could play well. And if they walked into a place with a custom cue,,,I will guarantee you ,,no one would gamble with them.

Some places had terrible house sticks.

That is the use for a SP. I don't believe it called hustling,,but you could call it that. But more like not have lights and whistles on you(That a custom cue,,used to bring)

Now a days,,,everyone has a custom cues,,, A SP is not needed.


SP are a little before me,,but close to when I was growing up. I re call myself,,walking into a place with my own custom cue. People would look at you like you must be a really good shot. lol
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Originally the intent behind Sneaky Pete cue was to temporarily fool unsuspecting gambler into thinking that you were a novice but nowadays SP can be rather elaborated and expensive.
 
At one time Sneaky pete pool cue was to fool a opponent to think that it was a house cue. Now, that's pretty hard to do because of players knowledge of the custom makers and cue building quality being so good that it's easy to tell if a cue is of higher quality(on average).

Now it's to get a high quality custom at a more reasonable price with the quality of build and playability of a custom. Simplicity with performance.
 
As stated previously, the primary purpose of a SP was to fly under the radar in a busy pool room, scuffling around at low stakes gambling. Even today, the average casual player is unlikely to spot the difference--hell, I've even had people in bars (not talking about pool rooms) try and pick up my $1200 custom half-splice with inlaid ivory horseshoes thinking it came off the wall....lots of folks are just plain clueless.

Eventually, SP cues made by custom makers with just a little bit of bling (like a phenolic joint, a wrap and/or a Hoppe ring) came into vogue as a minimalist form of beauty...especially if made from cocobola, purple heart, ebony, etc. Not meant to be sneaky, they're just plain beautiful and often more affordable high end cues.

As far as under the radar, I once saw a road player with a very nice custom SP taped up from butt to joint with 100mph tape. Go figure...
 
xplor said:
Wouldn't a sneaky pete have a wooden joint to look like a house cue?
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Yes, they start out that way, but then folks start ordering them with a few extras, like a different joint, wrap, etc...and then still call them SP cues for lack of a better word. I've seen cues sold on here that qualify in every way as a four point Hoppe cue, but get called sneaky pete. I'm with you, a sneaky pete is a cue that for all appearances is a house cue off the wall, except it's got an invisible wood-wood joint.
 
West Point 1987 said:
As stated previously, the primary purpose of a SP was to fly under the radar in a busy pool room, scuffling around at low stakes gambling. Even today, the average casual player is unlikely to spot the difference--hell, I've even had people in bars (not talking about pool rooms) try and pick up my $1200 custom half-splice with inlaid ivory horseshoes thinking it came off the wall....lots of folks are just plain clueless.

Eventually, SP cues made by custom makers with just a little bit of bling (like a phenolic joint, a wrap and/or a Hoppe ring) came into vogue as a minimalist form of beauty...especially if made from cocobola, purple heart, ebony, etc. Not meant to be sneaky, they're just plain beautiful and often more affordable high end cues.

As far as under the radar, I once saw a road player with a very nice custom SP taped up from butt to joint with 100mph tape. Go figure...
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I see them as more for sneaking up on players in a bar.

Even the beginer in a pool hall usually has his own cue and is focused on other peoples cues and will take notice if it apears some1 is playing with a house cue.

People who come to bars to drink and pick up a cue because there is a pool table nearby will pick up allmost any cue around.They figure if the cue (stick) is not leaning against a (pool)table it is a house cue and no1 is using it.To this type of player if a cue is laying on a pool table it means that some1 was playing there but is done playing and left the cue there for the next people.If it is leaning against a table or chair near a pool table and no is sitting near it it is also a house cue that was not returned to the rack.
 
West Point 1987 said:
Yes, they start out that way, but then folks start ordering them with a few extras, like a different joint, wrap, etc...and then still call them SP cues for lack of a better word. I've seen cues sold on here that qualify in every way as a four point Hoppe cue, but get called sneaky pete. I'm with you, a sneaky pete is a cue that for all appearances is a house cue off the wall, except it's got an invisible wood-wood joint.
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Yeah, I'm in that spot...I have an old Joss sneaky pete... but it has some
gorgeous purple heart and ebony in the butt, a collar on the shaft and an
after-market ferrule....don't know what else to call it.

..and I've sold hundreds of 'real' sneaky petes over the years.

Words tend to lose their 'currency' so we have to invent new ones.
I'm sure 'life' meant just that when it was first handed out as a sentence,
but now judges have to mete sentences like 'natural life' or '150 years'.

ps...how about 'outta the closet sneakies'?
.."Hi, my name is Pete, and I'm a custom cue that hits a ton!"

regards
double hemlock
 
We used to have a guy stop by the bar, that only had one bar box looking for any one new that played good pool. He was blooking for road players in the area.
 
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