The best break/jump cue.

[gulyassy]

I want to share an experience I had last night. A friend of mine called Larry Nevel on the phone with the speaker phone on and asked him about a test he did with a Predator, Lomax, Fury and a Sledgehammer. He stated that the slowest breaking cue out of the 4 was my Sledgehammer. I find that hard to believe. I will accept this if I get enough resposes about the Sledgehammer being an inferior cue to my competion. I know that a Sledgehammer won the US Open first year it came out. I know the Sledgehammer changed the Cue Manufacturring industry. When I came out with this cue back in The early 2000's there were a handful of break/jump cue builders. The year after the Sledgehammers's debut there were hundreds of companies claiming to have a break jump better than the Sledgehammer.
I know that when I debut the Slegehammer at the US Open when the twin towers were bombed there was no air travel and the buyers that usually show up were not there and the vendors did no business. I sold out to players and vendors. My business was so large after the Open I had to get Taiwan to manufacture my cues because I had a minimum of 500 cues a month going out. There is no doubt that my cue had an impact on the Billiard industry. I have always stood behind my product and tried to represent it with pride. Back to Larry, is one cue for each different model a true test? Do you base all the opinions on a couple of breaks. Yes I am not happy with someone with Larry's ability spreading rumors about my products. I would like to get some response about your break cues. I would really like to know if my cue does or does not stack up against my competators.

 

[CaptainHook]

Subscribing to thread

 

[KoolKat9Lives]

A buddy of mine, and a good player, has a Sledgehammer and he swears by it. He has a damn fine break.

If Larry Nevel is putting word out there that potentially affects buying decisions, I'd hope he'd respect that enough that his tests were well thought out. That the results were measured accurately over hundreds of shots and then made public. Perhaps even videoed.

 

[jrt30004]

i know larry's a pro player so his opinion may carry some weight with you but i think you missed the big picture of the post you made.
how many did you sell? didn't they do so well you eventually sold sledgehammer to mcdermott? haven't you moved on to what seems better and better designs? and don't you still sell a lot of cues?
why get bent out of shape over one man's opinion? it's just one vs. all of the products you've sold. i would think you would be happy and secure in the knowledge that you built something that helped make a huge change.
and for the record i am not kissing your ass or sucking up to you. i don't use your products. i like some others better, however, i would never knock the performance or quality of some of your cues i have seen and tried. i just have my personal preference. and that's the key, personal. larry's opinion after using the cues he tried was his personal opinion and preference. it's not like he set up a lab and did hours of scientific testing. he tried the cues and felt he got the slowest break using the sledgehammer. why even bother letting it have an effect on you.

 

[Slow Eddie]

I have 3 jump/break cues in the stable. A Taiwanese Sledgehammer, no wrap, with both the stock shaft, and a 2013 BTX; a Phillippi, mahogany Sneaky Pete style with a phenolic ferrule and tip; and a Cuetec jump/break, with the weight bolt removed, the shaft switched to a Thunderbolt, and the leather tip replaced with a G10 one.

To be honest, I get good breaks with all of them. Bad ones, too, but that's probably more pilot error than the fault of the cue. They all do a good job of breaking the rack wide open, but the sledge with the BTX, for me, has the best combination of spreading the balls, controlling the CB, feeling balanced in the hand, and giving good feedback. The stock shaft is pretty good, too, but it's fairly old and a little warped - on par with the phillippi, I would wager, if it were new.

YMMV, of course, but that's been my experience. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend one in a heartbeat.

 

[StuartTKelley]

A friend of mine has a Sledgehammer and it's a very fine breaking and jumping cue. Thumbs up for Gulyassy.

 

[zpele]

I love your playing cues and would not want to insult someone of your caliber so do not take it that way but I believe there are better breaking cues out there.

I do not however believe that the small amount of increase in speed you get from any breaker is enough to matter to most players.

Until you get into the upper tiers an increase of several mph at the higher level does not generate the same increase with a lower level player.

Because of this I do not believe that a marginal increase in another breaker is noticeable to the majority of pool players.

At the time the Sledgehammer was released it may have been the best breaking out there but technology has surpassed it. I'm sure if you were to release a new break cue it would sell amazingly well just like the new BK3.

 

[RRfireblade]

I want to share an experience I had last night. A friend of mine called Larry Nevel on the phone with the speaker phone on and asked him about a test he did with a Predator, Lomax, Fury and a Sledgehammer. He stated that the slowest breaking cue out of the 4 was my Sledgehammer. I find that hard to believe. I will accept this if I get enough resposes about the Sledgehammer being an inferior cue to my competion. I know that a Sledgehammer won the US Open first year it came out. I know the Sledgehammer changed the Cue Manufacturring industry. When I came out with this cue back in The early 2000's there were a handful of break/jump cue builders. The year after the Sledgehammers's debut there were hundreds of companies claiming to have a break jump better than the Sledgehammer.
I know that when I debut the Slegehammer at the US Open when the twin towers were bombed there was no air travel and the buyers that usually show up were not there and the vendors did no business. I sold out to players and vendors. My business was so large after the Open I had to get Taiwan to manufacture my cues because I had a minimum of 500 cues a month going out. There is no doubt that my cue had an impact on the Billiard industry. I have always stood behind my product and tried to represent it with pride. Back to Larry, is one cue for each different model a true test? Do you base all the opinions on a couple of breaks. Yes I am not happy with someone with Larry's ability spreading rumors about my products. I would like to get some response about your break cues. I would really like to know if my cue does or does not stack up against my competators.

Well for starters this post makes you sound like a child. Not sure that's the image I myself would like to present.

Second , do you honestly believe that there is one and only one single particular cue that would be the 'Best' cue for each and every single person that plays the game ? That say weight, balance, taper and the whole myriad of cue specification variables are irrelevant regardless of preferences of who is using the cue?

And lastly, since you asked for opinion, I did own an original Sledgehammer. I thought it was a fine cue and did a fine job but I've used many others since then that I prefer over it. And I mostly likely would not purchase another one for my own personal use. Nothing wrong with it but I did not find it to be the end all be all of breakers.

IMO, FWIW.

 

[gutshot]

Mike,

The Sledgehammer is right at the top of my list of best break cues I have ever tried. My current breaker is an original Sledgehammer. For as good as Larry breaks I find it interesting he thought your break cues were so inferior. I have had just the opposite results.

I have tried the Predator BK and OB break cues and thought they were terrible. No action at all. The only break cue with close results to my Sledgehammer was an Andy Gilbert jump/break and my custom Richard Harris jump break.

Don't worry about Larry. Just one opinion.

Kelly

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

I want to share an experience I had last night. A friend of mine called Larry Nevel on the phone with the speaker phone on and asked him about a test he did with a Predator, Lomax, Fury and a Sledgehammer. He stated that the slowest breaking cue out of the 4 was my Sledgehammer. I find that hard to believe. I will accept this if I get enough resposes about the Sledgehammer being an inferior cue to my competion. I know that a Sledgehammer won the US Open first year it came out. I know the Sledgehammer changed the Cue Manufacturring industry. When I came out with this cue back in The early 2000's there were a handful of break/jump cue builders. The year after the Sledgehammers's debut there were hundreds of companies claiming to have a break jump better than the Sledgehammer.
I know that when I debut the Slegehammer at the US Open when the twin towers were bombed there was no air travel and the buyers that usually show up were not there and the vendors did no business. I sold out to players and vendors. My business was so large after the Open I had to get Taiwan to manufacture my cues because I had a minimum of 500 cues a month going out. There is no doubt that my cue had an impact on the Billiard industry. I have always stood behind my product and tried to represent it with pride. Back to Larry, is one cue for each different model a true test? Do you base all the opinions on a couple of breaks. Yes I am not happy with someone with Larry's ability spreading rumors about my products. I would like to get some response about your break cues. I would really like to know if my cue does or does not stack up against my competators.

Was Larry "spreading rumors" or simply stating his opinion?

best,
brian kc

 

[lstevedus]

I had a Sledgehammer that I think was made in Taiwan and didn't like it. The shaft warped. Mine j/b is a Varney, and it works great for me. I would never sell it.

 

[know it all]

Gulyassy

I,am getting out the popcorn and a coke ,and setting down to watch the fireworks. Rich

 

[DAVE_M]

:speechless:

This isn't what I expected to read, when I opened this thread.

 

[gulyassy]

i know larry's a pro player so his opinion may carry some weight with you but i think you missed the big picture of the post you made.
how many did you sell? didn't they do so well you eventually sold sledgehammer to mcdermott? haven't you moved on to what seems better and better designs? and don't you still sell a lot of cues?
why get bent out of shape over one man's opinion? it's just one vs. all of the products you've sold. i would think you would be happy and secure in the knowledge that you built something that helped make a huge change.
and for the record i am not kissing your ass or sucking up to you. i don't use your products. i like some others better, however, i would never knock the performance or quality of some of your cues i have seen and tried. i just have my personal preference. and that's the key, personal. larry's opinion after using the cues he tried was his personal opinion and preference. it's not like he set up a lab and did hours of scientific testing. he tried the cues and felt he got the slowest break using the sledgehammer. why even bother letting it have an effect on you.

First I never sold McDermott my Sledgehammer. They pay me when they use my patent. I am not bent out of shape, I am expressing my thoughts on this matter. Like you I do no knock any other products.

 

[gulyassy]

Was Larry "spreading rumors" or simply stating his opinion?

best,
brian kc

good question

 

[JesseBfan]

i know larry's a pro player so his opinion may carry some weight with you but i think you missed the big picture of the post you made.
how many did you sell? didn't they do so well you eventually sold sledgehammer to mcdermott? haven't you moved on to what seems better and better designs? and don't you still sell a lot of cues?
why get bent out of shape over one man's opinion? it's just one vs. all of the products you've sold. i would think you would be happy and secure in the knowledge that you built something that helped make a huge change.
and for the record i am not kissing your ass or sucking up to you. i don't use your products. i like some others better, however, i would never knock the performance or quality of some of your cues i have seen and tried. i just have my personal preference. and that's the key, personal. larry's opinion after using the cues he tried was his personal opinion and preference. it's not like he set up a lab and did hours of scientific testing. he tried the cues and felt he got the slowest break using the sledgehammer. why even bother letting it have an effect on you.

Amen. Nobody could nail it better than this. Mike, you have a great and successful product, accept it. There will always be naysayers.

 

[dr9ball]

I want to share an experience I had last night. A friend of mine called Larry Nevel on the phone with the speaker phone on and asked him about a test he did with a Predator, Lomax, Fury and a Sledgehammer. He stated that the slowest breaking cue out of the 4 was my Sledgehammer. I find that hard to believe. I will accept this if I get enough resposes about the Sledgehammer being an inferior cue to my competion. I know that a Sledgehammer won the US Open first year it came out. I know the Sledgehammer changed the Cue Manufacturring industry. When I came out with this cue back in The early 2000's there were a handful of break/jump cue builders. The year after the Sledgehammers's debut there were hundreds of companies claiming to have a break jump better than the Sledgehammer.
I know that when I debut the Slegehammer at the US Open when the twin towers were bombed there was no air travel and the buyers that usually show up were not there and the vendors did no business. I sold out to players and vendors. My business was so large after the Open I had to get Taiwan to manufacture my cues because I had a minimum of 500 cues a month going out. There is no doubt that my cue had an impact on the Billiard industry. I have always stood behind my product and tried to represent it with pride. Back to Larry, is one cue for each different model a true test? Do you base all the opinions on a couple of breaks. Yes I am not happy with someone with Larry's ability spreading rumors about my products. I would like to get some response about your break cues. I would really like to know if my cue does or does not stack up against my competators.

Are you sure you didn't mean to say the player that won the U.S. Open that year played with a Sledgehammer? I have yet to see a cue make a ball much less win a tournament without the player who could have done so with most any quality cue.

I have tried the Sledgehammer and it's ok, I"ve tried the Orange Crush cue which is adequate but neither are my favorites. I have a Rick Howard Mace Jump Break that I love and I have a break cue that Ray Schuler made me before he passed which is an amazing breaker. I have never tried a Lomax break cue but his jumpers are awesome. My favorite jump cue is a Mark Bear custom with purpleheart shaft. You make a good product Mike, but like so many things everyone is going to have a different opinion.

 

[ctyhntr]

A 2012 Honda Accord V6 has more horsepower than the 1964 Ford Mustang, but guess which car Jay Leno has in his garage with his other sports cars?

Lee Iacocca introduced the Ford Mustang in 1964, and it opened up a whole new market of cars (pony cars). The Gulyassy Sledgehammer did the same for cue manufacturers. All those other break cues wouldn't be introduced if it wasn't for the success of your Sledgehammer. It's been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Just my opinion, an AZ poster who thinks his magic marker cosmos sledgehammer is a classic.

The year after the Sledgehammers's debut there were hundreds of companies claiming to have a break jump better than the Sledgehammer.

 

[gulyassy]

Are you sure you didn't mean to say the player that won the U.S. Open that year played with a Sledgehammer? I have yet to see a cue make a ball much less win a tournament without the player who could have done so with most any quality cue.

I have tried the Sledgehammer and it's ok, I"ve tried the Orange Crush cue which is adequate but neither are my favorites. I have a Rick Howard Mace Jump Break that I love and I have a break cue that Ray Schuler made me before he passed which is an amazing breaker. I have never tried a Lomax break cue but his jumpers are awesome. My favorite jump cue is a Mark Bear custom with purpleheart shaft. You make a good product Mike, but like so many things everyone is going to have a different opinion.

The Sledgehammer you tried and the Orange crusher were both made in Taiwan. The Sledgehammer today is made by McDermott. My break jumps that I make are very differrent from the ones I had produced over seas. I don't think you have ever tried one of my cues made by me in the last 3 years, might change your mind. And then again Ray Schuler was one of my most favorite cue makers ever.

 

[zpele]

The Sledgehammer you tried and the Orange crusher were both made in Taiwan. The Sledgehammer today is made by McDermott. My break jumps that I make are very differrent from the ones I had produced over seas. I don't think you have ever tried one of my cues made by me in the last 3 years, might change your mind. And then again Ray Schuler was one of my most favorite cue makers ever.

How does your breaker compare to a BK3?