I contacted a fellow who had a cue for sale on e-Bay since he listed his phone number and in the cue description, he wrote that he had other collectible cues and to contact him. As background, I am only interested in buying ivory joint cues. I won't play with steel any longer but I won't bore you with my reasons why. That's an entirely different thread for another time.
Getting back to cue weight, so I called this fellow and told him I was looking for a cue butt weight around 15 ozs or thereabout because I wanted a cue playing weight of 18.8 ozs maximum and preferably, mid 18 ozs. He tells me that it's very rare to find a cue with a butt weight under 16 ozs.......Hogwash.....Bullshit......He's either a liar or just ignorant.
The fellow tells me his name is Bud Martin and he's a cue-maker for the past 40 years alleging to have worked with some of the greatest name cue-makers which included Gus Szamboti (ahem). I say allegedly because when he asked me which cue-maker I favored and I replied Ed Prewitt, he tells me he "never" heard of Ed Prewitt....never was his actual answer. And then this guy says he knows all the great cue-makers personally and Ed Prewitt's name had never come up for discussion by anyone anywhere over his 50 years of cue-making. Well, that tells me this guy has to be a hermit because anyone worth his salt would at least have heard the name of Ed Prewitt.
Maybe Bud does make cues but he sure ain't making cues with the quality of Ed Prewitt or Dennis Searing, whom was another cue-maker he also never heard of. I told him I was looking for a cue in the 18 oz range. He starts telling me about his cues and none of them, not one, was under 19 ozs. I tell him that those cues are too heavy and he proceeds to educate me about how cue weights 30-40 years ago were a lot heavier because ..........and get ready for this one .....players back then were a lot stronger and more muscular than the players today and so mid-20 oz cues and even 21 oz cues seemed feather lite to these old time players. Now that's a bunch of pure bullshit and this gut discredited himself with me countless times over in our discussion. Cues back then were only 57 inches and 58 inches was just breaking through as the new norm. And the old time players even held the cue differently than today's players.......I was at Ames when they filmed the Hustler.....just a spectator in the upstairs gallery and that was during the golden era of pool. And back then, the skills may have been the same but the cues were made differently, i.e., heavier.
Anyway, this guy made me curious about cue weights which is the reason for this thread. I am one of those golden era players.....I'm in my mid 60's and started playing pool I was 15 years so I've been hanging out in pool rooms for >50 years. I bought my first cue, a Palmer, and actually went to their New Jersey factory in 1971 and selected cue that was all Cocobolo. Since that time, I've spent thousands for just a single cue as you can tell from the cues in my small collection. So along the way, I learned a lot about cues and this guy was just completely wrong about what he saying.
"What Weight Cue Would You Request On A Custom Cue Order?"
My first real expensive cue was my Runde Schon that I personally designed with Bob Runde at the March "85 BCA Show in FT. Worth, TX. The cue has a much larger cue butt circumference compared to my Mottey and Scruggs cues, And...it's also 21 ozs which seemed okay back in the 80's because most of the custom cues tended to be in the 20 oz range based upon what I was seeing in the many pool halls I frequented in many states.
Today's modern day players are better conditioned, more fit and stronger than the players of 30-40 years ago. And today's players, based upon everyone I speak with, favor playing with cues under 20 ozs. It seems like the 19 oz range is the most popular weight range. So I figured I start a thread about cue weights........the foreward portion of this thread just helps to set the pertinent background.
My two main playing cues are a Tim Scruggs (ivory joint) & Paul Mottey cues (another ivory joint ). The Scruggs weighs 18.1 & 18.15 ozs with either shaft and the Mottey weighs 18.25, 18.45 & 18.8 ozs with any of its shafts. I really enjoy this weight and so browse cue listings all the time looking only for ivory joint cues under 19 ozs and it's a chore since there doesn't seem to that many. When I have contacted some sellers of cues that did not include cue weight in their sale thread, and find out their cues are too heavy for me, what I'm usually advised to do is just remove the bolt on their cue which I'd never do, And changing the weight bolt usually only achieves about .5-.6 oz reduction so when I 'd want a cue to become lighter by an ounce or more, that doesn't seem to be a viable alternative either.
I've seen some very expensive cues by custom cue-makers that have an ivory joint and weight 18.8 -18.9 ozs and most seemed to max out at 19.1-19.2 ozs so I'm thinking there's more merit to lighter weight cues that meets the eye. I mean if Ed Prewitt, Dennis Searing, Joel Hercek make a lot of cues that weigh in the weight range I prefer (19 ozs and under), there has to be a reason aside from a customer requesting that weight. I believe it's because these cue-makers felt that's the best weight range for one of their cues and if they made the cue heavier, it was because of the customer's specific request.........I might be all wet but that's my suspicion.
So IMO....cue weights 19 ozs and under are the most ideal and my favorite weight is in the 18 ozs range...........WHAT"S YOURS?
Getting back to cue weight, so I called this fellow and told him I was looking for a cue butt weight around 15 ozs or thereabout because I wanted a cue playing weight of 18.8 ozs maximum and preferably, mid 18 ozs. He tells me that it's very rare to find a cue with a butt weight under 16 ozs.......Hogwash.....Bullshit......He's either a liar or just ignorant.
The fellow tells me his name is Bud Martin and he's a cue-maker for the past 40 years alleging to have worked with some of the greatest name cue-makers which included Gus Szamboti (ahem). I say allegedly because when he asked me which cue-maker I favored and I replied Ed Prewitt, he tells me he "never" heard of Ed Prewitt....never was his actual answer. And then this guy says he knows all the great cue-makers personally and Ed Prewitt's name had never come up for discussion by anyone anywhere over his 50 years of cue-making. Well, that tells me this guy has to be a hermit because anyone worth his salt would at least have heard the name of Ed Prewitt.
Maybe Bud does make cues but he sure ain't making cues with the quality of Ed Prewitt or Dennis Searing, whom was another cue-maker he also never heard of. I told him I was looking for a cue in the 18 oz range. He starts telling me about his cues and none of them, not one, was under 19 ozs. I tell him that those cues are too heavy and he proceeds to educate me about how cue weights 30-40 years ago were a lot heavier because ..........and get ready for this one .....players back then were a lot stronger and more muscular than the players today and so mid-20 oz cues and even 21 oz cues seemed feather lite to these old time players. Now that's a bunch of pure bullshit and this gut discredited himself with me countless times over in our discussion. Cues back then were only 57 inches and 58 inches was just breaking through as the new norm. And the old time players even held the cue differently than today's players.......I was at Ames when they filmed the Hustler.....just a spectator in the upstairs gallery and that was during the golden era of pool. And back then, the skills may have been the same but the cues were made differently, i.e., heavier.
Anyway, this guy made me curious about cue weights which is the reason for this thread. I am one of those golden era players.....I'm in my mid 60's and started playing pool I was 15 years so I've been hanging out in pool rooms for >50 years. I bought my first cue, a Palmer, and actually went to their New Jersey factory in 1971 and selected cue that was all Cocobolo. Since that time, I've spent thousands for just a single cue as you can tell from the cues in my small collection. So along the way, I learned a lot about cues and this guy was just completely wrong about what he saying.
"What Weight Cue Would You Request On A Custom Cue Order?"
My first real expensive cue was my Runde Schon that I personally designed with Bob Runde at the March "85 BCA Show in FT. Worth, TX. The cue has a much larger cue butt circumference compared to my Mottey and Scruggs cues, And...it's also 21 ozs which seemed okay back in the 80's because most of the custom cues tended to be in the 20 oz range based upon what I was seeing in the many pool halls I frequented in many states.
Today's modern day players are better conditioned, more fit and stronger than the players of 30-40 years ago. And today's players, based upon everyone I speak with, favor playing with cues under 20 ozs. It seems like the 19 oz range is the most popular weight range. So I figured I start a thread about cue weights........the foreward portion of this thread just helps to set the pertinent background.
My two main playing cues are a Tim Scruggs (ivory joint) & Paul Mottey cues (another ivory joint ). The Scruggs weighs 18.1 & 18.15 ozs with either shaft and the Mottey weighs 18.25, 18.45 & 18.8 ozs with any of its shafts. I really enjoy this weight and so browse cue listings all the time looking only for ivory joint cues under 19 ozs and it's a chore since there doesn't seem to that many. When I have contacted some sellers of cues that did not include cue weight in their sale thread, and find out their cues are too heavy for me, what I'm usually advised to do is just remove the bolt on their cue which I'd never do, And changing the weight bolt usually only achieves about .5-.6 oz reduction so when I 'd want a cue to become lighter by an ounce or more, that doesn't seem to be a viable alternative either.
I've seen some very expensive cues by custom cue-makers that have an ivory joint and weight 18.8 -18.9 ozs and most seemed to max out at 19.1-19.2 ozs so I'm thinking there's more merit to lighter weight cues that meets the eye. I mean if Ed Prewitt, Dennis Searing, Joel Hercek make a lot of cues that weigh in the weight range I prefer (19 ozs and under), there has to be a reason aside from a customer requesting that weight. I believe it's because these cue-makers felt that's the best weight range for one of their cues and if they made the cue heavier, it was because of the customer's specific request.........I might be all wet but that's my suspicion.
So IMO....cue weights 19 ozs and under are the most ideal and my favorite weight is in the 18 ozs range...........WHAT"S YOURS?
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The extra info is just in case one of these generous builders needs a project.
