New Cue Syndrome -- Real or Imagined

Shelby full splice : -)

I believe the cue came up for sale in the Spring here and I dithered and it got bought. Then it came up for sale again later in the year and I jumped on it. Funny thing is that I was exclusively playing with one of the shafts and was loving it. Then I took out the other shaft and hated it — totally changed everything. So I get home, whip out the scale, and the original shaft comes in at exactly 4oz. The other shaft comes in at 3.4oz.

Mr. Williams has most graciously agreed to make me another shaft that will come in as close to 4oz as he can make it. BTW, he also made me some pretty sporty JPs.

Lou Figueroa
I have been posting on this Forum for the past decade the importance of shaft weight and the sweet spot range
cue makers strive for to yield the best overall results. Lou’s post underscores the significance of the weight ratio.
 
don't know why this got the laugh emoji. it's the truth, for many players a new cue will make you more concentrated. even if the cue itself is placebo, the effect is real.
when they did the new putter test all those involved said they just more 'into it' as in higher levels of awareness, confidence, focus, you name it. the effect generally doesn't last all that long. the majority will return to their normal level of performance pretty quik.
 
Lou

I believe NCS is a real thing. I seem to play better when I first get a new cue . I willo be happy to prove your theory ,just send me your cue when thr NCS wears off . I will let you know if the magic works for me . Of course I will return it when my thorough testing is complete .

Chuck
 
I was talking to Gail tonight over dinner about playing with my newest cue and told her I was playing exceptionally well with it and with a high degree of overall consistency.

I tried to describe the hit, feel, and... confidence I got from playing with it. Then I told her about "New Cue Syndrome" and how all pool players were familiar with the experience of playing better (most often for just a short while) with a new cue and that it all might just be a case of Festinger's cognitive dissonance.

So what say you? All in yer head or sometimes maybe real?

Lou Figueroa


A Poo Player with SKILL, and PoolIQ, can play well with Cue off the Wall. JMHO
 
I have been posting on this Forum for the past decade the importance of shaft weight and the sweet spot range
cue makers strive for to yield the best overall results. Lou’s post underscores the significance of the weight ratio.
Weight distribution and balance point are imo the most important part of a cue, other than the tip, weight and diameters……
 
A Poo Player with SKILL, and PoolIQ, can play well with Cue off the Wall. JMHO
Traveling and didn’t bring a cue. So today and yesterday I played some. Found a slightly better cue off the wall today. I am not the best but I’m not the most picky as to equipment either. I have a bunch of cues and all of them are better than the house cues. Even with the full splice of the walkabushka LOL. It makes a difference and is more pleasant. Can you play with a house cues? Yeah. Why would you want to? Penance?
 
I'll play with a "stiffer" cue for a while and they go back to my long straight taper cue and can move the cueball much better.

Showman or Searing for a while and then back to Mobley built for Earl(straight taper to with 4 or 5 inches from joint) or my Ted Harris that I had him make the straight taper much longer
 
Traveling and didn’t bring a cue. So today and yesterday I played some. Found a slightly better cue off the wall today. I am not the best but I’m not the most picky as to equipment either. I have a bunch of cues and all of them are better than the house cues. Even with the full splice of the walkabushka LOL. It makes a difference and is more pleasant. Can you play with a house cues? Yeah. Why would you want to? Penance?

i have a folded 1500 grit sandpaper and ditto 80 grit in my wallet at all times, along with an unglove. never know when you stroll past a pool room / pool table and even gunky wallabushkas with glanced tips can be made playable / enjoyable
 
I am forced to admit I have carried the same for years.

Lou Figueroa
3000/60
I used to carry 400 wet-or-dry in my wallet, but it was more like 600 after a few uses/washes. Many years ago at pro tournaments, if you had a packet of 600, you were everybody's friend. That was before shafts cost $500, or $200 for cheap ones. And before gloves.
 
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i have a folded 1500 grit sandpaper and ditto 80 grit in my wallet at all times, along with an unglove. never know when you stroll past a pool room / pool table and even gunky wallabushkas with glanced tips can be made playable / enjoyable
You just described a genuine hustler warmup act: sanding the wallabushka shaft with your own sandpaper and pulling a miracle glove out of your wallet. Definitely a player not to bet against! Still I have to ask, does it work? 😁😅
 
dark rainy night 1970's some bar up on cape cod stopped in and a line of players betting 20 plus or whatever a game. just put up your quarter and bet. all played poorly. only problem there was no chalk at all in the place and no one used any or was allowed i guess, so i didn't try to go to the car..

but did go out front and rub the tip on the sidewalk till it was fuzzy. then i never miscued and could stop the cue ball as needed. had to go out many times but what works, works.
i did not want to get caught rubbing dirt on it or something that changed the color.
sand paper with me after that.
 
i find a cue just like i find a car. one that hits for me or one that drives and fits for what i want. i dont care about all the looks or addons. just as long as long it does its job the way i want.

same as a hammer or wrench. or a pair of shoes.
 
I was talking to Gail tonight over dinner about playing with my newest cue and told her I was playing exceptionally well with it and with a high degree of overall consistency.

I tried to describe the hit, feel, and... confidence I got from playing with it. Then I told her about "New Cue Syndrome" and how all pool players were familiar with the experience of playing better (most often for just a short while) with a new cue and that it all might just be a case of Festinger's cognitive dissonance.

So what say you? All in yer head or sometimes maybe real?

Lou Figueroa
I think a new cue "can" play a lot better... Butfor the most part, a player playing with a new cue tends to be not as confident moving to the extreme edges of the cue ball, and as such, tends to play closer to center ball, which pretty much makes ANYONE play better. When the honeymoon period is over, the player might tend to start using more English because that simply how they always played, and their game falls back to the previous level.

One thing I personally know is... I thought Revo was the shiznitt for a year or so... Then noted my game had been falling off steadily for the past year or two. I damaged the tip on that shift, and switched to my Predator 314-2 shaft.. Game took an IMMEDIATE up turn... To the point where my straight pool runs doubled in league.

I was very much aware of the tendency to come back to center ball, and paid attention to this, and there was not much difference in where I was hitting the CB.. What I eventually figured out was that the Revo was simply deflecting a ton more with any offcenter hit.
 
A new cue has a new weight and balance that you are not used to, so it has a different feel. That different feel forces you to focus a little more, until it's no longer "new", then old habits creep back in. Like everyone I got the itch for a new cue and instantly loved it. After a while I came to the realization that I had a slightly higher percentage of miscues because the balance point was much farther away from the tip. I switched back to my old cue and literally fell in love with it all over again. I've decided to stick with it until we are both too old to play.
 
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