Switched to harder tip and started to play bad

Once it is in your head- which this obviously is now- I would go back to a tip you are most comfortable with already. I guarantee you, until you go back, you will blame every poor performance on that newer tip.

why not play with it some?
you may or may not end up liking it
but give the new tip a fair shake
worst case scenario, you learn something
if you bail without understanding why
you miss out on that chance

I was just the opposite. I went from a medium Onyx (Everest before that) to a Morri hard. And I haven't looked back. There was a learning curve to it. What I like most about it is it plays the same from the install, to the time i have to switch it out for a new one. Which is only every other year or so

Previously when I played I had always used harder tips. When I started playing again I found hard tips too hard and started playing with a softer tip than before. After a couple years back I’m back to a harder tip. Thoroughbred medium hard to be exact.


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I am opposite of that as well. I always had a hard tip on my cues when I started playing because the only soft tip I tried was an elk master on a house cue. I made up my mind that those soft tips are junk only made for cheap cues. Of course I was wrong and once I got a hold of a kamui soft, my skill level went up a small notch. I was able to play position / draw / follow with a lot less effort. I haven't had a hard tip on my cues since (also not using kamui anymore either).

It really just comes down to preference on how you like to feel the hit and how much work you want to put in to maintain the tip.

pw98 said:

Last week my Kamui Black Soft tip chunked out so I had a Sniper installed (Which is harder). Since then I have played the 6-ball and 7-ball ghost at least 15 times and lost every time. Depending upon the day, i normally come out even or ahead of the 6-ball ghost. I seem to be overrunning a lot of shots and missing shots that need to be hit softly.

Should I spend the money and switch back to a Kamui Black Soft or should I wait it out and see if I get better with the harder tip?

Also, I have never tried a tip softer than Kamui Black Soft so if i seem to play better with it might there be a chance I'll play even better with a Kamui Black SS?

Click to expand...

Just keep practicing. You'll get the speed down. I think there was a video or article somewhere explaining that harder tips impart more speed than their softer counterparts (maybe only marginally).

Once your brain is reprogrammed, you'll be fine. It's not much different than a table with new cloth. Everything rolls a little farther. But after you're used to it, all is right.

-td

If your previous tip was played way down, like the thickness of a nickel or so, it might be more the height of the tip than the density. That's why a lot of people cut them back a ways during install. It feels strange for a while to have a thick tip when you're used to something shorter. Play with it for a bit, maybe have it trimmed down, before you give up on it.

pw98 said:

Last week my Kamui Black Soft tip chunked out so I had a Sniper installed (Which is harder). Since then I have played the 6-ball and 7-ball ghost at least 15 times and lost every time. Depending upon the day, i normally come out even or ahead of the 6-ball ghost. I seem to be overrunning a lot of shots and missing shots that need to be hit softly.

Should I spend the money and switch back to a Kamui Black Soft or should I wait it out and see if I get better with the harder tip?

Also, I have never tried a tip softer than Kamui Black Soft so if i seem to play better with it might there be a chance I'll play even better with a Kamui Black SS?

Click to expand...

So there is obviously a lot of personal preference involved but snipers are just terrible in my opinion. I tried one since it came on my shaft. I hated it but gave it a few months. They might be harder than kamui soft but I wouldn’t call them hard, it felt very sluggish to me and I just never felt comfortable with it.

I switched to an extra hard WB and it’s sick. Now that it’s almost gone though I think it’s compressed and too hard. Starting to miscue.

I think tip hardness depends on play style. I like to use less force so I like I real hard tip to transfer max energy, I feel like I’m more accurate having to put less Umph for the same speed.

If I were you though I probably would ditch the sniper and go back to your kamui or experiment elsewhere

If your only problem is overrunning position, try hitting a quarter tip lower on the cue ball. In my experience, all the shots that can be made with one tip can be made with another, unless you are trying to get some large bit of masse going on. I have 6 different tips on 6 different cues, all of them play about the same though, slight adjustments do have to be made, but they are almost unconscious after the first couple of balls.. The only tip I ever put on that I didn't like was a Kamui Hard. Was very hard indeed.

I loved Sniper but they tend to fall apart. I tried Kamui black for a couple days. I couldn't keep the chalk on it. I could paint it on thick and by the next shot the whole tip would be empty. The CB would slip all around on the tip, I had to play center ball and very carefully. It was crazy. I switched to a Zan Medium and its the best tip I've ever played with.

DecentShot said:

I loved Sniper but they tend to fall apart. I tried Kamui black for a couple days. I couldn't keep the chalk on it. I could paint it on thick and by the next shot the whole tip would be empty. The CB would slip all around on the tip, I had to play center ball and very carefully. It was crazy. I switched to a Zan Medium and its the best tip I've ever played with.

Click to expand...

I recently started using the Zan as well. I believe I have the Hybrid Max medium. They play great, but seem to wear down MUCH faster than any other tips I have used.

I, personally, like hard tips (at least the ones made with pig leather)

But once it is in your head that you don't like a tip--for ANY reason, valid or imagined--
it is time to change you tip.

Switch back to what you were using and quit experimenting with your own cue.
Stick with what you know worked fine. If and when you encounter a cue you can
try that has a different tip than Kamui Black soft, and I recommend you actually
use Kamui Clear Black soft, then switch your cue’s tip. Just play what you know
you like until you find a cue with a tip you prefer more. Tip hardness is important.

pw98 said:

Last week my Kamui Black Soft tip chunked out so I had a Sniper installed (Which is harder). Since then I have played the 6-ball and 7-ball ghost at least 15 times and lost every time. Depending upon the day, i normally come out even or ahead of the 6-ball ghost. I seem to be overrunning a lot of shots and missing shots that need to be hit softly.

Should I spend the money and switch back to a Kamui Black Soft or should I wait it out and see if I get better with the harder tip?

Also, I have never tried a tip softer than Kamui Black Soft so if i seem to play better with it might there be a chance I'll play even better with a Kamui Black SS?

Click to expand...

I had Kamui Black Super Soft tips on my cues for a while and they didn't live up to my expectations. They constantly mushroomed and glazed over.

I switched them out for Ultra-Skin Black Soft tips and that is all I use now. The hit feels about the same, but they play way better, don't glaze over, and cost about 1/10 of what the Kamui tips cost.

I sold one to a guy about a year ago and, just last Sunday, he came up to me and said he had just put it on his cue and really liked it and wanted to buy some more. Prior to that, he was using one of the "high dollar" tips that are "over rated" and cost way more.

pw98 said:

Last week my Kamui Black Soft tip chunked out so I had a Sniper installed (Which is harder). Since then I have played the 6-ball and 7-ball ghost at least 15 times and lost every time. Depending upon the day, i normally come out even or ahead of the 6-ball ghost. I seem to be overrunning a lot of shots and missing shots that need to be hit softly.

Should I spend the money and switch back to a Kamui Black Soft or should I wait it out and see if I get better with the harder tip?

Also, I have never tried a tip softer than Kamui Black Soft so if i seem to play better with it might there be a chance I'll play even better with a Kamui Black SS?

Click to expand...

Funny how it works, Sniper is my favorite tip by a long shot.
There's no other tip that I can get as much action on the cue ball or draw as easily as I do with the Sniper tips.
Not to mention it's the perfect hardness.
Another bonus, the are for me extremely low maintenance and never mushroom even after breaking with my play cue.
I used to shoot Triangle for years but have since moved to Sniper.
I would never describe Sniper as hard. Medium is closer to what I feel.
Just goes to show ya....lol

Bavafongoul said:

Switch back to what you were using and quit experimenting with your own cue.
Stick with what you know worked fine. If and when you encounter a cue you can
try that has a different tip than Kamui Black soft, and I recommend you actually
use Kamui Clear Black soft, then switch your cue’s tip. Just play what you know
you like until you find a cue with a tip you prefer more. Tip hardness is important.

Click to expand...

Normally, that might be good advice, but I see two problems.

1. A tip the feels good to you on someone else's cue, may not feel close to the same on your cue. Even cues from the same manufacturer, same make, same model. What if the other guys cue uses a nickel radius, and you like a dime radius? What about the weight of the cue.... say for instance he likes 21 Oz and you like 18? There is no way you can get a good feel for that tip in those situations.

2. A person cannot judge a tip by banging around with it for 5 minutes. That only applies to your wife!:smile: It can take a week or more to mentally adjust to a new tip (again...same for the wife!) Some people more, some people less.

Back when I used to use LePro's, I discovered that they played best for me when they were very close to the end of their life. About the time I started liking them, they had to be changed. Then you had to readjust to the feel of a new tip. That's why I gave up on them. Not to mention the constant maintenance.

Then tried Everest. Took a while to get used to the feel. It was an adjustment, but after a while, it was playing good for me. But it also gets harder as it wears. Then after some feedback and reviews from other players, I started using the Onyx. It's a good tip. But it also is harder at the end of it life. Not as big of a difference as the other ones , but I consider the Onyx more of a medium hard tip , not a medium . The reason I gave up on them is they doubled the price to over $21 a tip. There's no reason any tip should cost $21. It seems to be a common theme among Tiger products (Kamui also) and their M.A.P. pricing , So I moved on. That's when I decided to play with a hard tip..... based on I liked the others better after they became compressed and harder.

Now enter Moori tips. The thing I like about the Morri is they play the same from start to finish. Then when I replace it, the new one feels very close to the old one I took off. That applies to the hard one anyway.... no idea about the soft or medium. Again, there was a learning curve, but after a month or two I seen no reason to ever try something else. They are around $10 bucks, but with this one I'm only replacing it every third year. The reason is I don't have to do constant maintenance to it. Shape it after install, then twice more in the first couple of months. then it's pretty much good for the rest of its life. I do occasionally burnish the sides. NEVER have to scuff it. Won't glaze. I have discussed my tip conditioning in a previous thread. You have to be careful where you buy the Moori's, as the are counterfeits out there.

pw98 said:

Last week my Kamui Black Soft tip chunked out so I had a Sniper installed (Which is harder). Since then I have played the 6-ball and 7-ball ghost at least 15 times and lost every time. Depending upon the day, i normally come out even or ahead of the 6-ball ghost. I seem to be overrunning a lot of shots and missing shots that need to be hit softly.

Should I spend the money and switch back to a Kamui Black Soft or should I wait it out and see if I get better with the harder tip?

Also, I have never tried a tip softer than Kamui Black Soft so if i seem to play better with it might there be a chance I'll play even better with a Kamui Black SS?

Click to expand...

Everyone knows how I feel about KAMUI.
Try a Milk Dud , az member pooldawg puts them out for sale all the time.

L I F D 1 said:

Everyone knows how I feel about KAMUI.
Try a Milk Dud , az member pooldawg puts them out for sale all the time.

Click to expand...

What hardness rating would you say this particular milk dud tip is?

Eddie

StrokeofLuck said:

If your previous tip was played way down, like the thickness of a nickel or so, it might be more the height of the tip than the density. That's why a lot of people cut them back a ways during install. It feels strange for a while to have a thick tip when you're used to something shorter. Play with it for a bit, maybe have it trimmed down, before you give up on it.

Click to expand...

I just installed an Ultraskin Medium black that came on my first WX900 about 5 mins ago, and it came out pretty good. But like you said, it might take a little adjustment because of how thick/tall the tip is in relation to the worn out original tan Kamui.

Left to Right: first WX900, Deep Impact II, EX-Pro, WX700


new 1st WX900 w/ fresh tip