Jump cue recommendation

sbordona

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I have been having a hard time jumping the cue ball with my predator jump cue. I hear there are jump cues available that make the process much easier. Can anyone recommend a jump cue that might help me, thanks.
 

bbb

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I have been having a hard time jumping the cue ball with my predator jump cue. I hear there are jump cues available that make the process much easier. Can anyone recommend a jump cue that might help me, thanks.

I am not an instructor
But first of all get instruction to be sure you are approaching the shot correctly
After trying Lorax and hanshew jumpers I found an Alex brick dymondwood jumper to be the easiest to jump with
I have tried other dymondwood jumpers and found them similar in jumping ability
Good luck
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
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I have been having a hard time jumping the cue ball with my predator jump cue. I hear there are jump cues available that make the process much easier. Can anyone recommend a jump cue that might help me, thanks.
Low deflection cues are notoriously hard to jump with. Try a house cue to see the difference.

You might like a combo jump/break cue.

pj
chgo
 

sbordona

Registered
Jump Cue Recommendations

I have had professional instruction on jumping. I can jump the cue ball, but I was told that my jump cue isn't the easiest to jump with. I did hear that the dymondwood jumper was a good one to try. Thanks for the suggestions.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
I have had professional instruction on jumping. I can jump the cue ball, but I was told that my jump cue isn't the easiest to jump with. I did hear that the dymondwood jumper was a good one to try. Thanks for the suggestions.
All jump cues jump more easily than any playing cue. The differences from jump cue to jump cue are much smaller. Get one you like.

pj
chgo
 

BC21

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All jump cues jump more easily than any playing cue. The differences from jump cue to jump cue are much smaller. Get one you like.

pj
chgo

In bold, so true. Any light weight jump cue with a hard tip works. Lighter weight (3 to 6oz or so) is easier for short quick hops, when the obstructing ball is anywhere from an inch to 7 or 8 inches from the cb, and the ball or target you are jumping to hit is less than 2 feet away. The cb hops up at a steep angle to clear the obstruction and has little forward momentum when it lands, so if the target is more than about 2 feet out the cb might not have enough speed to get to it.

If the obstructing ball is a more than 7 or 8 inches away from the cb, then a standard jump cue weighing around 8 to 9 oz can be used easily. This is the weight range of most jump cues. The jump portion of most jump-break cues tends to be too heavy (9oz or more) for a good short range jump cue. They work great as long as the cb isn't too close to the obstructing ball. When the cb is very close to the obstruction, a dedicated light jump cue works much better.

None of this means that one wood grain might or might not be a fraction better for jumping due to better energy transfer, but I think it's such a fine line that weight and speed and accurate cb hit trumps wood type.
 
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bbb

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None of this means that one wood grain might or might not be a fraction better for jumping due to better energy transfer, but I think it's such a fine line that weight and speed and accurate cb hit trumps wood type.

brian
fwiw
my house pro can do 2-3 finger width jumps over a ball with the alex brick jump part of the jump breaker made of dyamondwood with a white diamond or g10 tip
he is so confident with it he gave up on his other wood jumper
just sayin
sort of like carbon fiber vs wood in tennis racquets....modern is better
just my opinion
 

BC21

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brian
fwiw
my house pro can do 2-3 finger width jumps over a ball with the alex brick jump part of the jump breaker made of dyamondwood with a white diamond or g10 tip
he is so confident with it he gave up on his other wood jumper
just sayin
sort of like carbon fiber vs wood in tennis racquets....modern is better
just my opinion

I would love to know the weight of that diamond wood jump cue. I used a 3/8" dowel rod from Lowes to jump a ball about 1/2 an inch away from the cb once. It was poplar, very soft wood, and had no ferrule or tip. It weighed 3oz. Maybe a harder wood with a little more weight can provide the same results. It would be an interesting experimental comparison.
 
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bbb

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I would love to know the weight of that diamond wood jump cue. I used a 3/8" dowel rod from Lowes to jump a ball about 1/2 an inch away from the cb once. It was poplar, very soft wood, and had no ferrule or tip. It weighed 3oz. Maybe a harder wood with a little more weight can provide the same results. It would be an interesting experimental comparison.

fwiw
my alex brick jump breaker is 19.4 ounces together
the jumper section is 11.1 ounces
my house pro's jump breaker i think is 18.5 ounces
he can definitely do 3 fingers separation with mine and i think 2 fingers too
 

Bob Jewett

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The most effective jump cues seem to be the ones with the hardest tips. Many of them have phenolic tips. Phenolic tips damage the cue ball. That's something to keep in mind if you are playing on your own table. Maybe even if you are playing on someone else's table.
 

BC21

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fwiw
my alex brick jump breaker is 19.4 ounces together
the jumper section is 11.1 ounces
my house pro's jump breaker i think is 18.5 ounces
he can definitely do 3 fingers separation with mine and i think 2 fingers too

11oz! That's impressive. Still, a lighter cue jumps close range shots easier because it bounces back out of the way quicker, allowing the cb to leave the table at a steeper angle. I can see 11oz from 4" or more away working ok. But it's much easier with a lighter cue. Using just a shaft you can jump a full ball 0.5" away, but as the weight increases, the likelihood of the shaft lingering around too long and interfering with the cb path also increases.

As Bob Jewett mentioned, tip hardness makes a difference also, so maybe the combination of hard wood and a very hard tip sort of offsets the excess weight a bit.
 

Toxictom

AzB Silver Member
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The most effective jump cues seem to be the ones with the hardest tips. Many of them have phenolic tips. Phenolic tips damage the cue ball. That's something to keep in mind if you are playing on your own table. Maybe even if you are playing on someone else's table.

That's good to know. How do they damage the cue ball, does it crack it?
 

Bob Jewett

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That's good to know. How do they damage the cue ball, does it crack it?

Chalk is made of ground-up sand. If the tip is softer than the cue ball, nearly all of the penetration will be into the tip. If the tip is as hard as the cue ball, half of the penetration of the particles will be into the cue ball. The cue ball becomes scuffed and is more likely to retain chalk.

This is easy enough to test if you have a ball with a nice, smooth, polished surface and you don't care what happens to it. I have done that test.
 
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BC21

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Chalk is made of ground-up sand. If the tip is softer than the cue ball, nearly all of the penetration will be into the tip. If the tip is as hard as the cue ball, half of the penetration of the particles will be into the cue ball. The cue ball becomes scuffed and is more likely to retain chalk.

This is easy enough to test if you a ball with a nice, smooth, polished surface and you don't care what happens to it. I have done that test.

This is good info that could easily explain an increase in the frequency of skid shots, either at your local poolhall or at your own house. The more jump cues and break cues being used (with super hard tips) the more likely you're going to start having more skid shots.
 
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