GTF Cue fitting problem.

I'm having the same problem too! My cue's butt is about 31 inches long with jp, and it simply wouldn't fit.. In fact I tried so hard that the top of the cap came off, but I popped it right back in.. Now I simply put it in without jp, I'm not worrying that much though, the case seems to be quite solidly built..

Easy fix, get an Engles.

Easy fix, get a Talisman, my 31 inch butt with joint protectors will fit in my Talisman Tribal 3x5 with room to spare. I think other model Talisman case have room for a 31" or longer butt or shaft also. Which brings up the question of why so many players that would benefit from a 60" or longer cue use a 58" cue and grip it at the butt cap, crimping their stroke.

weeseng said:

I'm having the same problem too! My cue's butt is about 31 inches long with jp, and it simply wouldn't fit.. In fact I tried so hard that the top of the cap came off, but I popped it right back in.. Now I simply put it in without jp, I'm not worrying that much though, the case seems to be quite solidly built..

Click to expand...

That's one of the down falls to using a longer cue. i think another option would be to hit up John Barton (he makes GTF cases right?) and see if he'll make you a custom lid. maybe he or another case maker could make you another lid that's a little longer. or maybe you could find a ron thomas or something that has the extra length for a storage compartment in the lid that'll fit your case

i'd hit up john though and see if he'd make you another lid

ssminn said:

Easy fix, get a Talisman, my 31 inch butt with joint protectors will fit in my Talisman Tribal 3x5 with room to spare. I think other model Talisman case have room for a 31" or longer butt or shaft also. Which brings up the question of why so many players that would benefit from a 60" or longer cue use a 58" cue and grip it at the butt cap, crimping their stroke.

Click to expand...

i've heard bad things about talisman cases. i hear they don't provide as much padding as GTF or instroke.

poolplayer2093 said:

That's one of the down falls to using a longer cue. i think another option would be to hit up John Barton (he makes GTF cases right?) and see if he'll make you a custom lid. maybe he or another case maker could make you another lid that's a little longer. or maybe you could find a ron thomas or something that has the extra length for a storage compartment in the lid that'll fit your case

i'd hit up john though and see if he'd make you another lid

Click to expand...

Good luck with that.... I tried to go down that road and it was a dead end.

:rotflmao: This would only happen to you ben...

I believe you, knocked my sweet SWEET soft case, which held every cue no problem so far. :rotflmao:

Let me know how you make out with this. I may have a spare solution for you.

:lmao:

There was a Ron Thomas a few weeks back that was specifically made with a long cap to hold a towel inside of the cap with the cue. This would have allowed any longer cues plenty of room with joint protectors. JB is more than willing to take special orders for GTF cases also. I'm sure that both can do something to accommodate.

Quick Reply:

Bencho, the case should fit 31" easily. There is a misprint on the CueSight website stating that the case fits 32". That will be corrected.

I just spent about 30 minutes testing the case capacity to be sure of what I am going to say here. It was mentioned that one should purchase an Engles to "solve" this problem.

The cases I have for testing is a GTF Storage case 2x4 with no pockets and an Engles 1x2 that I purchased on AZ.

I will post pictures a little later along with a short video I just did.

I used a Sneaky Pete that measured 31.5" with a joint protector and I taped another joint protector to it to make it a total of just over 32".

The results are that the GTF case was able to close and stay closed with the 32" length cue butt inside and the Engles could not close and was lacking just over 1"

All of the cases we build are meant to hold up to 31.5". GTF claims 31" just to be on the safe side.

If there is a problem where the case is not holding a 31" total length part easily then we need to look at why this is and not just assume that the cases are all that way. The case must be loaded a certain way in order to insure that all parts fit. That could be a problem. There could also be a problem with the liner being twisted or pinched and thereby not allowing the cue part to go down as far as it should be able to.

I will be glad to troubleshoot any such problems. I do however want to clear up any misconceptions about what the official and real capacity of a GTF case is.

It is 31"

Also it is very important that I clear up any misconception that the snugness of the case can harm the cue. There is no way that the shaft can be bent when it is stored in a GTF case properly. The lid does not and cannot exert enough pressure to bend the shaft.

In every GTF case there is about a half an inch of foam rubber padding in the top and in the bottom of the case. This padding is there to allow the cue to be held snugly in the vertical position and reduce excess movement.

IT is 100% impossible for the case to exert enough pressure to warp or bend a shaft or butt.

Try this simple experiment. Put the tip of your shaft against something hard like the carpet and push straight down on it from joint section. You cannot bend it easily. Turn the shaft over and do the same thing. You will quickly see that you must exert much more force than the case is putting on the shaft and you still will not be able to bend the shaft.

The parts in a GTF case are held in a cushioned environment - the force is very gentle and any resistance comes from the foam rubber padding and is not harmful to any part of the cue.

Anyway, that is the correct information regarding this issue. As I said I will edit this to upload pictures and a link to the video when I am able to upload them.

Pictures:

#1: This picture shows that the two cases are nearly the same height and that the lip of the body is at nearly the same height. It also shows that the cues are of normal length of about 30" total from bumper to tip. The sneaky pete shown is at 31.5" - later for the video I taped another JP to it upside down to make a 32" length.


#2. This picture shows the standard length cues in both cases and that both of them allow the cues to sit naturally at roughly the same height. In the video I show the compression of the GTF case that gives the cues another .5" of padding at the bottom.


#3. This picture shows that the lids are roughly the same size and that the Engles has about 1/4" more room in it than the GTF when the foam rubber in the GTF lid is not compressed. When the foam is compressed than the GTF has more room.


The next edit will be to provide a link to the video demonstration because that is the only way to show that the same cue at 32" WILL FIT in the GTF but NOT in the Engles.




John Barton - maker of GTF cases.

Regarding after market lids. Every tube and every piece of leather is different. When we cut the tube to make the lid and the body we insure that those two parts are married for life. Trust me when I tell you that it's nearly impossible to get any two extruded tube parts to match up perfectly flush. At least for these tubes it is. I'd be willing to bet a lot that every maker of this style of case cuts the tube and marks it so that the pieces fit back together the same way every time.

Leather is another issue. Within one hide the thickness of leather can vary substantially up to half a millimeter. So again when the leather is cut for the cap and body it is marked to insure that it goes back together exactly on the cut line.

It would be nearly impossible to simply make another lid and have it fit flush to the body.

The best solution to get a longer case is to have it made from scratch.

We can make the GTF case any length. We buy the tubes precut to a 2.5meter length and cut them as needed.

I made them to be able to fit 31.5" as I do with all of our cases.

If there is an issue where this length does not fit then either the case is defective or it's not being loaded properly.

As of now, I can guarantee that we can process any custom GTF orders fairly quickly.

LoGiC said:

:rotflmao: This would only happen to you ben...

I believe you, knocked my sweet SWEET soft case, which held every cue no problem so far. :rotflmao:

Let me know how you make out with this. I may have a spare solution for you.

:lmao:

Click to expand...

Which soft case do you use

JB Cases said:

Quick Reply:

Bencho, the case should fit 31" easily. There is a misprint on the CueSight website stating that the case fits 32". That will be corrected.

I just spent about 30 minutes testing the case capacity to be sure of what I am going to say here. It was mentioned that one should purchase an Engles to "solve" this problem.

The cases I have for testing is a GTF Storage case 2x4 with no pockets and an Engles 1x2 that I purchased on AZ.

I will post pictures a little later along with a short video I just did.

I used a Sneaky Pete that measured 31.5" with a joint protector and I taped another joint protector to it to make it a total of just over 32".

The results are that the GTF case was able to close and stay closed with the 32" length cue butt inside and the Engles could not close and was lacking just over 1"

All of the cases we build are meant to hold up to 31.5". GTF claims 31" just to be on the safe side.

If there is a problem where the case is not holding a 31" total length part easily then we need to look at why this is and not just assume that the cases are all that way. The case must be loaded a certain way in order to insure that all parts fit. That could be a problem. There could also be a problem with the liner being twisted or pinched and thereby not allowing the cue part to go down as far as it should be able to.

I will be glad to troubleshoot any such problems. I do however want to clear up any misconceptions about what the official and real capacity of a GTF case is.

It is 31"

Also it is very important that I clear up any misconception that the snugness of the case can harm the cue. There is no way that the shaft can be bent when it is stored in a GTF case properly. The lid does not and cannot exert enough pressure to bend the shaft.

In every GTF case there is about a half an inch of foam rubber padding in the top and in the bottom of the case. This padding is there to allow the cue to be held snugly in the vertical position and reduce excess movement.

IT is 100% impossible for the case to exert enough pressure to warp or bend a shaft or butt.

Try this simple experiment. Put the tip of your shaft against something hard like the carpet and push straight down on it from joint section. You cannot bend it easily. Turn the shaft over and do the same thing. You will quickly see that you must exert much more force than the case is putting on the shaft and you still will not be able to bend the shaft.

The parts in a GTF case are held in a cushioned environment - the force is very gentle and any resistance comes from the foam rubber padding and is not harmful to any part of the cue.

Anyway, that is the correct information regarding this issue. As I said I will edit this to upload pictures and a link to the video when I am able to upload them.

Pictures:

#1: This picture shows that the two cases are nearly the same height and that the lip of the body is at nearly the same height. It also shows that the cues are of normal length of about 30" total from bumper to tip. The sneaky pete shown is at 31.5" - later for the video I taped another JP to it upside down to make a 32" length.

#2. This picture shows the standard length cues in both cases and that both of them allow the cues to sit naturally at roughly the same height. In the video I show the compression of the GTF case that gives the cues another .5" of padding at the bottom.

#3. This picture shows that the lids are roughly the same size and that the Engles has about 1/4" more room in it than the GTF when the foam rubber in the GTF lid is not compressed. When the foam is compressed than the GTF has more room.

The next edit will be to provide a link to the video demonstration because that is the only way to show that the same cue at 32" WILL FIT in the GTF but NOT in the Engles.




John Barton - maker of GTF cases.

Click to expand...

So is he wrong or are you wrong?

poolplayer2093 said:

So is he wrong or are you wrong?

Click to expand...

No one is "wrong". He said that he is uncomfortable with the way the lid applies force to the shaft. In his mind this equates with not fitting. In fact the shaft fits just as it should according to the way I designed the interior.

I explained that the case is made to handle 31" and why at 31" there will be a little resistance. I also reassured him that this resistance is in no way harmful to the shaft.

The thing is that people are so used to sloppy cases which allow cues to rattle around they aren't prepared for form fitting cases that use foam rubber to minimize movement.

The foam rubber in the GTF case does three things. One is that it keeps the cues snug and two it cushions the blow to the cap should the case be jarred or dropped, and three it protects the cue parts from impact.

Here, instead of writing this dozens of times on AZ I have written my views on this at the JB Case website. www.jbcases.com/protection.html

bencho said:

poolplayer2093- I know LoGiC and his lack of it He's just busting my balls. He uses the soft 4x8's that I don't agree with

JohnBarton- I have watched both your videos on gtfcases.com. I popped off the cap and first put in my shaft JP down. Then second put in my butt JP down also. So the tip and bumper are on top. I couldn't put the butt in first because it was then too thick to put the shaft in. That is simple physics and easy to understand.

After further investigation, I measured my shaft and butt again. The shaft is 31" and the butt 31.5". However, there seems to be a huge amount of cushioning on the bottom. When I put them both in, the shaft extends past the butt by a slight amount! From this I can only deduce that there is slightly more than .5" of padding on the side of the case for the shaft tubes? I have tried very hard to press the shaft down as far as it will go. As a last resort [because I have confidence in your case designs!! :thumbup:] I ripped off the leather/foam pad from the inside top of the cap. This layer was 1/8" thick and behind it was a white flexible foam. It took some thought before I did this because, obviously it is now a "damaged" case. However, my assumptions were correct and now the lid fits on smoothly and flush. Ripping off the leather pad in the lid is a small problem to me since the cues don't move up and down no matter how hard I shake the case anyway and no one's going to look at the inside of the lid. So no worries about protection there.

As for the pressure previously exerted on the shaft- the lid [when closed] would spring back up, leaving about 1/16" of an inch of space between the lid and body. It was impossible to open unless you pushed down hard on the lid, thus allowing the latch unhook. I just wasn't comfortable with having to do this over time.

So in conclusion, the points I'd like to address are this, call it a mini review if you like:

-The case will fit up to 31.5" - However, I'm not sure how old this oil tanned model is because I no longer see it on the gtfcases website. Nor am I sure of the padding methods in all the caps. However, in my case [no pun intended ], the padding prevented me from closing the lid flush. Maybe the newer cases have a smidgen more room? So the website should definitely change from 32" to 31". It was a little misleading.

-The padding on the shafts definitely pushed my shaft up. When seated, it matched the height of my butt. That could be a matter with the padding at the bottom bunching up or something?

-The case is structurally sound and everything I expected it to be. Sure I had to "damage" the case to make it fit but I have faith in John's excellent work! The cues are safe. No rattling. No touching.

One extra comment would be this: Maybe put an extremely thin layer of fabric on the lid's edge. I may just be a klutz but I keep hitting my butt when pulling it off >.<''

Click to expand...

Thanks for the excellent description and review. I will certainly take all of it into account and make some changes that make every case that goes out 100% consistent in the way it works.

You can return the case as well and trade it in for another one. The next one may work slightly better due to the leather barrier being softer than the oil tan. That's another issue. The case "looks" better with a piece of matching leather inside the lid but each leather is different and some of them bend less and so that reduces the amount that the foam can compress.

I wish I wasn't so anal about all this. I should just build it the way George, Thomas, and Engles do. Sometimes I really think I just over-engineer these things.

If you got the case from CueSight, or your friend did, then return it and have them send you a brown nappa one if they have it. If not then I will build you one when I have time and trade you myself privately.

I purchased one of the 2x4 GTF Prestige cases at the Sterling booth in Vegas. I am extremely happy with though I have 3 observations. These are associated with the strap.

1. A padded shoulder pad would be nice. I actually took a pad off another case I had there with me.

2. I believe 2 snap studs on the upper part of the strap would be better. The reason is the snap actually came unsnapped while I was carrying the case. The case fell backwards off my shoulder and hit the pavement on the lid.

3. This caused the top plastic part on the lid to actually pop off. When I got home I epoxied the plastic piece back onto the lid.

I did go back to the Sterling booth and let the guy there know about the strap problem. As far as the lid he recommended I contact GTF. The repair was pretty straight forward so I took care of that myself.

Fortunately the huggable padding kept the cues in the case. I'm sure if a similar thing happened with other cases the cues would have shot out of the case with the way it fell off my shoulder.

Rep+ to you for standing behind your product 100%! I wish more people were like you!