Interesting topic about Meucci Cues- Louie Roberts

mikemosconi said:

I just finished the new "ST. Louie"- Louie Roberts book. Throughout the book so many people say that Louie was one of the best pure shotmakers who ever picked up a cue- i have not heard anyone ever dispute that.

What I find interesting, is that he ONLY played with a Meucci his entire pool career. Many on this site have knocked Meucci cues for various reasons; but the ones he played with :
70s thru 80s obviously shot straight enough for Louie to be considered one of the greatest.

His cues were "no dot" and had no so called deflection protection that has been the talk of many since the first days of Predator cues and every "low deflection" cue "invention since then.

Louie was BEST known for full table length, very thin cut shots- the type of shot that a "deflecting" cue should throw the cueball off path well enough that hitting that thin sliver of the object ball from that distance would drive one crazy.

I only play with traditional maple shafts, I have always maintained that if you play regularly with any quality, reasonably straight cue; your mind's eye will learn to direct the cueball to the right object ball path to be successful- St. Louie Louie was a perfect example of this fact.

Sometimes , along my own pool path, I wanted to "experiment" with the latest pool cue technology, but something inside me ( as a cue collector) just felt that I needed to stay true to tradition when it came to wood cues. Reading how the greatest ever made all those great shots with "just a Meucci" helps make me glad I stayed true!

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He played with a Joss before he hooked up with Meucci.

garczar said:

He played with a Joss before he hooked up with Meucci.

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Hasn't everybody played with a Joss at one time or another?
I can find no faults in a Joss.

Louie was being given Meucci cues and a LOT of them. I met at least 20 people in Memphis alone that had cues either straight given to them by Louie,or sold to them when he wound up in a bad spot.

Grady Mathews told me about a stunt he pulled somewhere where he went around and told people something along the lines of "hey I need a favor,loan me 500 on my cue,BUT I need to use the cue to play my next match".

He said he collected from 8 different guys,but his next match was going back to Shreveport to jump on Buddy Hall yet again. He just collected from all 8 guys and rolled out of town. Tommy D.

I've played with traditional shafts my entire pool playing life (started in '86) and have banged a few balls with LD shafts but just can't get used to them. As mentioned, you just get used to the deflection of a certain type shaft. I was at the APA Vegas event and tried the Meucci carbon fiber, I was making close shots but anything with distance and speed I was way off. I put the cue back and said I'll stick to maple, thanks.

I was told that Louie would work at the Meucci Factory for amounts of time to
build some road cash and Meucci would make up a cue or cues and some cues
had the stamp on it in Louie's name.
Heck, great advertising to have someone like Louie shooting with your brand, at
least he was out there night after night. That would have been great to see.

mikemosconi said:

What I find interesting, is that he ONLY played with a Meucci his entire pool career. Many on this site have knocked Meucci cues for various reasons; but the ones he played with :
70s thru 80s obviously shot straight enough for Louie to be considered one of the greatest.

Click to expand...

I always had a good time playing with my Meucci cue. Won many tournaments. Never used a red or black dot. But my Meucci, like many others of the late 80's and up, started falling apart. The butt cap glue joints all failed, and the points and inlays all popped.

Guys like Strickland, Sigel, Hall, Rempe, Hubbard, Howard... they won a ton of tournaments with Meucci cues. I never understand when people said Meucci shafts were whippy. I found them to hit oh so sweetly.

Try to remember this time. All you ever played with was house cues. As you got better, you learned to hide your favorite cue in the racks and worked its tip and shaft. Then one day, someone was in the pool hall with a Meucci or a Palmer or a Viking and let you hit a few balls with it. Remember? It really does not get much better from there.

Meucci, Mcdermott, and Joss were the common cues. Seems like everyone had one of the 3, other than that one guy who had something no one else had.

Now days everyone has something different.

I had a Meucci cue in the mid 80's.
It warped and the ferrule cracked.
To this day it was and still is best cue I've ever played with that moved the cue ball with less effort.
But I have resisted in buying a new one for fear the same thing would happen again.
Too bad because I like a lot of their designs.
I would say my $230 Schmelke is a better built cue.
But time will tell.

Got a Meucci Pro Series 3, that I always wanted. It felt so backweighted and the shaft was limp like a noodle. It is now one of my most favorites. It moves the cue ball around with ease. It may not be perfectly balanced, but when I get in stroke with it, it feels like an extension of my arm more so than my other cues.

The way I heard the story, he sold his cue to multiple people, played the tournament,
pretended to lose his temper and snapped the cue in front of everybody.

Back in the day, I heard Meucci was always good with the road players. When Ronnie Allen would come back from a road trip through the south to LA, he might have a few Meucci cues with him. He gave one to a guy that I played snooker with at Hollywood Billiards that was just a beautiful cue with different wood inlays. This was when Ronnie played with a Balabushka, so I am pretty sure Bob knew he wasn’t going to play with them, he was just helping him out.

Carbon fiber shafts seem to be the next phase of cue making but as far as I’m concerned,
maple shafts are just part of cue making and the wood selection is critical. It isn’t easy to
produce wood shafts like so many yrs. ago. It comes down to inventory, wood selection & taper.

Original maple shafts will have some defection but after you really are accustomed to it, like so
many older players have, changing doesn’t make since your sight picture just becomes radically
different and you have to aim differently often hitting more OB than you intended. Stick with what
works and besides, I have never lost to a weaker player because they used a carbon fiber shaft.

Ironically, it’s always seems to come down to losing to a better player. Hmn, maybe I should start
paying attention to the shaft they use because I don’t think the shaft makes them a better player.
A CF shaft might help them pocket some harder shots than they typically would make but their run
count doesn’t seem to change regardless. Nope, if you master defection, and it is not hard to do,
then maple shafts will always remain part of your cue inventory, and just maybe, also your favorite.

mikemosconi said:

I just finished the new "ST. Louie"- Louie Roberts book. Throughout the book so many people say that Louie was one of the best pure shotmakers who ever picked up a cue- i have not heard anyone ever dispute that.

What I find interesting, is that he ONLY played with a Meucci his entire pool career. Many on this site have knocked Meucci cues for various reasons; but the ones he played with :
70s thru 80s obviously shot straight enough for Louie to be considered one of the greatest.

His cues were "no dot" and had no so called deflection protection that has been the talk of many since the first days of Predator cues and every "low deflection" cue "invention since then.

Louie was BEST known for full table length, very thin cut shots- the type of shot that a "deflecting" cue should throw the cueball off path well enough that hitting that thin sliver of the object ball from that distance would drive one crazy.

I only play with traditional maple shafts, I have always maintained that if you play regularly with any quality, reasonably straight cue; your mind's eye will learn to direct the cueball to the right object ball path to be successful- St. Louie Louie was a perfect example of this fact.

Sometimes , along my own pool path, I wanted to "experiment" with the latest pool cue technology, but something inside me ( as a cue collector) just felt that I needed to stay true to tradition when it came to wood cues. Reading how the greatest ever made all those great shots with "just a Meucci" helps make me glad I stayed true!

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the Meuccis the pros played with, were not the same cue as the average guy bought.

For a long time I held a view similar to the one advanced by the OP here. I think there is truth in it, but I have now switched to a LD cue, and I don't believe this view fully captures the benefits of an LD shaft.

It is true that people will become accustomed to their their shaft LD or not. However, most LD shafts are laminated wood (stripes of wood glued together). This makes them straighter, stronger, and more resistant to bowing when striking cue ball extremes when compared to maple shafts of similar diameter and taper. I believe CF shafts have similar straightness and stiffness benefits without the laminated wood. This is why, or at least, part of the reason why, guys with LD shafts get so much action on the cue ball. I would argue that for most players, easier cueball juice is an advantage.

The LD shafts really shines when using center ball or small amounts of English...or where the player slightly mis-hits the cueball. Where an LD shafts strikes a cue ball slightly away from the center the cueball path is minimally altered. This literally makes shots easier as the place where a player can strike the cueball and still pocket his shot is acutally bigger. This really shows up under pressure where making a big shot will allow a player to win or escape a trap, etc.

Because players will adapt to their cue, I decided to take the plunge this spring and I have noticed the benefits outlined above in making the switch from maple to LD. An added bonus is that I can get a new shaft in the time it takes for shipping vs. months of waiting on a cue maker.

After five months, I am still adjusting to my cuetec cynergy. I think it does offer some advantages. However, I must admit that I am finding the transition challenging.

kollegedave

mikemosconi said:

I just finished the new "ST. Louie"- Louie Roberts book. Throughout the book so many people say that Louie was one of the best pure shotmakers who ever picked up a cue- i have not heard anyone ever dispute that.

What I find interesting, is that he ONLY played with a Meucci his entire pool career. Many on this site have knocked Meucci cues for various reasons; but the ones he played with :
70s thru 80s obviously shot straight enough for Louie to be considered one of the greatest.

His cues were "no dot" and had no so called deflection protection that has been the talk of many since the first days of Predator cues and every "low deflection" cue "invention since then.

Louie was BEST known for full table length, very thin cut shots- the type of shot that a "deflecting" cue should throw the cueball off path well enough that hitting that thin sliver of the object ball from that distance would drive one crazy.

I only play with traditional maple shafts, I have always maintained that if you play regularly with any quality, reasonably straight cue; your mind's eye will learn to direct the cueball to the right object ball path to be successful- St. Louie Louie was a perfect example of this fact.

Sometimes , along my own pool path, I wanted to "experiment" with the latest pool cue technology, but something inside me ( as a cue collector) just felt that I needed to stay true to tradition when it came to wood cues. Reading how the greatest ever made all those great shots with "just a Meucci" helps make me glad I stayed true!

Click to expand...

mikemosconi said:

I just finished the new "ST. Louie"- Louie Roberts book. Throughout the book so many people say that Louie was one of the best pure shotmakers who ever picked up a cue- i have not heard anyone ever dispute that.

What I find interesting, is that he ONLY played with a Meucci his entire pool career. Many on this site have knocked Meucci cues for various reasons; but the ones he played with :
70s thru 80s obviously shot straight enough for Louie to be considered one of the greatest.

His cues were "no dot" and had no so called deflection protection that has been the talk of many since the first days of Predator cues and every "low deflection" cue "invention since then.

Louie was BEST known for full table length, very thin cut shots- the type of shot that a "deflecting" cue should throw the cueball off path well enough that hitting that thin sliver of the object ball from that distance would drive one crazy.

I only play with traditional maple shafts, I have always maintained that if you play regularly with any quality, reasonably straight cue; your mind's eye will learn to direct the cueball to the right object ball path to be successful- St. Louie Louie was a perfect example of this fact.

Sometimes , along my own pool path, I wanted to "experiment" with the latest pool cue technology, but something inside me ( as a cue collector) just felt that I needed to stay true to tradition when it came to wood cues. Reading how the greatest ever made all those great shots with "just a Meucci" helps make me glad I stayed true!

Click to expand...

The squirt and swerve from non low deflection shafts can help make those very thin cuts if you can control it by changing the angle to not being as thin
Jmho

I purchased my first Meucci, an MO-7 model around 1974 or 1975 from a dealer who had a setup at the world open at Asbury Park, New Jersey. For the previous three or four years, I had been playing with a Doc Frye cue my dad had purchased for me, as he worked in PA, very close to Doc’s home / workshop. I didn’t discover until many years later that Doc’s cues were quite sought after, as Doc had taught Gus the art of cue making.

My Meucci had a completely different sound, feel, hit to it than my Frye cue, but I grew to love it. One of our young regulars purchased it from me a few years ago, so I still see it often. He upgraded to a Meucci carbon fiber shaft to use with it. We have an understanding that if he ever sells it, he’s got to give me the first shot at it.

While it's great he could play with a normal whippy shaft, that does not mean that others will do as well. Bustie does pretty well with a standard shaft also but when he aims some shots he is aiming way off the contact point and simply adjusting for defelction.

I bet Federer would do OK with an old school thin graphite raquet also but some club player won't do nearly as well without a new wide body larger head one. A lot of race car drivers did pretty well with 2" wide tires and 50hp engines also, but I don't feel I need to drive one of those cars because the greats of the past did.

I never ever ever ever decide what I should play with or buy by looking at what others are using past suggestions to try something and see how it works for me or say "he uses this and he is good so what he uses is good enough for everyone". If I someone plays better with a new $500 carbon fiber shaft than a $100 wood shaft, so be it. There is no need to feel bad or need to apologize or be embarrassed about it.