Do you have any pet peeves about a Pool Cue's appearance?

A few off the top of my head.
Like: Wood, wood, wood! Attractive. High sheen finish.
Dislike decals. Paint. Stain hues unnatural to the species.
Points? Take 'em or leave 'em. (See: Attractive wood). If points, prefer long..
Dislike: "Fuzzy" butterfly points.
Not keen on inlay overkill.
Dislike the look of black and/or grayish carbon fiber shafts.
Shafts without an obvious ferrule,
Like: Hoppe style buttcaps. Uni-loc quick joints.

Cheap plastic joint protectors on a $3,000 cue. Yea, the $200 car in the parking lot is his.

I don't like when the ring work on shaft and butt don't aline perfectly.

Chalk on MY ferrules is a big no-no for me. I don't mind a patina on the shaft though.
Next is inlays or a gaudy cue. Plainer the better, although I do own a Rick Howard with 4 Ebony points/BEM with 4 veneers, Ivory joint/Hoppe ring, white/green spec linen. No inlays. The cue is eye pleasing without being gaudy. (NFS)

PoolBum said:

Picky, picky, picky.

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LOL! Okay there's probably more - don't care for any kind of wrap. Honestly, beyond that I appreciate the variety of all the cues I see folks post up on here, for example, but when it comes to my own I guess that are pretty "plain". I posted a pic of a cue Pat Diveney made for me in the cue review section - had the pleasure to meet him several weeks ago (super nice guy). I got to see what could be some very high dollar cues, but my tastes (and budget) ran a lot simpler. With the kielwood to me it looks about the color of the then 40 year old house cues my grandpa had down in his basement - so I love it for that as much as anything. And I keep my ferrules clean!

I agree with many of the peeves previously mentioned:
blue chalk rings on ferrules
floating points
reverse points in the butt plate
turquoise
white/black/white ringtail lizard wraps
rounded points (except for Gina, JW, Kikel)

Adding a few more:
malachite
uneven butterfly points
ebony forearms with maple points and butts
bright green veneers, especially with rosewood points
ivory points
bright white/green spec linen

I'll never own a cue with black/white spot linen. It gets changed immediately.
Large gaps between points. Small space is fine, but I see some where a Mac truck could fit between.

JessEm said:

Dislike: "Fuzzy" butterfly points.
s.

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Not sure if that means you dislike all the butterfly points, or that the fuzzy ones are on the poop list?

To my knowledge, the construction method requires the flys blend into each other...so the have to be 'fuzzy', no?

Black-Balled said:

Not sure if that means you dislike all the butterfly points, or that the fuzzy ones are on the poop list?

To my knowledge, the construction method requires the flys blend into each other...so the have to be 'fuzzy', no?

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I dunno, you might be right. In that case, it should read, "The fuzziness of butterfly points."

Thanks for pointing that out.

When I'm picking one for me, when I'm in the market I definitely have a type, all my cues
are similar. But seeing another player my biggest pet peeve is a cue that's not well cared
for. The big things for me are a dirty ferrule and dirty wrap. I understand that some players
prefer a shaft with some texture to it, a ding here or there, some battle scars, a little dirt,
stuff like that. When I change a tip some people will tell me do not clean, just change the
tip. But a dirty wrap that you can just tell smells like cigarette smoke and fried food and a
blue/green/burgundy filthy ferrule, I hate that

JessEm said:

I dunno, you might be right. In that case, it should read, "The fuzziness of butterfly points."

Thanks for pointing that out.

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But...

I think that the color choices really influence the visual of where the woods join. I have one that is all natural colors and have seen some with red/ yellow, etc ...and the latter looks like something you wouldn't even want to step in.

I'll take a pic of mine when I get unchained from my desk.

Thanx to this thread....I have to add more things I won’t put up with....
...the only leather wrap I want to see is stacked...no reptiles, no pachyderms..
...and no reverse points on the after-wrap.
...and nothing on the end of the points...I feel they may cover a mistake.

pet peeves

My number one pet peeve on a cue costing over 1k is having no ringwork on the shaft or butt joint (A & B rings), to me all black collars are what you get on inexpensive cues.
I also don't care for- malachite or turquoise, and reverse points on the butt. I like butterfly points but don't like that the veneers don't stay a solid color.
Other than that I like everything lol.

Cnc inlays that are left with rounded points. Lazy. I second the rings that dont align. Lazy.
Forearm points that are uneven such as length.
Fake ivory
Shaft not very tight when screwed on. <-- not technically appearance related but big pet peeve
Ebony that is so black its hard to see any grain.
Thick metal rings
Oversized hoppe ring
Sugar marks in upper part of shaft
Large separation at base of forearm points

Bob Jewett said:

I hate to see a blue chalk ring around the ferrule. It tells me the owner is a Borer. It doesn't bother me much on house cues, but in case I get a house cue alone, out comes the #600 and off comes the ring. No excuse on a store-bought cue.

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This is actually one of the first things I check for when I play someone new. If I see their ferrule blue, I know they have not had much if any formal learning. They may be a good shooter, but I know I can out-move them most of the time.

Floating points

"Box" cues

Clovers or spears on the tips of the points

Elephant or some other weird wrap

Short ferrules

$.02

Wrapless
Wood joint
Big pin (3/8x10 mod preferably)
No turquois
No bocote
Med-soft tip
Maple shaft 12.75-13mm

I definitely go for the more simpler looking cues. I prefer the more natural looking cues, the ones without the extra bling, colour's decals. Predator BK series is a prime example. I like how they break, but I do not like how they are a walking advertisement.

Things I like :
-Full splice wrapless.
-simple ringwork
-if there is a wrap, I like simple ringwork above and below. i prefer the look because it has a deliberate start and end of the wrap, and doesn't looking it was carved into the cue.
- if it is a wrap, soft tanned leather, not repurposed, or printed, or glossed.

things i usually do not like (on occasion, something just works, and i like it, even if it is not something that would normally appeal to me):
- floating points
- points in the butt
- a lot of bling
- decals
- rounded points
- overly bright contrasting veneers. (white/black is ok, if it is to make the points obvious into the forearm)
- repurposed, glossy or textured wraps.
- blue ferrules - this is more a pet peeve for my equipment. i don't really care about other peoples. I like to keep mine clean.

All that said, my main player is a Cohen and flashier than i normally would be drawn to. ebony, with copper inlays and curly maple recuts (i think they are recuts). so i break a lot of my standards for my main player I find it the right mix, and elegant, rather than gaudy.

Not really a peeve about equipment, but i hate to see someone with nice equipment decide to play hockey with the shaft. i don't know why so many will use their shaft to move redirect balls that are moving. I see guys with high end predator cues, smashing the side of the shaft into balls. Also, i cant stand when someone smashes the butt of the cue into the floor, or uses their cue like a walking stick.

Barbells.......

Ugh!!!!:yikes::yeah::barf:

OK blue chalk on the ferrule.

Now I brush my chalk on yet over weeks and weeks of play my ferrule gets a blue tinge.

I thought this was from rubbing the cloth one some strokes (draw style player and pendulum stroke).

Or am I doing my chalking wrong with my brushing or is it that I don't clean my shaft and ferrule often???