Opinions On “Cue plays well”
- Thread starter sgengaro86
- Start date
As someone that has sold a lot of cues, I can say this about saying a cue hits good, a cue hits solid, etc.. IMHO It means no noises, rattles, or other defect. The only important question, is does it hit good to you, the buyer? You won't know until it gets into your hands, if you like it or not. You may have a preference, balance point, shaft diameter, type of joint, butt thickness. These opinions will shape your definition of what is a good hit.
Many will say a lot of that criteria, and those points I mentioned do not mean anything. Including myself, but I am not you, so what you believe, is what you want to believe. I can tell you sometimes just changing a tip can change your opinion of the cue.
So in my description if I say a cue hits good, solid, sharp etc.. just means that its a sound cue. I would say 98% of all cues should be sound. But that opinion, is mine, and yours may differ.
JV
Many will say a lot of that criteria, and those points I mentioned do not mean anything. Including myself, but I am not you, so what you believe, is what you want to believe. I can tell you sometimes just changing a tip can change your opinion of the cue.
So in my description if I say a cue hits good, solid, sharp etc.. just means that its a sound cue. I would say 98% of all cues should be sound. But that opinion, is mine, and yours may differ.
JV
I agree with you.
If somebody threw 20 different cues out on the table and some were production and some were custom and I tried all of them, the cue that I thought "played" best would be the one that you would see me continue to play with.
It wouldn't matter about the look, the price, production or custom, or who made the cue.
You may pick out the same cue that I picked, or any of the other 19, and think it was the best.
To each, their own.
There would be some surprised people!
There would be some surprised people if you let fifty people play with twenty cues they couldn't identify. Especially if you changed tip and ferrule on the cheaper production cues. The cheapest ferrules have a lot to do with a hit that many dislike.
I found out that I couldn't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear but I could make a silk purse out of a cotton one.
Hu
There would be some surprised people if you let fifty people play with twenty cues they couldn't identify. Especially if you changed tip and ferrule on the cheaper production cues. The cheapest ferrules have a lot to do with a hit that many dislike.
I found out that I couldn't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear but I could make a silk purse out of a cotton one.
Hu
If someone threw 20 out on the table, I would most likely pick the one that was most similar to my current cue..
If I was forced to take one of those cues at random and play with it for six months, then that’s the cue I would likely choose six months later out of the 20.
Same with 20 random electric guitars or 20 random baseball gloves or 20 random hockey sticks. I collect guitars but only play with one for hard rock. It’s a guitar I initially got for my collection and I didn’t find the playability that great. My previous Guitar developed a few electronica issues that I was too lazy to fix. So far a couple gigs are I use the guitar that I thought didn’t play that great. After about three months I found it fantastic and now it’s been my go to guitar for over a decade.
Anyway most of us prefer what’s familiar. Get new brakes on the car and it takes a while to get used to them.
If I was forced to take one of those cues at random and play with it for six months, then that’s the cue I would likely choose six months later out of the 20.
Same with 20 random electric guitars or 20 random baseball gloves or 20 random hockey sticks. I collect guitars but only play with one for hard rock. It’s a guitar I initially got for my collection and I didn’t find the playability that great. My previous Guitar developed a few electronica issues that I was too lazy to fix. So far a couple gigs are I use the guitar that I thought didn’t play that great. After about three months I found it fantastic and now it’s been my go to guitar for over a decade.
Anyway most of us prefer what’s familiar. Get new brakes on the car and it takes a while to get used to them.
Your not missing much , it's not the cue ,it's the injun. If you can't run a rack of nine ball 1 out of 10 times with a 100.00 McDermott cue, you won't be able to run a rack in 10 with a 10,000.00 cue either. {Although you may be inspired to practice more and become better in that way}
If you run out 9 out of 10 times , you might not be able to do it with a cheap cue because ,the better player will be able to notice balance problems and deflection more than a novice and be affected by it.
I don't know anything about the non deflection equipment , or carbon fiber shafts, I'm just speaking to cues made the old school way. The weight forward or in the back was and is a huge factor in the old style cues, and it just depends on how it affects you personally, neither is right or wrong.
true, but for a break cue, theres a difference, and breaks a ton can be used. ive tried 21oz cues and 17 oz cues and everything in between, when it comes to breakcues, the difference in noticable
so in that respect buying a cue without trying it is asking for trouble bc theres a 50/50 chance the buyer wont like it if you take into account probability. as most likely youll not like a cue or like a cue, the more you try and learn the probability of likability moves from uncertain to certain as you learn the preference of the probability youll most likely like a cue. the more you try the more finicky youll get of your preference, so the amount youll like will go down even if you apply your standards. basically, buy one cue and stick with it, or go down the rabbits hole.
OneArmBandit
Registered
I'm NOT going to read all the replies, I'm an old 'short stop' if that good. Think liked to play races to 7 because the people I was playing with and me would once in a while run out a set to 5.
I see people switch cues all the time, I would suggest pick 1 cue and stick with it. MAYBE ask a quality player to hit a few balls with it and ask if it has any quirks. Very few 'real cues' (and you own several) are bad cues.
If you play once or twice a week, I'd suggest getting a low deflection shaft for the cue. Mostly because you don't have to allow for deflection as much. If you play every day, there is nothing wrong with a standard shaft, but in those I would say you will need to play more often and in those there is more 'feel' to the shaft. I've had few cues that played different. That is saying I felt the butt had anything to do with the overall feel of the hit.
I had an early Schon and I think they have a unique feel/hit. After having acquired the Schon, I asked to hit with a few others and they all had a similar feel to the hit. It's hard to define the hit and balance of a cue that works for you. While I had the Schon and an old C series McDermott, what did I prefer to play with? I use to borrow a friends 'bucket cue' he bought out of a bucket of cues from a supply house for $35. It had a great feel for me. When he was leaving town he sold it to me for $50. I played with it until The join was failing.
FWIW - I took my own advice, I play league once a week, so I bought a low deflection shaft and use it when I come into town to play league once a week.
Now the important part! I still play okay, our league was suspended after 10 weeks, In 10 weeks I played 3 matches and lead the league with 3 break and runs. The bad part is on 2 of those break and runs, I had better safes, I had put myself out of position and kicked balls in to get out. Why? Because I was having fun.
After your 30 years and my 50 years neither of us will be a world beater, but if we don't worry about what we are playing with, we might just have some fun along the way!
I see people switch cues all the time, I would suggest pick 1 cue and stick with it. MAYBE ask a quality player to hit a few balls with it and ask if it has any quirks. Very few 'real cues' (and you own several) are bad cues.
If you play once or twice a week, I'd suggest getting a low deflection shaft for the cue. Mostly because you don't have to allow for deflection as much. If you play every day, there is nothing wrong with a standard shaft, but in those I would say you will need to play more often and in those there is more 'feel' to the shaft. I've had few cues that played different. That is saying I felt the butt had anything to do with the overall feel of the hit.
I had an early Schon and I think they have a unique feel/hit. After having acquired the Schon, I asked to hit with a few others and they all had a similar feel to the hit. It's hard to define the hit and balance of a cue that works for you. While I had the Schon and an old C series McDermott, what did I prefer to play with? I use to borrow a friends 'bucket cue' he bought out of a bucket of cues from a supply house for $35. It had a great feel for me. When he was leaving town he sold it to me for $50. I played with it until The join was failing.
FWIW - I took my own advice, I play league once a week, so I bought a low deflection shaft and use it when I come into town to play league once a week.
Now the important part! I still play okay, our league was suspended after 10 weeks, In 10 weeks I played 3 matches and lead the league with 3 break and runs. The bad part is on 2 of those break and runs, I had better safes, I had put myself out of position and kicked balls in to get out. Why? Because I was having fun.
After your 30 years and my 50 years neither of us will be a world beater, but if we don't worry about what we are playing with, we might just have some fun along the way!
Maybe you don't know how to break properly.
There are noticeable differences between cues when it comes to breaking, but there are also noticeable differences between the techniques and skills of the breakers.
Up until several years ago, I never weighed more than 150 pounds in my life and I'm 5'7".
I've had guys who have played pool for a long time and are over 6' and 200 pounds ask me how I break so hard. I've also had people all the way from across the pool room come up and ask me that. They say, "I can hear your break from 40 feet away, what are you doing?"
One of the guys who I used to play with regularly always complained that I beat him consistently because I could out break him and get out way more times than he could.
I think it is because I learned to play pool as a kid and have played for half a century.
I can use my old Players Sneaky Pete wood cue and outbreak 70% of the young players today with their fancy custom break cues with phenolic tips.
I can hit the balls HARD...even at 66 years old, however, I prefer to take a bit off of it and concentrate more on controlling the cue ball.
In 9-ball, I consistently make a ball on the break, and lots of times I make 2 or 3.
It is more in the stroke and "timing" than it is just raring back and knocking the hell out of them.
The quote in the Op should read "it plays well FOR ME."
What I like and what someone else likes are going to be different. Sometimes very different.
It's the same deal with most things. Golf clubs, fly rods, sports cars, whatever.
Some of us are tall, others short, some more muscular, others are lanky, some are generously proportioned.
When you find a cue that you think "plays well," buy it. Never mind who makes it or what it costs vs. something else. If it plays well for you it's a keeper.
What I like and what someone else likes are going to be different. Sometimes very different.
It's the same deal with most things. Golf clubs, fly rods, sports cars, whatever.
Some of us are tall, others short, some more muscular, others are lanky, some are generously proportioned.
When you find a cue that you think "plays well," buy it. Never mind who makes it or what it costs vs. something else. If it plays well for you it's a keeper.
I've said that over and over on here and I say it almost every time.
When I say a cue "plays well" I mean for me. Whether anybody else likes it as well as me is up for them to decide.
With that said, I have a dozen or so cues that all play well "to me" and I've had multiple people hit with them on numerous occasions and have turned down offers to buy them, over and over.
So, what I like seems to fit a number of players, or either it is the placebo effect.
It reminds me of all the people on here who keep asking "what kind of cue does xxx use, or what kind of tip, etc., etc." and they rush out to buy it only to find out it didn't make them play like the pro who was using it.
I have had NUMEROUS, NUMEROUS people come up to my table when I'm playing and ask me "What kind of tip are you using? You can put more action on the ball than anybody I've seen". That isn't a brag, that is a fact. I'm not comparing myself to anybody, good or bad. I'm just stating a fact. The point is, some people think if they use what somebody else is using it will make them automatically be able to do the same thing. It may have more to do with the fact that I've been hitting balls for 50 years and they haven't even been alive much more than half of that, much less spent thousands and thousands of hours on the pool table.
When I say a cue plays well "to me", I mean it feels good and it performs the way I want it to. I can do pretty much the same thing with any cue, but I like something that I think fits me more "personally"...length, weight, balance, etc.
I’m also 66...5’7...but 140 lbs.
I’m like Steve Davis, Ronnie Sullivan...play American pool with my Snooker cue and also break with it. I sink balls on the break with as much success as the guy who is 200 lbs with a break cue...with the added benefit of better cueball placement in the middle of the table.
All the energy goes into the smaller tip...same reason a squirrel can open a nut with a needle like tooth. I can also be more precise hitting the rack of balls.
People say it will damage the tip...never has after 14 years with my current cue.. I play almost every day and might change a 50 cent tip once a year or so. Bottom line, A lot of guys ‘think’’ they are putting all that power into transferring energy but they aren’t.
Last edited:
It's the new generation of player that thinks they need a special cue to break with. I'll admit that some work better than a regular cues, but if you don't know how to stroke and break properly, your break still sucks. Just less sucky.
I've broke with my regular cues for 50 years and they are still like brand new. I've never had my tip fly off and I've never damaged a ferrule and my tip isn't flat and mushroomed. I use soft tips now and they aren't mushroomed either.
How often do you usually play, I know you use ultra skins(or at least that's what I believe you said), but no mushrooming, do you play like 2-4 times a month at most?
JimmyGillette
Registered
in my personal opinion what the person is saying is the pool cue itself is very sound has no ticks in it when hitting fits together perfect feels sweet in your hand feels good when hitting the cue ball probally reallystraight its possible it has a scratch or scuff marks from travel or play time ...this is just my view on what ive heard people over the years make similar remarks over the years as well