The butt of the cue will be quite stiff, and front heavy. The XTC with soft tip will be in stark contrast to the rigid butt. That's the equivalent of building a sound system using only sub-woofers & tweeters. Your maker has his work cut out for him. I'm not sure what you are expecting, and I am unaware whether you have the skill level to know the difference. You may love the cue because you designed it & are biased. Or you may hate it. It's a challenging cue to build in specification terms. It's extremely challenging to make it a great player.
IMO, cue harmonics is way too often & grossly underestimated or appreciated. The harmonics are exactly indicative of how a cue vibrates, essentially how it responds to impacting the cue ball. What happens in the cue is mirrored in the cue ball. Ever notice how some cues move the ball very well & feel like they are part of you, as if the ball is reading your mind? And other cues make the game feel unnatural & awkward? Something to consider.
Thanks for the info. Appreciate your input.
I have played pool for many years and know how I like them to hit, but I have never attempted to make one. I've always relied on the makers to do that for me.
I based the wood selection on what I've read from various cue makers over the years on various sites. I have heard several of them say that they like ebony for the forearm and purpleheart in the handle wood, or as a coring wood. I have had, and have, ebony cues, but they are all ebony butts coupled with maple forearms. I have never played with cues with solid ebony as the forearm.
I came across this full-splce blank by accident and figured it may be worth a shot at trying out something new. It may or may not. I haven't decided yet on buying it. I wasn't looking for it when I found it. I am still open to getting something different.
The rest of the specs (shaft size, etc.) are things that I've tried and played with before. I like my shafts on the thicker side and used 14mm shafts for years and had Richard Black make me two custom cues with those sizes (back in 1978 and 81). I've had several other custom cues made with that size. The shaft I use now is 13.2mm. If I buy at 13.25mm and I don't like the size or taper, I can bring it down and back a bit by hand. I have done that many, many times over the years. I did that many years ago when I replaced ferrules and tips in a pool hall where I worked as a kid.
I know I like soft tips. I have G2 Soft tips on three shafts and they all play very well. A Predator FAT shaft and two custom-made solid maple shafts.
The old Westinghouse Micarta ferrules used to play well and lots of people still look for them. According to some ferrule durometer tests I've seen online, those ferrules were about 83 on the scale and XTC is about the same scale. I have cues with harder ferrules and tips, but I prefer a more muted hit.
As far as the rest of the cue, I'm not into looks...I like simple. I chose the black wrap, collars and butt cap just to make it match the ebony.
I chose the 3/8-10 pin because I have a Meucci Pro with that pin that I can use if the shaft/butt combo plays a bit too stiff.
As far as weight goes, I'm still hoping to keep as close to 19 oz as possible. I have 21 oz cues, so going up a bit isn't a real problem.
If I get the joint diameter size down to fit the Meucci Pro it will be slimmer than most of my other cues. The Meucci Pro diameter is less than some of my other cues with that same pin. The butt and handle on my custom cue that I use now is a lot slimmer than most cues. That cue is a full-splced bloodwood Titlist conversion. With all that in mind, if I get everything whittled down on the butt, it may bring the weight down as much as possible.
Balance, I'm not sure about. I know the ebony and pin size will bring the weight to the front. I'm sure a weight bolt won't be needed for overall weight, but I don't know if a small one may be needed to balance it out some if the weight is too far forward.
Like I said, this isn't costing me a fortune and it isn't a done deal. I'm going to talk to the maker this week and see if what I want can be done, before I ever decide to do it. The preliminary answer I got was that it can be done.
Thanks again for your expertise and appreciate all the comments from the rest of the people who provided them also.
Any other comments from anybody are welcomed. You don't have to be a cue maker to chime in. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who may have some input or who may have a cue made of the same wood combination.
Aloha.