Hoping for some input from cue makers. The following is from a highly respected cue maker on the subject of flat-face wood-to-wood jointed cues, and I'm trying to figure out what exactly this means:
"[…] in a few weeks the cue with shaft on will roll crooked on a table. You must then adjust the shaft some at the joint. Do not adjust the cue butt joint, only the joint end of the shaft. Any cuemaker or cue repairman can show you how to do that.
Wood compresses and it usually takes a few hundred hours to get the cue broke in where the shaft has about reached its final compression and it remains straight."
I've been playing, teaching, as well as buying, selling, collecting cues for over quarter of a century now, and must admit I'm not sure I understand. Is it that the phenolic collar ring on the shaft side is being pressed into the shaft wood and thus won't remain at a perfect 90 degrees to the shaft? If so, how does that "adjustment" work?
In my experience, the cues (custom primarily, along with production cues for students, rarely for myself) I bought have all ranged on a spectrum of relative straightness already upon arrival, that is, out of the box, and although I've sometimes seen shafts warp, and more rarely, butts warp over time, and noticed alignment problems due to grime students apparently never cleaned off the faces of their cues' joints, I do not remember noticing the aforementioned effect. In all fairness, I've also seen and owned cues that never moved one bit (= those tend to be my "keepers").
On a side note, straightness in a cue to me is paramount, and my rule of thumb is simple: since I can no longer claim the sharp-sightedness of some of the eagle-eyed young guns I teach, I'd say if I (= the customer) can see a taper roll, the cue is not straight in my book. I won't say it invariably affects play if a cue isn't visibly straight, but I will say that if I'm asked to pay top dollar for a cue, straightness figures right at the top of my requirements list.
Thanks in advance!
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
"[…] in a few weeks the cue with shaft on will roll crooked on a table. You must then adjust the shaft some at the joint. Do not adjust the cue butt joint, only the joint end of the shaft. Any cuemaker or cue repairman can show you how to do that.
Wood compresses and it usually takes a few hundred hours to get the cue broke in where the shaft has about reached its final compression and it remains straight."
I've been playing, teaching, as well as buying, selling, collecting cues for over quarter of a century now, and must admit I'm not sure I understand. Is it that the phenolic collar ring on the shaft side is being pressed into the shaft wood and thus won't remain at a perfect 90 degrees to the shaft? If so, how does that "adjustment" work?
In my experience, the cues (custom primarily, along with production cues for students, rarely for myself) I bought have all ranged on a spectrum of relative straightness already upon arrival, that is, out of the box, and although I've sometimes seen shafts warp, and more rarely, butts warp over time, and noticed alignment problems due to grime students apparently never cleaned off the faces of their cues' joints, I do not remember noticing the aforementioned effect. In all fairness, I've also seen and owned cues that never moved one bit (= those tend to be my "keepers").
On a side note, straightness in a cue to me is paramount, and my rule of thumb is simple: since I can no longer claim the sharp-sightedness of some of the eagle-eyed young guns I teach, I'd say if I (= the customer) can see a taper roll, the cue is not straight in my book. I won't say it invariably affects play if a cue isn't visibly straight, but I will say that if I'm asked to pay top dollar for a cue, straightness figures right at the top of my requirements list.
Thanks in advance!
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
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