I grew up playing in a Poolroom with 8,9,and 10 foot Brunswick Tables. I loved to play on them,and have always considered them to be the Best Pool Tables. I enjoy playing on other Brands,but wonder if you all favor them as much as they used to be praised.
How do Brunswick Pool Tables rank today?
- Thread starter LeftyIke
- Start date
They're still top rated, if you are referring to the Gold Crown (or the previous Anniversary and Centennial). The only difference between today and yesteryear is that today there is also the Diamond ProAm. There are some differences in the nuance of how the tables play, mostly a matter of preference.
When it comes to used, a good mechanic is probably more important with a Gold Crown, largely because they have been around for so long many of them have been hacked on by God only knows who.
Both great tables, whatever floats your boat. :thumbup:
When it comes to used, a good mechanic is probably more important with a Gold Crown, largely because they have been around for so long many of them have been hacked on by God only knows who.
Both great tables, whatever floats your boat. :thumbup:
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Actually, I do prefer to not play on Brunswicks. I've played on an old GC that was quite in shape and a new one, likewise.
I did not like the feel at all, they're usually way too low and on the old one the pockets were wide to drive an elephant through...
OTOH I do like Diamonds, Gabriels, Dynamic even cheaper ones such as Clash. I instantly feel OK with them, they're a bit higher, pockets are reasonably sized but do not reject balls for no reason and they like to be played slow, with feeling :wink:
Cheers,
M
I did not like the feel at all, they're usually way too low and on the old one the pockets were wide to drive an elephant through...
OTOH I do like Diamonds, Gabriels, Dynamic even cheaper ones such as Clash. I instantly feel OK with them, they're a bit higher, pockets are reasonably sized but do not reject balls for no reason and they like to be played slow, with feeling :wink:
Cheers,
M
New pool halls in my area install Diamond not Brunswick.
Brunswick no longer produces the Gold Crown light.
I talked to a Brunswick sales person a few weeks ago who bemoaned that Brunswick had no interest in the Canadian market, only wanted to produce 8 ft. and smaller tables, not 9 ft. pool and 12 ft. snooker tables. And if I ordered a Gold Crown, delivery date might be subject to delays depending on the availability of parts, for example, corner castings.
If you like Gold Crowns, keep restoring them.
Brunswick no longer produces the Gold Crown light.
I talked to a Brunswick sales person a few weeks ago who bemoaned that Brunswick had no interest in the Canadian market, only wanted to produce 8 ft. and smaller tables, not 9 ft. pool and 12 ft. snooker tables. And if I ordered a Gold Crown, delivery date might be subject to delays depending on the availability of parts, for example, corner castings.
If you like Gold Crowns, keep restoring them.
I like a Gold Crown. Nothing beats the sound of a ball hitting the pocket of a GC. It seems as though Brunswick has purposely ceded the market to Diamond though as Brunswick has thrown their marketing money at other sports and pastimes while Diamond is heavily promoting themselves.
A good table is a good table. Both Diamond & Brunswick make superb tables.
When I wassa teen, many many moons ago It was all about Brunswick. Past and present; I have played some pretty tweaked Brunswick tables. Diamond tables are already near perfection, so why bother trying to improve their performance?
If you spend any dedicated time devoted to one table brand or the other you'll notice the difference when you play the other table. The rails are noticeably different as to how they react.
IMO :
Rotation games : Either Diamond or Brunswick
Straight pool : Either ??
Banks or 1 pocket : Brunswick !
Playing on a tweaked out Anniversary or Centennial is about as close to Nirvana as one can get in pool.
:thumbup:
When I wassa teen, many many moons ago It was all about Brunswick. Past and present; I have played some pretty tweaked Brunswick tables. Diamond tables are already near perfection, so why bother trying to improve their performance?
If you spend any dedicated time devoted to one table brand or the other you'll notice the difference when you play the other table. The rails are noticeably different as to how they react.
IMO :
Rotation games : Either Diamond or Brunswick
Straight pool : Either ??
Banks or 1 pocket : Brunswick !
Playing on a tweaked out Anniversary or Centennial is about as close to Nirvana as one can get in pool.
:thumbup:
The Gold Crown design was crap. Crap from the start and only slightly better now. Of course now the rails suffer from infant mortality. Horrible misfeatures that could only have been put in by a non-player. Like, as one example, drop pockets that only hold 3 balls or you risk rejection. And gummy pocket liners that interfere with bridging and leave crap on your cue.
People got attached to GCs because it was what they learned on, but it was never a good table design.
People got attached to GCs because it was what they learned on, but it was never a good table design.
Bob, the GC's that I play on can hold 8 balls, though i like to remove some when playing one pocket. But they can hold 8. I don't know what GC's you're playing on. The equipment in the room I play in is kept top notch and never noticed anything like you are talking about.
Maybe they got better pocket liners. The standard pocket liners for non-return GC3 tables are shallow/small enough that if there are three balls in the pocket, there is a good chance that a hard shot will reject the ball. I've also seen a ball rejected when only one ball was already in the pocket as it sits centered in the drain hole and can push back on the new ball hard enough to send it back onto the table.
A story about the latter... Around 1979 I was playing Tony Annigoni (of Playing Off the Rail fame and noted tournament promoter) on a GC (probably 2?). Whenever he had a fast shot into a pocket, he would make sure there were exactly two balls in the pocket. I thought it was craziness at the time, but it was a smart move learned from hard experience.
Other misfeatures of the GCs:
Metal parts on the rails to leave oxide streaks on your pants.
Prominent name plate and score wheels to take flesh off your knuckles in case you try to keep your cue level at the wrong time.
No slate pins (GC3)
Lousy ball storage that allows balls from my side (1 pocket) to move through to my opponent's side (ball return table).
Pocket liners and metal surrounds that screw with your bridge
Diamonds you can't see when you are down on the shot due to the curved rails. I think the curved rails were a "feature" to roll cigarettes onto the floor away from the cloth.
Lousy rack hanger. (A local room has added their own.)
The Diamond design appears to have taken all of these crappy points into consideration and fixed them.
I would gladly trade the 9' Olhausens our seniors center has for either Brunswicks or Diamonds (preferable Diamonds). We also have some old Gandys which are still better the the Olhausens. We not so kiddingly say that Olhausen is German for junk.
Back to the OP's original question, I think it safe to divide the current Brunswick line into two categories. The Gold Crown are Major League quality tables. Everything else in the Brunswick lineup is Minor League and sacrifices on quality to drive down the price or remain competitive with other furniture brand tables.
I ahve seen 7 or 8 matches for 5K and up by very good players where diamond and GC tables were in the same room. They always play on the GC. I asked Tracy in mem why is Darren Apple and and the man p`laying on the GC when you have 2 new diamonds. He said because that is what they want to play on, and they know what is best, and so do I.
Interesting. I believe Darren has a Diamond for his personal table.