How straight does a cue need to be?

RingKing

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member

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ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
usta play with a cue bent that bad

So this should be okay. Right?

One of the first places I played was Nick's Steak House. They had a huge cavern behind the bar with the food tables and chairs piled in the back and some old ten footers in the place. No idea the last time they served a steak there but the neon sign was still in place.

Among the other odd cues was one with zero taper from tip to the fixed joint about midway of the cue. The shaft fit into a socket in the butt and was permanently glued in place. That shaft was bent about as bad as the one in the picture. Thought I might play with it some time as part of a spot so I practiced with it now and then. Had a decent tip and ferrule and didn't play that bad after I got used to the idea of standing almost straight up to shoot with it. I thought that the curve might let me get extra spin but I was pretty green. Seemed to be all theory and no practice as far as gaining any advantage from the bow although it was an attention getter!

Hu
 

billy bones

billy bones
Silver Member
I've played with many warped house cues over the years. I always kept the high side to the top so as to know exactly where my tip would actually make contact consistently. That made playing with them far more acceptable and practical.
 

gunzby

My light saber is LD
Silver Member
I've never rolled any of my cues. It's just a superstition of mine. So far as I'm concerned, the cue I'm using is the straightest cue I've ever used
 

cuesblues

cue accumulator
Silver Member
From a playability standpoint a little roll dosent seem to matter but sometimes just a little
roll in the shaft causes a bad enough roll at the tip to cause a problem.
The roll gets noticeable when playing those touchy soft cuts into the side pocket.

The slightest roll can kill the sale of a cue, but it depends on the cue.
Locally guys can tryout a nice cue that developed a little roll and it's not that tough but with online sales it's a big deal.
For instance I have a cool vintage Josswest and a Judd that each have a small roll.
They roll good screwed together but you can see movement at the nose...like a lot of South Wests.
The fix isn't worth it as small as the roll is in these two cues, but it's just something you have to deal with when selling vintage cues, and adjust the price accordingly.
Sadly these two cues are about my best playing Josswest & Judd.
 

fan-tum

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
From a playability standpoint a little roll dosent seem to matter but sometimes just a little
roll in the shaft causes a bad enough roll at the tip to cause a problem.
The roll gets noticeable when playing those touchy soft cuts into the side pocket.

The slightest roll can kill the sale of a cue, but it depends on the cue.
Locally guys can tryout a nice cue that developed a little roll and it's not that tough but with online sales it's a big deal.
For instance I have a cool vintage Josswest and a Judd that each have a small roll.
They roll good screwed together but you can see movement at the nose...like a lot of South Wests.
The fix isn't worth it as small as the roll is in these two cues, but it's just something you have to deal with when selling vintage cues, and adjust the price accordingly.
Sadly these two cues are about my best playing Josswest & Judd.
Have you posted a photo of your cues. I'd love to see them?
 

metallicane

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I bought an OB sneaky Pete a few months back. I never rolled it to see if was perfectly flat because it was a new cue so it should be fine. I started using this cue and my game was off. It was off so much that I barely played. Too frustrating. I then bought a Revo shaft and have been playing much better.

I go back and roll the OB and it has a wobble worse than just about any house cue I have seen. Terrible.
 

3kushn

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This one would be ok especially for a good Up Stroke or half Masse
Everyone should have one like this int their bag.

Seriously, I think if you're into PEP and consistency, a slightly warped cue isn't a giant deal.

There are limits of course.



So this should be okay. Right?
 

gypsy_soul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Depends on where the bend is though, no?

A little bend at the ferrule area would render a cue useless, imo.


I think it depends what you are doing with the cue . Playing for fun , not betting a dime , doesn't matter . Playing for cash , playing on a tight nine or ten footer , matters !!! Planning on reselling the cue , matters ! That's my opinion but I don't know anything about anything 😂 lol
 

JolietJames

Boot Party Coordinator
Silver Member
One of my playing cues has a good size warp from the bottom of the wrap to the joint. It's probably 3/16" of the table when rolled. It goes back to nearly straight when it's back east for a while, warped while out west.
It plays great wherever it is though, so I'm keeping it in the rotation.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Physical: If the tip is in the right place at address it should return there on the stroke regardless of shaft straightness (but smaller margin for error).

Mental: I watch my shaft to be sure I'm stroking straight - crooked won't work for that.

pj
chgo
 
Straightness doesn't matter to me in the slightest. I've made shots with an Adam that had a 1/4" wobble that 95% of pool players can't make. I've run hundreds of tables with a house cue that had a dog-leg in the shaft that you could notice from 25ft.
 

cuesblues

cue accumulator
Silver Member
Straightness doesn't matter to me in the slightest. I've made shots with an Adam that had a 1/4" wobble that 95% of pool players can't make. I've run hundreds of tables with a house cue that had a dog-leg in the shaft that you could notice from 25ft.

I do not want to play you for money
 
I do not want to play you for money

I'm not that great and I don't play for money, regardless. In fact, I basically will only play with six people. Three years ago I would only play with five people. It took number six over a year of knowing me before I'd play with him.

I'm an engineer and years ago I wrote a list of every potential problem I could come up with as to why a warped cue might present a problem. I was CAD'ing and animating some of the things, figuring out forces incurred, velocity vectors, etc.. I could not find even a marginal difference in a 'straight' stick and a severely crooked stick.

I haven't been able to convince many other people, tho.
 

PoolBoy1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Believe it or not some players like a crooked stick. Get a softer whipped like feel at impact. I play with a warped maple cue for breaking and swear breaking is easier. Also many fine players in rooms did quite well with house stock using sandpaper and steel wool for adjustments. I only play better now because of the flood of info out there.
 

Chili Palmer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm not that great and I don't play for money, regardless. In fact, I basically will only play with six people. Three years ago I would only play with five people. It took number six over a year of knowing me before I'd play with him.

I'm an engineer and years ago I wrote a list of every potential problem I could come up with as to why a warped cue might present a problem. I was CAD'ing and animating some of the things, figuring out forces incurred, velocity vectors, etc.. I could not find even a marginal difference in a 'straight' stick and a severely crooked stick.

I haven't been able to convince many other people, tho.

I don't need convincing, I've played with more crooked sticks then straight ones :thumbup:
 
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