Summary: Schon was the first cue I've hit with that wowed me, and after a long journey I'm back with Schon.
Back when I first started pool, I bought a Meucci PPAC3. My friend loaned me his old 90s Meucci euro purple cue, and my cousin (who taught me pool initially) played with a Meucci Power Piston with red dot shaft. Not knowing squat about cues, I just went with which was cheapest, not too flashy, etc. Boy was that black dot shaft garbage. It warped within a week of having it. After emailing back and forth with budget cues, they finally agreed to let me upgrade to a predator shaft. At the time they didn't offer anything else but the black dot and I refuse to have another one of those garbage shafts.
We went to my cousin's place and played on his older brother's pool table. There I hit with his Schon STL-3. I felt something jolt back to my hand that I never felt with my predator/Meucci PPAC3 - Feedback lol. The difference between a plastic toy and a fine wood instrument. The thin butt of the cue fit into my XL meat paws with stubby fingers perfectly.
Since then I've went on an irresponsible journey of buying and selling cues to find that feeling again. While my journey had seen over 20 cues come in my possession over the past 7 years, I should've just stuck with a Schon. At the time I was into the owning a custom cue hype, despite being ass in pool and a beginner. But I had the funds
. Like the kermit the frog meme: I have $1000 equipment but a $5 game. I ignored everyone who told me to focus on one cue because i was obsessed with that feeling again.
Some of the higher end cues that I've owned and played with: Diveney, Cognoscenti, Carolina Custom, and Bender. The bender lasted the longest at a few weeks of play before casing it and quitting pool for a few years. I never truly found that feeling, even with higher end cues.
The closest I've ever had to a cue I loved was my dufferin sneaky pete. I traded my huebler for this old dufferin and got shafted on the deal. It was one of my worst deals. The seller was super late about shipping it due to medical reasons, but after reactively responding to my inquiries. At first the seller said NO DEAL since none of the shafts were stock, then decided he wanted the cue. Offered to trade me a bunch of useless stuff (including r12 air conditioning) before we settled on a dufferin. When i finally received the cue a month after shipping mine, the butt was warped, the ferrule was detached, and there was no tip. I wasn't told I was trading a perfectly working cue for a shit dufferin. I was angry, but ended up having my cue guy revive it. New butt from his old stock, westinghouse micarta ferrule, kamui brown tip, strong billiard taper. It hit like a dream. So well that I couldn't justify owning my Cog anymore and sold it. Then I hit a rough patch in life, and ended up selling this cheap to another AZer. Every now and then I message the user if he's willing to sell it back, but he loves the cue and uses it for snooker.
Fast forward to 2018. Wanted to get back into pool. I still had the bender sneaky, but even though I tried making "get used to the cue" work, I couldn't. It played fine, great as a matter of fact, I just didn't like it. Tip changes, etc, couldn't like it. I ended up saying funk it, and tried to buy a schon new finally. Unfortunately that didnt' work out, even though the seller himself was amazing and 1000% helpful in resolving the issue.
At the same time my good and fellow cue addict ended up getting a Schon SP...but couldn't like it. I played with it, and it was like I couldn't miss a shot. I usually call this the "honeymoon phase" of a new cue, so I played with it a few more times over a few weeks." Finally my friend knew i wanted it, he didn't like it, and we worked out a trade with the bender and some other things. I finally able to get my schon. Ended up playing a whole season of APA with it, even getting to APA City Wide finals lol. Honestly that was the longest I've stuck with a cue (I had that many cues and kept switching...which probably hurt my game more)
While I do get the need to browse cues every now and then, the feeling I'll be a schon diehard for a while. I may look for a less fancy schon butt, but right now I like it a lot. Design, balance, hit (with stock tip and milk dud), feel, butt diameter, it's all good.
Here it is, with my dog and home computer. I've since sold all my other playing cues and only have this...and my break cue in one 2x4 case (with second shaft, and mezz wx700 shaft):
Loving this schon. I got the Mezz shaft on a trade but I'll stick with the stock shaft. Maybe I'll sell it, but i know i'd just buy another plainer schon with points. I think the only other custom I'd consider at this point would be a southwest...though that's gonna be quite a hefty purchase when it happens :grin:
And it will always be accompanied by a schon.
Back when I first started pool, I bought a Meucci PPAC3. My friend loaned me his old 90s Meucci euro purple cue, and my cousin (who taught me pool initially) played with a Meucci Power Piston with red dot shaft. Not knowing squat about cues, I just went with which was cheapest, not too flashy, etc. Boy was that black dot shaft garbage. It warped within a week of having it. After emailing back and forth with budget cues, they finally agreed to let me upgrade to a predator shaft. At the time they didn't offer anything else but the black dot and I refuse to have another one of those garbage shafts.
We went to my cousin's place and played on his older brother's pool table. There I hit with his Schon STL-3. I felt something jolt back to my hand that I never felt with my predator/Meucci PPAC3 - Feedback lol. The difference between a plastic toy and a fine wood instrument. The thin butt of the cue fit into my XL meat paws with stubby fingers perfectly.
Since then I've went on an irresponsible journey of buying and selling cues to find that feeling again. While my journey had seen over 20 cues come in my possession over the past 7 years, I should've just stuck with a Schon. At the time I was into the owning a custom cue hype, despite being ass in pool and a beginner. But I had the funds
. Like the kermit the frog meme: I have $1000 equipment but a $5 game. I ignored everyone who told me to focus on one cue because i was obsessed with that feeling again.Some of the higher end cues that I've owned and played with: Diveney, Cognoscenti, Carolina Custom, and Bender. The bender lasted the longest at a few weeks of play before casing it and quitting pool for a few years. I never truly found that feeling, even with higher end cues.
The closest I've ever had to a cue I loved was my dufferin sneaky pete. I traded my huebler for this old dufferin and got shafted on the deal. It was one of my worst deals. The seller was super late about shipping it due to medical reasons, but after reactively responding to my inquiries. At first the seller said NO DEAL since none of the shafts were stock, then decided he wanted the cue. Offered to trade me a bunch of useless stuff (including r12 air conditioning) before we settled on a dufferin. When i finally received the cue a month after shipping mine, the butt was warped, the ferrule was detached, and there was no tip. I wasn't told I was trading a perfectly working cue for a shit dufferin. I was angry, but ended up having my cue guy revive it. New butt from his old stock, westinghouse micarta ferrule, kamui brown tip, strong billiard taper. It hit like a dream. So well that I couldn't justify owning my Cog anymore and sold it. Then I hit a rough patch in life, and ended up selling this cheap to another AZer. Every now and then I message the user if he's willing to sell it back, but he loves the cue and uses it for snooker.
Fast forward to 2018. Wanted to get back into pool. I still had the bender sneaky, but even though I tried making "get used to the cue" work, I couldn't. It played fine, great as a matter of fact, I just didn't like it. Tip changes, etc, couldn't like it. I ended up saying funk it, and tried to buy a schon new finally. Unfortunately that didnt' work out, even though the seller himself was amazing and 1000% helpful in resolving the issue.
At the same time my good and fellow cue addict ended up getting a Schon SP...but couldn't like it. I played with it, and it was like I couldn't miss a shot. I usually call this the "honeymoon phase" of a new cue, so I played with it a few more times over a few weeks." Finally my friend knew i wanted it, he didn't like it, and we worked out a trade with the bender and some other things. I finally able to get my schon. Ended up playing a whole season of APA with it, even getting to APA City Wide finals lol. Honestly that was the longest I've stuck with a cue (I had that many cues and kept switching...which probably hurt my game more)
While I do get the need to browse cues every now and then, the feeling I'll be a schon diehard for a while. I may look for a less fancy schon butt, but right now I like it a lot. Design, balance, hit (with stock tip and milk dud), feel, butt diameter, it's all good.
Here it is, with my dog and home computer. I've since sold all my other playing cues and only have this...and my break cue in one 2x4 case (with second shaft, and mezz wx700 shaft):
Loving this schon. I got the Mezz shaft on a trade but I'll stick with the stock shaft. Maybe I'll sell it, but i know i'd just buy another plainer schon with points. I think the only other custom I'd consider at this point would be a southwest...though that's gonna be quite a hefty purchase when it happens :grin:
And it will always be accompanied by a schon.
