If I don't care about artistics and the looks of the cue, how to choose?

I have had a couple of meuccis and they both had cracked plastic joint collars and ferrules within a year.

If someone tried to give me one for free I would get a restraining order.

johnnysd said:

I see a lot of people say this and I do not agree with the sentiment that "all butts play the same" on any level because they don't. I have tested this myself with my own cues and I can say that the butt can have a significant effect on how a cue plays. Even at the Predator booth at the APA show playing the REVO shaft with the different Predator butts you could see a big difference in how they they played and felt.

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What specific playing difference did you "see"?

pj
chgo

Cue Butts/Meucci

Don't put me down as someone who generally believes the Meucci mumbo jumbo about deflection, more power with less effort etc. And you can look up that recently I said on this forum that I would never buy another Meucci, and then I did buy another one.

And I believe what Bob J. said that it is all about the feel.

HOWEVER, I bought a "Power Piston" Meucci for $316.00 and put a Predator 314-3 on it. I find that it "feels" better than my Schon with 314-3. Although the Muecci is the same weight (19.3) it feels lighter and it seems to disappear from my thought processes while shooting. I like it a lot.

My Meucci has a plastic forearm and butt and supposedly is chock full of "Power Piston" technology.

So if it were me, I'd buy a Meucci with Power Piston "technology."

There you have it.

I am one who took a 25 year break and am just coming back to the game. I have a friend that has a dozen or so custom cues. I’ve been fortunate that he has let me shoot with all of them.

I will say they all play different. We even swap shafts on different butts and they play different as well.

I was shocked at how much a cue can change just by the makers “tweeks” between similar cues. Such as weight and material being the same. Shaft taper and tip and joint material as well as ferrule make a difference.

I didn’t think as an inexperienced player i would be able to tell any difference but I did.

I will say that i bought a Frey and have been using it for a few months and it just feels right. I assume it’s because I’m comfortable with it. I recently bought a Howard Sneaky and it’s plays well too but different.

I guess I say all that to say that whatever you choose it will play well once you are comfortable with it.

Grab a nice dufferin house cue off the rack
Itll serve you just fine

personally the butt don't mean shit, I see guys with $3000 cues and a predator shaft on it. that tells you all you need. the joint and the shaft and tip is what makes the difference, than after that its resellability, collection or a show offy design. obviously a custom cue where the wood is treated properly will have a more "solid" feel compared to a production cue, but cues like McDermott, pechauer, jacoby, and so on make excellent cues, meucci as well, but ide get an older meucci if I were to buy one. think a solid feeling car like a BMW with a slightly less solid feeling car like a VW. when you close the door to those cars the sound they make you can tell the difference in quality, but both fine cars. NO wah I mean???

Choosing a cue without trying it is very difficult.

1. The first part of finding your preference is to find out which weight you like. You can use the house cues at your local pool hall for this.

2. Then you need to decide a tip size. If you don't have a preference I'd suggest 12.5 to 12.75 as a reasonable starting point.

3. This step is vital, you need to find a cue that is balanced right for your body and playing style. Can't really tell you what you should start with, because it's entirely personal preference.

4. All those things aside, deflection is the next point. Do you like low deflection or somewhat higher? Try some cues to figure out what amount of deflection lets you pocket more balls with spin.

5. Then the most important part in the feel of the cue is the shaft flex. Some like stiffer cues, other like softer cues. I feel that if a cue is too stiff, it complicates cueball control. And if a cue is too soft it will not give you the feedback or power that you want.

6. Joint materials etc.. do not seem to be as important as the other factors. It's important that it locks up tight and doesn't rattle loose while you play. Predator Uni-lock cues and similar quick release joints are notorious for this. Keep that in mind, though if you are careful about screwing the cue together with the right amount of force it should not be a problem.

Good luck to you

asbani said:

Here's what I am thinking about, I want to buy a Meucci cue but I don't care about what it looks like or how many inlays are there or if it looks beautiful, all I care about is how the cue plays.

With that in mind, the shaft that I am going to use is "The Pro", but for the butt, do all Meucci cues play the same, or is there any way to determine which one to choose, or do I go with the cheapest one with no inlays or points and just plain one color cue cause all of them play the same?

I don't know if that's the case then I should just find a plain one coloured Meucci which will be cheaper? because that would play as well as the most expensive? A friend of mine told me that the price goes higher with the most detail on the butt which is something that I don't care about unless he's wrong then enlightening me.

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I hope you like one of the following:

Very lightweight cues

Or

Very butt heavy cues.

Their pro CF shafts are usually in the 3.0 to 3.4 oz range.

To answer your question:

As long as you have been a member, you should know that nobody on the planet can tell you which cue butt you will like.

Surely you have hit enough balls to know what weight and balance you like. Well, pick a company or maker and get a cue that meets your specs.

In the end, all anyone else can tell you is ....what "they" like and why.

Sorry but that's all I got.

Jeff

asbani said:

...

PPAC-2 Power Piston Accelerator-2

What you guys think, I think its the lowest price cause it doesn't have any special work around the butt.

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It is also priced low because the forearm is a plastic sleeve over maple. As long as you are aware of this and good with it, why not?

I would want to know how thick the sleeve is and if warp may be a concern down the line.

I've been playing with a schmelke 1 piece rosewood butt and jacoby black shaft for about 2 months, despite everything else i have in my closet this seems to be as good of a set up as anything and the least amount of cue I've carried in a long long time. To tie it to this post, see what i did there, If you have the shaft you like, you can put it on any meucci and I'm guessing the difference will be nill

Andy
been keeping it simple

CocoboloCowboy said:

Buy you Meucci with your money, it a personal choice. If some one else is footing the bill, string are alway attached.

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WTH does that mean??? "If someone else is footing the bill"??? Did op imply anywhere that someone else is paying for his cue?? I miss something here?

asbani said:

I’m not aware of this, plastic forearm? Is that bad? Are all meucci plastic over the forearm or is this the only one


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The PowerPiston models have a plastic sleeve with a wood core. Just my $.02 here but get a real basic butt with no inlays. Their points are usually ok lately but i'd still get a basic merry-widow style with the shaft of your choice. Something like this: https://www.budgetcues.com/meucci-pool-cue-be-9.htm

asbani said:

Man sometimes these threads makes me even more confused than before posting, one guy tells me to find any cue with a piston power technology then another poster says whatever I do stay away from piston power because it’s plastic, who to believe. I know the best is to try them both, but this requires actually buying both which isn’t an option


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Meucci's own description: https://articlesurfing.org/recreation_and_sports/why_a_meucci_power_piston.html If you want to believe that this will in ANY way help you then by all means go for it. AFAIK not ONE top player has ever used a PP cue. IMO its just a way to speed up production numbers. Gluing a wood core inside a plastic tube does NOT sound like precision cuemaking in the least. I hit balls with one that had a black-dot and i thought it was just another cue. Nothing special in any way.

Cliff Joyner Has Used Power Piston

I never thought I would be touting Meucci cues in any way, shape or form, but I believe Cliff Joyner has used a black Power Piston at times. I saw him using one at Mr.Cue's in Atlanta a few years ago and it looks like he was using one against Efren in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qejjAkbDSk.

Several years ago Meucci had a Demo cue in their line up, sold for about $275 i think. It looked exactly like this cue without the rings:
https://www.budgetcues.com/meucci-pool-cue-raze-1-black.htm

Supposedly had PP technology and came with a BlackDot shaft.

For the most part I find that all Meuccis play about the same. The shafts play different but the handles all play about like each other, IMO.

I have played RedDots, BlackDots, Pro shaft, BarBox, and now the Ultimate Weapon. I like the precision of the UW the best. If I were playing for real money that's the shaft I'd pick of the ones I've played.

I've bought several Meuccis from BudgetCues over the years, never had a problem.

Should've added that I never bought a Meucci for the PP tech. No idea if it's worth anything. My DH doesn't appreciably different from any Meucci I bought or shot that did have PP tech. The shafts do.

Bob Jewett said:

Wait until you can play with a cue before you buy it.

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I've always held to that notion but now I live in a pool desert; a room with 4 GCs (way loose - I hate 'em) and the half dozen bars with one whole table apiece. The online tack I'm taking now is buy plain and cheap even though things are roughly double what I would have paid in the past.

You've probably gathered I lack the resources to get into any kind of competitive state. The upside is I won't know the difference between a few grams or degrees of deflection, etc...

The one stymie is quality control; specifically straightness (I must be obsessed with it). How do I get assurances the sticks I purchase will roll picture perfect in the air as well as on a flat surface?