Cuetec Thunderbolt or something else?

No!

johhdagolfer said:

I am in the market for another cue. I have around 200 dollars to spend and I can get a thunderbolt for around this much. What do you think of cuetecs thunderbolt shafts? I hear they had problems with them warping. Have they fixed this?

Thanks,

John

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If you have $200 to spend, please, please, don't spend it on a cuetec! keep looking here, or rather, in the wanted/for sale, you'll find a better deal sooner rather than later.

Get yourself a Viking man, a Lucasi, a McDermott, or one of Ryan's Rat cues over at Mueller's. More importantly, if you have $200 to spend, definitely do not get that fiberglass crap. Get yourself a cue with a good wood shaft, trust me man, you'll thank me later. If you take care of it, and do not expose it to extreme temperature changes, like leaving it in your trunk, it should not warp on you. A lot of beginners get suckered into buying those fiberglass, or graphite cues, the only thing they're really good for is breaking. Also, they may seem silky smooth at first, but don't be fooled, that satin finish gets worn off after about a week or two, and then they are grippy as hell and produce tons of drag on your hand. And the only way to get rid of it is to wear a glove, sand 'em down with a scotch brite pad, or have to constantly be putting talc all over your hand.

a teammate's friend baught a new Cuetec Cue the Thunderbolt series and i tried it out. I like the cue and always wanted a Cuetec cue myself, but never really got one as the things people say about Cuetec. But i wouldn't mind having one personally speaking. But if i had enough money i would rather get a Lucasi Cue over a Cuetec.

trueblu8 said:

Also, they may seem silky smooth at first, but don't be fooled, that satin finish gets worn off after about a week or two, and then they are grippy as hell and produce tons of drag on your hand. And the only way to get rid of it is to wear a glove, sand 'em down with a scotch brite pad, or have to constantly be putting talc all over your hand.

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I can attest to that with personal experience. I have a cuetec with the sst shaft and at first it was great, then it got super grippy and its all kinds of annoying to play with. I did well to take care of it and it just ended up not being the same.

Currently I'm playing with a Lucasi and its a large step from the Cuetec. GL finding a cue.

$200??? Get yourself a custom sneaky or save another 200 and get yourself a low end custom. But if you insist on buying a cue right now a lucasi sneaky pete hits real good. I had one for over a year then put an OB-1 on it. I played with that for almost a year then I started making my own cues. You can't beat a good ol' sneaky pete.

If you want to buy a great hitting sneaky for cheap, you can't go wrong with an Excalibur sneaky in the 19 oz. weight. I bought one quite a while ago and it hits great. The one thing you'll definitely want to do though is change the tip. The one that comes on it is WAY too hard, sounds like a phenolic. Put a nice tip on it and it'll make your heart sing.

They're available on eBay.

Here's one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Excalibur-S...ryZ75199QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

BTW, I also bought one in the 18 ounce weight to use for a break cue. Definitely not as good as the 19.

Good luck.

Flex

johhdagolfer said:

I am in the market for another cue.

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What do you have now, and what do and don't you like about it?

I have around 200 dollars to spend and I can get a thunderbolt for around this much. What do you think of cuetecs thunderbolt shafts?

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Most of the Cuetec Cues today, you're going to like playing with them. For a little while. I think they've done the right things to get away from fiberglass-clad shafts, so most of the shafts they offer feel like a normal cue. The continued problem is quality.

I'd love to hear the cue mechanics experience on this. I'm no cue mechanic, but I do offer tips and ferrules to the local leagues. And a lot of players for some reason have Cuetecs. And I've had several that the ring or insert (if you want to call it that) that they put on at the end of the shaft is coming off. And if you want a percentage, I'll say almost every one that someone's brought to me because they thought the tip sounded funny.

If you bump up your price to $250, I think you have a pick from a whole slew of higher volume producing cue companies, as well as a pick from a few custom cuemaker's sneaky petes. My recommendation is a Joss Cue from the Billiardwarehouse.com. Also check their specials that are under $200.

Fred

You can get a McDermott Competitor series cue with a case for about $160.00 shipped from Billiards911.com. I'd also look at billiardcues.com and check the closeout section. You can find some nice cues there for 35% or more off of list price. I purchased a$350.00 McDermott from them for $204, and aded an I2 shaft for $165. I got a cuetec python and a 2 cue hard case for free with the order.

McCue Banger McCue

John,

Go ahead and get that Cuetec Thunderbolt cue if you've hit with it some and like the way it feels. I have a Cuetec cue (two SST shafts, 13 and 12mm), play with it often with no problems with the hit or the cue holding up to continuous use. I have friends and teammates who use Cuetecs with no problems also, and they use their cues barehanded, and often, without any complaint of them being grippy or falling apart. I use a glove myself, but then I use a glove with any cue I shoot with. To me, ALL cues feel grippy (my hands usually are pretty sweaty). FWIW, I prefer the 12mm shaft. It glides like a hot knife through butter in my glove. As far as the reports of them not holding up well, I have seen many reports here and heard many stories of other cues, some high-dollar cues, having problems with craftmanship. Sometimes this can be related to the fact that the more a brand of cue is out in the public being used, naturally the more problems are gonna be had from them. The law of percentages come into play here. Get what YOU like (and the key is being able to hit with one some before purchasing). The feel of a cues hit is entirely subjective. Not one person can tell you that THEIR preferred cue is gonna be the right fit for you. This is just my opinion. I'm sure I'm gonna get ripped for this post by someone with a stable of custom cues who's gonna want me to prove all the things I said. Bottom line is, I am perfectly happy with MY Cuetec cue, and I know several others who feel the same way about theirs. Good shopping!!!

Maniac

cuetec

cuetec cues are a very good cue but as for the shafts i would go with the maple vortex shaft or a sst shaft

thanks

longhair said:

If you have $200 to spend, please, please, don't spend it on a cuetec! keep looking here, or rather, in the wanted/for sale, you'll find a better deal sooner rather than later.

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I would have probably added a couple more "please's".

$200 Will Get You A Pretty Decent Cue

johhdagolfer said:

I am in the market for another cue. I have around 200 dollars to spend and I can get a thunderbolt for around this much. What do you think of cuetecs thunderbolt shafts? I hear they had problems with them warping. Have they fixed this?

Thanks,

John

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I'm not a big fan of EBay but if go to the "Other Cues" section on EBay and find the pages where they start showing cues in the $200 range and find the advertisements that usually say "voted best hitting cue" or something like that - start looking at those cues. I think the sellers name is "Pacific Billiard Supply" or something like that and he does post on this forum. He takes I've seen those cues - they look nice they play pretty sporty. One of his advertisements even mentions that Cliff Joyner used one of his cues to win an event out west.

I have nothing negative to say about Cuetec's or Excaliburs but for $200 you need to check out those cues.

for all you guys complaining about fiberglass, the thunderbolt shaft is wood over a graphite tube, there is no fiberglass coating on the outside like the sst shaft. on platinum's deflection test, the thunderbolt was lowest of all cuetec shafts, and not too bad overall. i think probably because the hollow graphite tube reduced the endmass.