Hello everybody,
I finally received my Justa Bridge from Pool Dawg (great doing business with them by the way). I ordered one without really knowing if it's good or not, or if it would work with my jump cue. There is precious little information about it on the net apart from Larry Keller's own video and photos of the device on several online stores' websites. Since I got my hands on a Justa Bridge, I figured I'd post some pictures and videos of the thing, as well as my impressions.
Firstly, a small digression: I live in Europe, and there aren't many ways of getting a Justa Bridge here, other than ordering from the US. When my package arrived, the packing slip mentioned that the origin of the device is China. So, since "Made in USA" is written on the bridge, I suspect the parts were manufacturered in China and only assembled in the US. Not that it's a problem as far as quality is concerned though. Also, I'm not a very green-minded person, but a small device like this taking such a tortuous route to arrive from China to my home in old Europe seems wrong somehow...
Moving back to the thing itself: it is very light and looks quite flimsy, but it isn't. It is mostly made of hard plastic, held together with 12 (!) screws. The device is 120mm wide, 75mm high and 46mm thick, the shaft guide plates themselves being 7mm thick. The overall thickness of 46mm is the device's main disappointment: it just doesn't fit smartly in a cue case like a Moosehead bridge does. Even if you have oversized pockets, it'll make one huge hump in it, and if you bump your case against a wall, you'll likely damage the Justa Bridge. Not cool, but then, given how the device works it's unavoidable. Myself, I think I'll make a hard polystyrene box for it that'll strap onto my cue case. My Justa Bridge didn't come with any bag, box or user manual, but maybe Pool Dawg stripped away the packaging to lighten the box and lower shipping costs, I don't know.
The shaft guide slots are lined with hard white felt that looks like the dampening felt found inside pianos. The felt is sandwiched between plastic flanges, which explain the high number of screws to hold everything together. The upper edges of the felt look like they don't need much of an excuse to come off though. Other than that problem, the felt lining is great to guide a cue shaft while protecting it.
The Justa Bridge attaches to the end of a cue shaft by means of a rubber ring, tightened by an outer sliding cone. It's the same principle as bit holders on milling machines. It's a super quick and secure attachment method, but the problem, as with milling machines, is that the range of shaft diameters it can accept is rather limited: open, the rubber ring is 13.2mm in diameter. Closed tight, it is 12.3mm. Therefore, it'll only accept "standard" 1/2" pool cue shafts, between 12.5 and 13mm in diameter. Oversized 14mm jump or break cue shafts won't go in (without enlarging the rubber ring), and undersized shaft won't fit tightly, if at all. Look at the videos below to see the device fitting great onto my Eliminator pool jump/break cue shaft, and not at all on my Chevillote carom cue shaft.
The twist-to-raise magic happens thanks to a plastic spiral cam that turns along with the cue shaft holder and drives a pin on the upper shaft guide plate. On my brand new device, everything is nice and tight, and twisting the cue takes some effort despite three teflon washers. Not enough effort to unscrew a two-piece cue, but enough to flip the Justa Bridge on its side if you don't have a cue's weight in one of the guide slots. Annoying, but I think the mechanism will loosen up over time. If not, it's easy enough to loosen the axis screw a little I suppose.
Also, be aware that the device doesn't quite hold its position on its own if you let go of the bridge cue, especially with the main cue in the furthermost guide and you push down on it. This is why you see Larry Keller playing while holding his bridge cue's shaft in his video. It's not a problem though if you already leave a hand on the bridge cue when you play, as you should. It's very easy to get used to the Justa Bridge's extra degree of liberty, and you quickly forget that you have to hold the playing height.
As far as playing is concerned, I confirm Keller's jumping of the cueball from the middle of the table isn't fake: I did it first time out, and it's very efficient and comfortable. For regular play, I found myself getting used to the Justa Bridge very quickly: raising an lowering the cue tip immediately becomes second nature, and it becomes addictive too. Going back to a regular bridge, I felt something missing. The main trap to avoid with the Justa Bridge is to play like you would with a hand bridge: it's easy to feel too confident and lower your cue too much to draw for instance. But no matter how good a mechanical bridge may be, it's only a mechanical bridge, it's not as good as a hand bridge, so chances are you'll miscue. I had to remind myself to go easy on draws, follows and english with the Justa Bridge.
So, to sum up, here are the pros and cons of Keller's Pro Justa Bridge:
Pros:
- Innovative,
- Well built,
- Guides the shaft great and protects its finish,
- Quick to install at the end of a cue,
- Doesn't pull on the cue's tip when you remove it,
- Intuitive and easy to get used to,
- Affords many stable cue positions,
- A great conversation starter,
- Relatively cheap, value for money (your opinion may differ on that one. We in Europe are used to paying through the nose for everything...)
Cons:
- The edges of the felt look fragile,
- Too bulky to be truly portable,
- Addictive (if you lose it, going back to a regular bridge may be a bit disappointing),
- Only accepts shaft diameters close to 1/2" in diameter,
- Light "plasticky" feel. I believe it is solid, but it's not very convincing at first sight.
Finally, some photos and videos of the Justa Bridge. Sorry for the poor quality, I shot them with a very old digital photo camera:
I finally received my Justa Bridge from Pool Dawg (great doing business with them by the way). I ordered one without really knowing if it's good or not, or if it would work with my jump cue. There is precious little information about it on the net apart from Larry Keller's own video and photos of the device on several online stores' websites. Since I got my hands on a Justa Bridge, I figured I'd post some pictures and videos of the thing, as well as my impressions.
Firstly, a small digression: I live in Europe, and there aren't many ways of getting a Justa Bridge here, other than ordering from the US. When my package arrived, the packing slip mentioned that the origin of the device is China. So, since "Made in USA" is written on the bridge, I suspect the parts were manufacturered in China and only assembled in the US. Not that it's a problem as far as quality is concerned though. Also, I'm not a very green-minded person, but a small device like this taking such a tortuous route to arrive from China to my home in old Europe seems wrong somehow...
Moving back to the thing itself: it is very light and looks quite flimsy, but it isn't. It is mostly made of hard plastic, held together with 12 (!) screws. The device is 120mm wide, 75mm high and 46mm thick, the shaft guide plates themselves being 7mm thick. The overall thickness of 46mm is the device's main disappointment: it just doesn't fit smartly in a cue case like a Moosehead bridge does. Even if you have oversized pockets, it'll make one huge hump in it, and if you bump your case against a wall, you'll likely damage the Justa Bridge. Not cool, but then, given how the device works it's unavoidable. Myself, I think I'll make a hard polystyrene box for it that'll strap onto my cue case. My Justa Bridge didn't come with any bag, box or user manual, but maybe Pool Dawg stripped away the packaging to lighten the box and lower shipping costs, I don't know.
The shaft guide slots are lined with hard white felt that looks like the dampening felt found inside pianos. The felt is sandwiched between plastic flanges, which explain the high number of screws to hold everything together. The upper edges of the felt look like they don't need much of an excuse to come off though. Other than that problem, the felt lining is great to guide a cue shaft while protecting it.
The Justa Bridge attaches to the end of a cue shaft by means of a rubber ring, tightened by an outer sliding cone. It's the same principle as bit holders on milling machines. It's a super quick and secure attachment method, but the problem, as with milling machines, is that the range of shaft diameters it can accept is rather limited: open, the rubber ring is 13.2mm in diameter. Closed tight, it is 12.3mm. Therefore, it'll only accept "standard" 1/2" pool cue shafts, between 12.5 and 13mm in diameter. Oversized 14mm jump or break cue shafts won't go in (without enlarging the rubber ring), and undersized shaft won't fit tightly, if at all. Look at the videos below to see the device fitting great onto my Eliminator pool jump/break cue shaft, and not at all on my Chevillote carom cue shaft.
The twist-to-raise magic happens thanks to a plastic spiral cam that turns along with the cue shaft holder and drives a pin on the upper shaft guide plate. On my brand new device, everything is nice and tight, and twisting the cue takes some effort despite three teflon washers. Not enough effort to unscrew a two-piece cue, but enough to flip the Justa Bridge on its side if you don't have a cue's weight in one of the guide slots. Annoying, but I think the mechanism will loosen up over time. If not, it's easy enough to loosen the axis screw a little I suppose.
Also, be aware that the device doesn't quite hold its position on its own if you let go of the bridge cue, especially with the main cue in the furthermost guide and you push down on it. This is why you see Larry Keller playing while holding his bridge cue's shaft in his video. It's not a problem though if you already leave a hand on the bridge cue when you play, as you should. It's very easy to get used to the Justa Bridge's extra degree of liberty, and you quickly forget that you have to hold the playing height.
As far as playing is concerned, I confirm Keller's jumping of the cueball from the middle of the table isn't fake: I did it first time out, and it's very efficient and comfortable. For regular play, I found myself getting used to the Justa Bridge very quickly: raising an lowering the cue tip immediately becomes second nature, and it becomes addictive too. Going back to a regular bridge, I felt something missing. The main trap to avoid with the Justa Bridge is to play like you would with a hand bridge: it's easy to feel too confident and lower your cue too much to draw for instance. But no matter how good a mechanical bridge may be, it's only a mechanical bridge, it's not as good as a hand bridge, so chances are you'll miscue. I had to remind myself to go easy on draws, follows and english with the Justa Bridge.
So, to sum up, here are the pros and cons of Keller's Pro Justa Bridge:
Pros:
- Innovative,
- Well built,
- Guides the shaft great and protects its finish,
- Quick to install at the end of a cue,
- Doesn't pull on the cue's tip when you remove it,
- Intuitive and easy to get used to,
- Affords many stable cue positions,
- A great conversation starter,
- Relatively cheap, value for money (your opinion may differ on that one. We in Europe are used to paying through the nose for everything...)
Cons:
- The edges of the felt look fragile,
- Too bulky to be truly portable,
- Addictive (if you lose it, going back to a regular bridge may be a bit disappointing),
- Only accepts shaft diameters close to 1/2" in diameter,
- Light "plasticky" feel. I believe it is solid, but it's not very convincing at first sight.
Finally, some photos and videos of the Justa Bridge. Sorry for the poor quality, I shot them with a very old digital photo camera:
I love gadgets, and I ordered the Justa Bridge because it looked like a cool gadget. I like it, and its flexibility grows on me, but I could well do without it. Heck, I don't even use the bridge all that much... But I'm not sure I could do without the coolness factor it gives me at the club :grin:
