I wanted to thank everyone for their input and follow up with my purchases for any other beginners with the same question. I’ve now been playing with both cues for about a month.
The J&J break cue showed up first. I was expecting hard, well spread out breaks right out of the box. That wasn’t the case, there’s still a lot to learn, but my breaks are improving at a much faster pace than with the playing cue I was using. In fact, I’ve gone back to my old cue a few times to make sure it wasn’t just me that was improving, it wasn’t. I don’t see myself ever breaking with anything but a break cue from here on out. I have no doubt that someone could get to a point where they break just as well with a playing cue but this seems like such a quicker way to improve your breaks. It’s heavier and has more power when breaking. The shaft is thicker and deflects less. The ferrule and tip are both phenolic and don’t absorb any energy when breaking and makes them both more durable. The tip is 14 mm so you get spread out impact with less chance of miscue. Also, my 11 year old son is really getting into pool and the break cue makes breaking much easier for him! Lastly, I can’t help but feel like breaks pound the snot out of my cue. Better I beat up a $70 break cue that was built for abuse instead of my playing cue.
The Schmelke playing cue showed up next. David recommended the 13 mm shaft since I am a beginner. I’d been playing with a 12 mm that came with the table and had read that smaller tips can be more accurate. I was a little concerned when the Schmelke showed up, that I’d made a mistake. I put it together and played my best game to date. I’ve been playing with it for about a month and can say it’s made a difference. I do believe the 12 mm tip would be more accurate, I’m just not good enough to take advantage of it, the 13 mm tip seems more forgiving. I went with the Schmelke soft tip as everything else was more expensive and I had no experience with tips. David had suggested it as a good starter tip as well.
Best of all, both cues are well built, reputable cues which are allowing me to learn a bit more about deflection, difference between hard / soft tips, tip / shaft diameter, etc., which were all a mystery to me when using the collecting of vintage, warped, no name cues that came with the table.
I’ll add this for other beginners. The least expensive Schmelke cue (MO10) is no different than what I got. It offers the same upgrades and will perform the same. The only difference between that model and probably the next 15 in that line up is the inlay on the forearm. Something to keep in mind if you’re on a budget.
Lastly, I had the opportunity to use a cue with an 88.2 harness Water Buffalo tip after I got the Schmelke. Having used the soft tip, I was finally able to feel the difference of a hard tip. There is a lot more feedback and feeling with the hard tip. It didn’t change my game one way or the other and I don’t regret the soft tip I got. But, if you have a chance to experiment with a soft and hard tip, do so before purchasing, you may prefer the feeling of the hard tip. It’ll cost you $20 to $40 more but may be worth it if that’s the direction you’re leaning. Everyone says choose a cue and stick with it. Improve your game with that cue, don’t keep changing cues, tips, shafts, etc. If you like the feel of a hard tip, it’s probably better to start with a hard tip.
Maybe others with more experience can comment on tips for beginners. That wasn’t something we touched on much above.
Thanks again, I’m really enjoying both of these cues.
