Any Tips on Adjusting to Softer Tips?
- Thread starter boogieman
- Start date
There are two other variables which I posted about before. It’s the shaft & ferrules.
The weight of a shaft, it’s diameter and taper affect how the cue shaft feels. Then
the ferrule type comes into play. The material & length of the ferrule also is a factor.
If you mess with ferrules, it can change the feel. Ditto that about shaft specs. It is
the combination of tip, cue joint, shaft and ferrules that really decide how a cue feels.
I find that tip hardness and cue joint material are the two biggest factors in degree of hardness or softness in a cue’s hit factor.
Staying with the same cue - a tip change should only affect hardness of hit to a fairly small degree - your comfort level will decide any further course of action regarding the cue tip in
Staying with the same cue - a tip change should only affect hardness of hit to a fairly small degree - your comfort level will decide any further course of action regarding the cue tip in
All true- I was focusing on just a few of the variables in a cue. Funny how I went to all soft layered tips and now I am moving more towards the harder non layered tips like Triangle. i am starting to rely more on a pure stroke than a tip to do the work for me, and yes, I like the firmer punch on a non layered tip that is not soft- also, the soft tips mostly mushroom quite a bit.
I’ve tried lots of tips over decades of pool playing. I liked the Kamui Black medium but the tip kept glazing.
It became bothersome to have to scuff up your tip during play and then I tried the Kamui Black Clear series.
It was recommended I try a softer hardness and I’ve tried the soft and super-soft and both resisted glazing
like the Kamui Black did. I found that the Kamui Black Clear Soft was just ideal and almost all my cues use it.
It became bothersome to have to scuff up your tip during play and then I tried the Kamui Black Clear series.
It was recommended I try a softer hardness and I’ve tried the soft and super-soft and both resisted glazing
like the Kamui Black did. I found that the Kamui Black Clear Soft was just ideal and almost all my cues use it.
Wait for it to harden up
Yep.... that 3ft draw shot will be more like a 1ft draw shot. Just as a nice little stop shot might be a slight roll through.
Once you get the speed down, you're good to go.
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
I got some play tonight. It's hard to say how the tip is as it's 92% humidity here tonight. The tip seems to impart more english. With my old hard tip to really get juice to it, you had to stroke it and go extreme on the CB, almost riding the miscue limit. Now if I'm more than 1 tip from center I'm missing from too much spin. I can't tell if it's the humidity (likely) or the tip. I think it's going to work fine but adjusting to both the tip and the brutal humidity was rough rough. It definitely held chalk much better.
soyale
Well-known member
I seriously think doing this is what you need
I feel like you just need to worry about nothing but calibrating your english/throw with low pressure instead of getting into a situation where your second guessing yourself about how much spin you’re actually imparting on the cue ball.
That said, i’m a low level player, so grain of salt.
The tip yes but you are wrong about the joint. This was disproved in a big blind test many years ago already. The joints of very different cues were covered with masking tape and players were asked to rank them in terms of hardness. Cues with plastic joints were rated harder than cues with steel joints for example. No one was able to guess consistently the joint material based on the "hit". I think some calculations suggested the joint to influence maybe 3% of the overall cue.
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Wrong? I would not use that term to describe someone's opinion. I have heard about this " test" - never actually seen it on video. How many people were" tested" What level players and how much experience did each player have with various cue construction methods to make their blind decisions. How long did each player play with each cue prior to declaring their feelings on the hit?
Please share with us what "calculation" determines the % of any part of cue construction that affects how a cue should feel to someone. I would not assign percentages to cue construction techniques or materials based upon any formula- it simply does not exist.
Blind test are done often with wines - but they are useless unless the wine "tasters" ACTUALLY know how particular wine categories and price points are EXPECTED to taste like based upon the grape variety used and the wine making method. wine age, etc. etc.
I personally have played with at least 40 different custom cues from various makers. I have my own opinion on how various construction methods, woods, joints, tips, ferrules, etc. affect the play of a cue. My opinions are neither RIGHT nor WRONG for anyone else.
There is no EXPERT opinion on how cues play - please do not label me based upon some strong need that you have to discredit someone's opinion.
I guess you don't believe in science either. What you feel and hear when striking a cue ball are waves and yes, the speed with which they travel through different materials and how one material influences it can be measured. I know this may come as a shock to you.
I say confidently that you are wrong because I am taking about facts and not an opinion. The fact that you belive in something that is inaccurate will not make me respect your opinion, because you are still objectively wrong. Senses in general are unreliable, if you put one hand in cold water and one in warm water then both in room temperature water, one will register cold and the other one warm.
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Yup, they do sell screw-on snooker tips. A package of 10 costs $4, so only 40 cents each! If you buy a package of 20, they're only 30 cents each. Put those on your Predator and watch your game shine!
What scientific test or formula has ever been recorded according to all required scientific experimentation guidelines to accurately measure a cue joints' percentage affect on the hit of a cue? You are joking right? I hope so. You actually believe that "waves" from various cue joints were "measured" according to some accurate formula, and then rated accordingly? Really? Please post that video. Plus, please give us the " scientific formula" that determined a cue joint material to have a 3% affect on a cue's hit?
I KNOW you cannot possibly believe what you have stated here- or I hope so for your sake- until I see all of the video and scientific research material that you claim; I have no further comments on this issue- just not worth my time. Perhaps it was the masking tape on the cue joints that formed the basis of their deeply scientific conclusions?
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I'll make a little prediction here... I think what's going to happen after a while is you will end up going back to the harder tip. That is once you get tired of the more frequent maintenance and the changing hardness of the soft tip over time.
I discovered this myself playing with medium tips for a long time. Once I got to the point where I liked how they played(hardness), they needed to be changed.
Yes, thus is happening to me, I thought that I liked the layered soft tips, but over time, I found many to be mushrooming to a degree that could not be maintained without putting a lathe and tip tool to the tip- I don't own a lathe. As you said, most don't retain that soft hit anyhow. Moving back to non layered harder tips like Triangle- put it on and forget about it for a very long time.
Harmonics and vibration in wood is an interesting subject, probably could find books about it. The variety of wood certainly comes into play and then whether it is end grain or side grain. The internationally famous ping test has never let me down! Bouncing a blank off of my inch and an eighth plywood floor near a stud was one of the ways I selected shaft wood, one of the important ways. I have had eight growth ring blanks ping better than 12-15 growth ring blanks. Those eight growth ring blanks made excellent shafts!
Anyway, everything about a cue can affect feel. "Feel" is occurring during the hit and afterwards, I suspect only afterwards with some cues. Funny thought that "feel" may take place entirely after the cue ball has left the tip! I would have thought that the difference in a twist in rubber bumper or none would make little difference in hit. Much to my surprise I found my cue that I like with rubber bumper was unplayable without it! Well, took some serious getting used to anyway. Likewise with the cue I was swapping the bumper back and forth in since I only had one of that type and one cue was missing a bumper when I got it.
As long as the components are of reasonable quality, the distance from the cue ball usually matters most. Tip, the much overlooked ferrule, shaft, joint, then types of wood and joinery. A really crappy wrap can really affect hit. I found that really soft wood in the butt can too when I tried to make an under ten dollar cue into a sneaky. New shaft and new components including phenolic joint collars, quality pin and insert, coring as deep as I could from the joint and installing a dowel of hard maple. All of these things moved the hit from the original to about halfway between the original and a good hitting cue. Polishing the turd left me with a well polished turd but still a turd!
Unscrewing a joint a turn or two and trying to hit with it quickly reveals the joint is a factor. The thing is, other differences are also factors so the tape test was largely meaningless other than establishing the joint wasn't a major factor. If a master builder puts a cue together no part of it should be an overwhelming factor. Custom builders all have a feel they like. If you like the same feel they are wonderful cue builders! If you don't like the same hit they are terrible builders in your mind although the real quality of build between cues might be identical. Strange but true, I noticed I couldn't feel the initial hit of the cue striking the cue ball with my CF shaft shooting moderate speeds. Odd.
Weren't we talking about tips? Find a single layer tip you like and it will be good until it is worn out. Find one of those evil trashy inconsistent layered tips and it may change with every layer aside from the alternating hard center soft outer and soft center hard outer edge as you go through glue and leather. Not that I am biased or anything!(grin)
Hu
Anyway, everything about a cue can affect feel. "Feel" is occurring during the hit and afterwards, I suspect only afterwards with some cues. Funny thought that "feel" may take place entirely after the cue ball has left the tip! I would have thought that the difference in a twist in rubber bumper or none would make little difference in hit. Much to my surprise I found my cue that I like with rubber bumper was unplayable without it! Well, took some serious getting used to anyway. Likewise with the cue I was swapping the bumper back and forth in since I only had one of that type and one cue was missing a bumper when I got it.
As long as the components are of reasonable quality, the distance from the cue ball usually matters most. Tip, the much overlooked ferrule, shaft, joint, then types of wood and joinery. A really crappy wrap can really affect hit. I found that really soft wood in the butt can too when I tried to make an under ten dollar cue into a sneaky. New shaft and new components including phenolic joint collars, quality pin and insert, coring as deep as I could from the joint and installing a dowel of hard maple. All of these things moved the hit from the original to about halfway between the original and a good hitting cue. Polishing the turd left me with a well polished turd but still a turd!
Unscrewing a joint a turn or two and trying to hit with it quickly reveals the joint is a factor. The thing is, other differences are also factors so the tape test was largely meaningless other than establishing the joint wasn't a major factor. If a master builder puts a cue together no part of it should be an overwhelming factor. Custom builders all have a feel they like. If you like the same feel they are wonderful cue builders! If you don't like the same hit they are terrible builders in your mind although the real quality of build between cues might be identical. Strange but true, I noticed I couldn't feel the initial hit of the cue striking the cue ball with my CF shaft shooting moderate speeds. Odd.
Weren't we talking about tips? Find a single layer tip you like and it will be good until it is worn out. Find one of those evil trashy inconsistent layered tips and it may change with every layer aside from the alternating hard center soft outer and soft center hard outer edge as you go through glue and leather. Not that I am biased or anything!(grin)
Hu
I agree... I still prefer the hard layered tips. At least the hard Moori's are really good. They seem more consistent from one tip to the next then a single layer tip is. But granted the difference probably isn't as big as it is with soft or medium tips.