Any Tips on Adjusting to Softer Tips?

boogieman

boogieman

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
Does anyone have some tips on adjusting to a softer tip? I've been on very hard tips for about 2 years, and I love the way they play. The current tip on my player is a hard ki-tech and I've finally wore it down to the thickness of a dime. It's seen better days and no longer usable. It's to the point it wont hold chalk no matter how much I scuff it, pick it, "set the chalk" etc. It's like a piece of pea gravel at this point.

I have a "magic" feeling milkdud that I'd say is a medium. I'm going to put it on today. Is there anything I need to be aware of while adjusting to a softer tip? I know I can just do it and learn it but was hoping for some anecdotes from people who've experienced a similar change.
 
boogieman said:
Does anyone have some tips on adjusting to a softer tip? I've been on very hard tips for about 2 years, and I love the way they play. The current tip on my player is a hard ki-tech and I've finally wore it down to the thickness of a dime. It's seen better days and no longer usable. It's to the point it wont hold chalk no matter how much I scuff it, pick it, "set the chalk" etc. It's like a piece of pea gravel at this point.

I have a "magic" feeling milkdud that I'd say is a medium. I'm going to put it on today. Is there anything I need to be aware of while adjusting to a softer tip? I know I can just do it and learn it but was hoping for some anecdotes from people who've experienced a similar change.
Click to expand...
You will know. You seem to know what you like already. Give it an honest try, we should always try new things but be honest with yourself. If don't like it don't try to make yourself like it.
 
boogieman said:
Does anyone have some tips on adjusting to a softer tip? I've been on very hard tips for about 2 years, and I love the way they play. The current tip on my player is a hard ki-tech and I've finally wore it down to the thickness of a dime. It's seen better days and no longer usable. It's to the point it wont hold chalk no matter how much I scuff it, pick it, "set the chalk" etc. It's like a piece of pea gravel at this point.

I have a "magic" feeling milkdud that I'd say is a medium. I'm going to put it on today. Is there anything I need to be aware of while adjusting to a softer tip? I know I can just do it and learn it but was hoping for some anecdotes from people who've experienced a similar change.
Click to expand...
Use it maybe?? You'll either adjust and like it or cut it off and go back to what you had before.
 
Last edited:
x2 on Patrick's comments...

Played +20yrs with rock hard tips that I would have to 'condition' throughout sets to hold chalk, and switched to the softest thing I could find when I swapped out equipment. The tip change was nearly inconsequential. More about feedback than anything else.
 
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.
 
expect after a short while you will need to trim the mushrooming
after that you should be good to go
 
Thanks for the info, I'm gonna go get to work! This is a good opportunity to remove the ding a dumb drunk put in it and to change the carnauba to renaissance while I'm at it.
 
boogieman said:
Does anyone have some tips on adjusting to a softer tip? I've been on very hard tips for about 2 years, and I love the way they play. The current tip on my player is a hard ki-tech and I've finally wore it down to the thickness of a dime. It's seen better days and no longer usable. It's to the point it wont hold chalk no matter how much I scuff it, pick it, "set the chalk" etc. It's like a piece of pea gravel at this point.

I have a "magic" feeling milkdud that I'd say is a medium. I'm going to put it on today. Is there anything I need to be aware of while adjusting to a softer tip? I know I can just do it and learn it but was hoping for some anecdotes from people who've experienced a similar change.
Click to expand...
Be prepared to have to reshape it for mushrooming at least two or three times, before it holds it’s shape.
 
Well crap, I messed up. I have a selection of DIY milk duds of varying hardness on my workbench. I THOUGHT I had set the "magic tip" aside in a medium hardness. I grabbed it and installed it, only to find that I had put a soft one on my cue. Stuff got pushed around on my bench and the one I grabbed wasn't set to the side, but next to the others that were covered up by the paper towel roll. 🤦‍♂️ It's been months since I pressed them and I didn't notice the tip I wanted until the soft tip was already installed. I'll see how this soft tip goes. I'm not liking the feedback at all, but it seems to perform alright. I'll give it a week or two and most likely change it out for the "magic" tip.

I burnished the living piss out of it, so hopefully mushrooming will be minimal, but if it happens I can address it.

I also installed a super hard flat pressed break tip dud on my break cue, it's working excellently so at least I got one thing right today! I don't like taking a break cue with me, but with this soft tip it looks like it will have a place in my bag now.
 
boogieman said:
Well crap, I messed up. I have a selection of DIY milk duds of varying hardness on my workbench. I THOUGHT I had set the "magic tip" aside in a medium hardness. I grabbed it and installed it, only to find that I had put a soft one on my cue. Stuff got pushed around on my bench and the one I grabbed wasn't set to the side, but next to the others that were covered up by the paper towel roll. 🤦‍♂️ It's been months since I pressed them and I didn't notice the tip I wanted until the soft tip was already installed. I'll see how this soft tip goes. I'm not liking the feedback at all, but it seems to perform alright. I'll give it a week or two and most likely change it out for the "magic" tip.

I burnished the living piss out of it, so hopefully mushrooming will be minimal, but if it happens I can address it.

I also installed a super hard flat pressed break tip dud on my break cue, it's working excellently so at least I got one thing right today! I don't like taking a break cue with me, but with this soft tip it looks like it will have a place in my bag now.
Click to expand...

Best to go ahead and burnish the dead piss out of it too. Got to be careful burnishing though, The same technique heats and melts glues if you(I) get too heavy handed. It was the way I took off old tips for years.

Four in the YAM here, silly time for insomniacs like myself!

Hu
 
Take out the older cues with screw on tips. I have a few extra packs.

Due to limited production I can provide them to you for added costs.
 
justnum said:
Take out the older cues with screw on tips. I have a few extra packs.

Due to limited production I can provide them to you for added costs.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer, but screw on tips? I'll only use them if you make me one from your recycled pubic hair trimmings. 😘Seriously though, why would a person capable of pressing and installing their own tips want to use a screw on tip EVER? Thanks but no thanks. 🙂
 
boogieman said:
I'm not liking the feedback at all, but it seems to perform alright. I'll give it a week or two and most likely change it out for the "magic" tip.
Click to expand...
That's really what it boils down to. The feedback I mean... When I switched from a Z2 to a wx700 shaft, I also went from the rock hard tip to the softest thing my cue guy has. The tip switch was all about feedback for that new shaft.

I did a little comparison at the suggestion of PJ that I posted in the 'instructor's forum'. If you didn't see it already, you can find it here.

Performance wise, there really isn't enough of a difference to make it part of my decision anymore. You mileage may vary
 
boogieman said:
Thanks for the offer, but screw on tips? I'll only use them if you make me one from your recycled pubic hair trimmings. 😘Seriously though, why would a person capable of pressing and installing their own tips want to use a screw on tip EVER? Thanks but no thanks. 🙂
Click to expand...

An early cheap cue I had as a teenager had screw on tips. Didn't seem like a bad idea until I found they were almost impossible to keep tight and subject to mushrooming. With the low deflection addiction of the moment weight and deflection become issues. It is worth noting that they are used in snooker, even by world class players. One lost a tip, walked over to his chair and casualty screwed another on without even calling for a break. I would assume spares were carefully tested and broken in but no idea. Not saying that all snooker players use them but there doesn't seem to be the horror of the idea found in US pool circles.

A bit of trivia, screw on tips are about as old as leather tips! If the weight issue was dealt with I wouldn't mind giving them another try assuming the leather tip itself got good reviews.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
An early cheap cue I had as a teenager had screw on tips. Didn't seem like a bad idea until I found they were almost impossible to keep tight and subject to mushrooming. With the low deflection addiction of the moment weight and deflection become issues. It is worth noting that they are used in snooker, even by world class players. One lost a tip, walked over to his chair and casualty screwed another on without even calling for a break. I would assume spares were carefully tested and broken in but no idea. Not saying that all snooker players use them but there doesn't seem to be the horror of the idea found in US pool circles.

A bit of trivia, screw on tips are about as old as leather tips! If the weight issue was dealt with I wouldn't mind giving them another try assuming the leather tip itself got good reviews.

Hu
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think there's nothing inherently wrong with the idea, it's just most that I've used in the pass are terrible terrible leather and shoddy quality overall. It's like they took the rejects from the tip factory and put screw on bases on them. There were also some I've used that were felt and also ground up and pressed leather (or cork?) in some kind of binding agent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top