Are there cues that have fallen out of favor with players?

M

Magnumsk

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Please forgive me if it sounds like I'm trolling. Believe me, I'm not. I'm just a newbie looking at things and wondering.

In '97-98 I watched pool on tv. At the time, McDermott cues seemed to a bigger deal than there are now. Is that the case, or am I missing something? Have other cues been more popular at other times than now? Is it technology that has changed to make some cues better? Design? Advertising? Something else?
 
IMO, the most popular cues among pros are whichever brands are supporting pool the most with sponsoring players.

For many years that was meucci and mcdermott.

Then they seemed to back off their sponsorship and predator/mezz/ob stepped in.

Meucci has come back on the scene in the last few years and are sponsoring a few players, therefore they are becoming a bit more popular again.

Again this is all my opinion, but I think pros can play great with whatever you give them, so the biggest sponsors will be the most "popular" with pros.
 
xianmacx said:
IMO, the most popular cues among pros are whichever brands are supporting pool the most with sponsoring players.

For many years that was meucci and mcdermott.

Then they seemed to back off their sponsorship and predator/mezz/ob stepped in.

Meucci has come back on the scene in the last few years and are sponsoring a few players, therefore they are becoming a bit more popular again.

Again this is all my opinion, but I think pros can play great with whatever you give them, so the biggest sponsors will be the most "popular" with pros.
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Bingo!

Tennis player Jimmy Conners used the first metal racket (the Jimmy Conners Model by Wilson). Amateurs bought it like crazy and then found out that it was absolutely uncontrollable; the tennis ball went anywhere and everywhere, except where you wanted it to go.

In an interview Conners was asked how he could play with such an uncontrollable racket. He replied that tour pros could play with 2x4s and it wouldn't make any difference.
 
So faced with the outlook of steel joints being less popular and the alternative of ivory being rather precarious,
what's the trend line? Personally, the best hitting cue I've tried was a flat faced wood joint cue back in the early 80's.
The reservation I had back at that time is how well the joint would hold up, i.e., endure, over the ensuing years.

I never dealt with that question after getting my '85 Runde Schon and later switching to strictly flat faced ivory cue joints.
So with ivory not being an option, and I'm not a fan of piloted steel any longer, what's left to choose from?

I was thinking fancy phenolic joint collar with flat faced wood joint would be the way to go versus say steel collar?
I know squat about ivory substitutes & frankly having so many cues with the real thing, I couldn't settle for faux ivory.
 
It appears to me that the technology advances in Cue making has done 2 really important things.

1) The consumer can get a pretty darn good cue (compared to 20 years ago) at almost all of the lower price points.

2) The overall cost of a cue for the consumer has come down as has the price of producing it when you factor in the quality.

This has allowed cue companies to both raise & standardize the quality in mass production
It has also allowed them to make more for less which appears to allowed them to spend more money in the R&D area as well as the marketing area.

It appears to me that some cue manufacturers have pioneered this new model and done very well. Others have since gotten on the gravy train and adapted to it.
There's a 3rd group who seem to be on life support as they've failed to change with the times and the marketplace.

Just my 2 cents worth, which is probably an inflated price, lol. YMMV.
 
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You ask any custom cue maker that has made cues at least 10 years if the cost to make cues has went down and I seriously doubt any of them will say yes. The mass produced cuemakers will probably say the same thing but they are influenced to a lesser degree by the cost increases. All of the materials are more expensive and good wood is getting harder to find and is more expensive. What people today call AAAA highly figured wood is junk compared to wood 20 yrs ago.

DJSTEVEZ said:
It appears to me that the technology advances in Cue making has done 2 really important things.

1) The consumer can get a pretty darn good cue (compared to 20 years ago) at almost all of the lower price points.

2) The overall cost of a cue for the consumer has come down as has the price of producing it when you factor in the quality.

This has allowed cue companies to both raise & standardize the quality in mass production
It has also allowed them to make more for less which appears to allowed them to spend more money in the R&D area as well as the marketing area.

It appears to me that some cue manufacturers have pioneered this new model and done very well. Others have since gotten on the gravy train and adapted to it.
There's a 3rd group who seem to be on life support as they've failed to change with the times and the marketplace.

Just my 2 cents worth, which is probably an inflated price, lol. YMMV.
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bdorman said:
Bingo!

In an interview Conners was asked how he could play with such an uncontrollable racket. He replied that tour pros could play with 2x4s and it wouldn't make any difference.
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Tennis players, at least today, are very particular about what they play with. What Conners didn't didn't tell them is that his racquet was probably custom made for him, yet appeared to be the off the shelf model. Sampras used to play with a Wilson that was modified enough to not really be a Wilson any more.
 
Dan White said:
Tennis players, at least today, are very particular about what they play with. What Conners didn't didn't tell them is that his racquet was probably custom made for him, yet appeared to be the off the shelf model. Sampras used to play with a Wilson that was modified enough to not really be a Wilson any more.
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Similar to when Tiger Woods first came on the scene and was sponsored by Titleist but was still playing Mizuno?
 
Magnumsk said:
Please forgive me if it sounds like I'm trolling. Believe me, I'm not. I'm just a newbie looking at things and wondering.

In '97-98 I watched pool on tv. At the time, McDermott cues seemed to a bigger deal than there are now. Is that the case, or am I missing something? Have other cues been more popular at other times than now? Is it technology that has changed to make some cues better? Design? Advertising? Something else?
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Oh yeah, I remember the days when McDermott was a really popular cue (and I am sure that it still is, but probably not as much as it was in the 90's). Most of the production cues are being made in China these days, and I bet that a large % of the league players are playing with a Chinese import. Most of McDermotts cues are being made in China now (like the Star line for example, http://www.mcdermottcue.com/star_pool_cues.php), but they do still have a standard line of cues (that are much higher in price) that are being made here in the US. I do not know, but I bet that most of the league players are playing with either a Mcdermott, Meucci, or a Viking. The players that can afford to spend more money (much more money) are probably mostly using a Predator, or a Schon. Oh, I can't believe that I forgot about Joss. Joss cues have always been a big name among pool players, and they have always been made right here in the USA (and have always been top of the line, right under Schon cues, in my opinion). So, a lot of league players that can't afford a Schon, are probably using a Joss. To be honest, I really do not know what I am talking about. I have not played league since the early 2000's (and I only played for 2 seasons), but I assume that it is still about the same as it was back then (McDermott, Meucci, Viking, Joss, and Schon are all popular cues among league players, which make up probably 95% of the pool scene in the US I am guessing). The best player in the US (maybe even the world), Shane Van Boening, uses a Cuetec, but I imagine that Cuetec cues are not all that popular just because he uses their cues. Any really serious player is going to buy something like a Joss or a Schon, I think. I do not know, I might be wrong, but I am not going to buy a Cuetec R-360, just because SVB is using one (but I imagine many of the newbie players probably do).
 
justinb386 said:
Oh yeah, I remember the days when McDermott was a really popular cue (and I am sure that it still is, but probably not as much as it was in the 90's). Most of the production cues are being made in China these days, and I bet that a large % of the league players are playing with a Chinese import. Most of McDermotts cues are being made in China now (like the Star line for example, http://www.mcdermottcue.com/star_pool_cues.php), but they do still have a standard line of cues (that are much higher in price) that are being made here in the US. I do not know, but I bet that most of the league players are playing with either a Mcdermott, Meucci, or a Viking. The players that can afford to spend more money (much more money) are probably mostly using a Predator, or a Schon. Oh, I can't believe that I forgot about Joss. Joss cues have always been a big name among pool players, and they have always been made right here in the USA (and have always been top of the line, right under Schon cues, in my opinion). So, a lot of league players that can't afford a Schon, are probably using a Joss. To be honest, I really do not know what I am talking about. I have not played league since the early 2000's (and I only played for 2 seasons), but I assume that it is still about the same as it was back then (McDermott, Meucci,
Viking, Joss, and Schon are all popular cues among league players, which make up probably 95% of the pool scene in the US I am guessing). The best player in the US (maybe even the world), Shane Van Boening, uses a Cuetec, but I imagine that Cuetec cues are not all that popular just because he uses their cues. Any really serious player is going to buy something like a Joss or a Schon, I think. I do not know, I might be wrong, but I am not going to buy a Cuetec R-360, just because SVB is using one (but I imagine many of the newbie players probably do).
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Wow. You keep saying that you don't know what you're talking about and that you are guessing. And you know what? (You're right.). (STOP). (Do you like long pro tapers) (will my shaft warp with no air conditioning) (bus fares)
 
justinb386 said:
Oh yeah, I remember the days when McDermott was a really popular cue (and I am sure that it still is, but probably not as much as it was in the 90's). Most of the production cues are being made in China these days, and I bet that a large % of the league players are playing with a Chinese import. Most of McDermotts cues are being made in China now (like the Star line for example, http://www.mcdermottcue.com/star_pool_cues.php), but they do still have a standard line of cues (that are much higher in price) that are being made here in the US. I do not know, but I bet that most of the league players are playing with either a Mcdermott, Meucci, or a Viking. The players that can afford to spend more money (much more money) are probably mostly using a Predator, or a Schon. Oh, I can't believe that I forgot about Joss. Joss cues have always been a big name among pool players, and they have always been made right here in the USA (and have always been top of the line, right under Schon cues, in my opinion). So, a lot of league players that can't afford a Schon, are probably using a Joss. To be honest, I really do not know what I am talking about. I have not played league since the early 2000's (and I only played for 2 seasons), but I assume that it is still about the same as it was back then (McDermott, Meucci, Viking, Joss, and Schon are all popular cues among league players, which make up probably 95% of the pool scene in the US I am guessing). The best player in the US (maybe even the world), Shane Van Boening, uses a Cuetec, but I imagine that Cuetec cues are not all that popular just because he uses their cues. Any really serious player is going to buy something like a Joss or a Schon, I think. I do not know, I might be wrong, but I am not going to buy a Cuetec R-360, just because SVB is using one (but I imagine many of the newbie players probably do).
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ET phone home
 
sixwillwin said:
Wow. You keep saying that you don't know what you're talking about and that you are guessing. And you know what? (You're right.). (STOP). (Do you like long pro tapers) (will my shaft warp with no air conditioning) (bus fares)
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Hey, if you know so much more then I do, then why not contribute to the thread, and reply with some good info to the OP, instead of just being a troll? Thank you.
 
justinb386 said:
Hey, if you know so much more then I do, then why not contribute to the thread, and reply with some good info to the OP, instead of just being a troll? Thank you.
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The difference is I do NOT know what cues have fallen out of favor from players. But you seem to think that you know.
You said in your post that "you do not know and you are guessing". So who's the troll? If you don't know the answer to a question, read it and move along.
 
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sixwillwin said:
The difference is I do NOT know what cues have fallen out of favor from players. But you seem to think that you know.
You said in your post that "you do not know and you are guessing". So who's the troll? If you don't know the answer to a question, read it and move along.
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There are no factual answers to the OP's questions. There are only thoughts, and opinions. I was just trying to be helpful, and share my thoughts, and experiences with cues, and other thoughts about what the OP was asking about. There really is no need to be so nasty to me. You have a bad attitude. This is a forum, and you do not seem to know what forums are all about. They are about people posting their thoughts, and opinions about a topic (not just facts about that topic).
 
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