Fatboy said:
One other thing I do is let anyone who can play hit balls with my Bushka's. Some guys decline but I insist they do-bangers need not apply. It nive to share.
I'm too tired to write a review, right now. I have 7 or 8 of them and they are all different, Just like Gus and Barrys cues are, no 2 the same. Barry of the 3 makes the most consistant hitting cue. There are vast differences in some of Gus's cues(I actually have one that no one likes the hit of, and it was the least expensive one I own). Bushkas are all a bit different like Gus's cues, I have one Bushka that sucks and one other one thats just ok. I need to get them x-rayed to see the differences.
Fatboy, I suspect that every cue maker alive or dead deals with the problems above. The old saying that no two cues built by the same cue maker are going to hit exactly alike is very true. Now Xrays may solve part of the mystery, however, I suspect that they will in the long run leave many questions unanswered.
Since a cues hit is a direct reflection of the materials and the construction techniques used to build it, there are many factors that can account for the differences. I think that a cues hit in many respects is vary similar to the tones produced by musical instruments, especially Violins. Many studies have made trying to reproduce the magic of a Stradivarius Violin, and all have ended in failure. Upon close examination, including Xrays, the construction techniques were not out of the ordinary, and the finish was also typical for it's time. In the end the magic of those Violins was discovered to be in the wood used for their construction. It just so happened that when this gentleman started making Violins, that the seasoned stocks of wood consisted of wood was that very slow growing. This was due to a major cold temperature change that had occurred and spanned almost two hundred years before he started building Violins.
I think that in many cases with pool cues, a woods tonal qualities are over looked by many cue makers today, it fact I would bet that very few even pay attention to this quality concerning wood. Today, most cue makers focus on figured woods with straight and beautiful grain. Now due to all of the above many cues must be cored with another wood due to their stability long term. However, this was is not a sure fire method that will make all cues perfect either, but I think it certainly has more bearing on this discussion than it is given credit for.
Many of the cue makers of old understood how important this aspect of wood selection was. Many wood tap dowels of wood, including their shaft wood and divide new stocks of wood accordingly based upon tone alone. Many people do not understand that by checking your wood in this manner it will identify internal defects that can not be seen, such as knots, cracks, or other forms of weakness. When checking wood in this manner, people look for crisp bell like quality
Construction techniques can also have major effects of the tonal quality of a pool cue. The depth of a bored hole, the tightness or the lack of tightness of a tenon jointed area, the insert in the cue shaft, and all forms of general assemble certainly play a major part in tonal quality. To prove this is very simple, since tones are nothing but vibrations and sounds, anyone can take their favorite cue that they love the hit of and just loosen the weight bolt if it has one. This will make a major change in the cues vibration and sound, and it can make a great hitting cue sound and feel like a turd. Doing all the repairs that I do, the above along with loose ferrules are the most common things I find that make great hitting cue hit like shit, and they are the easiest to correct.
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Again, Fatboy I liked your post, I kinda got carried away with mine!!!
Take Care
