Balance point
- Thread starter gbs52
- Start date
Doesn't matter too much
Yep. You know when you pick it up if its right. As long as its not really butt-heavy i really don't care.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
No. The balance point of a cue is not affected by how you hold it, how you look at it, how you smell it, what time of day it is, whether you stand on your head, wave your arms around, or do a rain dance. The balance point of a cue can only be changed by altering the cue.
The balance point of a cue is always going to be in between the bridge and the grip. All that gripping further back does is put less weight in the grip and more on the bridge.
C'mon man. Everyone knows the best smelling cue always hits a ton.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
I'm mostly with you.
I will say that I had a cue that I loved, but it was rear weighted and felt exhausting to play with. A friend loved it and got a great deal from me on it.
I had another cue that I took the weight bolt out of, moved the balance forward and I found I loved it. That old Adam is what started me on very light cues. Most of my friends hated playing with it.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
C'mon man. Everyone knows the best smelling cue always hits a ton.
I'm that case, based on my game, my cue must smell like dirty diapers in a hobo camp.
My current cue is 19.25 inches.
I like it a lot, but I have no idea if that’s “ideal for me“ because I’ve never really compared balance points that are dramatically different.
I like it a lot, but I have no idea if that’s “ideal for me“ because I’ve never really compared balance points that are dramatically different.
Guy Manges
Registered
Brilliant... Guy
Of course the balance point is fixed but its effect depends on your stroke(s). If you have a perfectly level and linear stroke, possibly not. But as soon as you elevate or pivot you are dealing with inertial resistance by and leverage against, the center mass of the cue.
Bob Jewett's post 13 seems to be getting little attention and he points out an important fact. While we "call out" the balance point from the butt end, what matters is distance from the tip.
A typical 58" cue will have a balance point at very close to 19". My personal cue, sixteen ounces and sixty inches, has a balance point at 21" measured from the butt. Measured from the tip that puts the balance point just the same as the common 19" from the butt end.
The balance point doesn't matter a lot until one of two things happens. With it too far back the cue can want to float out of your bridge. Having to apply down pressure with your grip to keep a stick from floating out of your bridge is awkward. I suppose it could be gotten used to but why? Weight very forward again feels awkward. The cue also feels heavier than it really is.
Some of the old masters recommended holding the cue at it's balance point, some four to five inches behind the balance point. I forget who said what. For my personal use, I find just enough to keep the stick from feeling like it wants to float out of the bridge is fine. Never measured, I suspect three to five inches behind the balance point might be a good guess.
That extra two inches of length on my cue comes in handy when I am indulging my bad habit of stretching instead of using the mechanical bridge, no real purpose in normal play. I am 6'-2". However, I find moving my hand back on the cue to be a bad habit unless matched by moving my bridge hand back, another bad habit in my opinion.
Hu
A typical 58" cue will have a balance point at very close to 19". My personal cue, sixteen ounces and sixty inches, has a balance point at 21" measured from the butt. Measured from the tip that puts the balance point just the same as the common 19" from the butt end.
The balance point doesn't matter a lot until one of two things happens. With it too far back the cue can want to float out of your bridge. Having to apply down pressure with your grip to keep a stick from floating out of your bridge is awkward. I suppose it could be gotten used to but why? Weight very forward again feels awkward. The cue also feels heavier than it really is.
Some of the old masters recommended holding the cue at it's balance point, some four to five inches behind the balance point. I forget who said what. For my personal use, I find just enough to keep the stick from feeling like it wants to float out of the bridge is fine. Never measured, I suspect three to five inches behind the balance point might be a good guess.
That extra two inches of length on my cue comes in handy when I am indulging my bad habit of stretching instead of using the mechanical bridge, no real purpose in normal play. I am 6'-2". However, I find moving my hand back on the cue to be a bad habit unless matched by moving my bridge hand back, another bad habit in my opinion.
Hu
Ok. Wherever the thing balances that mass resists motion. If the motion is eccentric to the cue, there will be lateral resistance. Where your hands go relative to this main mass determine the leverage you have against it. For instance if a big weight bolt is right where you grip, it will resist extraneous motion more than if the weight was further away from your hand. Bridge placement is also part of this equation.
So even if you grip the cue at the butt cap, the balance point will affect all non linear motion and will do so in plot-able curves of negative and positive resistance. This may or may not matter to, or bother an individual but the interplay of forces is not constant and is present anytime the cue moves.
You have my word.