fishblade2
Registered
Hello fellow pool players, I am fairly new to the game (when it comes to being more serious about playing) and I'm catching on quickly but there are a few things that puzzle me that I cannot find answers to. I am, as stated before, becoming more serious lately about playing and I want to buy my first nice cue. I am a research junkie and if I can't find all the ins and outs of something I'm not familiar with i usually won't make a leap in fear of a mistake, in this case buying a cue that isn't right for me. I am planning on soon visiting a pool pro shop where I will be able to test different shafts, tips, cues ect but I don't want to go in without knowing my stuff. So I have quite a few questions over the cue. If any of these questions have been asked before (which I suspect they have) then just send me a link with a good previous forum discussion and I'll read into it. I'll number and space between the questions to make it easier to follow:
1.) What brands are good brands? (I'm looking at either a predator, schon, or viking)
2.) What is the price range that I would need to be willing to spend to buy a REALLY NICE cue without paying for detail? (In other words what is the cut off for the price before I am just paying for a pretty decorated cue)?
3.) In the butt of the shafts what should I be looking for in the cue?
4.) In accordance with question 3 how many cues have interchangeable weight systems (are they good thing to have)?
5.) what does it mean for a cue design to be 10 point or 5 point ect?
6.) what joint is a good joint to have in the cue? What are the bad ones to have?
7.)what type of pins in a cue are good and which ones should I avoid. I have noticed that predator and some viking use either uni lock or quick release pins).
8.)what grip should I look for if my hand gets pretty sweaty? I am thinking so far about getting one with no wrap because I have read those provide the greatest grip but since I haven't tried holding different cue I don't know what wrap options I should be focusing more on.
9.) What tip size should I get on my cue? Now this is IMPORTANT TO ME. More so than other questions, I am leaning more towards a 12.75 diameter cue tip because I can produce spin easier and even though I'm a beginner I don't mind a challenge of learning to produce a straight stroke on a harder diameter. Should I start smaller or larger in diameter?
10.)If I choose a 12.75 diameter tip (or anything smaller than a 13mm tip) will it be hard for me to keep up the tip? I have read that smaller tip diamters are just sized down 13mm tips but are there tools that make it easy to keep the tip at that diameter if I were to stay on top of managing my tip?
11.) There are so many tips maintenance tools out there and so many different brands. Which are aboslutely necessary for keeping up my tip (answer this question in regards more to a 12.75 mm tip.
12.) lastly with the three brands stated in question 1 (or any stated by others in the forum responses) which shafts are good shafts to have on the cue stick? Do I want low or high deflection and I was leaning to buying my cue stick with an aftermarket shaft. I have heard good about tiger, ob, and predator shafts as being some of the best but I don't know if these shafts are more suited for different game styles or overall good shafts. I am leaning towards one of the top line predator aftermarket shafts but I'm not sure. This is another major problem for me.
I do apologize for such a long message and I know that this is a lot of questions and requires a lot of typing but I would appreciate any answers on these questions I could get especially regarding tip diameter size, tip maintenance, cue brand, and shaft choice!
Thank you for all your help in advance.
1.) What brands are good brands? (I'm looking at either a predator, schon, or viking)
2.) What is the price range that I would need to be willing to spend to buy a REALLY NICE cue without paying for detail? (In other words what is the cut off for the price before I am just paying for a pretty decorated cue)?
3.) In the butt of the shafts what should I be looking for in the cue?
4.) In accordance with question 3 how many cues have interchangeable weight systems (are they good thing to have)?
5.) what does it mean for a cue design to be 10 point or 5 point ect?
6.) what joint is a good joint to have in the cue? What are the bad ones to have?
7.)what type of pins in a cue are good and which ones should I avoid. I have noticed that predator and some viking use either uni lock or quick release pins).
8.)what grip should I look for if my hand gets pretty sweaty? I am thinking so far about getting one with no wrap because I have read those provide the greatest grip but since I haven't tried holding different cue I don't know what wrap options I should be focusing more on.
9.) What tip size should I get on my cue? Now this is IMPORTANT TO ME. More so than other questions, I am leaning more towards a 12.75 diameter cue tip because I can produce spin easier and even though I'm a beginner I don't mind a challenge of learning to produce a straight stroke on a harder diameter. Should I start smaller or larger in diameter?
10.)If I choose a 12.75 diameter tip (or anything smaller than a 13mm tip) will it be hard for me to keep up the tip? I have read that smaller tip diamters are just sized down 13mm tips but are there tools that make it easy to keep the tip at that diameter if I were to stay on top of managing my tip?
11.) There are so many tips maintenance tools out there and so many different brands. Which are aboslutely necessary for keeping up my tip (answer this question in regards more to a 12.75 mm tip.
12.) lastly with the three brands stated in question 1 (or any stated by others in the forum responses) which shafts are good shafts to have on the cue stick? Do I want low or high deflection and I was leaning to buying my cue stick with an aftermarket shaft. I have heard good about tiger, ob, and predator shafts as being some of the best but I don't know if these shafts are more suited for different game styles or overall good shafts. I am leaning towards one of the top line predator aftermarket shafts but I'm not sure. This is another major problem for me.
I do apologize for such a long message and I know that this is a lot of questions and requires a lot of typing but I would appreciate any answers on these questions I could get especially regarding tip diameter size, tip maintenance, cue brand, and shaft choice!
Thank you for all your help in advance.