best way reduce weight in cue w/o weight screws

R

robbhoff

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I just bought a really nice (simple and elegant) Carmeli cue from Andy thru the AZ forum. It's a great cue, but it's just a bit heavy for my liking (about 19.5oz), but it doesn't have removable screw-in weight in the butt - just solid wood.

So I'm looking for some help/advice on deciding the best way to remove weight out of the butt without messing up the balance or damaging the the butt. Can the butt be converted to have screw-in weights? Do I bore out some of the wood from inside the butt? Does anyone know of a cue mechanic in the Stamford, CT area who can do this for me? Should I just leave it alone?

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
cheers
 
robbhoff said:
I just bought a really nice (simple and elegant) Carmeli cue from Andy thru the AZ forum. It's a great cue, but it's just a bit heavy for my liking (about 19.5oz), but it doesn't have removable screw-in weight in the butt - just solid wood.

So I'm looking for some help/advice on deciding the best way to remove weight out of the butt without messing up the balance or damaging the the butt. Can the butt be converted to have screw-in weights? Do I bore out some of the wood from inside the butt? Does anyone know of a cue mechanic in the Stamford, CT area who can do this for me? Should I just leave it alone?

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
cheers
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I would contact the cue maker and let him do the modifications you want. The pin can be replaced with a Titanium Pin to reduce the weight by close to a 3/8th of an Oz. Yes the cue could be cored from the rear which could also reduce some weight, however, again no one would know better than the builder the best way to reduce the cues weight.

JIMO
 
manwon said:
I would contact the cue maker and let him do the modifications you want. The pin can be replaced with a Titanium Pin to reduce the weight by close to a 3/8th of an Oz. Yes the cue could be cored from the rear which could also reduce some weight, however, again no one would know better than the builder the best way to reduce the cues weight.

JIMO
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thanks - definitely will try that
 
robbhoff said:
So I'm looking for some help/advice on deciding the best way to remove weight out of the butt without messing up the balance or damaging the the butt.
Click to expand...

Anything you do to change the weight will affect the balance.
To lessen the total weight of the cue, mass must be removed from somewhere.
To retain the original balance point the mass must come equally from both sides of that point.
Be it wood or metal, removing mass from just one area will change the balance point.
Other things are also changed by removing material from a cue.
Resonance is one of those things that directly affects the feel.

The common way to lighten a cue with no weight bolt is to drill out wood from the butt. This leaves a hollow chamber of air.
This can and often does change the balance, the feel and the sound of the hit enough to notice.

Carmeli must have spent a good deal of time designing that cue so that it had the proper balance point without using weight bolts.
It would be wise to call that cue maker and talk to him about what you want before letting some other cue maker do the mod for you.
 
Removing weight from the cue should not hurt the cue, but it will change the balance. Sometimes that is a good thing and other times it is not. You won't know which until you try it. The good part is you can probably get it back like it was if you don't think changing it was a good thing.
 
Change the pin.........otherwise leave it alone. The work drilling on the back end is not worth the little bit of weight change for the risks involved.
 
In thiis case, the pin is (highly likely) aluminum so changing the pin isn't going to offer 1/2 oz weight relief as the poster would like. However, since the poster emailed me I thought of another possible solution for him: Buy a Predator shaft for the cue (and request a lighter one) or have a lighter shaft made for the cue by Ariel. This will give you most of the weight releif you seek and bring the cue balance closer to 19". I am assuming that your shaft is now 3.8 oz or more so you'd have to weigh it to know it there will be help in this way.

Martin


BarenbruggeCues said:
Change the pin.........otherwise leave it alone. The work drilling on the back end is not worth the little bit of weight change for the risks involved.
Click to expand...
 
jazznpool said:
In thiis case, the pin is (highly likely) aluminum so changing the pin isn't going to offer 1/2 oz weight relief as the poster would like. However, since the poster emailed me I thought of another possible solution for him: Buy a Predator shaft for the cue (and request a lighter one) or have a lighter shaft made for the cue by Ariel. This will give you most of the weight releif you seek and bring the cue balance closer to 19". I am assuming that your shaft is now 3.8 oz or more so you'd have to weigh it to know it there will be help in this way.

Martin
Click to expand...

I was ASSuming the pin was SS.
My bad..........
 
UPDATE to add comment

jazznpool said:
In thiis case, the pin is (highly likely) aluminum so changing the pin isn't going to offer 1/2 oz weight relief as the poster would like. However, since the poster emailed me I thought of another possible solution for him: Buy a Predator shaft for the cue (and request a lighter one) or have a lighter shaft made for the cue by Ariel. This will give you most of the weight releif you seek and bring the cue balance closer to 19". I am assuming that your shaft is now 3.8 oz or more so you'd have to weigh it to know it there will be help in this way.

Martin
Click to expand...


UPDATE

Thanks Martin,

I like the idea of a lighter shaft, especially since I've been considering getting another shaft with a smaller dia (like 12.5 - 12.75).

Update: I checked and the butt pin is not aluminum - it's stainless steel - so changing the pin to a lighter metal is a possibility

I'll look into a Predator shaft, but do you have any idea how much Ariel would charge for making a new shaft to fit my needs?

Cheers,
Robb
 
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