Break cue.. the most over hyped cue in our bag?

trob said:
I want to start this by saying this is just my personal experience . We are all different so for you it may not be the same. If a break cue helped your break your not wrong. but I feel that expensive break cues are way over hyped. At the expo this year I bought the new bk rush and air rush. ...
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In general, to me, a break cue should allow me to use as less as possible body power to get a certain level of cueball speed AND control o the cueball (relation of effort and result RER). I have tried yet many different wooden shaft break cues and also a couple of the carbon shaft break cues (Mezz, Cuetec, Go and Predator). From these four carbon break cues it was clearly the bk rush that was outstanding in terms of RER. The bk rush was so extreme to me that the feel in my grip hand was way too intensive, the feeling in my grip hand was unpleasant to me because of the strong vibration that you feel in the grip hand. The bk rush allows to use very little body / arm power and accelerates the cueball very much. The RER of the bk rush is to me an innovation because it is the best RER that I experienced so far at a brek cue. If I were a pro, I clearly would decide using the bk rush, maybe I would put on a slightly softer tip.

Do I need something like bk rush really: No, because I have so much deficits in my pool playing abilities that it would be like throwing pearls before swine. And it is not so important to me optimizing my break. Better I put my energy into optimizing my other playing abilities. But at the other hand I do not want to use any kind of cue for the break. Actually I'm using a break cue from IQ cues where the RER is OK to me. But for example the power breaker does cost way less and is on the same RER level to me like my IQ.

As my latest experiment I modified a very cheap playing cue (brandname "Stöhr") in order to be optimized for breaking, and this experiment ended up very positively: With this modified playing cue the break feels very dynamic, the RER was at least as good as with my IQ break cue, and very good control. The result was surprisingly positive: At my first session with this modified cheap noname cue each 10-ball break was successful, and now I will use it for a longer period. If then I'm still happy with it I'll probably sell my IQ break cue.
 
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trob said:
I want to start this by saying this is just my personal experience . We are all different so for you it may not be the same. If a break cue helped your break your not wrong. but I feel that expensive break cues are way over hyped. At the expo this year I bought the new bk rush and air rush. While I think the air rush is head and shoulders better then then the air 2 I was using the bk rush has added nothing to my break. I broke every bit as good with my bk2. Well recently I’ve had some tip issues On my bk rush that I’m not going to go into but I had it replaced and it came off. So I grabbed a sneaky Pete with a medium tip out of the rack at home and found I was getting the same break playing 9 ball. Still dropping the wing ball. Still stoping the cue ball in the center of the table. Now I don’t break hard. I find it unnecessary on a barbox. I stay down and shoot through the ball with the same stroke With I would say and 8 out of 10 power wise. I don’t break coming out of my shoes like some.

Then I pulled out a 314/2 shaft I have and broke with that On my bk rush butt. Again with a medium tip (back then that what I preferred) and honestly I like it better then the revo shaft that was on it. I was Averaging 2 balls on the break. Easy to control the cue ball And just had a better feel at contact.

Maybe 9 foot tables its different. Maybe you can take advantage of what a break cue with break tips can do But honestly I think a lot of us our wasting our money on these cues. I’m not saying don’t have a break cue. I play with soft tips now and I’d rather not beat that tip up breaking but do you really need to blow $800 on the new predator or any break cue for that matter. For me no.
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Yes. I break pretty respectably with a house cue or my favorite, a Meucci sneaky with their first gen laminated shaft. Shaft is 6+oz and it just crushes the ball. I'd be lucky to sell it for 150.

The dedicated "performance" break cues I have tried haven't done much for me, but I'm also terrible so who knows. I just don't want to blow out a playing tip unnecessarily

I bet Shane can make 5 balls with a house cue
 
there is nothing better to break 9/10b with than the bk rush
money well spent/ and earned with it

for 8 ball it does not shine greatly better than a good second ball break
 
I bought a BK Rush because it was the latest a greatest break cue when i bought it. It really hasn't done much for my break, I prefer a more controlled break. Also most of these break tips seem to bouncy for me.
 
15 years ago I bought a J&J break shaft (XS/BK-18T) with the phenolic ferrule/tip combo from J&J to put on a cheap Players sneaky. Paid about 50 bucks for it. I wanted the Spark break shaft, but they didn't have it available at the time, so i got this one instead (see pic below). According to J&J it's basically the same as the spark break. I hated the phenolic tip, so I got it replaced with a the old Superpro (those red hard layered tips that I cant find anywhere anymore). Used it for a couple of years, it was OK, but found that I didn't break better with it but I kept using this breaker anyway until a chunk of the tip fell off. That was maybe ten years ago and I never replaced it and just kept breaking with my regular playing cue going forward. I found that I break better with my regular playing cue (Josey). I get a nice pop and spread. I know a lot of people preach it's better not to pop, but from my view, I get a nicer spread and make more balls when I pop the cue ball.

This past week I finally re-tipped that J&J shaft with a new hard layered break tip (Tiger laminated break tip). I was excited to try it to see if my break is better with this break cue. NOPE I still don't like it haha. I'll give it more time and maybe just takes getting used to (timing is a little off), and for some reason feels whippier to me (but i think this is just a timing issue).

But as of now, I break better with my regular playing cue than with a breaker. I'll keep using the J&J though, it does the job, I get the speed with less effort, and I'm probably just lacking confidence with it due to lack with familiarity. And saves my playing cue tip I guess lol. Having said that, I don't imagine an 800 dollar break cue would change all of that for me lol
 

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George the Greek said:
I wasn't there and saw it on the livestream. I'll probably see her at one of the events and find out. I'm going to practice the -10 ball break and buy tickets for the next one which will be $600/ a ball
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We have break lots in our league nights 4 nights a week
Its the only thing keeping me in league I do well
It’s like a second paycheck a few times a month lol
 
While i wouldn't call a good break cue a waste of money, I'd definitely say they're overpriced and the concept of a break butt is a little suspect (aside from maybe being grippier?). 100% want to keep that kind of wear/tear off my playing cue and breaking with a soft tip just doesn't work as well unless breaking softer.

I've had J/B cues from Players and J&J that were both like $100-120 and worked great.
Currently have a BK Rush, but I'm not using the butt. I just put the BKR shaft on my Roadline because I prefer the feel of the linen wrap over the sport grip and it also looks classier.

If i did it over again, I'd just get the shaft since I'm not going to use the butt for anything else.
 
j2pac said:
I spent about a hundred or less on my J&J about 5 to 10 years ago. It hits hard/transfers energy to the cue-ball well, and saves the wear and tear on my players. One of the best $100 bucks I've ever spent.
👍
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100% on this. I picked up a J&J Jump Break from their website in 2010 I believe and it's still in my case today. Might have been $97 + shipping back then. I think it was about 10 years in the original phenolic tip popped off, after that long i really couldn't be too upset. Tried a couple of hard leather tips that I didn't like, and ultimately settled on a bullet proof tip and still see no need to switch to anything else.

Have tried others Predator BK's and never really understood the hype, not for $400+.
 
garczar said:
I've got the J&J with the big wood pin on the shaft( no longer avail. btw). Turned the shaft down a tad(thing was fkng HUGE), and installed a WhiteDiamond tip. Works great.
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I guess i never noticed, but DAMN you're right. This shaft is thick af (13.5mm)... The Players is even thicker (13.85mm).
Could be because they're J/B cues, but they're about the same shaft profile/diameter as my AirRush.
 
I posted this before. A friend who is a very good shot, one of the better shots at our hall who has playing for decades, ended up with cancer, and therapy left severely weakened, and trouble walking. He was going through rehab, and came back to play and had a terrible time with his break. He bought a bkrush and it helped him compensate a little for his weakened state. He was surprised at how much it made a difference for him when his strength was gone. Kinda funny because he always said how pricy equipment was not worth it.

He is back to normal now and can break with anything again. so i think there are times when a a different bk cue noticably helps someone. For the vast majority though, the difference is minor.

For the record, i have a Lomax breaker and matching jumper. Both cues together cost me approx what one bk rush costs. They do their job fine.
 
MmmSharp said:
I posted this before. A friend who is a very good shot, one of the better shots at our hall who has playing for decades, ended up with cancer, and therapy left severely weakened, and trouble walking. He was going through rehab, and came back to play and had a terrible time with his break. He bought a bkrush and it helped him compensate a little for his weakened state. He was surprised at how much it made a difference for him when his strength was gone. Kinda funny because he always said how pricy equipment was not worth it.

He is back to normal now and can break with anything again. so i think there are times when a a different bk cue noticably helps someone. For the vast majority though, the difference is minor.

For the record, i have a Lomax breaker and matching jumper. Both cues together cost me approx what one bk rush costs. They do their job fine.
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I went thru the big C treatment and know about being weak and fatigued. I found getting the 9ft and playing pool has helped by getting me active and off the couch. I'm not sure about being up to speed on my break but know that snap sounds good and the CB is getting a headache lol
 
classicjay17 said:
100% on this. I picked up a J&J Jump Break from their website in 2010 I believe and it's still in my case today. Might have been $97 + shipping back then. I think it was about 10 years in the original phenolic tip popped off, after that long i really couldn't be too upset. Tried a couple of hard leather tips that I didn't like, and ultimately settled on a bullet proof tip and still see no need to switch to anything else.

Have tried others Predator BK's and never really understood the hype, not for $400+.
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$400? The predator bk rush I just bought that I’m going to put up for sale once i get a tip on it was $800😂
 
KAP1976 said:
If money is not an object, the BK Rush is a great break cue.
If it is, I still use my McDermott Stinger jump break a lot and its equally effective.
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As much as I think an $800 break cue is unreasonable...heck even $300 break cue lol ...as much as I think it is way over priced and way overrated....if money is no object..I would like a BK Rush or cuetech breach or any of the top models..lmao.
 
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