Cue balance question?

[atthecat]

Exactly how do you tell the balance point of a cue? I know you balance it on your index finger and find where is stays level. From there, where do you measure? From that point to the bumper, end of butt or measure toward the joint?
Thanks.

 

[Jadssons]

Put the cue together and balance it on your finger (laying in perpendicular to your finger), keep sliding it one way or the other until it balances...thats the balance point.

 

[atthecat]

Right, but is that measure to the end of the bumper or to the joint?

 

[Seneca Steve]

To the joint.

 

[mikepage]

Exactly how do you tell the balance point of a cue? I know you balance it on your index finger and find where is stays level. From there, where do you measure? From that point to the bumper, end of butt or measure toward the joint?
Thanks.

It depends on whether you're interested in the measure people most commonly quote or the measure that actually matters. It's the distance from the tip that makes one cue FEEL to you it has a different balance.

Line up ten people of a range of heights and ask them to get down on a shot. Give them all replicas of the same cue. They all put their bridge hand some distance from the tip that has nothing to do with their heights. Say they all bridge at 9 inches.

Where then do their rear hands go?

Their rear hands will go different places depending on body dimensions.

The shortest person will have nearly all the weight of the cue on his rear hand because he grips close to the balance point. The tallest person--who grips near the back of the cue-- will feel the most weight on his bridge hand. So the different players will feel a different balance for the same cue.

It might be reasonable for shorter people to use a more forward-weighted cue than taller people use, so that they feel closer to the same weight distribution.

Shown here are some balance points on several of my cues. They're suspended a few inches above the table at their balance points. What you don't see here is where they balance relative to the tip--what really matters.

In other words a 58 inch stick with a balance point 18 inches from the butt cap will feel the same you you as a 60 inch cue with a balance 20 inches from the butt cap.

1. Patrick (closest)
2. Sherm
3. Layani
4. Pechauer
5. Sledgehammer (Mcdermott butt)
6. Schon
7. Huebler J/B
8. Schuler

 

[Snapshot9]

Balance point.

Mike explained things pretty well, but the measurement is from:

The balance point to the end of the bumper. A normal bumper on the end of a cue can change the balance point anywhere from 1/8" to 1/4".

It is always good to ask a cuemaker when making a new cue for you to ask for the balance point? and then ask, with or without bumper?

 

[hurly]

Where then do their rear hands go?

Their rear hands will go different places depending on body dimensions.

The shortest person will have nearly all the weight of the cue on his rear hand because he grips close to the balance point. The tallest person--who grips near the back of the cue-- will feel the most weight on his bridge hand. So the different players will feel a different balance for the same cue.

It might be reasonable for shorter people to use a more forward-weighted cue than taller people use, so that they feel closer to the same weight distribution.

I just wanted to add that how low you get down to the shot, as in your chin touching the stick at times, will also determine where one holds the stick. I'm only 5'8'' but get really low to the cb and my grip is most always
6-8" from the end.

I've also observed some shafts(esp. 12mm) are very light(3 and 1/8oz.)make for a rear biased balance point. Dang it....just what I don't like