Cue Questions......sorry

W

wrxsti

New member
Ok, I am sure this gets asked ALL the time, but I cant search for "cue."

Anyways, I am what I would call a decent casual player. I am now starting to get alittle more serious with access to a couple tables for free now. So I decided I would get a stick that would last me and something that was of good quality to get me a good start :)

So, basically I am having a hard time to actually decide what cue to choose. There are no real "shootout" comparisons of cues out there, and its hard to find good reviews of alot of cues. Basically, the highest I really can spend is about $120. In that range I have a few choices, lowest end Viking, a Dufferin, Action AE1 or one of their all wood EP-XX models, or a cuetec. Probably others, thats just what I have found that supposedly have a good rep. Except the Action cues, I have found nothing on them. They look good though :)

From what I can gather, most pros would never go for a graphite or fiberglass, so I have basically ruled out the cuetec. I wish there was info on the Action cues, anyone ever shoot with one?

Also, about shaft diameter and taper. Is it ALL personal preference, or does changing the shaft diameter make the cue play noticably different? Is taper the same way? Same with weight, does it actually make a difference in the way the cue plays or is all preference?

Any help is appreciated :)

P.S. It is great to find a forum with such a vast amount of knowledge. Learned alot in just a couple hours.
 
I bought a Mcdermott cue off ebay for $115 brand new and its awesome. I was in pretty much the same situation as you, and I still feel that I made the best choice. I hope that helps
 
well u might have a hard time finding much of a cue for 120, look for somebody selling a used cue, that way you can try it out and see if you like it, and you might get a little more quality of cue at a cheaper price than a cheap new one.
Taper and diameter and all that, yeah it makes a difference, as you play more youll learn exactly what you like. Ive found my stroke and alignment is good, i see centerball as centerball so i can shoot a smaller diameter cue and i dont have to worry about imparting english i didnt mean to (the problem with a smaller shaft). So i like a pro-taper thats somewhere around 12.30mm. Most sticks come 13mm but that just feels too fat to me and i just dont shoot as well with it. If i was you id either find a decent used cue......or id buy a sneakypete like a dufferin, action, players. Then you can mess with the cue and change it, have the shaft turned down, add weight, etc...........then if youre still shooting pool in a year or 2.......go ahead and move up, pay a little more for a nicer cue and by then you know exactly what you like too.
 
I bought one of the new McDermott Crusader cues off E-bay for $120 for my wife. I shot a couple of games with it last night it was really nice. Not my $1200.00 Capone but for the money it was a shooter and Don't forget McDermotts lifetime warrenty. GooD Luck!
 
1) Players rosewood sneaky pete jump/break-around $90...change the tip.
2) J&J cue. I'd opt for the jump/break.
3) Dufferin
4) Low end McDermott (lifetime warranty)
5) Low end Viking
6) Action:rolleyes:
7) Low end Fury (save and get the Fury J/B)
8) Hampton Ridge
9) Scorpion
10) Cuetec
11) others-low Lucasi (?), various store brands

Since you only have $120, I'd opt for a jump break. The J&J seems to have pleased the #65 Belgian player. The players rosewood is very attractive but needs a different tip. The Fury would require saving a little more but comes with leather wrap standard.

Terry
 
So the dufferin's are pretty solid? They have a great pricetag :) Which one would be best for all around play? I played with what I believe was a dufferin snooker stick, and I actually liked it. Seemed to have ALOT of "stick" to the cueball.
 
just to let u know, the J&J j/b i (and many others) swear by it. it IS the best investment u CAN do. on the other hand, and thats why i posted, stay AWAY from there playing cue's. Ive got one of the 'higher' end J&J cue's. I thought, ah wel if the j/b is amazing, the playingcue cant be that bad, and well it IS!!! Horible cue. (own taste, but well... ANY other cue ive played with felt better.) the wrap feels so rough, its not even linen but ... another material i forgot the name. the cue weight balance is ok, but the distribution is evol.

so if i had 120$ to spend. id spend 50$ on a phenolic tip j&j J/b cue (ebay u can even find them for 30$...), and the other 70$ i would go to your local store/poolhall, ask them to take out ALL the cue's they have in that pricerange, play with each of them and take the best. who cares if the brandname sounds like a bad Science fiction movie or it says made in ' a country u think is the name of a pokemon'. U wont sell the cue anyway and how can u know what a good cue is, if uve never played with one exept a housecue. the first cue should be as cheap as possible in my opinions..

i think thats the best 120$ u could spend on, and i doubt u will ever upgrade the J&J. If u upgrade the playcue from your local thing, give it to someone else to make him happy and go for a sneaky pete of a good brand later.
 
Solartje said:
Ive got one of the 'higher' end J&J cue's. I thought, ah wel if the j/b is amazing, the playingcue cant be that bad, and well it IS!!! Horible cue. (own taste, but well... ANY other cue ive played with felt better.) the wrap feels so rough, its not even linen but ... another material i forgot the name. the cue weight balance is ok, but the distribution is evol.
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Hey Solly,
1) What is "evol"??

2) Lets get you on a course of action regarding your playing cue.

a) Could the wrap be replaced and would that help?
b) Is the tip okay or does it need replacing?
c) You say the weight is okay (it should be 1 oz. heavier than your J/B about).
d) weight distribution/ balance is it okay? What is evol?:D

3) Have you tried to play with your J/B? (trying to see if you prefer hard tip) Phenolic isn't much good for regular play.

By the way Sols I check and J&J put nylon wraps on those cues.

Terry
 
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Terry :cool:

1/ evOl is eeeuh nerdish pc geek silly solly way of saying evil.

2a: yes it would help, i loved the way dubbel pressed irish linnen felt, but its not worth it, the cue costed me 40$ and thats all i can afford right now. rewrapping it would cost me twice as much as the cue did. also i still need to try other wraps, smooth leather, stacked leather, exotic leather, cork, etc.

2b: the tip hasnt muschroomed a single 0.00001mm since ive played with it. It is the hardest tip ive ever seen or used, it glazes after 10 shots. i dont own a pickit yet, but i do use a transformed solly needle and gridpaper i used to prepare the tip before every training or match, but after 10minuts its back to this rock hard solid tip wich i hate. might replace the tip though, but the person who did it with a housecue last time, shocked me so hard... i still need to find somewhone who actually DOES it correct. (the shopowner told me he would replace the feurler and tip if i wanted it, cuz he said the ferule was crap and not hard material AT all). Ps ive been used to play with a snookercue before with extra soft, mushroomed tips, and i think i will never get used to Hard tips, no matter what 90% likes. Im continuing with the original hard tip to force me to get used to it, cuz i know snooker is NOT pool, and im playing POOL not snooker, so ive got to adjust to the differences. if i really cant stand it, it wont last longer then 2seconds on my shaft.

2c: i meant balance is ok. if i put it to rest on my finger it is in a correct place, BUT the cue feels VERY VERY heavy in the but (wich i dont like), and its to heavy. i know now i prefere 18.5oz instead of 21oz as im .... well im very VERY very skinny, and i feel more comfort with very light cue's. my playcue is 19.5 , my j/b is 20. (the cue still feels like its 21.. but thats with the balance i think, that makes it feel heavy.) anyway its weird. i compared it to a cue i liked, it had close to same weight, and both cue's came to rest horizontally on my finger on same place, but one just felt featherweight and the other felt like it had a truck in the buttend. so thats why i think its the weight distribution thats |@#|@# in J&J playingcue's. but hey, its a 50$ cue.....

2d: EVIL :D check 2c for answer :p

now about the J&J playcues:
con's: wrap (to rough, not pressed) , weight distribution, no feedback, very soft ferule that scratches when it touches the cloth and makes u think it cracked after 1 hour, but after sanding the ferule i saw it was just scratches, Ultra heard tip (non layered) wich makes it AWfull for me to get much draw or folow, butcap comes of all the time (im gonna glue it soon cuz im fed up of looking for my butcap in the middle of matches all the time), no feedback.
pro's: wrap feels like it will last a long time before it will breake, smooth shaft, very nice finish, GREATH looks (well its my taste), cheap (50$).

3; yes , by accident and i didnt even notice it. (i rest my case!!)... just to tell u how bad the playingcue line of J&J are... very weird, there j/b is AMAZING, but there playingcue's are rubish (sorry J&J guys...)


aha nylon,thats the word i was looing for. thx terry :D

ps; do u know what tip it has originally? i cant find it, and ... maybe im crazy, but im not even sure its leather. After 10minuts it looks and feels like phenolic or some kind of plastic. very weird, but i guess it MUST be some kind of leather.
 
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Solly I think there are some things you can do to get that hunk of junk playable. Give me a day or so to get some information together.

You don't happen to know of any places there where you can get thin leather or fake leather? You know for like a wrap. Thin stuff.

The bumper on your cue, does it have a screw for removing it? If so then there is probably a weight bolt underneath that. A file can do wonders for making a weight bolt lighter. Depending on the type of weight bolt the hole may be drilled deeper than needed and might allow some movement to get weight distribution back where you want it after lightening the weight bolt. The tip is supposed to be a LePro. Do you think you need softer or harder or about the same but without the glazing? Elmers carpenters wood glue works wonders for loose but caps.

Terry
 
The Best Deal I Found On The Web

I decided to get serious about this game around Thanksgiving of last year. It's not that I never played before just never took it serious....I had a friend who received a Viper cue as a gift (he's got a Marlboro miles saving friend) We started sharing it at the local pool hall and I was hooked.....Long story short I ended up at Shootersbilliards.com They have a selection of close out cues that are as much as 55% off retail. I bought a closeout McDermott @35% off and they thew in a Cuetec Python (retail $280 when they were being sold) and a 2 but 2 shaft Stratford case. I also got a McDermott I-2 for $165.....the cheapest I could find it anywhere else was $188. They had some of the last American made Mali cues for $75 which is an all wood cue with a maple shaft.
Good site for product comparison is Platinumbilliards.com fullbreedlove.jpg

fullpython.jpg
 
The cue I use right now is a Players Tournament Series. It was a cheap inexpensive cue, with classic looks to it. $110 bucks. Later on I strapped a predator 314 second grade shaft on there (the ones they sold at like half off with free overnight shipping, has the black band on it) and a moori tip. Have played with it since. Love the thing to death. Cheap cue that has lasted me for about 8 years of playing. I'm just about ready to contact Mike Webb to go for a custom, but I just need to work up the dough. Once I get a quote and it's in process I'll upload the scanned images so everyone can see
 
i play with a players butterfly skeaky pete. its a decent cue. only 80 bucks. forget the site but they did an independent test on about 30 cue shafts to see which had the most deflection and what not. players did relatively well. better than a meucci black dot (then again meuccis are noodles). get yourself a players and put a moori tip on it and you will be satisfied. you dont need to spend the big bucks right now as your only begining. if in the future you feel the urge to get something better, you can always convert the one you buy now into a break cue. a Players or a used mcdermont like previously stated would be my choices.....thats just my 2 cents.....happy hunting!
Thanks,
Jay
 
Those

rackem said:
If you guys are looking for a good playing well made inexspensive cue Please check out this listing. I guarantee you will be please. PM me and I would be happy to answer any questions.http://cgi.ebay.com/POOL-CUE-CASE-H...ryZ21212QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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cues don't look bad at all, especially for the money and being a Palmer. Definitely worth looking into. I am also going to mention a name that isn't heard much anymore, but Huebler makes a good Sneaky Pete that you can
buy for your $120.
 
wow i love those palmers. for this price they look amazing. 65$? thats nothing. If i had 65$ id buy one of them just to check out how they play.
 
wrxsti said:
So I decided I would get a stick that would last me and something that was of good quality to get me a good start :)

Also, about shaft diameter and taper. Is it ALL personal preference, or does changing the shaft diameter make the cue play noticably different? Is taper the same way? Same with weight, does it actually make a difference in the way the cue plays or is all preference?
Click to expand...

You're going to hear lots of options & opinions here. JMO, but I'd go for a McDermott, 19oz, and 13mm, with a 3/8 x 10 joint (most McDermotts come with this joint). That's a pretty standard weight & shaft, kind of a "medium" in every respect. McDermott guarantee is real strong, and their name is good, and pretty well known - so if and when the day comes that you want something better, you have these options:
- get an Intimidator shaft from McDermott for the cue
- get a Predator 314 or other laminated shaft for the McDermott
- sell your McDermott & buy something else
My personal preference is to stay away from the cues with motorcycle, beer, liquor, or college um "artwork" on them. You're not advertising, you came to play, right? I think these are harder to re-sell when the time comes.
You can find both new & used McDermotts on eBay of course. You can also check out their website: http://www.mcdermottcue.com
Note - I don't have anything to do with McDermott cues, just think it is a solid choice. My starter & oldest cue is a McDermott (now with Predator 314 shaft) & I still like it years later.
Best of luck.
 
I just bought my first cue recently also. I bought a McDermott MG3 and it was about $150 including shipping.

That's a little out of your price but I'm sure you could find a used one or maybe a slightly cheaper model.

I've been playing with my McDermott for over a month now and I'm very happy with it. It was a great purchase and it's way better than any house cue.
 
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