Cue Stick - What makes it good.

[CaptainJR]

Setting aside looks completely, what makes a cue good.

1. I'm not looking for the common or obvious answer here. 'solid feel', being 'straight', 'feels good to you'.

Like, what is the difference between a top end plain Jane and a off the shelf plain Jane? What kind of joint do you think is more solid?

2. If solid feel is one of the big issues than why would pros use a two piece cue sticks. I don't think the convenience of being able to carry it around easier is good enough reason, so there must be something else. Is there such a thing as a custom, good balanced one peice cue? Just buy a rifle case and carry a one piece cue. I've thought of doing this.

Thank you
JR

 

[DrCue'sProtege]

well, not sure this is an answer your looking for, but i had a cuemaker explain it to me like this:

which would you rather buy? a production cue that is being made by a machine with a guy standing/sitting there supposedly monitoring the machine, reading a magazine, and who could care less if things are being made properly?

or from a cuemaker that is going to pay special attention to every single detail of the cue, making sure its made properly, who will stand behind his craftsmanship?

therefore, the custom cue, from tip to bumper, is made to exact, precise specs within the specified tolerances as opposed to the production cue that may or may not just be coming close to specs.

and i've always wondered myself about the one piece cue scenario you mention.

DCP

 

[Joseph Cues]

A good cue is a sum of all parts imo.
Good wood, sound construction and the less the amount of metals and plastics, the better imo.

 

[poolplayer1988]

A good cue to me is...

one that hits SO NICE that it actually inspires your game and excites you to shoot with it. It is just like so sweet that your game actually steps up a notch because your confidence when stroking with it just feels right. A friend of mine years ago had an Espiritu that he would let me shoot with when he came in the pool room. I wanted to buy that thing so bad I could almost taste it, but couldn't afford it back then. (Wish I could find him now, she would be MINE!) It just was a sweet-hitting cue, and whenever I played with it, I couldn't be beat. It just felt right. And that's what I think a cue should do, kind of inspire your game to another level because of its beauty, hit, feel, etc. Just my cent and a half's worth!

 

[CaptainJR]

well, not sure this is an answer your looking for, but i had a cuemaker explain it to me like this:

which would you rather buy? a production cue that is being made by a machine with a guy standing/sitting there supposedly monitoring the machine, reading a magazine, and who could care less if things are being made properly?

or from a cuemaker that is going to pay special attention to every single detail of the cue, making sure its made properly, who will stand behind his craftsmanship?

therefore, the custom cue, from tip to bumper, is made to exact, precise specs within the specified tolerances as opposed to the production cue that may or may not just be coming close to specs.

and i've always wondered myself about the one piece cue scenario you mention.

DCP

DrCue'sProtege
Thank you for your responce. I agree completely with what you've said. A custom cue would certainly be preferable.
But, what would make one production cue better than another production cue or one custom cue better than another custom cue, would be more the answer I'm looking for here.

JR

 

[CaptainJR]

A good cue is a sum of all parts imo.
Good wood, sound construction and the less the amount of metals and plastics, the better imo.

Now we are getting close to what I mean.

Good wood - what kind? Age? Grain direction?
Sound construction - what is that?
Less metal - so a sneaky pete has the least metal?

Give me more!

JR

 

[Bob J]

DrCue'sProtege
Thank you for your responce. I agree completely with what you've said. A custom cue would certainly be preferable.
But, what would make one production cue better than another production cue or one custom cue better than another custom cue, would be more the answer I'm looking for here.

JR

For someone to state simply that custom cues are better than production cues is very appropriate in this, an election year. We're all into this kind of "all Democrats bad, all Republicans good" and vice versa kind of analogy. I'm just sure the workers in Viking's factory sit around reading magazines while machines assemble the cues! ;>)

Personally, I believe if the integrity of both the materials and the assembly is strong, it won't make much difference whether a cue is assembled in a one man shop, a Viking factory, or a Pechauer or Joss type shop. If the maker cares about the finished cue, and puts his name and reputation on it, you're probably going to get a very satisfactory product.

As far as things like joint are concerned, I love my Ray Schuler cues with Ray's very unique joint design. It seems to lend a very solid feel. I also like my Joss cue very much, and it has a 5/15-14 SS piloted joint. I'm not sure the joint material makes much difference as to the performance of the finished cue, as long as it's not loose, or too soft to give a solid feel.

 

[deadstroke32]

First of all one must realize that there is no perfect cue (yet). The Predators have a hard hit to them and on the other end of the spectrum the soft/boy I like this feel/ sticks have lots of deflection. Having said that, I believe that the key is finding something that works for you.

So if you don't want the Predator or Meucci black dot, the first thing one must realize is that there are major differences in the quality of woods. Then one can get into joints etc and you can go on and on from there.

BTW, two piece sticks have less deflection than one piece sticks. I heard this from a reliable source (FL) which the administrator has banned from this forum.

I feel if you have a cue that hit good and for some reason you don't miss. that is a great cue .(something that u r happy with and knows it will get u out of trouble on the table)That is how i see a good cue .But it has been a know fact ..i can be a little crazy .

 

[drivermaker]

Setting aside looks completely, what makes a cue good.
JR

To me, it's the one that you make the most balls with day in and day out that also allows you to have feel for speed in getting shape.

 

[gwvavases]

Good question and good answers so far. Still...it doesn't seem like the question is yet fully answered. Surely a high-quality, two-piece custom cue made to a player's precise specifications (determined by the player having tried out cues with those specifications) is better than a one-piece off-the-rack house cue. But can't the same craftsmen that make custom two-piece cues make one-piece cues with the same high quality? Sure they can. If there was a market for them (i.e. if people were willing to tote them around), would cuemakers make them? And would they/could they be better than two-piece cues? Or...is there something inherently better about two-piece cues than one-piece cues? Someone mentioned on another thread recently that the shaft of a two-piece cue is less susceptible to warping than a long, one-piece cue. That seems valid. Is it?

What do the cuemakers say?

 

[Jon]

Good question and good answers so far. Still...it doesn't seem like the question is yet fully answered. Surely a high-quality, two-piece custom cue made to a player's precise specifications (determined by the player having tried out cues with those specifications) is better than a one-piece off-the-rack house cue. But can't the same craftsmen that make custom two-piece cues make one-piece cues with the same high quality? Sure they can. If there was a market for them (i.e. if people were willing to tote them around), would cuemakers make them? And would they/could they be better than two-piece cues? Or...is there something inherently better about two-piece cues than one-piece cues? Someone mentioned on another thread recently that the shaft of a two-piece cue is less susceptible to warping than a long, one-piece cue. That seems valid. Is it?

What do the cuemakers say?

Well according to one cue maker, I’m not a cue maker, but I’ll give some input. If a cue maker were to take a longer shaft (32") and taper it with their taper, make the butt of something with some weight and balance, and make a billiard cue type joint (with 2" threaded tenon) and glue it together perm. That would hit nice, and probably more solid than anything else.

IMO, nobody is trying to make a two piece cue hit like a one piece anymore. Why? Because now we have so many different types of joint materials out there; SS, Phenolic, ivory, other plastics/thermosets, bone, brass, aluminum, titanium, etc, and so many different joint styles; wood to wood, wood to metal, small pin/insert, big pin/no insert, I’ve seen phenolic to phenolic with big pin, with the collars capped on both ends. With all those choices and combos, why try to make a cue hit like a one piece? When you can get virtually any hit you want? A SS joint with a 5/16" pin and insert sure isn't, a phenolic joint sure isn't. The only way to get a one piece hit and feel is to have NO joint collars, and a tight threaded wooden pin, like a billiard cue.
I've been working on/researching/testing different threads/configs and types of woods, to make a wooden pin that would go into the shaft like a "normal" pin. But the best one (strongest) would be a stabilized wood, or Dymond wood, which would defeat the purpose, because they are not "all wood"... Even with a Dymond wood pin, you would have a resonance closer to wood, than say brass/bronze/ss/aluminum etc.
I plan on getting some Dymond wood to try it out (probably Midnight Ebony) in a size small enough. But I would have to make a thread mill just for that. Then I could make them (pins) all the same, exact minor diameters...
Excuse my ramblings... I'm just having fun...

Thanks,

Jon