Cue "straightness", please define

[Cuemaster98]

Can someone define what "straight" really mean in the pool world? I'm kinda lost now!

I looked at 5 southwest in the last 30 days:

1 from my friend steve, 1 from Vass and 3 from others.

Of the 5, 3 had slight roll in them and 2 was consider straight by my roll tests (rolling butt and shafts on pool table and butt on rail). of the 10 shafts only 3 were striaght according to the test and 7 all had visible roll in them.

So what does it mean when you have 2 southwests by the test that rolled striaght with no wobble and 3 that has wobble? They all play amazing as a southwest should. In the past, I have had seller metioned that the SW is straight only for me to find out that it has a roll in the forearm and the shafts were off according to my roll. He said that how 90% of them and the pool world consider them to be straight? What's the limit and when can you claim a cue is straight when it has a slight wobble in them that does not affect the playability?

I guess players have a misconception that straightness somehow improve playablitiy but it doesn't seem to be the case which are proven by countless amazing cues with a slight roll in them.

Regards,
Duc.

 

[Nostroke]

Can someone define what "straight" really mean in the pool world? I'm kinda lost now!

I looked at 5 southwest in the last 30 days:

1 from my friend steve, 1 from Vass and 3 from others.

Of the 5, 3 had slight roll in them and 2 was consider straight by my roll tests (rolling butt and shafts on pool table and butt on rail). of the 10 shafts only 3 were striaght according to the test and 7 all had visible roll in them.

So what does it mean when you have 2 southwests by the test that rolled striaght with no wobble and 3 that has wobble? They all play amazing as a southwest should. In the past, I have had seller metioned that the SW is straight only for me to find out that it has a roll in the forearm and the shafts were off according to my roll. He said that how 90% of them and the pool world consider them to be straight? What's the limit and when can you claim a cue is straight when it has a slight wobble in them that does not affect the playability?

I guess players have a misconception that straightness somehow improve playablitiy but it doesn't seem to be the case which are proven by countless amazing cues with a slight roll in them.

Regards,
Duc.

The way i look at it is that at some point of crookedness, play will most definitely be effected. We all know that.

I think we can also say that a cue with a noticeable roll is not likely to improve with time, it is likely to get worse.

We also know that very straight cues with no or extremely minimal roll can be found. These are the cues i consider acquiring and once i acquire one, it will be a long time before i check it for straightness again.

I want to remain fat dumb and happy for as long as possible.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Can someone define what "straight" really mean in the pool world? I'm kinda lost now! ....

As Lord Kelvin (the temperature guy) said:

I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of Science, whatever the matter may be.​

It is possible to put a number on straightness. If you don't, then you just have "it looks straight when I look down it like a rifle" or "I never have any problem playing with it" or "when I roll it by procedure X it has no visible wobble."

No cue is straight. It's all a matter of degree. Put the cue (or part of the cue) in a lathe and turn it slowly and measure the wobble or "run out" with a contact gauge. The number will never be zero. Well, it might be if you're careless in the measurement.