Cues getting lighter ????

PoolCueSickness

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Why am I seeing a lot of the custom cues weighing less today
Than they did twenty or so years ago. Seems like most of the
Cues from that era were rarely under nineteen ounces and a lot
Were closer to twenty ounces. And today there seems to be a lot
Around eighteen to nineteen ounces. What do you think ??
And what weight do you prefer to play with

Thanks
 
lighter cues make sense

Faster cloth, faster rails, less effort to move balls around, a lighter cue is easier to control. It really is as simple as inertia. I have taken cues to both extremes playing with cues from 12 ounces to over 24. Light cues offer more possibilities because it is easy to add force to a stroke but added weight must always be dealt with.

Hu
 
I used a 21 when I was younger, when I got my first decent cue it was 20oz. Then I got a chance to shoot with my meucci sneaky pete(it was a friends cue)... 18oz ever since. I'm fine with a 19 too but my weapon of choice is an 18oz cue.
 
PoolCueSickness said:
Why am I seeing a lot of the custom cues weighing less today
Than they did twenty or so years ago. Seems like most of the
Cues from that era were rarely under nineteen ounces and a lot
Were closer to twenty ounces. And today there seems to be a lot
Around eighteen to nineteen ounces. What do you think ??
And what weight do you prefer to play with

Thanks

I used to like a 20 ounce cue, now I am down to 18.5 ounces. I think a couple of things happened:

1) With the popularity of Simonis and better rails, there is less emphasis on power and more on fine control.

2) The "finger cradle" grip seems to be disappearing and is being replaced with a more "in the palm" grip. I have found a lighter cue is more controllable with a tighter grip.

3) Thinner cues with forward weighting. A forward weighted heavy cue feels too heavy to me.

Chris


Ps. While cues are geting lighter, pockets are getting tighter!
 
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And Thinner

PoolCueSickness said:
Why am I seeing a lot of the custom cues weighing less today
Than they did twenty or so years ago. Seems like most of the
Cues from that era were rarely under nineteen ounces and a lot
Were closer to twenty ounces. And today there seems to be a lot
Around eighteen to nineteen ounces. What do you think ??
And what weight do you prefer to play with

Thanks

Older cues more often tend to be 20+ ounces. Newer ones tend to be in the teens.

And the butts are thinner. Older cues tend to be much fatter, with most of the taper in the shafts.
 
i agree

i totally agree with all of the replies and think the same in regards to table specs as of today.i also think it has a lot to do with this,new players tend to look at what good players use and think that would be good for me too.i have seen i dont know how many people buy a whatever cue at whatever weight that say archer was playing with.
 
Actually, now that I think of it I've had the cue shaved a bit so it might be under 18...

Of course it is all personal preference but I just find it easier to control the speed of my stroke(and CB) with a cue that is between 17-19 oz.

Actually, due to recent reading I'm considering getting a cheapie custom with a 12.5mm tip and around 17 oz. Arrruggh, I knew becoming active on these forums was going to lead to less money spent on hockey and more on pool.
 
PoolCueSickness said:
Why am I seeing a lot of the custom cues weighing less today
Than they did twenty or so years ago. Seems like most of the
Cues from that era were rarely under nineteen ounces and a lot
Were closer to twenty ounces. And today there seems to be a lot
Around eighteen to nineteen ounces. What do you think ??
And what weight do you prefer to play with

Thanks

Ya know, I think you're right. 25 years ago, 20 and 21 oz. cues seemed much more popular. I had one back then and now shoot with an 18.5 oz. Don't really know why but, of course, way back then I didn't know what I was doing!
 
ShootingArts said:
Faster cloth, faster rails, less effort to move balls around, a lighter cue is easier to control. It really is as simple as inertia. I have taken cues to both extremes playing with cues from 12 ounces to over 24. Light cues offer more possibilities because it is easy to add force to a stroke but added weight must always be dealt with.

Hu

Ding, we have a winner! It all began when Simoniz cloth became the norm. A lighter cue equals a better touch on fast cloth.
 
Jay is right, around 87 +/- depending where you lived faster cloth started popping up and the need for a heavy cue just wasnt needed, however the longer I play the more I like a heavy cue.
 
For playing on the GC with the Simonis and the Super Aramith balls I use my 17.4oz. Mostly 9Ball some 1P.

For the Bar box, worn felt, older set of balls, I use a 19oz. For 8 Ball.
 
CaptainHook said:
For playing on the GC with the Simonis and the Super Aramith balls I use my 17.4oz. Mostly 9Ball some 1P.

For the Bar box, worn felt, older set of balls, I use a 19oz. For 8 Ball.
I use to use a 15.oz cue, Just a plain Jain Curly Maple Cutsom.
I'tell Ya I could sure draw with that thing. Skinny Cue, Felt great.
The shaft was 12mm.
The Best Thing About It Was FREE!!
 
I used to use an 18.5 and was fine with it. I just switched to a meucci originals 20.5 (couldnt move the weight bolt at all) so I just played with it a few days and got used to it. It hits truer than the newer sticks I've shot with. No issues no matter what the weight is.

I think it's just preference.. neither weight plays a difference imo as long as you take a couple days to get used to it and adjust.
 
Lighter cues

PoolCueSickness said:
Why am I seeing a lot of the custom cues weighing less today
Than they did twenty or so years ago. Seems like most of the
Cues from that era were rarely under nineteen ounces and a lot
Were closer to twenty ounces. And today there seems to be a lot
Around eighteen to nineteen ounces. What do you think ??
And what weight do you prefer to play with

Thanks
Not many years ago pool was played with clay ball (mud balls) on slow heavy nap cloth with slow rubber rails and it took a heavy cue to move the balls around to get position.

Today we play pool on Simonis 860 (most of the time) with new light weight plastic balls with super fast rails and you just don't need a real heavy cue to play with today. A lighter cue 19oz or less works well with today's conditions and I personally like a cue around 19.3ozs for my playing cue and my break cue weighs about 18ozs.
 
SCCues said:
Not many years ago pool was played with clay ball (mud balls) on slow heavy nap cloth with slow rubber rails and it took a heavy cue to move the balls around to get position.

Today we play pool on Simonis 860 (most of the time) with new light weight plastic balls with super fast rails and you just don't need a real heavy cue to play with today. A lighter cue 19oz or less works well with today's conditions and I personally like a cue around 19.3ozs for my playing cue and my break cue weighs about 18ozs.

Back in the 70' and 80's I shot with my palmer model "A" It's a tank, I think it's around 23oz.
Worked great with the mud ball and the nap cloth.:D
 
I started in the 1970's with a 21 oz. In the last 5 years have gradually came down to an 18 oz. I didn't know why, I attributed it to my getting a little more finess in my stroke lol. I now realize it's probably the faster cloth.
 
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