It seems I may be in the minority view here as well, but I feel that when it comes to older cues if you are an experienced player you can find that an older cue may be more responsive on each hit. And I believe that is the case
due to the original shafts of on older cue having the internal wood fiber of a shaft becoming more "loose" from constant play over such a long period of time. Can that idea be proven? I have no idea. But I sold hundreds of cues in my years of working in a prop shop. And the cues that I have picked up for my collection are a combination of new & used cues. And two of the best hitting cues I have are my 29 year old Schon cue, and my Phillipi which when I bought it was already then about 12 years old. And now its about 26 years old. The shafts for those 2 cues seem to give an extremely sensitve hit & feel. And I have always assumed it was due to the amount of play on those shafts for their age causing the internal wood fibers loosening up due to age and level of play.
Maybe i'm wrong and the sense of hit I get of those cue shafts is something else entirely. But wood changes a great deal in guitars and violins to effect the quality of sound that comes out of those instruments. Particularly the much older instruments. So why wouldnt constant playing of a cue for a very long time not also effect the shafts and how they respond and how you sense the hit of a shot?
due to the original shafts of on older cue having the internal wood fiber of a shaft becoming more "loose" from constant play over such a long period of time. Can that idea be proven? I have no idea. But I sold hundreds of cues in my years of working in a prop shop. And the cues that I have picked up for my collection are a combination of new & used cues. And two of the best hitting cues I have are my 29 year old Schon cue, and my Phillipi which when I bought it was already then about 12 years old. And now its about 26 years old. The shafts for those 2 cues seem to give an extremely sensitve hit & feel. And I have always assumed it was due to the amount of play on those shafts for their age causing the internal wood fibers loosening up due to age and level of play.
Maybe i'm wrong and the sense of hit I get of those cue shafts is something else entirely. But wood changes a great deal in guitars and violins to effect the quality of sound that comes out of those instruments. Particularly the much older instruments. So why wouldnt constant playing of a cue for a very long time not also effect the shafts and how they respond and how you sense the hit of a shot?