Ok $100 cue 19oz straight apart and together $1000 cue 19oz straight apart and together. Other than art work or a name and price what is the difference?
The difference in cues regardless of price has to do with materials used, tolerances in construction, and how well the wood is seasoned.
Some materials and practices aren't suited to making lasting durable pool cues that are pleasurable to play with.
Just to give you an example - take two cue makers and both are using Birdseye maple for the cue - Both cues look identical to each other.
Cuemaker A charges $1000 for his cue and cuemaker B charges $100.
Cuemaker A bought the wood he will use in his cue from the supplier 5 years ago and in those five years he has taken the wood and carefully dried it and cut it and let it rest and repeated this process many times to allow the wood to achieve maximum stability. When he puts the cues together he makes sure that each part fits perfectly to each other part, the adhesive he uses is top grade and he knows exactly how to use it. When his cue is done it's a perfectly constructed instrument that is highly tuned.
Cuemaker B bought the wood he is going to use 3 months ago and he has relied on the supplier's word that it is "dry" he cuts it a few times and dips it in wood stabilizer to chemically alter the composition of the wood. He isn't so concerned about making sure that each part is compression fitted with tight tolerances, instead he fills any gaps with glue which is course isn't the best quality and he has little experience with glues anyway. When his cue is done it looks great.
The difference in these two cues is that Cuemaker A has put way more effort and time and money and experience into making his cue and it will DEFINITELY stay a highly tuned precision instrument for decades. Cuemaker B's cue might be great now but it's unlikely that it will hold up over time. It "might" and if it does then great but the odds are that it won't. The odds are also good that it's "hit" can change with conditions whereas the cue from A is likely to be much more consistent over a wider range of conditions.
This scene has been played out hundreds of times in the cue making business.
New cue makers and others who try to take shortcuts often find that their cues develop problems. This is the same for factories as well as individual makers.
If your an average bar room player I doubt either cue would make a difference in your playing, am I wrong?
You are mostly right. It's hard to buy a "bad" cue these days and most production cues are pretty damn good. But depending on the brand of the $1000 cue it might be pretty noticeable to even the average player that it's much nicer to play pool with. That it feels better. Using the old car analogy both the Ford Focus and the Porsche 911 will get you to the store and back but only one of them will do it in 6 seconds from 0-60. Everyone who can drive will feel the difference between a Focus and a 911.
So the increased confidence alone one gains by playing with a cue that feels better is sometimes worth a ball in one's game. As for which cue actually performs better - well that is a whole 'nother can of worms.
How about a mid level player?
If your a Pro would it make a difference?
The better player you are the more you are attuned to the differences in hit from one cue to another in terms of what you like. That said it has been proven that even pro level players can't tell how a cue is made, i.e. stainless steel joint vs. phenolic or WHO made it just by "hit" alone. They can only tell you if they like the way a cue hits not whether they WILL LIKE it before they shoot with it based on how it's made. Of course you will hear people all the saying that they don't like this or that brand - but if you cover up the brand and joint then a lot of people suddenly seem to like the hit of cues that they formerly despised.
What makes one straight cue better than another?
How it feels to you. All other things being equal if the $100 cue and the $1000 cue both feel the same to you then the $1000 cue is no better. You can't know how they were built and you can't know how they will hold up. You can do your homework and if the maker of the $100 cues has a lot of problems then that's a consideration. But in the moment, if you pick up a production brand $100 cue and it feels as good to you as a $1000 famous custom brand then that's your personal experience and it's as valid as anyone else's.
I personally wouldn't go spouting off that the $100 cue is as good as the $1000 cue. For one thing you can't know that - all you have to go by is your own personal judgement which is subjective due to your experience level and the fact that you can't dissect the cues.
My opinion for example might be more objective since I happen to know how most cues are made due to my experience in both custom shops and large factories.
So you can see how there are a of variables.
At the end of the day though it's all about whether you like it or not. If you are second guessing your equipment then maybe you need to change your equipment or get in tune with it.
