Frey Sneaky Petes

K

kasparovII

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
While I've heard quite a bit about Bob Frey I'v never seen, much less played, a Sneaky Pete made by Bob. I know of his long time association with Tim Scruggs and, in fact, according to a dealer I've found, Bob and Tim still get together on the road to purchase shaft wood. I have found the prices of his SP's to be very reasonable with a set of options that are also priced competitively.
Bob is offering his SP's in ebony, cocobolo, bacote, rosewood and purple heart. These are fully spliced, 4 point SP's that have been fully cored without weight bolt and are said to be neutrally balanced while still providing for minor adjustments to the balance point to the customer. The options are straight forward, but cover enough variables to give me just about all of the typical requirements in order to customize the cue. The joints can be the standard 3/8th wood to wood (black phenolic collars) or a steel, piloted 5/16ths joint. The shafts are either a modified pro taper or a stiffer constant taper. There are also options like a matching wood joint, butt cap options, tips, etc..

It's been a while since I last played with a Sneaky Pete with a wood to wood joint, but I've always had a thing for full spliced SP's. I just love their feel especially with a top quality shaft, which is one of the points that Frey and his dealer stress as a selling feature. I've been in and out of the game for a long time and for the past 5 years have taken the typical route of going with a good production cue with a stainless steel joint and an LD shaft. The cues that I'm used to are the standard fare....Predator 4K3 with the first generation 314, a Schon with an OB-1 and now a Pechauer butt and 2nd generation 314, which has been my favorite of the three. My current cue (Pechauer/314/2) is a very accurate cue, easy to move around the table, etc.. But the hit or feel on all of these production cues has been "lacking"...at least for my tastes. I'm not sure if it's the LD shafts or the heavy joints or both, but, to me at least, they haven't been able to offer the intangibles that allow me to get into "the zone", that "auto-pilot" mode that makes things like precision speed control, etc..possible. And I'm willing to give up some of the benefits the lower deflection shafts offer for the traditional feel / hit that a high quality sneaky pete with a premium conventional shaft offers.
Sorry for the long-winded dialogue, but it's difficult to describe what my definition of "hit" is. It is obviously slightly different for everyone.
Since I haven't been able to see/play with one of his cues I would be buying "in the blind" so to speak. Hence, my request, to anyone who has played a Frey Sneaky Pete, as it relates to workmanship, hit, performance, etc..
Thanks, in advance,
KII
 
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Hello sir,

Although I currently do not own a Frey sneaky pete, I picked one up earlier this year in a trade. I traded one big Nitti cue (the best cue I had owned up until that point) for three smaller cues with the hopes of selling all three. I needed the money to pay for a cue I have coming in the next month or two. I had the Frey sneaky pete for about one week and played with it maybe three or four different nights in that time. It was one of his basic sneaky petes, no upgrades or anything, with one shaft, and a wood to wood joint and no joint collars. This was the best cue I played with up until that time. It just put me in that ellusive zone we all talk about. From the first shot, no warm up period necessary. And much to my surprise, it turned out to be about a 12.4 mm shaft with a standard pro taper, and that shaft was not at all whippy. Also to my chagrin, the cue weighed in at a whopping 20.4 ounces, about 1.5 ounces heavier than my usual playing weight. It was a neutrally balanced cue with a thin shaft that moved the cue ball around very nicely. When hitting the cue ball, that shaft felt like a full shaft. I couldn't really tell that I was hitting with a cue with dimensions I would never even consider picking up. Definitely a worthwhile 350 dollar investment to play with a Frey sneaky pete in my opinion. Probably the most affordable of the desirable sneaky pete's on the market; very fairly priced. They also have good resale value.

Also just wanted to state that you don't need an aftermarket low deflection predator or OB etc shaft to get good low deflection hit and cue ball control. Most custom cue makers can make a shaft to hit the way you want it without all that technology that predator boasts about. Construction techniques will get you there. I feel the same way about the stainless steel joint. I've always loved the feel and feedback of the piloted steel joint. I've also played with mushy production cues that had wood to wood joints. Since then I've played with some custom cue makers with either phenolic collared joints or wood to wood joints (like this Frey) and it plays just as lively as any steel joint I've ever played. The really good cutom cue makers of this day can do many great things with their construction techniques to get exactly what you want out of a cue. I'd say put in about 350 dollars into a wood to wood Frey sneaky pete and have him make you a 12.75 mm shaft with the pro taper, don't bother with the aftermarket shaft.
 
JohnDoe,

Thanks for the excellent reply. You covered alot of what I was looking for. Yeah, that zone we all speak of is exactly what I've been after. And the pricing (~$350) is very reasonable so I'm probably going to pull the trigger and pick up a Frey sneaky in coco. I like a cue at about 19.5 oz. and according to the dealer, Frey's ebony and cocobolos are about 19.5 to 20 oz., with the bacotes, ph's and rosewood are about 19 oz. I'm hoping that the standard tip size (13mm) can be changed to about 12.5mm. One of the options that I like is a matching wood joint with, I assume, is a sleeve, I would think that goes around a phenolic joint.
Once again, thanks for the feedback and have a good holiday,
KII
 
I got a fancier sneaky pete with a 5/16x14 piloted joint and I love how it hits.

It was one of the first two customs I bought and to give you an idea its not going anywhere anytime soon.
 
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