If you can't wait that long and want another place with tons of cues to buy, I'm pretty sure the BCA nationals coming up in Vegas will have tons of cues and somewhere to hit.
Yeah, I'm trying to take it more seriously, but flying to Vegas for an expo is a bit more serious than I had in mind at the moment.
....You can test drive a $100k car but can't hit a $400 cue? ...
Exactly my issue!
To address your statement " I know of no issue that a new cue will solve for me,"; I might have to disagree. A cue is the single best investment you could make to improve your game.
I do not quite buy that, at least not yet. Drawing from my photography experience, an expensive camera helps me, but I have decades of experience and shoot a specialized genre. Someone just starting out -- not so much, as they wouldn't know what kind of features to look for. I hear people all the time buying a high end sports-shooting camera, when what they needed was a high end landscape camera, and their lament is "I bought the most expensive one and my shots got worse".
So when I say I "know of no issue" I meant it literally -- I do not feel limited by anything that the cue is doing (at least that I know it is doing). Yet. I'm sure there are issues. But I feel like I'm pretty far away from being able to say "I need a wider ferrule" or even probably more simple "I need a softer tip".
How can it help me if I don't know what features to push for? Other than to paraphrase what someone said, buy middle of the road, rather neutral/average, and hope just the better quality helps.
That does remind me of a question. Here is what I have four of that came with the table:
https://www.brunswickbilliards.com/centennial-cue/
Are these what might be (per one of the above) low quality production cues?
In reading some other postings it sounds like they are made by Joss (though some said otherwise); I'd hate to spend a couple hundred dollars to basically get the same cue with a different label on it.
Your question really stems from budget. What do you have to spend? I have suggestions but, it depends on budget, playing style and what type of cue feedback you want. This has been my experience. Prices have sky rocketed in the custom cue market.
It's a fair question but one I have no good answer to. It's not primarily limited by money, but more by a perception of value.
At this moment it's more about just getting something interesting looking, a new toy to keep my interest high. Since I am not convinced that it will have some innate benefit to my game, the value would be just cosmetic.
Now if I come to a realization that there's something I really need something -- let's hypothesize I need a low deflection shaft (whatever that really means in shooting) -- then getting one has a lot more value and I'll spend more money.
I have zero (probably less than zero) interest in becoming a collector, and/or in buying and selling cues for fun or profit. So for example, even if I could get a stellar deal on a high end custom cue whose main value is to collectors, I would not be interested even if I could afford it.
1. Bill Lister is in Florida, not sure where exactly but he has over 50 cues for sale at the moment & I'm sure he would let you try a few out. He is a member here & I believe his screen name is billiardbills on here. If you can't find his his website is
www.billiardbills.com & I'm sure his contact info is there.
Now THAT looks interesting. He's only about 2 miles from me. Thanks for that pointer. Though the vast majority on his web page are pricy custom cues, but down at the bottom he has some more attractively priced in terms of buying to add a bit of fun to the game. He has a "production cue" page, but not sure if he stocks them. But yes, indeed - looks like worth a trip, once I refine this a bit more.
2. I believe if you order a cue from
www.seyberts.com they offer a return policy in a certain time frame. Not sure how many times they would allow you to keep returning cues though.
Well, and I could do that with Amazon as well, though I really hate returning stuff. I always feel like it's unfair, people ordering 4 or 5 things, to see what they like, returning all but one. But I know a lot of people do it. Much more interested in finding a place I can try some.
And if a person ends up with 2 or 3 or whatever that's ok. Can use one for breaking(with a break shaft) or let a friend use one if you're playing together.
Well, I already have 4 plus a shorty.
Agree fully.
You just don't know until you shoot with it, and the best way to try cues is to make friends at the pool room!
That's probably the real answer, just need to find one I can tolerate. I was really surprised not to find at least some sites that tried to attract families with a no-smoking policy, but so far I can find only one tiny one in a pretty large area here. Maybe it's that they make their money on the bar, and bars here are almost always smoking. Competition speaks I guess.
