These don't sound too sneaky, so are they just "Petes" then? Maybe they're, "Pete's?" He's a bad man in short rack banks.
How many of you own a sneaky pete?
- Thread starter strmanglr scott
- Start date
These don't sound too sneaky, so are they just "Petes" then? Maybe they're, "Pete's?" He's a bad man in short rack banks.
A guy on my team has a true sneaky with no joint to speak of. I told him, only problem is you have to be careful when breaking with it. He just smiled and showed me the joint protection was on the inside of the rings. I thought that was cool.
I t hint we need another name for un-sneaky or fancy sneaky petes.
I’m gonna call mine a “Surreptitious Petrus “
They’ll be sorry they asked...heh heh
To me a real Sneaky is a four prong cue with a dark wood butt into a clear maple forearm and matching maple shaft. No joint collars, no rings. No veneers, no wraps. Sounds simple but over in the for sale section you have cues with all that being listed as a Sneaky Pete. I have three that fit my simple definition. A McDermott M11B (favorite) a Muller Hustler and a old bar cue cut into a 3 piece for motorcycle travel. That one looks the part with years of smoke, beer and filth baked in. BTW I'm not trying to fool anybody. I don't have a $1,000 game so why show a $1,000 cue?
I have two Bob Frey SP's. But one has black collars and a Hoppe ring, but the wood fits. The other has no collars or rings but the woods are a red Cocobolo into some very nice BEM. Hardly sneaky. You can spot the Cocobolo from a hundred feet. While I love the look, the term has gone pretty far afield.
I have two Bob Frey SP's. But one has black collars and a Hoppe ring, but the wood fits. The other has no collars or rings but the woods are a red Cocobolo into some very nice BEM. Hardly sneaky. You can spot the Cocobolo from a hundred feet. While I love the look, the term has gone pretty far afield.
For my money the classic is the Dufferin Phantom.
https://www.fgbradleys.com/Product/131/Dufferin-Phantom-58-----12-5mm-Pool-Cue-664
I have a couple of them. One I bought in the late 90's from Goulds Billiards here in Saskatoon. They had about a hundred in stock, and I went through them all looking for good wood and a joint with the grain lined up. I am pretty sure Dufferin started with a one piece house cue, on many you can easily see the forearm and shaft are the same piece of wood.
Dave <-- has chased his Phantom around a pool room when people picked it up thinking it was a rack cue
That's a good looking sp. I checked a couple places that sell Dufferin and couldn't find one that original to what I imagine an sp to be.
That to me is a sneaky Pete. All the others w collars at the joint, ringwork, not having the 4 points, everything else is just that something else. That Dufferin is the definition of a sp.
That's what I do like about the Meucci sp, it's classic design, no frills. It even comes with no Meucci signature on it. That's the way it should be. The Dufferin is a bar cue, so I don't see anything wrong with their emblem. I may just end up with that Dufferin if I get a sp.
LD as in laminated or just bored out?
Love me some SP's. Owned many from top makers ( fancy and true ) as well as Players, Lucasi, McDermott etc. Think I have 3/4 SP's stashed at the moment.
In fact, my case's are full of nice customs and I am currently playing ( trying to play lol ) a very old Brunswick oil finish conversion SP with vintage 'mother of all' honey super tight grain shaft with pressed triangle.
Something about a aged, dinged up simple full splice SP that I like. *Anybody with a old TS *true SP that you would like to pass on please message me before I pull the trigger on a CF shaft for under the tree.
Have a good safe weekend,
-Kat,
In fact, my case's are full of nice customs and I am currently playing ( trying to play lol ) a very old Brunswick oil finish conversion SP with vintage 'mother of all' honey super tight grain shaft with pressed triangle.
Something about a aged, dinged up simple full splice SP that I like. *Anybody with a old TS *true SP that you would like to pass on please message me before I pull the trigger on a CF shaft for under the tree.
Have a good safe weekend,
-Kat,
Shafts
About nine out of ten sneakies don't have matching shafts, not even close to matching. A blind person can see the missmatch.
My sister owns an antique shop and knows I am into cues so for awhile she would grab some cheap ones. One that she bought for two or three dollars was the very cheap Budweiser cue complete with vinyl Budweiser case. It sat around my shop for months until I was feeling silly one day. I swapped out the plastic joint rings for quality black material, cored the butt as deeply as possible and put a good pin in it straight, and turned a shaft for it. I had some wide black tape that was perfect to patch the rip in the vinyl and a sharpie fixed the damage to the black paint.
Off I go to a nearby pub with six or eight bar tables to try my new toy. I'm not known there but I haven't got the cue out the case and screwed together before a half-dozen young guys have crowded around asking questions about the cue. So much for "sneaky"!
It hit a lot better than before I reworked it but that poplar or whatever very soft white wood the butt was made out of still felt dead. So much for that!
The best sneaky today is any four point butt you can find and put your shaft of choice on.
When it comes to getting action today you might as well go in a place and tell everybody you are the best there is, best there ever was, best there ever will be and you can beat everyone in the room! If there are enough people there indulging in alcoholic beverages a few will feel the need to prove you wrong. Best of all, after you have the cheese and are ready to leave they can't get too mad, "See, I told ya I was good!"
Hu
About nine out of ten sneakies don't have matching shafts, not even close to matching. A blind person can see the missmatch.
My sister owns an antique shop and knows I am into cues so for awhile she would grab some cheap ones. One that she bought for two or three dollars was the very cheap Budweiser cue complete with vinyl Budweiser case. It sat around my shop for months until I was feeling silly one day. I swapped out the plastic joint rings for quality black material, cored the butt as deeply as possible and put a good pin in it straight, and turned a shaft for it. I had some wide black tape that was perfect to patch the rip in the vinyl and a sharpie fixed the damage to the black paint.
Off I go to a nearby pub with six or eight bar tables to try my new toy. I'm not known there but I haven't got the cue out the case and screwed together before a half-dozen young guys have crowded around asking questions about the cue. So much for "sneaky"!
It hit a lot better than before I reworked it but that poplar or whatever very soft white wood the butt was made out of still felt dead. So much for that!
The best sneaky today is any four point butt you can find and put your shaft of choice on.
When it comes to getting action today you might as well go in a place and tell everybody you are the best there is, best there ever was, best there ever will be and you can beat everyone in the room! If there are enough people there indulging in alcoholic beverages a few will feel the need to prove you wrong. Best of all, after you have the cheese and are ready to leave they can't get too mad, "See, I told ya I was good!"
Hu
Are you sure about that?
9 out of 10?
Honestly I've had dozens and dozens of sneakies by everyone you can think of,
and maybe one didn't have the original shaft/shafts, and it was given to me.
Kind of defeats the concept of obtaining an affordable cue by a top maker.
Most are bought as a four point blank now
All of your sneaky petes started life as one piece house cues and had the original shaft section? If you are talking about in the last ten years or so that is pretty amazing in itself considering how hard it is to find quality old cues to use. Then you have to find them with straight shaft sections. Usually you find a pile of old cues in a corner or jammed in a garbage can when they aren't considered worth fixing as house cues any more. Usually they are broken short or cracked. If not that, badly warped. It is like finding treasure to find old house cues that are in good shape from a room that closed down with decent cues on the wall.
Most sneakies are made from four point blanks now, they never had an original matching shaft so it would be pretty hard for there to be one. Usually the shaft is much whiter than the butt section which instantly gives the game away.
Maybe your mileage varies in your part of the world. I would love to lay hands on a couple dozen old house cues in good enough shape to make real sneaky petes out of.
Hu
All of your sneaky petes started life as one piece house cues and had the original shaft section? If you are talking about in the last ten years or so that is pretty amazing in itself considering how hard it is to find quality old cues to use. Then you have to find them with straight shaft sections. Usually you find a pile of old cues in a corner or jammed in a garbage can when they aren't considered worth fixing as house cues any more. Usually they are broken short or cracked. If not that, badly warped. It is like finding treasure to find old house cues that are in good shape from a room that closed down with decent cues on the wall.
Most sneakies are made from four point blanks now, they never had an original matching shaft so it would be pretty hard for there to be one. Usually the shaft is much whiter than the butt section which instantly gives the game away.
Maybe your mileage varies in your part of the world. I would love to lay hands on a couple dozen old house cues in good enough shape to make real sneaky petes out of.
Hu
We have been building sneakies out of mostly 1940's Tru-balance house cues, a few
old Duffs, Brunswick Hi-runs, even a couple old Challengers we stained red and
made a player / jump break set.
Took my first order yesterday, we now have a waiting list.
I made an amazing shaft parted from an old Tru-balance.
One of the only ones we could salvage.
Made it for 3-cushion
