Hypothesis: playing the tip you're used to is much mor important than any other mater

[riedmich]

Hypothesis: playing the tip you're used to is much mor important than any oth...

Hi guys,

after a couple of years playing pool billiard, playing different shafts from 11 to 13 mm, LD or no LD, differnet buts, weights, balance etc., I'm announcing now my personal theory of what is most important to having a consistent game.



1) 1st and far most important priority: playing with the tip I'm used to. MY top no.1 tip: a triangle milkdud, medium pressed.
@bdorman + sfleinen: also at 1st priority stage: smooth shaft polish with a dirt resistant wax sealing




2) 2nd priority: straightness of the shaft, sound, taper

3) 3rd priority: tip / ferrule diameter

4) 4th priority: shaft stiffness

5) 5th priority: butt stiffness + total weight

6) 6th prirority: straightness of the butt, balance point, ferrule material, ferrule construction, endmass

7) last priority: butt main construction, feedback, joint system, butt materials



What is your experience?

 

[jburkm002]

Think your gonna get its the Indian not the arrow and some guy can beat you with a broom stick.

 

[pt109]

Raymond Ceulemans said.....
"A good tip is more important than a good cue."

 

[sfleinen]

Raymond Ceulemans said.....
"A good tip is more important than a good cue."

That's a good tip.


-Sean <-- another good tip: "Always remember; no matter where you go, there you are." :thumbup:

 

[Allen Brown]

I prefer #1 and then next would be #4. Just my preference of having better playing conditions.

 

[JoeyA]

What do you mean by "sound" in #2?
Thanks,
JoeyA

Hi guys,

after a couple of years playing pool billiard, playing different shafts from 11 to 13 mm, LD or no LD, differnet buts, weights, balance etc., I'm announcing now my personal theory of what is most important to having a consistent game.



1) 1st and far most important priority: playing with the tip I'm used to. MY top no.1 tip: a triangle milkdud, medium pressed.



2) 2nd priority: straightness of the shaft, sound, taper

3) 3rd priority: tip / ferrule diameter

4) 4th priority: shaft stiffness

5) 5th priority: butt stiffness + total weight

6) 6th prirority: straightness of the butt, balance point, ferrule material, ferrule construction, endmass

7) last priority: butt main construction, feedback, joint system, butt materials



What is your experience?

 

[tonythetiger583]

Hi guys,

after a couple of years playing pool billiard, playing different shafts from 11 to 13 mm, LD or no LD, differnet buts, weights, balance etc., I'm announcing now my personal theory of what is most important to having a consistent game.



1) 1st and far most important priority: playing with the tip I'm used to. MY top no.1 tip: a triangle milkdud, medium pressed.



2) 2nd priority: straightness of the shaft, sound, taper

3) 3rd priority: tip / ferrule diameter

4) 4th priority: shaft stiffness

5) 5th priority: butt stiffness + total weight

6) 6th prirority: straightness of the butt, balance point, ferrule material, ferrule construction, endmass

7) last priority: butt main construction, feedback, joint system, butt materials



What is your experience?

I can't tell if number 1 is most important to me, or is just the most pleasurable.

anyways, my order is:

1
6 (having a forward balanced cue is really important to me)
2
3/4 (tied)
5
7

 

[bdorman]

I generally agree with your rankings, except also high on my list is handle material (wrapless, linen, leather, etc).

Irish linen always feels like the cue is going to slip out of my hand (I have a loose grip). Wrapless is perfect.

Shaft finish is important too. I prefer a Satin/matte finish that basically feels like no finish at all. I don't understand how anyone can play with a glossy finish.

 

[sfleinen]

I generally agree with your rankings, except also high on my list is handle material (wrapless, linen, leather, etc).

Irish linen always feels like the cue is going to slip out of my hand (I have a loose grip). Wrapless is perfect.

Shaft finish is important too. I prefer a Satin/matte finish that basically feels like no finish at all. I don't understand how anyone can play with a glossy finish.

Agreed. Wrapless here, followed closely by stack leather (IMHO, the closest a wrap can get to wrapless). Then regular leather, with linen dead last.

And I agree with the shaft finish as well -- too glossy, and it binds in my bridge hand (closed or open bridge; doesn't matter). Satin/matte finish for me.

-Sean

 

[Banks]

As long as the stick doesn't feel all wonky, I don't really care so much. Now that I've begun to figure out how to play with a rounded tip, nothing much seems to matter any more. Consistency is a plus, but sometimes playing with an unfamiliar cue will keep you focused more on the basics.

 

[Cornerman]

Hi guys,

after a couple of years playing pool billiard, playing different shafts from 11 to 13 mm, LD or no LD, differnet buts, weights, balance etc., I'm announcing now my personal theory of what is most important to having a consistent game.



1) 1st and far most important priority: playing with the tip I'm used to. MY top no.1 tip: a triangle milkdud, medium pressed.



2) 2nd priority: straightness of the shaft, sound, taper

3) 3rd priority: tip / ferrule diameter

4) 4th priority: shaft stiffness

5) 5th priority: butt stiffness + total weight

6) 6th prirority: straightness of the butt, balance point, ferrule material, ferrule construction, endmass

7) last priority: butt main construction, feedback, joint system, butt materials



What is your experience?

My experience is that balance is number 3 for me, and nothing after that matters.

In other words, you and I are on the same page.

Freddie

 

[lfigueroa]

Hi guys,

after a couple of years playing pool billiard, playing different shafts from 11 to 13 mm, LD or no LD, differnet buts, weights, balance etc., I'm announcing now my personal theory of what is most important to having a consistent game.



1) 1st and far most important priority: playing with the tip I'm used to. MY top no.1 tip: a triangle milkdud, medium pressed.



2) 2nd priority: straightness of the shaft, sound, taper

3) 3rd priority: tip / ferrule diameter

4) 4th priority: shaft stiffness

5) 5th priority: butt stiffness + total weight

6) 6th prirority: straightness of the butt, balance point, ferrule material, ferrule construction, endmass

7) last priority: butt main construction, feedback, joint system, butt materials



What is your experience?

There is a lot to be said for the right tip.

I just experimented with a new tip and after three hours of play could not wait to tear it off my cue -- it totally changed the way I had to play because it just didn't grab the CB at slower speeds the way I need a tip to.

I think perhaps it's a stylist thing. YMMV.

Lou Figueroa

 

[iusedtoberich]

#1 For me its a Predator shaft. I can't make a ball with any other. Does not matter if its any generation of 314 or Z, I've had them all and they all play the same to me. Other shafts I miss by a mile. When I say they play the same, sure they feel diffent in the hands, especially Z vs 314, but I mean my overall play is the same.

I have no other requirements. I've played with 58" to 61" cues, no wrap, linen, leather, steel joint, phenolic joint, etc. All the same to me, except maybe the sound the cue makes, but that doesn't affect me either way.

I used to get a new Predator shaft about every year, to mate with whatever butt I was playing with at the time. The first thing I would do before even hitting a ball was cut off the stock tip and replace it with a Sniper. I absolutely loved it, and felt like the stock tip didn't put the CB where I wanted to. I was doing cue repair at the time.

Now, I quit the cue repair, and when I got my newest Predator shaft a year ago, I decided to keep the stock tip. Lo and behold, about an hour later, I realized there is no difference between the stock layered tip it comes with, and the Sniper I swore by for the prior 10 years. Fast forward one year, and that stock tip is still playing great, to me

 

[riedmich]

What do you mean by "sound" in #2?

Thanks,

JoeyA

The sound when you strike the ball. To me a high ping is as bad as a thumb "nothing". Hard to describe: it must be a full sound.

 

[riedmich]

Hypothesis: playing the tip you're used to is much mor important than any oth...

Agreed. Wrapless here, followed closely by stack leather (IMHO, the closest a wrap can get to wrapless). Then regular leather, with linen dead last.



And I agree with the shaft finish as well -- too glossy, and it binds in my bridge hand (closed or open bridge; doesn't matter). Satin/matte finish for me.



-Sean

@sfleinen and bdorman who wrote it first: you are def. right! Of course it is also extremely important. I added it to no. 1)

Thanks!

 

[pt109]

I love Irish linen on a pool cue.
But my 3-cushion and my snooker cues are wrapless.


......and my music collection is rapless

 

[The Renfro]

The sound when you strike the ball. To me a high ping is as bad as a thumb "nothing". Hard to describe: it must be a full sound.

Many people associate a sound with a feel and as such want certain sounds or they will be biased on feel... I think OB did an earplug test awhile back in R&D and with the earplugs in, players had different opinions of feel vs when they could hear the contact....

I have several people email a month asking about the sound of my tips... Since I have had them on all different sizes of shafts with different ferrule materials I usually can't answer anything other than the soft is quiet and the hard is loud and the medium is in between...

I have never associated sound with feel.. Maybe from learning to play with a very very loud jukebox in prominance in the room........

To me it's deflection charcteristics and tip running neck and neck... I hate geting crossed up on shots becuase the cueball didn't deflect so I am not a fan of the very lowest deflection shafts......


Chris

 

[poolhustler]

1) 1st and far most important priority: playing with the tip I'm used to. MY top no.1 tip: a triangle milkdud, medium pressed.
4) 4th priority: shaft stiffness
What is your experience?

I just reviewed this with my Girl and while I agree with you that #1 is the tip, she stated that for her #4 - Shaft Stiffness is most important.

 

[5am]

My experience is that balance is number 3 for me, and nothing after that matters.

In other words, you and I are on the same page.

Freddie

Beyond tip as my #1 pick (in agreement with the original poster), overall balance from
tip to butt end ranks just about as high, in my humble opinion. For me, the weight of a cue is less important than that the weight is uniformly distributed throughout the stick length, not butt or front end loaded.

Overlooked, perhaps, is the quality of the joint between shaft and butt. People are always trying different materials in crafting joints and pins and there must be hundreds and hundreds of variations designed and manufactured over the years.

A good player I know swears by the steel joint on his Bob Frey. I prefer an ivory joint with a long pin. If my understanding is correct, some joints are better at transferring power from tip to butt and reducing vibration during hits on the cue ball. Seems like a good idea to me. Now, I know a bad joint when I hit with one, but I don't think I know enough about what all the different types of joints are designed to do and what actually is available and who makes what kind. So good luck with that one.

 

[CJ Wiley]

They'll follow you to the ends of the earth for the right TOI.

Have you introduced her to "the touch of inside" ? They'll follow you to the ends of the earth for the ultimate TOI.

I just reviewed this with my Girl and while I agree with you that #1 is the tip, she stated that for her #4 - Shaft Stiffness is most important.