Jump cue ? Lighter is better ?

DaveK

DaveK

Still crazy after all these years
Silver Member
Generally speaking, and everything else being equal, does a lighter jump cue perform better (shoot jump shots better) than a heavier one ? Is there a limit to this (like 'no lighter than the cueball') ?

I ask because I just made my second jump cue. The first one was a Dufferin 2-piece snooker cue with about 3" hacked off the shaft and about 17" cut off the butt. It was still a bit heavy so I cored out the butt a ways. It still weighs about 11.5 oz, and I can jump a bit with it. Then last week I did something even more strange ... I put a custom turned 6061-T6 ferrule (lump o' aluminium) on a graphite golf shaft, installed a LaPro on the end (just like my DufferJumper), and made a 2.4 oz jump stick. It might work a bit better than the Duffer, but I'm not very proficient with that stroke and so it's hard for me to tell. I know I should practice, but what comments about these weights ?

Thanks,

Dave
 
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i dont think the wieght has much to do with it, the graphite aluminum combo is probably more rigid than the cut up dufferin which would make it a better jumper.
 
Generally speaking, a lighter jump cue may jump better. The physics reason being that a heaver cue will continue forward immediately after impact, possibly interfering with the cueball as it rebounds off the slate. A lighter jump cue will rebound backwards from the cue ball just after impact, providing additional clearance.
 
IMO just like break cues, lighter is better as you can accelerate the cue faster....jumping is more a popping type stroke as you don't want to double hit the CB...
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DaveK said:
Generally speaking, and everything else being equal, does a lighter jump cue perform better (shoot jump shots better) than a heavier one ? Is there a limit to this (like 'no lighter than the cueball') ?
Click to expand...
Yes, there is such a thing as too light. The tipping point is around 8 oz or thereabouts.
 
may i ask why the tipping point is at 8 oz?

personally i like to feel as if my jump and playing cues kind of swing themselves a bit..
 
Lighter is better...but there is also too light. Right around 10oz is perfect. With my jump cue I can jump an entire object ball from less than 1 inch away. But...of course, there are many more secrets to making an excellent jump cue. #1 is to NOT use a Le Pro tip.
 
I had been using various Break/Jump cues and someone I know who is a pretty good jumper when he has to be told me they were too light.

I bought a jump cue which feels a little heavier (I never weighed any of them) and I am doing much better.
 
First thing I'd do is get a phenolic tip on your jump cue, shape it to about a quarter's radius. Second thing is to play around with the shaft with a phenolic tip on it, all by itself, without any butt, to see what you can do with a very very light jumper. After you find out the positives in jumping only with the shaft, you may decide/discover that the real ticket is to have more than one butt for that phenolic tip/shaft combination. You'll probably find that a super light butt, say 1 to 3 ounces or so, will let you get over an obstructing ball that's only an inch or so away with ease. You'll also find it doesn't have much power, which will also help you keep the cue ball on the table when you need to jump close to a rail. Then, with a slightly heavier butt, you can see how much more power it will generate to let you jump over an intervening ball that's 2 or 3 diamonds away.

Experimenting with different weights of butts is well worth the trouble.

Flex
 
I'm speaking off the cuff...

Gravity is a *****.

The more direct the line of the cue is to the table's perpendicular, the lighter you want your cue. You want the inertia transfered to the cue, with control.

When you work in close quarters, lighter is better. When you have room, and have to go .63 table length, then a heavier cue maybe needed.

Lighter cues (on average) are inherent to show how extreme a light stroke and a firm shoke can be.

Truely, it all comes down to stroke. No matter the shot.
 
Onemoreyouth said:
may i ask why the tipping point is at 8 oz?

personally i like to feel as if my jump and playing cues kind of swing themselves a bit..
Click to expand...


I don't agree that 8 or even 10 oz is the cutoff point. My Stealth Air Jumper is 6 oz, without the 6" extention, and 8 oz with the extension. Both work extremely well...and the Stealth uses a leather tip.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
DaveK said:
Generally speaking, and everything else being equal, does a lighter jump cue perform better (shoot jump shots better) than a heavier one ? Is there a limit to this (like 'no lighter than the cueball') ?
Click to expand...

Considering that people can jump extremely well with just the shaft, the cueball weight isn't a limit.

Someone make this jump stick for me and tell me how it works. Take a Predator shaft, and replace the tip with a phenolic tip. Thread it into a short jump handle. My thinking is that the phenolic tip will allow the jumping just like any other cue, but the low end mass will allow the shaft to more readily get out of the way.

I mean, I think that the reason why a lighter cue works is because it can get out of the way. The Predator folks say that their shaft does not work as a jump cue. Someone convince me please why not.

Fred
 
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