King of pool cue performance?

[Gregg]

If you had to rate, in condescending order, what is most important to a cue's performance, what is the pecking order? Heres mine, feel free to add yours or add comments to my list, and I hope yours is very different, and may well be, so we can open things up for debate/discussion;

1 Weight- you can determine if a cue is 21Oz or 18Oz very fast

2 Tip- You know after the first hit if you are using a soft or hard tip immediately

3 Shaft- You can determine the taper and stiffness very quickly

4 Ferrell/joint- I don't think that many can tell the difference BUT I have heard many say that the ferrell is VERY important to the cues playability. Likewise with the joint. I think I am opening up a very large can of worms with this one, and may be WAAAYYYY off base, but prove me wrong, or at least give me your thoughts without bashing me!

5 Butt- nothing of anything here. I have heard that some feel that too many splices or inlay work will take away from the hit

 

[BillYards]

The tip is the most important part. Period. I am not talking soft or hard either. It has to have the correct shape and size. I remember picking out the most warped cue in a bar (it really hopped and thumped when rolled on the table) for the very last game of the league season and my team laughed when I played with it. But it had a great tip and I ran the table from the break. Without a good tip, you are dead in the water. With a good tip, you at least have a chance to adjust (which really is not that tough). The rest of the items on your list are just... the window dressing.