Making cues without the buttcap...

shoutout33

shoutout33

"The Emperor"
Silver Member
Lately, I've noticed that some cuemakers will make the buttend of the cue without a buttcap. I mean, not ALL the time, but here and there, yes. An example of this would be for the Rambow/Hoppe style butt. For an ebony butt, especially a very dark ebony wood, you can slap a black buttcap on there with the ring and you have the affect of a straight black look with just the ring. On other color themes, the brown buttcap, IMO, takes away from this illusion.

Now, if I had one, I honestly wouldn't complain...really. But the few times I have seen a Rambow style butt and for this example, a rosewood butt that has no buttcap, it seems to add to the look of the cue. Now, if I remember correctly, the buttcap is designed to protect that part of the cue, but would be that bad if you didn't have one? I mean as long as the cuemaker knows what he's doing, everything should be fine right?

I've seen some cuemakers make a true Hoppe design with the ring, no buttcap, and no bumber either and the cue still looks just as nice. (Mine would have a bumber though...) So, if I wanted this done, what would I have to be careful of? Thanks for any help in advance.
 
making cues without the butt cap

Any cuemaker can make a cue, without a butt cap. The problem is with the player. Without a butt cap, if a player bangs the butt down on the floor, he runs the risk of splitting the butt sleeve wood, even with a rubber bumper. without the bumper, the risk is even higher. I recently made a cue that was ordered with an Ivory butt sleeve & a 1/4" black butt cap with no rubber bumper. It only took him a week to split the Ivory butt sleeve...JER
 
Thanks JER. :( By the way how have things been going with the cuemaking? Haven't seen you the forums as much. :confused:
 
making cues without butt caps

shoutout33 said:
Thanks JER. :( By the way how have things been going with the cuemaking? Haven't seen you the forums as much. :confused:
Click to expand...
Things are going well. I've had some health problems, but everything is OK now & I'm back making cues & trying to catch up. I had a customer that had about 1500 bar cues a year repaired. Even though I enjoyed the work & the money, I've had to hand off that business to a friend, so that I can slow down a bit. As my wife keeps saying "you're not 25 any more"...JER
 
LOL! Well, it's good to see you back in the swing off things. Take care of yourself and I'll PM you one of these days.
 
My thoughts

The butt plate is one of the most important parts on the cue at the bottom end especially if you have ring work or a billet. I feel you need a strong butt plate to better the cue not only for appearance but for the playability.
For show pieces a wood butt plate is fine , but if your buying it to hit the rooms with , you need the strength of phenolic!
Jim Lee ( JL Cues)
 
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