Merry Widow cue design wood selection

[hang-the-9]

Is there a wood combination you all are particular to? Or does it just depend on the day/design?

Going to have a cuemaker make me a merry widow cue with most likely a segmented handle.
After looking at a bunch of designs, I still have no idea what to pick for a final decision.
I am torn between a lighter wood for the handle and darker for the forearm and the reverse.
I think for me it's an 80% balance leaning towards a lighter handle. A decent part of that is that it will be used with a carbon fiber shaft so I wanted something that did not make the black shaft stick out too much coming up from the light forearm.

 

[measureman]

Bacote or Cocobolo.

 

[garczar]

cocobolo handle and either b'eye or curly maple forearm and sleeve. Judd JT-1 is a killer looking cue with these woods.

 

[9BallKY]

I think a dark forearm and a lighter handle makes the wood stand out more. I had the cue made that’s in my avatar so maybe I’m a little partial.

 

[Cornerman]

Is there a wood combination you all are particular to? Or does it just depend on the day/design?

Going to have a cuemaker make me a merry widow cue with most likely a segmented handle.
After looking at a bunch of designs, I still have no idea what to pick for a final decision.
I am torn between a lighter wood for the handle and darker for the forearm and the reverse.
I think for me it's an 80% balance leaning towards a lighter handle. A decent part of that is that it will be used with a carbon fiber shaft so I wanted something that did not make the black shaft stick out too much coming up from the light forearm.

For a traditional Merry Widow style, the forearm and the butt sleeve should be the same. The whole idea is that it is supposed to look like one piece of wood with a wrapped handle area.

i no longer know what a Merry Widow style cue with a wood wrap area is supposed to be callled. Wrapless Merry Widow Style? The hands should be contrasting, IMO.

 

[pooldawg8]

Here`s mine before clearcoat, Curly Bubinga forearm & sleeve/ BEM handle

 

[pooldawg8]

After clearcoat

 

[HawaiianEye]

Here is one JC made for me last year.

Cocobolo with Sindora Burl handle.

In edit: This cue came with three shafts.

 

[9BallKY]

Both of those are very nice cues This is my Diveney

 

[Johnny Rosato]

A McDermott D-1 is a prime example of a "Merry Widow". IMO

 

[JC]

Here is one JC made for me last year.

Cocobolo with Sindora Burl handle.

View attachment 592164View attachment 592165

Here is one I recently built against my better judgement for a fellow in Ohio. Seems like certain wood schemes have universal appeal. When I see enough of them I just want to think of something new. Yet the demand for this woods lives on.

 

[HawaiianEye]

Here is one I recently built against my better judgement for a fellow in Ohio. Seems like certain wood schemes have universal appeal. When I see enough of them I just want to think of something new. Yet the demand for this woods lives on.

View attachment 592173View attachment 592174View attachment 592175View attachment 592176

Really nice...like all your cues.

I am still thinking out the ebony cue I want you to make.

 

[gregnice37]

I have 3 cues like you've described but I thought merry widows just consisted of 1 kind of wood throughout with no wrap or different handle, but maybe I'm wrong. All 3 look awesome. One is madagascar ebony with cocobolo handle, another is madagascar ebony with hickory burl handle & the last is waterfall Bubinga with Birdseye handle.

Fwiw, I use/have carbon fiber shafts for all 3 as well.

 

[Rimfirejunkie]

Here is one I recently built against my better judgement for a fellow in Ohio. Seems like certain wood schemes have universal appeal. When I see enough of them I just want to think of something new. Yet the demand for this woods lives on.

View attachment 592173View attachment 592174View attachment 592175View attachment 592176

Love it!

 

[johnnysd]

If you want a segmented handle you want a really figured wood with longitudonal grain. It really highlights the segmented handle. Here is a Treadway I just got with segmented handle

 

[MmmSharp]

Always like a a nice merry widow. I sold a friend a quilted maple forearm and butt sleeve with cocobolo handle i picked up 10 years ago. Cocobolo aged to have a red/purple color in the grain. 2011 ob cue, before quality went down hill. Solid player.

I i have tried the ebony and other harder/stiffer woods in the forearm on cues but seem to always gravitate back to maple forearms. Could just be the cues i played with, coincidence, but maple forearms seem to have the hit i prefer.

 

[CuesDirectly]

cocobolo handle and either b'eye or curly maple forearm and sleeve. Judd JT-1 is a killer looking cue with these woods.

Excellent design, much like a sports car.

Now do the opposite, Coco forearm and butt sleeve with Curly Maple handle. This will play like a large 4 door sedan.

For the OP, take an old cue and tape a few quarters at the joint area and a few at the bottom of the cue and play around for a few minutes. Now take the quarters and tape them to the handle above where you grip the cue and play around a little. You will now be able to determine where YOU want the weight to be.

 

[S.Vaskovskyi]

For choosing certain woods combo it is better to consider what weight/balance you're looking for and if it matters to you what construction will be used. Because all the combination of such contributes to all the "chemistry" that defines how the hit of the cue feels at the end. The good news is that's the task for the builder.
If your major concern is the appearence (the look) and good match with a cf shaft than it's pretty easy choice for me...but the beauty is in the eye of the beholder).
There was time I did consider playing with a cf shaft ...tested some...bought a few really quality blanks and built a few shafts. When it comes to the look it was ok with my dark full spliced ABW & Pau Rosa butt. They played ok too ... it is simply ... once I took the glove off I realized that I love the feel of my maple shaft on my bridge hand and don't when it comes to cf "plastic" feel... no matter how slick it is.
Those cf shafts I've built were much more appreciated by my young students and I paired them with plain jane butts I've built a few monts ago. One was ABW forearm & buttsleeve and flamed maple handle while the other Leadwood forearm & buttsleeve and Satinwood segmented handle. Both turned out good and I really enjoyed that ABW / flamed maple with the exception of working on a finish line on that dark and oily & so light wood combo).

So some beautiful African blackwood (ABW) is my favorite for the front to match a cf shaft. I love it due to many reasons one ot them... it has some character and grain in it. The only problem is that more than 50 years old ABW I have is heavy like hell (something like 1340 kg/m3) and in that quality it is harder and harder to get.
Of course there are so many other beautiful dark woods to choose from. From what I have and worked with... my second favorite would be dark amazon rosewood...but I'm quite new in cue-building.
When it comes to the wood for the handle the choice is so wide ... again if talking about look only it is very much a matter of preference and what you like.
I love ABW & Pau Rosa combo and not only for the look but mostly for their contribution to the hit...
Among some my future projects I have two plain janes: 1. ABW forearm & buttsleeve and Pau Rosa segmented handle; 2. Dark amazon rosewood forearm & buttsleeve and olivewood burl stabilized both with some nice rings and both in my mind yet).

For myself I've built three different butts for my need in a longer cue. The first one was a full spliced... two next butts were built on a full length tapered core for which I used the combination of certain length Pau Rosa and hard maple married together for a weight/balance and hit I looked for. First two I built made the cue with my 31", 4 oz shaft either 19,5 oz or 19,9 oz. The last one I wanted to try much lighter and built a 14 oz butt (flamed maple front and dark amazon rosewood for the handle) to get it at 18 oz.
All three have its own feel and contribution to the hit ...I love each for certain reasons and I use them all with the same solid maple LD shaft.

I'll share some pictures to help and wish you good luck with your choice...some like the look of cf shaft paired with a light wood like curly or BEM in front and dark handle either wrapped or wrapless).

 

[jimmyco]

I have 3 cues like you've described but I thought merry widows just consisted of 1 kind of wood throughout with no wrap or different handle, but maybe I'm wrong.

I believe the definition is dynamic, evolving, changing, depending on who is describing it. Much like that of the Sneaky Pete.

Brunswick listed the Merry Widow in the '20s as a solid wood butt, two piece cue with a wrap. The shafts were actually fancier than the butt.

 

[JC]

So some beautiful African blackwood (ABW) is my favorite for the front to match a cf shaft. I love it due to many reasons one ot them... it has some character and grain in it. The only problem is that more than 50 years old ABW I have is heavy like hell (something like 1340 kg/m3) and in that quality it is harder and harder to get.
Of course there are so many other beautiful dark woods to choose from. From what I have and worked with... my second favorite would be dark amazon rosewood...but I'm quite new in cue-building.
When it comes to the wood for the handle the choice is so wide ... again if talking about look only it is very much a matter of preference and what you like.
I love ABW & Pau Rosa combo and not only for the look but mostly for their contribution to the hit...
Among some my future projects I have two plain janes: 1. ABW forearm & buttsleeve and Pau Rosa segmented handle; 2. Dark amazon rosewood forearm & buttsleeve and olivewood burl stabilized both with some nice rings and both in my mind yet).

For those not in the metric system mode that wood is 83 lbs per square foot. A straight tapered cue butt 29 inches long .850" at the joint and 1.250" at the butt has a wood volume of 25.4 cubic inches and would weigh 19 3/4 ounces made solid of this wood. Add a pin, finish and shaft and you will have a 25 ounce cue.

So if our goal is say 15 ounces for the finished cue blank to add a pin, finish and shaft to the cue will be bit over 20 oz. which may be perfect depending on the cue. Want 19 finished weight for the entire cue with a metal large pin? Better shoot for 14 oz butt at finished size.

What wood weight does this translate to? About 58 lbs per square foot average butt weight for the wood for a 19 0z cue. . Good solid maple is about 52. Purple heart around 55. And there is a ton of wood in use commonly well under what I consider a baseline of 58 lbs/square ft. Any time you see a cue built out of woods lighter than this you can be sure there is metal weight lurking somewhere inside to make it up to an acceptable weight. Where and how much is added will greatly change the hit of two identical weight and wood combination cues. It can be at the a joint, behind the pin at the joint or in the butt in the case of most production cues with changeable butt weight screws. This is because most of these cues are made out of wood that's too light to create a playable cue by themselves without some help from metal. Water is 62 Lbs btw and any wood heavier than this will not float.

So when I build full core cues I don't have the option of weight at the A joint but I can tweak things other more subtle ways with core weight and size, and of course wood selection.

My ideal cue construction is a purple heart core with a lighter weight handle in the 52-53 range and a heavier forearm wood in the 65-70 range with that also at the butt sleeve. Makes a nice forward balance cue in the finished weight range I like.

To address the OP question you should be thinking about the density of the wood, not the color. And work backward from there.