Merry Widow cue design wood selection

[JC]

When I hit the lottery big I am planning to purchase cues from all the world's top makers and present a monthly video of band sawing them in half from end to end and analyzing what's inside. Looking at all the construction details of everything. Joinery, glue lines, air spaces, weight etc. Everything.

I think this would be fascinating and probably bring with it a lot of surprises.

 

[boogieman]

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.

I would like to see similar colored woods worked together. Almost a stealth merry window, but with letting the beauty of the natural wood do the talking, rather than high contrast or dark outlines.

Something akin to this, but lighter tones and less contrast between woods:

I don't know if I'm conveying exactly what I mean, but more like some inlay work you would see on antique furniture, rather than how most makers go for bold contrast in their designs.

 

[S.Vaskovskyi]

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.

As I said the good news for OP - it is a builder's job to buid the cue for the taste's in hit of the customer. So if the customer knows his preferences and can express them well to the builder with all the nuances and the builder knows his job ... well everything should be fine.
Talking about my close to 31" full spliced butt with ABW front (83 lbs) and Pau Rosa bottom (65 lbs) it took me to make some "tricks", changes to get it at 15,93 oz. It was very fun project / great experience and this butt gives the hit that stands out of everything I've ever tried. When I pair it with a PH shaft I built for breaking and jumping ... well it breaks like a beast but it is not for those who prefers lighter weight using more velocity for breaking...and it is definitely not for those who appreciates a softer hit for a playing cue.
Coaching for quite a long time I can tell that in my experience the majority of players are not so scientific or very knowlegable about the nuances about cue's construction. Usually their major concern is how it feels in their hands ...while they hit the balls ...plus may be how it looks. Better players may also know better about what feels better in their hands like with the rest about the game but these same players seem to be capable to get to the top with any " OK" cue anyway.
Those mass production manufacturers know their job very well that's why they "have" most elite players in their pro-teams nowadays = higher demand for their products...
P.S. I wish you to enjoy what you're doing at least that is what really important for me).

 

[misterpoole]

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.

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I like this one a lot even though I am not a fan of segmented handles. These woods complement each other nicely. You dont want two woods that are fighting for attention. I like rings so these are too basic for me but still work very well on this cue. Nice job

 

[misterpoole]

When I hit the lottery big I am planning to purchase cues from all the world's top makers and present a monthly video of band sawing them in half from end to end and analyzing what's inside. Looking at all the construction details of everything. Joinery, glue lines, air spaces, weight etc. Everything.

I think this would be fascinating and probably bring with it a lot of surprises.

I was in an up and coming cuemakers shop many years ago and he had a number of cues cut down the middle. The ones I remember were a Joss West and a Mike S.iegal. He explained what he thought of their construction. The Mike S cue had a few not so good surprises.

 

[hang-the-9]

Seems most are with the light handle, darker forearm thinking, which is what I was leaning towards. After looking at dozens of examples, those with the lighter handle seem to have more pop in the look, plus the fact it will be paired with a black shaft would keep the cue from looking like it's all shaft with the light wood being less prominent.

One thing that maybe some did not account for, is a lean towards how the cue will look like with a CF shaft vs a natural color maple. If I was going for a maple shaft, I think I would pick lighter woods in the forearm, but with a CF shaft, the big contrast there just makes it look like the cue is all shaft, the eye is drawn to the shaft more and it looks like the cue is top heavy.

 

[JoeyInCali]

When I hit the lottery big I am planning to purchase cues from all the world's top makers and present a monthly video of band sawing them in half from end to end and analyzing what's inside. Looking at all the construction details of everything. Joinery, glue lines, air spaces, weight etc. Everything.

I think this would be fascinating and probably bring with it a lot of surprises.

I got a lot of x-rays of cues here .

 

[hang-the-9]

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.

Yep Freddie, I'm going to have the butt sleeve the same woods, at least with the plan now. One thing I am debating is if to have the segmented handle be just black bands, or a contrasting wood, or even ring type designs. Or having a different wood in the middle section. I'm just afraid of using actual rings since if the woods or metal shifts with the finish it would leave a pretty annoying bump in the handle area.

 

[9ball5032]

Similar colors. Any nice pieces of wood. Forearm and butt sleeve should look similar. (If forearm has birdseyes, the butt sleeve better have the same)

Cocobolo
Rosewoods
Ebonys
Bacote
Birdseye maple
Curly maple
Koa or Curly Koa
Wenge
Morado
Pao Ferro
Tulipwood
Zebrawood
Purpleheart
Olivewood
Padauk
Pink Ivory
Bubinga

 

[HueblerHustler7]

Check out Guerra cues! you'll find a look you'll like trust me.