"Natural" Balance - why a maple "handle"

[dirtypool40]

Howdy, more common sense questions about the emporer's clothes nobody seems to ask.

I notice sneaky petes and full splice titleists, etc don't usually have much of a weight bolt in them, but most custom cues seem to have that omnipresent maple handle in there.

If maple handled cues come out light, and need a big weight screw in them to get them into the normal weight and balance realm, why don't cue makers use something ssssssssssssslightly heavier than maple, (PH?) to nautrally pull the balance back to where it needs to be, while raising the weight pretty close to the desired amount?



thanks in advance...

 

[dave sutton]

some dont use only maple. i have been experimenting with pph and thinking about bacote. heavier then maple but still light and stiffer also i dont need a huge bolt ever. sometimes i can get away with a alum bolt .5 oz to hold on buttcap and bumper. most i add the 3'' 1.3 oz steel bolt. that usually gets me around 19.5 give or take

 

[pdcue]

Howdy, more common sense questions about the emporer's clothes nobody seems to ask.

I notice sneaky petes and full splice titleists, etc don't usually have much of a weight bolt in them, but most custom cues seem to have that omnipresent maple handle in there.

If maple handled cues come out light, and need a big weight screw in them to get them into the normal weight and balance realm, why don't cue makers use something ssssssssssssslightly heavier than maple, (PH?) to nautrally pull the balance back to where it needs to be, while raising the weight pretty close to the desired amount?



thanks in advance...

For the 8,437,362 time, hit and balance are subjective attributes
that are entirely 'in the eye of the beholder'

If I understand you, the implication is that a sneaky pete is
somehow superior to a custom cue.

Let me ask you a question - if you have a great playing cue, why
do you care if it is maple with a bolt or non-maple without a bolt?

A direct answer to your enquiry - Maple is a great cue wood in it's
own right - using a weight bolt is an easier and more precise
method to control weight and balance.

BTW - one of the wonderful things about true custom cues
is you can have them built the way you want. IMHO most every
custom maker would be willing to use a Purpleheart handle.

Dale<unapolegetic maple user>

 

[WilleeCue]

For the 8,437,362 time, hit and balance are subjective attributes
that are entirely 'in the eye of the beholder'

If I understand you, the implication is that a sneaky pete is
somehow superior to a custom cue.

Let me ask you a question - if you have a great playing cue, why
do you care if it is maple with a bolt or non-maple without a bolt?

A direct answer to your enquiry - Maple is a great cue wood in it's
own right - using a weight bolt is an easier and more precise
method to control weight and balance.

BTW - one of the wonderful things about true custom cues
is you can have them built the way you want. IMHO most every
custom maker would be willing to use a Purpleheart handle.

Dale<unapolegetic maple user>

Now that right there is just plain common sense speaking.

Anyone can get a cue made any way he wishes it made from whatever materials he so desires (within reason).
They call those things "custom cues" and I understand there are quite a few folks that hang out here with the skill and equipment to make them.

 

[dirtypool40]

For the 8,437,362 time, hit and balance are subjective attributes
that are entirely 'in the eye of the beholder'

If I understand you, the implication is that a sneaky pete is
somehow superior to a custom cue.

Nope, no such insinuation intended or present in my post.

And I don't see how hitting a certain weight or balance point is "in the eye of the beholder". If I want to arrive at a 20.0 ounce cue and a balance point of "X", those are objective numbers. "Hit" and "feel" are subjective, and open to interpretation.

I don't think a sneaky pete is superior, I'm a high end cue junky (who likes maple) just like every one else, I'm just trying to educate myself on the why's.

 

[WheatCues]

Howdy, more common sense questions about the emporer's clothes nobody seems to ask.

I notice sneaky petes and full splice titleists, etc don't usually have much of a weight bolt in them, but most custom cues seem to have that omnipresent maple handle in there.

If maple handled cues come out light, and need a big weight screw in them to get them into the normal weight and balance realm, why don't cue makers use something ssssssssssssslightly heavier than maple, (PH?) to nautrally pull the balance back to where it needs to be, while raising the weight pretty close to the desired amount?



thanks in advance...

It all depends on the "target weight" and "counter balance" point we are trying to achieve when considering the appropriate handle wood for the job....

And also what the customer prefers as well... most of the time when you see purple heart house cues it's becasue that was the wood on "special" at the time they bought a truckload of it, not for any other reason in a "production" level of the industry....

But for custom cuemakers such as myself and many many others that frequent the world of AZ billiards, we use certain woods for handles when a particular "feel" is warranted by the customer and/or builder as well, so there are alot of factors that determine what handle woods we use and the various densities make it alot easier to counter-balance the cue without having to load it up with synthetic weight material which also contributed to unwanted harmonics and vibrations.....


- Eddie Wheat

 

[pdcue]

Nope, no such insinuation intended or present in my post.

And I don't see how hitting a certain weight or balance point is "in the eye of the beholder". If I want to arrive at a 20.0 ounce cue and a balance point of "X", those are objective numbers. "Hit" and "feel" are subjective, and open to interpretation.

I don't think a sneaky pete is superior, I'm a high end cue junky (who likes maple) just like every one else, I'm just trying to educate myself on the why's.

Semantics. Balance, as in 'a cue with good balance' is just as subjective
as 'a cue with a good hit'. So, 'balance point' is objective, but
'good balance' isn't.

Many conversations, over many years, have convimced me that players
want a cue that feels 'good' in terms of balance, as they stroke a shot.

The dirty little secret is, that two cues that weigh 20 oz and balance
at point "x", will not necessarily have the same balance, because this
feel of balance is actually determined by the distribution of
weight<mass strictly speaking> along the length of the
cue, and not just the point where it tips like a teeter-totter.

Dale<obviously unbalanced at times>