Need equipment/playing advice for shorter player

SupaFoo

SupaFoo

Starving Law Student
Silver Member
Hey guys,

I'm trying to get my girlfriend into pool so she doesn't sigh heavily everytime I go to shoot for more than an hour :embarrassed2:

She's got a pretty decent eye and she's getting better at delivering the cue in straight line. She's also got a lot of patience to learn the game and play at a good pace (so she's already ahead of me in one department - LOL :D). She's also pretty handy with the mechanical bridge, which is good since her natural range is really limited.

So she's pretty good fundamentally speaking but my equipment is really not working for her. Long story short I'm big and tall and she's short and small - I like my cues on the longer side and bumper to tip she's almost exactly the same height as my 59" Josey SP.

Her hands are also much smaller than mine and her hands sweat a lot - my hands barely sweat at all. She likes linen wraps - which I can't play with because they slip out of my bone-dry hands.

Even on my prized first cue - a McD with the only linen wrap in my collection - there are lots of problems. The butt is too thick for her and so is the 13mm shaft. She also has to grip so far forward that she's barely touching the wrap at all - and she likes gripping the linen so she's subconsciously sliding her hand back which is totally killing her stroke and confidence.

I've seen some cues online for kids and for women but none of them seem quite right. The childrens' cues are about the right length for her (48-52") but they're dubiously cheap - I'm not one to buy junk. She likes the styling of the designed for women Athena cues but I don't think that the adjustments those cues make to women (57" length, 12.5mm tip) are significant enough for her.

I would really appreciate any advice I can get on this matter. Playing advice as well as equipment advice. Can anyone tell me if shorter cues should have equal length butts and shafts? Do shorter shafts play as well as standard (29") ones? If she likes LD shafts, can they be effectively shortened and/or turned down below 11.75mm?

I realize that we can just get a custom ordered but she's just a beginner and has no concept of what she likes beyond the very basics.

Again any advice would be greatly appreciated - please help me spread the love of the game to another!!! :thumbup:

Thanks!

-Alan
 
I don't think that you'll get around to buying an Asia/Japan market TAD Kohara cue any time soon since they are all 57", but you could start off getting a J&J 3600 series cue. They are a 5/16x18 flat faced steel joint. Hit pretty nice. It was my first cue. Glad I still have it. Shot around with it a week ago and still hits great.

http://jjcue.com/jjcue-play.htm

They are relatively inexpensive. The wrap is sealed like Meucci's, but you could have a cuemaker in your area unseal the linen wrap, shorten the shaft by 2" or 3" inches, and taper the shortened shaft to what she likes whether it be conical or pro taper. Shaving down the shaft won't seem sad since it is an inexpensive cue. Plus, J&J sells extra shafts for that cue listed as $25 MSRP each. You could pickup extras to experiment with.

If you want to spend a little extra, J&J Jump/Break 4410 is a good cue. I have the 4414 and currently use it as my general shooting and breaking cue if I don't feel like bring out the big guns. The standard shaft is good enough to shoot with, I believe the standard shaft is 12.3mm straight grain maple. This one, you don't have to unseal wrap plus there is another section of wrap high on the forearm for the jump section. Spare shafts for this are also inexpensive at $25 MSRP.

http://jjcue.com/jjcue-jumpbkcue.htm

I would go with the J&J Jump/Break 4410 just because it hits great, can take a lot of abuse, and solves the wrap problem. Maybe your gf will adjust to a longer stroke without cutting the shaft. Finding a case might become a problem later unless its a box case.
 
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That is qquite a dilema. I would think she could order a smaller handle diameter Probably the cheapest way to try this stuff out would be to get a heavy forward balanced sneaky with a brass pin. Then you could have the butt retapered and the shaft retapered. That would be expensive enough that you would be better going full custom. There are some full custom sneakies with a wrap for under $300, I think.

With the shaft, I don't think I would go below 11.75mm. I think it might not play so well, but YMMV.

With the butt, I would talk with the cuemakeer how to make it small butt heavy enough to play with. Att a smaller diameter, that might require special wood.

Just a thought, Santos Sambajon and Efren Reyes are both pretty small, but play with standard equipment.
 
I forgot about the small diameter... I will have to measure my J&J 4414 when I get home and compare it to my TAD. TAD's are known for having a smaller diameter butt section, I never really noticed much of a different when switching between my J&J and my TAD, so they might be the same or similar. J&J is Taiwanese.

My sister has a Dufferin w/ a black linen wrap, she loves that cue because the butt diameter is noticeably smaller than other cues. It hits pretty solid, but a bit softer than what I am used to. It is a wood to wood joint, 5/16x14 flat faced.
 
Cue Length

Alan,

I think 48" would work best for her, unless she has a long bridge length, then maybe the 52".
 

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Should come to her mustache!

The cue should be long enough to come to her mustache with the butt pad on the floor. That might be an issue with her if she doesn't have a mustache but I am told it is how Efren measures cues. :D :D :D

Something I would think a cue smith could do relatively inexpensively is extend the linen wrap area on fairly plain cue you don't value too much. If it uses a weight bolt changing that could keep the balance decent.

I'm between shops right now, seems to always be the story since Katrina but I plan to build myself a cue with a long wrap area because I tend to go off the back of the wrap myself.

Hu
 
My wife is 5 feet tall exactly. Tiny little thing she is. She shoots with a standard length Paul Mottey.
MULLY
 
John S. uses an extension from time to time. That's a pretty good endorsement to have. I'd definitely invest in one of those.

Work with her on the bridge anyway.
 
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