Playability of 1960's cues vs. today?

jay helfert said:
In the 60's and 70's the average cue weighed around 20 oz. A 19 oz. cue was considered light. Almost all cues were 57" back then. It was Bill Stroud and Danny Janes who started the trend to 58" cues. Within a few years all the cue makers were offering 58" cues.

I still feel my old Bushka was as good as any cue I've ever owned. I wish I still had it. I do have a Bushka butt that came with two Gilbert shafts and it plays great. I've been offered $2,500 for this half Bushka but I'm not ready to sell it yet, I like it too much.

My first production cue was an Adams with reverse points on it. I wish I still had that one too. My first custom cue was a Gina made with zebra wood. It was stolen from my poolroom in Bakersfield in the 70's and turned up at Ernie's shop thirty years later, all warped. He showed it to me but I didn't want it any longer, even though it had my name in the butt. He gave it to someone who put it on eBay and got some pretty good coin for it. I got a big fat ZERO! :wink:

I think the custom cues that started getting made in the 70's were all pretty good sticks. I'm talking about Heubler, Viking, Meucci and McDermott.
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I would think any Bushka even with no original shafts would be worth more then that. I have a Bushka Burtain Spain butt with four not original shafts and was offered $7500.00 for it but it is not yet for sale.
 
Agreed the 60's cues were typically heavy, fat, short, and stiff. On the East coast, Balabushka's were the pro choice and on the West coast, Gina. Unlike many 1960's cues, these cues felt finely balanced.

Oddly though, going back to the older cues, many of the earlier Brunswick Titlists from the 1940 and 1950's and 26 1/2's from the 192's and 1930's were 18 or 19 ounces and played really good, more like today's cues, although they were 57" usually. Some of them I can pick up and play and they feel just fine.
 
jay helfert said:
In the 60's and 70's the average cue weighed around 20 oz. A 19 oz. cue was considered light. Almost all cues were 57" back then. It was Bill Stroud and Danny Janes who started the trend to 58" cues. Within a few years all the cue makers were offering 58" cues.

I still feel my old Bushka was as good as any cue I've ever owned. I wish I still had it. I do have a Bushka butt that came with two Gilbert shafts and it plays great. I've been offered $2,500 for this half Bushka but I'm not ready to sell it yet, I like it too much.

My first production cue was an Adams with reverse points on it. I wish I still had that one too. My first custom cue was a Gina made with zebra wood. It was stolen from my poolroom in Bakersfield in the 70's and turned up at Ernie's shop thirty years later, all warped. He showed it to me but I didn't want it any longer, even though it had my name in the butt. He gave it to someone who put it on eBay and got some pretty good coin for it. I got a big fat ZERO! :wink:

I think the custom cues that started getting made in the 70's were all pretty good sticks. I'm talking about Heubler, Viking, Meucci and McDermott.
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3

I have a 73' Joss that Danny and Timmy built for me. It is a 19.75 oz cue with ivory joint.
It was the 2nd cue they built with a 29 inch butt ( 57 in cues have a 28 1/2 in butt ).
I had the shafts made at 28 1/2 in. It has a lot of power to move the QB on the
slower wool cloth.
Danny told me that the reason for the longer butt was that he didnt like making
longer shafts for 57in cues. They had too much flex in them.
By making the butt 29in, he could make a good playing 58in cue ( seems there was a big demand for them ). And the 58in cue was born.
The only change I made for the new equipment was to have Bob Frey make me
2 shafts at 12 3/4 mm. The original shafts are 13 mm.
Cue plays great. Even the 'kids' I've showed it to like it...lol.
 
I still have the cue I played with back in the 60's and it's is not a custom. To this day, it still hits rock solid, though it is an inch or so shorter than today's cues.
 
:clapping:



No cue played that good until there was Meucci around 1974.:)


Well...okay Joss cues played good too but I couldn't afford them.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. There was a few decades gap in my playing times while I got busy raising a child, running a small biz....my Palmer just sat in a closet.

When I started playing again, things had changed.

So, there is a huge gap in my knowing about the evolution of cues during that time.
 
Another thought.

As most know I like the old Josswest cues. It was common, and I still see them occasionally that have bigger than the 13mm shaft.

I know of only one guy that plays with a 14mm shaft. (Yes he has specially made for his Cog)

The Josswests I have bought over the years have had 13.25 -13.50+ shafts that were original to the cue. When is the last time you heard someone talk about 14mm shafts?

IMO, JW shafts have had more sandpaper used by this owners than any other cue. I have seen them down to the size of #2 pencil. :eek:

So when you are talking about cues, a big deal is the shaft size and taper. IMO, THAT is the biggest change.

Ken
 
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