Pool cue components or styles that you are not a fan of.

iusedtoberich said:
Not pool cues, but Ash snooker cues look horrible. I dislike the grain structure. (Also dislike Oak wood on furniture for the same reason). Once a year or so someone will ask about an Ash shaft for a pool cue, and I'll about barf.
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Thinking of doing a tournament: Chinese 8b on Diamonds with ash cues. ;)
 
garczar said:
Thinking of doing a tournament: Chinese 8b on Diamonds with ash cues. ;)
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Ha ha. Yeah, the old 90's solid wood Diamonds with the oak rails were not to my aesthetic taste! The new ones today with the black rails I like 100x better.

When I was contemplating getting a Diamond (really, I was), I would have gotten it built with maple for the sides skirts/legs instead of oak, and had them paint the maple black. The grain on maple is so smooth and the pores tight, compared to oak, that it leaves a much better finish (even when coating with pigment paint).
 
Inlays and rings. Maybe it's because I'm used to the style and aesthetics of snooker/English pool cues, but I don't see the appeal of them on American pool cues. They're gaudy and unappealing - especially the turquoise or mother-of-pearl ones.

As far as decorative splicing goes, I hate thuya burr.
 
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Probably more than half the Viking lineup... Decals are disgusting.
Not a fan of the "Sport" style cues. It's fine for jump/break cues, but don't like it on playing cues.
mjantti said:
I used to love seeing ivory on a pool cue, now it makes me cringe a little bit. And I like ringwork, I don't like cues without any ring work. And straight grain maple is a bit boring for my taste. Also simple floating points.
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100% agree on the ivory and rings. The one tiny nitty thing i don't like about a couple of my cues: they have rings below the joint, but the CF shafts don't have them. Makes the joint asymmetrical. I like when the butt-joint-shaft is nice and symmetrical.
 
Mother of pearl.. hence why I’ve never shot with a Viking let alone bought one. Lol they seem to love that stuff.
 
+1 for floating points and reverse points. I can’t imagine anybody really prefers rounded points either since we’re on the subject.

Not a fan of the really big block rings like you see on some old Scruggs and Joss cues. Conversely, I love the standard Tad/JW style block rings. I don’t like bushka rings. I don’t like thin silver rings in any position - they look cheap.

This is maybe a bit silly, but a black leather or linen wrap on a dark wood other than ebony doesn’t look good to me. Not enough contrast. Similarly, I often don’t like dark woods together - like an ebony cue with a rosewood forearm or something, for the same reason. I also don’t like most linen color combos other than white/green spec.

Agreed on whoever said straight grain maple was boring. Not a huge fan of bocote, or holly. Thuya Burl looks like a wood that has some sort of an illness to me with all those spots, lol. And numero uno when it comes to woods would be most dyed or impregnated woods. Super gross looking to me to see some green or red, or god forbid that 80’s dark gray dyed maple or a dyed burl. Wood is awesome and pretty and should look like the wood that it is. If the wood doesn’t fit your aesthetic, you should be able to find one that does rather than dyeing it.

Agree with everyone on turquoise.

Not into tuxedo cues, box cues, or gambler cues.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m pretty high maintenance. The couple of times my wife has bought me a cue she just told me to pick one out or talk to the maker myself.
 
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Probably easier to list what I like than don’t like lol Just a classic four point players cue. Straight grain maple forearm, no inlays.

Absolute deal breakers for me are carbon fibre shafts, bright neon veneers, joint collars that are shorter than the standard 1”, cue finish over the wrap, thin points, points that are disproportionate and go all the way up the entire forearm, and butt sleeves that are too long. Proportion is key 🔑
 
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I really only play with basic 4 point players. I have a strong preference for sharp points, but can stomach rounded points on an old Joss or Schon like the one I've had 30 years. I do like a pretty piece of maple in the forend but also like the simple look of the old Balabushka cues with the straight grain maple in the forearm. Ebony points and butt sleeve are my favorite but I've seen other dark woods that look good too. Wish these kind of cues were a bit more common. Used to be the norm and from these posts sounds like my tastes aren't that strange. Hard to find without going the custom route. For what it's worth, it really doesn't bother me what other folks play with but if a cue is gong to get my attention it's going to be something classic looking. My sense of aesthetics is overly prone to nostalgia in all of my interests.
 
garczar said:
Bacote wood. Never have like the way it looks. funky color/grain pattern.
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The right piece can be a beautiful thing. ;) Paired with the wrong woods can make it a fugly thing! o_O
It's an extremely nice playing wood in a cue. It's down side is there are very few colors that can be paired with it.

Edit: I guess I should have been a little clearer on the colors that Bocote will only pair well with.
Black
Yellow
Maple-natural
Silver
Brown-maybe, possibly
Even tho red, yellow and blue are primary colors and "some" say all work well together, I agree to disagree that red and blue do not go well with the color of Bocote.
 
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