Question about veneers

spliced

spliced

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
On Joel Hercek's site, it reads that "veneers add strength and structure" and are the "backbone" of a spliced cue. He refuses to build one without them. Most of the highly regarded cuemakers do veneered points, but then I see the new Scruggs phantom "ultimate playing cue" contains 4 spliced ebony points with no veneers. When asked why the lack of veneers, he said they would only dampen the hit of the cue. Just wondering what the cuemakers out there have to say about veneers. I dont really see the point of them besides for looks. Any thoughts?

Thanks!;)
 
Veneers are Pretty

fullsplicefiend said:
On Joel Hercek's site, it reads that "veneers add strength and structure" and are the "backbone" of a spliced cue. He refuses to build one without them. Most of the highly regarded cuemakers do veneered points, but then I see the new Scruggs phantom "ultimate playing cue" contains 4 spliced ebony points with no veneers. When asked why the lack of veneers, he said they would only dampen the hit of the cue. Just wondering what the cuemakers out there have to say about veneers. I dont really see the point of them besides for looks. Any thoughts?

Thanks!;)
Click to expand...

I think veneers are very pretty but that's it. They don't add anything structurally to the cue and they don't dampen the hit in my opinion.

A stainless steel joint dampens the hit more than anything because it kills the feedback between the shaft and the butt.

Just my opinion (everybody has one)
 
His thinking could be that veniers glued together are like laminated points, and laminated wood is stronger than natural wood.
Myself I think veniers would weaken the points because of more chances of voids not being glued.
Just thying to see things from another viewpoint.
Chris
 
I had a recent discussion with Dennis Searing regarding the difference between milled hardwood veneers and dyed sycamore veneers. His thoughts were that the milled hardwoods would stiffen the feel of the cue while the dyed sycamore would produce a softer feeling cue. Just an opinion, FWIW..
Dan
 
Type of splice asside, I'm not really sure how much they effect the ring tone or hit, altough I supposse It makes sense that they would, and that milled hardwoods would have more crispness then the softer veneers. Personally I notice more of a difference in the joint area & ferrule material Myself though, but that's just me. Greg
 
I cannot offer anything on whether this or that produces a harder hit regarding no veneers, or dyed veneers, or hardwood veneers...but I can offer this, and I think it might have been mentioned before in a previous thread by someone else as well.

I know that veneers are often "dyed sycamore". If the sycamore that is used for the veneers is English sycamore, that tree is not what is called Sycamore in America. English Sycamore is a maple. It is not as hard as rock maple, but it is harder than red maple. In fact, the species of this "Sycamore Maple" is Acer pseudoplatanus. Platanus is the genus for American Sycamore. The maple in question was called Sycamore because of the leaves being a very close match, but when it was realized it was a maple, it was named Acer pseudoplatanus, meaning literaly maple that is a fake sycamore.

If indeed the dyed "Sycamore" veneers are this species, than they are not much softer than hard maple itself, and harder than red maple (which is used often in cues I believe). A red stained maple veneer would certainly not compare to a bloodwood veneer, or black stained to ebony veneer, but it certainly isn't a softwood.

for what it is worth if anything...
Kelly
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top