Question on full splice cues

measureman

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A friend of mine who I play pool with on Saturdays has several Ernie Martinez cues. Last week he brought a full splice sneaky pete cue that Ernie made. Now I'm pretty sure the Bacote blank was bought and assembled by Ernie.
It has a wood to wood joint non steel and a layered tip. This cue hit a ton.
A bit firmer then my steeled jointed Pechauer and much firmer then my legendary Lucasi.Is this because of the full splice or the skill of the cue maker?
 
I would say it is more the cue maker even more so the taper of the shaft that Mr. Martinez uses. I believe a well constructed cue will play well, full splice or not. You can try another of Mr. Martinez's cues side by side with the full splice and see if there is a notable difference.
Evan
 
evanandpeaches said:
I would say it is more the cue maker even more so the taper of the shaft that Mr. Martinez uses. I believe a well constructed cue will play well, full splice or not. You can try another of Mr. Martinez's cues side by side with the full splice and see if there is a notable difference.
Evan
Click to expand...

I have hit balls with several of Ernie's cues and while they all hit very good this one just seemed to be a step above the others.
 
More than likely it is due to the shaft. Quality of wood, taper etc. Also, Bocote has a nice crisp feedback IMO. The Ernie I had was in between not to stiff not too flexible with a softer hit. It seemed a little oversized at the a joint. Taper kind of reminds me of a huebler.
 
measureman said:
A friend of mine who I play pool with on Saturdays has several Ernie Martinez cues. Last week he brought a full splice sneaky pete cue that Ernie made. Now I'm pretty sure the Bacote blank was bought and assembled by Ernie.
It has a wood to wood joint non steel and a layered tip. This cue hit a ton.
A bit firmer then my steeled jointed Pechauer and much firmer then my legendary Lucasi.Is this because of the full splice or the skill of the cue maker?
Click to expand...

It's a lot of things.Full splice and skill of the maker are huge.
Taper and quality of wood are also important.

But also to be considered is the wood to wood joint.
When Predator was developing the BK,Allen assumed they would be
producing a steel joint.
Iron Willie,their stroking robot,showed that wood to wood gave the
cue ball 7 to 12% more speed coming off the tip.

My old steel jointed cues are good enough for me.Their durability is
more important than the extra power.
Wood to wood needs re-facing from time to time.

But for breaking,3 cushion and snooker,I'm going with wood to wood.
 
Enie's cues are the nuts!

Just saying. I play with a nearly 20 year old EM sneaky that is 17 oz and hits like a steel pipe. He is known for his engineering of cues and his joints fit tighter then a .... you get the picture. I've hit with all kinds of cues including bushkas and I would pick that sneaky over all of them.

Kai
 
I have never had much luck with steel pipes,They play a little hard for my taste
dean
 
measureman said:
A friend of mine who I play pool with on Saturdays has several Ernie Martinez cues. Last week he brought a full splice sneaky pete cue that Ernie made. Now I'm pretty sure the Bacote blank was bought and assembled by Ernie.
It has a wood to wood joint non steel and a layered tip. This cue hit a ton.
A bit firmer then my steeled jointed Pechauer and much firmer then my legendary Lucasi.Is this because of the full splice or the skill of the cue maker?
Click to expand...



Is this because of the full splice or the skill of the cue maker?[/QUOTE]

I would say both factors play a major part, along with the construction of the cues blank. Just because a cue is made from a Full Splice Blank doesn't mean it is going to hit like that cue, like I have said many times no two cues hit exactly alike why this is no one say for certain, but the following factor's play a major part.

1. Woods used in the blank

2. Construction of the blank - How the cue is assembled, the pin used, the type of joint used, even the type and way the bumper is installed will effect a cues hit.

3. The shaft / Construction of the shaft - The type of ferrule material used and the way the ferrule is attached, the shafts taper, the type of joint / insert used, and last but not least the Tip used.

When you add all these things together you have a cue, and that cue will hit good or bad based upon the above factors and how tight the tolerances were as the cue was assembled.

Hope this helps or at least food for thought!!
 
Last edited:
pt109 said:
It's a lot of things.Full splice and skill of the maker are huge.
Taper and quality of wood are also important.

But also to be considered is the wood to wood joint.
When Predator was developing the BK,Allen assumed they would be
producing a steel joint.
Iron Willie,their stroking robot,showed that wood to wood gave the
cue ball 7 to 12% more speed coming off the tip.

My old steel jointed cues are good enough for me.Their durability is
more important than the extra power.
Wood to wood needs re-facing from time to time.

But for breaking,3 cushion and snooker,I'm going with wood to wood.
Click to expand...
Does this mean if I switch from a steel joint to flat faced wood to wood I will be able to draw the cue ball with less force? So if I am 7 feet from the object ball and have to draw back the length of the table I will be able to use a less forceful and hence a more accurate stroke?
 
I will agree with most from above. I currently play with a Dave Kikel full-splice "Sneaky Pete" from his earlier years. The wood is Purple Heart spliced into hard maple. I recently purchased it from an eBay seller who had a new shaft made by Kikel. The joint is straight wood-to-wood, nothing else, with a 3/8-10 pin (Kikel also used these early on prior to switching joint pins). I'll tell you what, the hit is out of this world. SUPER SOLID. I have to say it's a combination of the shaft taper and the woods used in the butt of the cue.

Now, this leads me to my future cue that is currently being built by Wayne Holmes. Wayne builds his own full-splice cues (no pre-made blanks) from scratch. For my current build, he is splicing Purple Heart into an Ebony and 3-veneer forearm. The joint will be wood-to-wood with an ivory joint sleeve and instead of a 3/8-10 pin, Wayne exclusively uses a radial pin. Now, will the cue hit different than the Kikel? Absolutely. Will it be just as sweet hitting of a cue? Solid? My feelings are yes! The ebony is a more dense wood than maple for the forearm, so the balance will move forward a bit, so I am sure this will make for an amazing "stroker" cue.

Anyways, my thoughts are that full-splice provides the STRONGEST way to join the parts of the cue in the butt. That being said, there is nothing wrong with the half-splice method, but the woods are joined flat-faced-to-face where as the full-splice is non-faced joined and provides a greater amount of surface area for the two woods to contact. It really comes to how ornate you want your cue to be. If you want a ring installed at the top-end of the wrap, than you can't do a full-splice because the cue would need to be cut at that point to install the ring. I say the less joints used to put together a cue the better. Then again, what do I know...I'm no builder. :D
 
measureman said:
Does this mean if I switch from a steel joint to flat faced wood to wood I will be able to draw the cue ball with less force? So if I am 7 feet from the object ball and have to draw back the length of the table I will be able to use a less forceful and hence a more accurate stroke?
Click to expand...

All other things equal...yes.
Tried steel joint snooker cues but always gave up on them...
..they didn't have the guts on heavier snooker cloth.
Put a snooker shaft on a Szamboti and a Joss..they just didn't work.
When Allen told me about the BK...it made sense why every snooker
cue I ever liked was wood to wood
 
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