scoring beeds

It just occured to me this morning that the string of counters comes from the factory mounted on a wire. I added the eyebolts, turnbuckles and extra wire for the turnbuckle. I bought my set many years ago so I am not positive and you may want to check before buying a whole lot of stuff. I have played in many pool halls and have never seen more than one string of counters per table.

The rafters in the prior photo are two foot on center so that gives you some idea of the spacing. I guess there is about 25 - 50 # of tension on the wire so I think you will need to hit the ceiling studs with the eyebolts. You could also use a 1/2" plate under the eyebolts with some toggle bolts through the drywall ceiling to support the tension.
 
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this is all good advise,but forego the copper wire it can really do a number on the ferule(?) or shaft of your cues. stick with fishing line or plastic coated wire(thats what my home room is doing) trust me i learned the hard way!
hope that helps
doc
 
Barry Doc said:
this is all good advise,but forego the copper wire it can really do a number on the ferule(?) or shaft of your cues. stick with fishing line or plastic coated wire(thats what my home room is doing) trust me i learned the hard way!
hope that helps
doc
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good point, never thought of that. fishing line it is.
 
Scoring Beads

The beads were one of the first things I put up when I did my room. The brackets were made by a friend of mine and worked out great.
 

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If you look close, it appears that the leg from a Gold Crown is shown at the bottom left. Soooo, he put up the beads first --- now that is a straight pool player:)

Mounting on the wall is cool idea.

Your right Doc, when I looked I had only used copper wire fromthe turnbuckle to the eyebolt, the rest is factory stuff which is not copper. Whatever it is I have used for years with no problem.
 
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JoeW said:
If you look close, it appears that the leg from a Gold Crown is shown at the bottom left. Soooo, he put up the beads first --- now that is a straight pool player:)

Mounting on the wall is cool idea.
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I noticed and thought the same thing.

Booboo , I wish I lived in Mich. , I would bring the beer and pizza , nice room!
 
OK, here is the dissenting opinion.

Check out the "Grady Visits Betmore's Basement" thread on the main forum (JCIN posted it). You can see some pictures in the background of the scoring string.

Here are the details. I bought THREE sets of the 50-bead strings from Muellers. They came on string (no wire or tensioners). I painted the tags black and white (3 coats of enamel), then put white and black stick-on decals on the tags (available at any hardware store). The string has 150 beads on each side - which makes it about 10 feet long.

I used brass wire (smooth, one piece, NOT braided).

I initially used a turnbuckle tensioner; then removed it. If the wire is taut, it makes it harder to move the beads without scuffing the ceiling. A slight curve seems to be nicer. Tighten it as much as you can by hand.

I made a wooden over-hang for the beads, so scuffing doesn't really matter.

Good luck.
 
One other point

On the low ceiling issue, I have seen standoffs, usually made of 3 pieces of 1x2 wood attached from ceiling to proper height above table for easy reach with cue. One for each end, one for the center, notched or drilled to hold the wire. Wish I had a picture, its easier to show than describe.
 
One pool hall I visited has their scoring beads on a small diameter stainless steel rod! They sure slid smoothly and I felt ok about my ferrule doing it. The rod was plenty strong enough so that there was no need for tensioning it. I really liked that setup, the nicest I've ever seen!

Another pool hall I play in every now and then has scoring beads that are encrusted in that gross brown goo that is on ceilings of bars that have a lot of smoking in them... We have to use a house cue for scoring - lol!
 
Njhustler1 said:
If you use the beads, you absolutely must:
1) not use string. use fishing line instead. The beads slide much easier over the plastic line than string fibers.
2) make sure its pulled tight so there's zero slack in the line.

That's pretty much it!
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I bought a brass rod at a metal suppy. Works even better. I suppose any metal rod will do.
 
Heh....at least the guy with the GC has his room finished...I didnt even start mine yet...but the table is up...and my ingenious friend decided to make me a set of beads for our straight pool games. Not a bad decsion I might add. Went to a local Michaels store and bought some wooden beads and a thread spool holder for the center.
 

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That is a nice looking set of beads. They might be a little easier to use if you used wood stain to dye them tan and black as shown in some of the previous posts.
 
JoeW said:
That is a nice looking set of beads. They might be a little easier to use if you used wood stain to dye them tan and black as shown in some of the previous posts.
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Yeah we were thinking about that...but then what ever would we do to keep score...:D
 
Another way to keep score would be with a cribbage board. You could also make one to use for pool. Take a board, drill two sets of 25 holes grouped in sets of 5 for easier counting and 2 sets of 6 holes to mark off each group of 25. Using the pegs like in cribbage you can look back and see what the previous run was and also make sure that the proper amount was marked off. Would also prevent chalk marks on a wall and cue damage.
 
An idea I cant believe nobody has made

What about an electric scoreboard you hang with a remote. Simple up and down. That would rock!
 
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