Shaft and tip differences

[Weapon X]

Hi, I am finally gonna purchase my first cue, and wanna know if you guys can give me some knowledge on shafts and tips.

1. Whats the difference between a 12mm shaft and a 12.5,12.75, etc..? Does the smaller shaft diameter give you more draw and english??

2. Does a dime sized tip give you more draw then a nickel sized tip?

3. Whick type of moori tip gives you more draw, soft, med, or hard?

 

[SuperDave]

Hi, I am finally gonna purchase my first cue, and wanna know if you guys can give me some knowledge on shafts and tips.

1. Whats the difference between a 12mm shaft and a 12.5,12.75, etc..? Does the smaller shaft diameter give you more draw and english??

2. Does a dime sized tip give you more draw then a nickel sized tip?

3. Whick type of moori tip gives you more draw, soft, med, or hard?

1) Size. Seriously, the first important point here is, it ought to be your game that gives you the draw, not the diameter of the shaft or the tip (although I'll address the tip for your second question. Any "A" player should be able to walk into a bar, pick up the first stick and draw the length of the table. If you start relying on your equipment to give you the action, you'll be letting your game development suffer in proportion. Don't take that wrong; I'd just rather see your game develop regardless of your equipment, rather than because of it.

Having said all that, it's more the shape of the tip than the diameter that affects draw. A dime radius is a dime radius, whether it be on 12mm or 13.

Consider this when choosing shaft diameter: Once you get under 12.75mm or so, managing the movement of the tip becomes problematic without a lot of practice. Yes, I know they use slim shafts across the pond, but they've been doing it for a while. Unless you have fairly small hands, you'll probably find anything much under 13mm to be pretty small (the majority of bar sticks are 13mm, and most standard production cues are 12.75-13mm).

2) I use a dime radius on my play stick and a quarter radius on my break stick. Now, I'm only a "B" player on my good days, but even tired and drunk I can draw 1 1/2 tables. So, my experience says, "dime radius."

3) The softer, the better, if you don't mind shaping your tip a whole lot. Me, I use two shafts with tips of differing softness. I use the hard tip only on days when I've practiced poorly before my league matches, so I don't end up overdoing things with the soft tip in my ineptitude.

 

[Sputnik]

Hi. I would suggest you to get a big shaft diameter.

Since this would be your first cue stick, I'm sure that it will be subjected to a lot of experiments. If you are the handyman type, you're surely going to sand your shaft down - not unless you have access to a lathe.

These are my suggestions for customizing your shaft:
1] Buy an extra shaft for you to monkey with. Be sure that your shaft is thick enough for a snugged closed bridge.
2] study how far your shaft goes at the follow through. Trim the diameter of the shaft from the ferrule to the point where your follow through ends, then from there, let it taper until the joint.
3] Do not use layered tips first. Get any medium solid tip and clamp it with a vise-grip between two coins overnight before installing. Might be good to learn how to install your own tip. Just remember, stay away from the ferrule with blades and sand paper as much as possible. There are tip installation gadgets available in the market (with the ferule sander disc).
4] Buy a cue tip tool for cue tip maintenance.

Customizing your shaft is something that can relax you. Do it when you have the time, away from the pool-hall.

Good luck with your first cue!

 

[Weapon X]

Thanks for the advice,

I am willing to spend up to $600.00 on this cue(not including an extra shaft), I am not really into cues with many decorations or anything like that, my main concern is how the cue plays... do you guys think I should get a custom handcrafted cue, or a production cue?

What is the best wood that cues are made out of?


Thanks

 

[nbc]

For $600, you can get a nice 4 point cue from most custom cue makers.

As for best wood, there are lots of great looking woods out there. Birdseye or curly maple still looks great...so you might want to consider that as the "base" for your cue. The points could be made from other exotic woods like rosewood, cocobolo, bacote, etc.

I suggest that you check out some of the billiard websites (like www.onthehill.net or www.hawleys.com) and check out the cue pics and see what you like in terms of looks. You can then order from them or get in touch with some other custom cuemakers and ask them to make a similar looking cue to the one you like.

Currently, I play with a Kenny Murrell cue (formerly from Rhode Island but he has since recently transferred to Illinois, I believe). He calls his cue line, "Kennybuilt" cues. The cues play great... medium stiff with a lot of action on the cueball. Great stuff!

Good luck on your cue hunting.

nbc

 

[Pop And Slop]

Hi, I am finally gonna purchase my first cue, and wanna know if you guys can give me some knowledge on shafts and tips.

1. Whats the difference between a 12mm shaft and a 12.5,12.75, etc..? Does the smaller shaft diameter give you more draw and english??

2. Does a dime sized tip give you more draw then a nickel sized tip?

3. Whick type of moori tip gives you more draw, soft, med, or hard?

1. The difference in the size generally allows you to be less precise when your shaft strikes the cue ball. The bigger the tip the less precise you need to be.

2. Technically a dime size would give you an easier draw because it focuses more power into a smaller area when you hit the cue ball as would a smaller tip.

3. Generally a softer tip would give more draw but it also would wear out faster meaning more tip replacements.

These are only my opinion and maybe someone else would beg to differ.

 

[LRockwell]

I was in your situation not too long ago. I looked around and decided to go with a custom cue. I settled on a Viattorre Custom Cue after trying one and getting high quotes from other cuemakers. The cue came out top notch and the maker was very patient with me. The nice thing was the cue came on time and under my budget. You can easily get a nice cue with 2 shafts from them for under $600. You can email him at custom888@yahoo.com

Thanks for the advice,

I am willing to spend up to $600.00 on this cue(not including an extra shaft), I am not really into cues with many decorations or anything like that, my main concern is how the cue plays... do you guys think I should get a custom handcrafted cue, or a production cue?

What is the best wood that cues are made out of?


Thanks

 

[Zims Rack]

I play with custom cues also! You can get a Dominiak Custom Cue with 2 shafts for under $600. Twizted_Cue has one, I play with one and nbc is thinking about it also. Check out www.zimsrack.com and let me know if I can help you with anything. Another good site is www.onthehill.net, Troy (the owner) is a long time personal friend/teammate and is a great guy to deal with. Tell him Zim sent sent you and he should cut you a good deal!
Good luck!

Zim

 

[twiztid_cue]

Yea Dominiak makes a great built cue. most of which arent to fancy and are right around what you are looking to spend like Zim said. I love my dominiak and when people ask to shoot with it I say no unless its the owner or one of the better players in the pool hall that i go to. And everyone who shot with it love the cue. Check out Dominiak's website and talk to Zim. Hes a great man to deal with.

 

[Sticky]

Good day,

I don't have a Viattorre cue but those chaps did do work on my cue. They did a bang up job on it. I am also considering getting a custom cue from them soon also. Maybe a Christmas present to myself.