Shimming pockets and a restretch Questions

[march11934]

I've been doing some searching on this site regarding pocket width. I see that 4.5" is considered on the tight side and 5" is rather loose. I have a Gandy Big G table that has been redone about a year ago and so the question is, is there a way of shimming the pockets down to 4.5"? I placed two balls in the mouth of the corner pocket and there was an additional 1/4" of room. A little too wide. Prefer a tighter table at home so when I go to a pool room it gets easier to play.
The reason for all this is the other day I played in a pool hall and found I had to do a lot of adjusting of my game because the table was so much tighter than what I am used to. This took some potting percentage out of my game. This is a tech thread so I won't go into a lot of detail about my performance that night. Only trying to explain where I am coming from. The other table was also a Brunswick.

The restretch is probably self explanatory.The table I was on was fast. Never had a problem with this in NY but since I had the Gandy installed it seems to either have slowed down a lot or was never quite as fast as I would have liked. Cloth currently on the Gandy is Simonis 860. The difference was too much to compensate for and affected my game more than I am happy to admit.

So the questions are what are my options regarding the pocket size and the restretch? Redo the entire table? Or can this be done without it being a hack job.

Thank You in advance for your time. I am located in Apex NC in case there is a mechanic that is interested if this is something that can be remedied other than a total table redo. If it is a total redo then I will have to wait until the cloth is worn.

 

[Dartman]

... If it is a total redo then I will have to wait until the cloth is worn.

I believe you will be waiting.

To do the job correctly the rails need to be shimmed out with wood and then new cushions & facings installed.
The old rail cloth will not be reuseable so you're looking at a rail cloth set and a new set of featherstrips as a minimum.
Definitly a job for someone that knows what they're doing. Beware someone that suggests just adding cushion facings.

As for speed, your 860 may be loose (possibly due to humidity) or installed incorrectly.
The pool hall may have a faster cloth like 760 so that's also a possibility.
You can ask them what cloth they use.

 

[Donny Wessels]

As for speed, your 860 may be loose (possibly due to humidity) or installed incorrectly.

or dirty cloth

 

[march11934]

Thanks for the replies. The rails are shot as it is. There was a 9 rail trick shot I saw on TV once and I can't get enough on the ball to get to the last rail. I thought it was me. I never had an issue with my stroke. I tried it on one of the Brunswicks and went way past where I was getting to on my table.
So when the time comes I will be looking for new rubber as well as some table tweaking. I will be looking for a higher level mechanic I guess. From the looks of the pocket work I have seen on this site and what was done on my table I will be needing a new contact. I guess I will address that issue when the time comes. Don't want to flame the guy's workmanship on my table but it is far from some of the photos of what I have seen here. I think especially the photos by sdbilliards. Nice work. Really.
Both the balls and the table are cleaned a couple of time a week. Considering I maybe put an hour a day I think it is well maintained. I regularly bush and wipe the table down. I can move the cloth rather easily with my palm. Sounds loose? Doing a restretch is the same amount of labor so I would imagine there is no point in just going that far. Mind as well replace the cloth at that point and if that is the case then do the rails. That is what I am thinking. So no dice.
Thanks for your input.

 

[Dartman]

... I can move the cloth rather easily with my palm. Sounds loose? Doing a restretch is the same amount of labor so I would imagine there is no point in just going that far. Mind as well replace the cloth at that point and if that is the case then do the rails. That is what I am thinking. So no dice. Thanks for your input.

If the cloth moves as you mention then it's loose.

Extending and recushioning the rails is labor intensive - much more so then simply restretching the bed cloth
which is at least a tempororary fix to improve playability until you're ready to do the rails and install new cloth.

 

[march11934]

My bad. What I meant to say was doing a restretch is about the same amount of labor as laying down a new cloth, I think, so at that point the only difference is the material. The rails need to be removed to recloth or restretch the table so at that point i would have a new cloth layed down considering this one is starting to show some wear. Only checking to see if my logic behind this makes sense. I would rather have this all done right the first time.
Thanks again for your time.

 

[realkingcobra]

My bad. What I meant to say was doing a restretch is about the same amount of labor as laying down a new cloth, I think, so at that point the only difference is the material. The rails need to be removed to recloth or restretch the table so at that point i would have a new cloth layed down considering this one is starting to show some wear. Only checking to see if my logic behind this makes sense. I would rather have this all done right the first time.
Thanks again for your time.

You're on the right track

Glen

 

[Dartman]

Whether you remove the rails to restretch the bed cloth or install new bed cloth
you're looking at approximately the same amount of time.
Figure a tad longer to give attention in the pocket areas with new cloth.

Reworking the rails is another story but that could be done at any time.
IMO I would do it all at the same time otherwise you may be faster on the table roll
but you'll still have canyons for pockets.