Snooker Cues in US?

R

Renegade_56

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi guys, long time reader, lurker, but my 1st post. My room is putting in a snooker table in a few weeks. I've only played snooker a handful of times, but it sounds like new fun. So anyway I started checking into snooker cues, and amazingly to me, I can't seem to find anywhere in the US to buy them, unless it's the cheapo's (Riley, Peragon, etc). So the question is, why do american snooker players not play with the cues the europeans use? I know the balls are smaller, so smaller tips seem like the way to go. I know they have the VAT, and shipping is high, but some of those guys really make some nice handmade cues. What am I missing here?
Thanks,

Renegade
 
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Well being that generally snooker tables are hard to find.....and not very many people play snooker here so thats why you can't find anything....its just not popular over here.

So your definately not going to find any kind of production snooker cues here, but I'm sure that most any custom cue maker worth his salt can build one for you.

Or just get a smaller shaft made for your regular playing cue with a tip diameter around 9-11mm and get a conical taper put on it and you should be good to go.
 
I used to have an extra shaft made for playing snooker, rather than having a dedicated cue for it. The largest consideration for me was the weight; snooker cues are a little lighter but feel quite solid when hit so there were only certain cues I would use for this.

I'm in the process of designing a new snooker cue with a custom cue builder and I think it's probably the best route to go. If you're going to put a lot of time into snooker then grab a Riley's for now and look around for a cue maker once you're sure you want to invest a little more.

Welcome to the spotlight BTW, definitely more fun than lurking. ;)
 
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Thanks fellas, my regular player is an old Meucci 95-17 with a predot shaft. I play straight and onepocket mostly, so I don't need or want the hard hit like say a Joss or a Schon. I wonder if I could get maybe a 9.5mm conical taper shaft for my meucci. Does that sound practical, or is their other playing characteristics of snooker cues that uniquely fit the game, that I would be missing? Thoughts?

Renegade
 
Renegade_56 said:
Thanks fellas, my regular player is an old Meucci 95-17 with a predot shaft. I play straight and onepocket mostly, so I don't need or want the hard hit like say a Joss or a Schon. I wonder if I could get maybe a 9.5mm conical taper shaft for my meucci. Does that sound practical, or is their other playing characteristics of snooker cues that uniquely fit the game, that I would be missing? Thoughts?

Renegade
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I played on the snooker table A TON....I had my cue building mentor whip me up a 11mm modified conical shaft for my playing cue and i shot just fine with it....before i got that cue I had an old meucci sneaky that I cut an inch off the shaft and was @ 12mm...being that it was shorter it stiffened up the cue a little bit....so yea you would be just fine getting an extra shaft made and just playing with that.

Its not quite the same jump for equipment as say a meucci playing 3cushion billiards with its normal shaft/taper...its just too weak compared to a billiard cue which has loads of more spine.

If you find that you like the game that much you could always get one of the many great cue makers here to build you a snooker cue later on down the line.

-Grey Ghost-
 
Typically a uk cuemaker will charge £60 ~ £70 for a replacement 3/4 shaft so at a guess for a 50-50 cut pool cue your going to have to fork out say £40-£50. Even at £30 i'd question the decision to go that route when you can pick up a decent 2nd hand cue off ebay for £50 and if it's a 3/4 postage across the pond is is not that expensive. At least if you dont take up the game it's sellable.
 
Welcome to the world of the snooker cue search.

I'd recommend following up Wity's suggestion and checking out the link he provided.

There are some older threads about playing snooker with a pool cue, a modified pool cue, and so on. If you're going to play snooker regularly, consider investing in a proper snooker cue. I'm happy that I ordered a cue from the UK.

Schuler used to make a snooker shaft for their cues. I have a Schuler and considered getting one of those shafts, but I wanted a 3/4-jointed cue.

On a 6 x 12 I would consider a telescoping extension a necessity. Use the long bridge, if you must, but rather than use the ginormous cue that is paired with the long bridge (a.k.a. rest), use your own cue with an extension.

Playing snooker will probably affect your stance unless you already play with your chin very close to the cue.

Good luck! Please let me know when your room (which room?) gets the snooker table. I'll add it to the list at FindSnookef.com.
 
Rethunk said:
Welcome to the world of the snooker cue search.

I'd recommend following up Wity's suggestion and checking out the link he provided.

There are some older threads about playing snooker with a pool cue, a modified pool cue, and so on. If you're going to play snooker regularly, consider investing in a proper snooker cue. I'm happy that I ordered a cue from the UK.

Schuler used to make a snooker shaft for their cues. I have a Schuler and considered getting one of those shafts, but I wanted a 3/4-jointed cue.

On a 6 x 12 I would consider a telescoping extension a necessity. Use the long bridge, if you must, but rather than use the ginormous cue that is paired with the long bridge (a.k.a. rest), use your own cue with an extension.

Playing snooker will probably affect your stance unless you already play with your chin very close to the cue.

Good luck! Please let me know when your room (which room?) gets the snooker table. I'll add it to the list at FindSnookef.com.
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Thanks for the input fellas, the table is a 10 footer, and I'm reasonably proficient with the mechanical bridge, since I play 9 footers all the time anyway, and I do shoot low.

Rethunk,
The room is BJ's Billiards, in Havelock NC, they already have the table, it's just not set up yet, some fella from up north, Boston area I think, is coming to set it up along with 4 GC3's on the 23rd I think.

I can't get excited about playing a mix cue, but I'm also not interested in playing a very low quality cue. I see you have a Mike Wooldridge Shark cue, how's that workin for ya? They look like excellent quality and get outstanding reviews. The website has some issues though, and he took down the cue builder software. I guess I'd have to call him for info and prices.
 
Mike makes some cracking cues and is probably the only cuemaker that wont sell a cue thats not perfectly made, he'll scrap em first although on occasion he has been persuaded to sell 2'nds without a badge.

The Shark series are nice machine spliced cues but like all his cues your paying through the nose for the label. At £160 for a shark up to and beyond£600 for a one off he cant make enough of them such is the demand from label buyers especially in the far east where they go dodally for an English made cue.
 
Good points Wity.
So my next question would be, would you recomend another cue over the Shark, based primarily on price, or would it be better to buy quality and name. In my view quality=playabity, and name recognition=resale value if need be. To me, those 2 are worth paying extra, to a degree, however since I haven't used a snooker cue before I have no bar to gage the playability on. But I know me, if I buy a cheap cue because it's cheap I will constantly wonder what a nice cue feels like, so generally I feel I'd be better off to go right at a moderately priced quality cue for starters. If I just settle on a 1st cue just to have one, I will end up buying a second in the long run anyway. So, all that said, can you recomend something along those parameters that I should maybe be looking at as opposed to a shark, or comparable cue?

Sorry to be so long winded, it's just part of my analism to get it right the 1st time.

All input is welcome. Thanks guys,,,,,,,,,
 
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Tell you what I'll make you an offer..

In the link i gave above Monto is offering this cue...

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/iqjot/Snooker/Perfect04.jpg

for $150 plus postage plus 3% for paypal.

Order one from him ask him for a 3/4 cue, weighing 17 ounces preferably but no more than 18 no less than 16.5 A balance point of 17". 16" is ok but no more than 17.5"c
Ask for a length of 57.5" (57-58 is norm but 57.5 will suit most especially you being new to snooker)
Ask for a tip anywhere between 9.2 ~ 9.5mm
Ask him to sort one out with tight straight grain and evenly spaced clear arrows on the top view and even as possible splices (tops of which will most likely be even but the points at the bottom may not be (note what i said about Mike? he's a perfectionist and scraps cues that are not perfect even though the grain and evenness of splices makes no difference other than in looks.)

Ensure it has a female fitting for an extension in the butt.


If he can supply to that spec, you'll have a quality cue at a cheap price as good to play with as any and in my opinion anyway very pretty without being flash.

Get the cue play with it, try 2 or 3 different tips see which you prefer and in 3 months time tell me you have found a better cue. or you simply dont like it and I'll give you what you paid for it and the postage to me in the uk.



Thats how confident i am that o'min cues are as good as any And i've only ever seen 1 o'min cue (a 2nd hand one i bought off ebay that got busted in the post)
 
Have to go with Wity on this one guys! If you can get the cue made to the specs you want at that price there is absolutely no doubt in my mind you have an absolute bargain. The only thing I would add is I'd ask them to make you a small extension as well, which I am certain they would do at little or no extra cost above the price you expect to pay.
 
If you're planning to have a cue made then I would I agree that a receptacle for extensions is a good idea. I am having a 9" matched extension made, and a telescopic extension as well. With a production cue you can use a slip-on telescopic extension (I use a Telecue Extenda currently) when needed.

I've attached some examples for clarity. Shaun's extension is a 6" but I find those a little lacking in some spots and I like the wood extensions better although this is a personal preference. The Telecue extensions are great but they can be a little whippy when applying more side or draw to a shot. I've never had one come off the cue mind you, there is just a lot of flex with them.
 

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Hell of a lot less flex than when using the fishing rod found along the side of a snooker table. :D

When you have both a mini butt and a telescopic extension or a long solid butt extension you'll find that the few times you need that extra 6" mini butt the bigger extension will do the job just as easily.Where you need longer than 6" 95% of the time you'll use the bigger extension without it's telescopic part so it's then never whippy.

Theres 7 cues i play with and i've 6 mini butts and 4 telescopic extensions and 1 solid long extension, and in the last 4 years i've not used any of the extensions the push on telescopic that i also have does the job every time.
 
Wity said:
Tell you what I'll make you an offer..

In the link i gave above Monto is offering this cue...

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh20/iqjot/Snooker/Perfect04.jpg

for $150 plus postage plus 3% for paypal.

Order one from him ask him for a 3/4 cue, weighing 17 ounces preferably but no more than 18 no less than 16.5 A balance point of 17". 16" is ok but no more than 17.5"c
Ask for a length of 57.5" (57-58 is norm but 57.5 will suit most especially you being new to snooker)
Ask for a tip anywhere between 9.2 ~ 9.5mm
Ask him to sort one out with tight straight grain and evenly spaced clear arrows on the top view and even as possible splices (tops of which will most likely be even but the points at the bottom may not be (note what i said about Mike? he's a perfectionist and scraps cues that are not perfect even though the grain and evenness of splices makes no difference other than in looks.)

Ensure it has a female fitting for an extension in the butt.


If he can supply to that spec, you'll have a quality cue at a cheap price as good to play with as any and in my opinion anyway very pretty without being flash.

Get the cue play with it, try 2 or 3 different tips see which you prefer and in 3 months time tell me you have found a better cue. or you simply dont like it and I'll give you what you paid for it and the postage to me in the uk.



Thats how confident i am that o'min cues are as good as any And i've only ever seen 1 o'min cue (a 2nd hand one i bought off ebay that got busted in the post)
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Yea, I think I'll pass on the offer and go with a Mike Wooldridge. Maybe they cost more than some, but being in the US and not being able to test hit it first, it's worth more to me to feel his cues are worth the extra money. I can't seem to find any posts of MW cue owners who are dissatisfied with their cue, or that feel they paid too much once they actually saw and hit them. The only ones I see fussing over price don't actually have one. I have spoken with Mike and am confident in getting what I want.
I have done alot of research in the last few weeks, and have run across alot of different brands of cues, a high percentage of which are made in china, and can be bought for a song in large quantities, like 1-10 dollars apiece, depending on the grade. A quick search on Alibaba places Omin cues in that class.

Renegade
 
Fair enough. (Was thinking if he takes up my offer i hope he dont like i've then got a good excuse for having yet another cue :D )

O'min are on Alibaba yes but they are nothing like the chinese crap definately a different class. the Black Horse / JX cues 'etc are all made by kids in chinese sweatshops on a bowl of rice per day, The cues from Thailand, O'min /Mastercue / Unique are quality cues but the average wage is a pittance. Peradon workers in the uk for instance make say average wage here. Mike just likes his fillet steak ;-)

I did loads of searching too when i went for my first decent cue, trouble was it becomes addictive and before you know it you want another then another. Do yourself a favour, once you have one off Mike then dont look again, few cues play exactly the same thus swopping wont help your game one bit, and one good un which it will be from him will last a lifetime. It's price is irrelevent then.
 
Thanks for the advice Wity. Upon reading back over my last post it occurred to me that it "could" be taken as snobbish or derogatory, neither was my intent. I was merely stating that I'd rather just pay the few extra bucks/pounds for the satisfaction of knowing I'd get a nice, well built player the 1st time round, so thanks for not taking it the wrong way.

Boy I tell ya, finding a good snooker cue in the US is a pain in the a**, and as you said, can get quite addictive. Seems like their should be an opportunity there somewhere, but that's another thread.

Renegade
 
Renegade_56 said:
Boy I tell ya, finding a good snooker cue in the US is a pain in the a**, and as you said, can get quite addictive. Seems like their should be an opportunity there somewhere, but that's another thread.
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All we need to do is get more Americans playing snooker. :D

Glad you decided on a Mike Wooldridge cue. Of course I'm a bit biased. I would recommend getting the telescoping extension: I use it every night, and I'm really glad I have it. I didn't get a mini butt, though I may eventually. I also bought a set of his tips.

I wouldn't ever give up my Wooldridge cue. You've probably already guessed that the cue will feel a bit unusual the first time you play with it; the first time you drill a full-length shot, though, I think you'll be hooked for good on the feel. It wasn't until I started shooting with my Wooldridge cue that I understood the appeal of ebony: the feel on the back hand is great.

Other snooker players who've played with my Wooldridge cue have said they liked the way it hit. They weren't saying that just to be nice.

Wity's right: once you get your Wooldridge cue, there's no need to shop around again. Joe Davis played with the same cue through most of his professional career, and he insisted that always playing with the same cue made a difference. (Find a copy of his autobiography, The Breaks Came My Way, if you're interested in the pre-TV history of snooker.)

Oh, and be prepared to adjust/relearn all of your systems for multi-rail banks and kicks. But that's part of the fun.

Geez, I need to get around to posting the pics of my cue. I don't think I've done that yet.


Okay, here are a few of the pics. I haven't yet uploaded the picture of the badge.
http://picasaweb.google.com/rethunk/MikeWooldridgeSharkSnookerCue#5414167805970458786
 
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Thanks rethunk, now I just have to decide/guess what specs I want. I'm actually considering Wity's recomendations, sounds like a good starting point to me.

Renegade
 
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