Snooker cue's vs. American Pool cue's

galipeau

galipeau

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but I was wondering what cuemaker''s on here thought. Have been looking at snooker cues recently, and it occurred to me that the basic design of snooker cues has remained unchanged for the last 50 or so years. I'm not talking about glues, etc, I mean the basic types of construction. It seems that American pool cue makers have explored the facets of cuemaking much further than the European counterparts. The construction techniques for pool cues seem to be an endless variation of splicing methods and joinery, while snooker cues now look the same as they did when Joe Davis was king.

Example:
-Most snooker cues are butterfly spliced at the butt end (something heavy and dense into ash or maple) with a brass joint approx 3/4 of the way down the cue.

-Pool cues have a 50/50 split generally and have a myriad of butt configurations (waaayyy to many to list here), mostly maple shafts, and there are also a crazy amount of joint types.


I am not making a judgement call on what's better or worse, that's not the point, and I don't want this thread to be about that. Just wanted to see what others thought on why this was. I suppose different markets yield different demands for the products it's consumers use!
 
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Basicly they are apples & oranges. Snooker is played a 6x12 or 5x10 ft table. The balls are much smaller as are the pockets. Since the balls are so small & light, less effort is warrented to move that small ball around the table. Thus a much lighter & shorter cue is used ( 15-17 oz.). The Snooker cue has a taper that was standardized many moons ago, along with the brass ferrule ( before the invention of plastic). The taper does not lend itself to a closed bridge. A wood like ash has open grain, unlike maple's very smooth & closed grain. Thus the snooker player uses an open bridge. The 9mm or 10mm dia. tip of a snooker cue does not translate to a much larger pool ball. Try to poke a needle at a spot on a ball. The smaller the tip the harder it is to hit the spot you are aiming at on the cue ball. Try to hit a long hard draw shot with a 15 oz. 9mm cue. I'm 72 yrs old & have played both games since I was 14. The 2 games are wildly different as far as the equipment, but I LOVE them both...JER
 
Thanks for the input blackheart. i appreciate the comments. I have played snooker a few times and have watched many matches. I understand the difference in ball size, materials etc. I suppose i'm interested in why pool cues are so varied in construction techniques, as opposed to snooker cues, which have stayed relatively the same….
 
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My comments/thoughts would be this.

Most people are a product of their environment, and the snooker environment is more conservative than the pool environment in this regard.

I'd say most snookers players prefer to let their skill on the table do the talking, rather than their cue.

If you walked into a snooker hall, with a cue all inlayed with bits and pieces like a fancy pool cue, you'd probably be laughed out of the room before you got a chance to play.

Did you ever notice even the most successful (thus rich) snooker players don't have extra fancy cues. (And successful snooker players are way richer than pool players.)

Thus the average snooker player has no need for a super fancy cue, ergo they are not made.

This does not mean there have not been advances in construction, but most seek a cue made with old school techniques.

Just my 0.02c
 
There are snooker cues that are not a total conical taper, but have a shallow taper for the 1st 12 inches or so and then ramps to the conical taper of the rest of the shaft and handle. But it is not really obvious and you really do have to look carefully to see it.
Looking down the handle taper , it looks like it finishes at the tip and you see an area that is missing is the best way to describe it. The other one I saw, when you look down the handle taper, it aligns at about 6 inches or so before the tip on the shaft.
Neil
 
The Snooker community never really embraced the Functional Art thought pattern that the pool community has. There are very few sports industries that have went to functional art like pool cues have. Chess is one that has, but there are not many others that I can think of.
 
Fishing rods are quite similar in the "functional art" category. You can buy a 'fishin pole' for $10, or a fine bamboo fly rood for $10,000 and all kinds of choices anywhere in between. They also, like cues, are collectible, with prices rising over time for some makers. There are mass marketers, and custom makers of finely crafted and unique rods, very similar to the cues industry.

The Rodmaker listserv also has a lot of similarity in to the cue makers discussions on AZB. Mostly pleasant, but occasionally 'over the edge'!

mac
 
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