I feel the same way about $20 cue tips. If an Elkmaster is good enough for Efren Reyes, it's good enough for me...
thats the truth.........even tho i build and repair cues I refuse to buy any of the layered products......WHY? Well b/c there is a new flavor thats the new best and brightest every other week........those tips cost anywhere from a couple bucks per to $20+/- each........i could spend $1000 dollars and im just guessing that they POSSIBLY....POSSIBLY would give me a good half dozen of each tip out there but its an arbitrary number when I can get Soft/Med/Hard tips for $10-$30 for a box of 50 depending on the size and kind.
Hell I was selling boxes of 50 14mm triangle for $20 the other day and lepro for $15 give or take...........
now if your in the business of doing repair or building cues one of the biggest things you must accomplish is developing a customer to craftsman/repairman relationship........
one of the things that players like about the layered tips is that they mushroom less or not at all...........
one thing to know is that the larger diameter non-layered tips are considered better than the smaller diameter........the 15mm tips are from a thicker part of hide which is going to be more dense. More density means more consistency from tip to tip and less mushrooming will occur.
Some of us use a water test to see which tips are good ones......drop them in a glass and the sinkers are good and the floaters are bad.
Now I hear that some throw the bad ones.............I don't b/c I can fix them
One thing to remember is that the tip hardness is not directly related to how the tips surface is going to be in regards to it having a "satin" finish, smooth, fluffy, glossy surface etc......The scale is based on the tips ELASTIC QUALITIES and INHERENT COMPRESSION RESISTANCE.
Tip pics and scuffers that leave the surface with anything but a gernerally smooth surface are not prepping the tip correct for play IMOP...........having fuzzies, dingle berries, ridges etc can interfere with the precision of the hit and can cause miscues by allowing the tip to literally SLIDE off the CB deflecting the shaft. The leather fuzz or stringy surface along with the chalk makes for a MORE SLIPPERY surface.
The only time I mess with my tip is if i GLAZED it over....that glass looking miscue mark........the rest of the tip will be good and have a smooth satin or flat shine look to it. I'll use very light sand paper in this instance 320 is usually good unless if the miscue caused a divot in the tips shoulder in which case you would have to reshape the top.
Point on that is that NORMALLY when people are tip picking or scuffing etc they are acting like they are reshaping the tip when all that is needed is to DEGLOSS the tip completely......as I mentioned as long as the tip is not misshapen then just hit it with light paper. Single layer tips dont last people b/c they scuff the crap out of them and don't get them reshaped everyonce in a blue moon so they keep knocking off the top with the mortar on the wall.
I very rarely have to do anything to my tip besides chalk it.
First off tips shouldn't be installed full height IMOP as its just adding extra squirt and mushrooming......after a given period of play the tip will have been compressed to optimum with the sides bulging IE: mushrooming. You then have the cue repair guy/cuemaker or on your own you re-cut the shoulder of the tip flush with the ferrule and shape the top and prepare surface correctly,burnish, chalk and DONE
Now the tip will play great and wont mushroom especially if you keep your tips shoulder 5mm or under.
Back to those "BAD" tips that floated in water......... these are generally the ones that are going to mushroom really bad especially if the tip is on the softer side.
The trick is to PRESS THE TIPS.....use a vice or build a jig with a torque wrench. You can also SOAK & PRESS many diff types of non layer tips.
Most common method of soaking is in whole milk.......the collagen helps bind the leather better making it more resilient.
After pressing the tips will be consistent.....generally i don't have mushrooming problems with this method.....I may need to touch it off after about a month but thats about it.
Now a good tip with good/proper care if the player is playing often should last from 4-8 months IMOP depending on what they do.
So the customer comes once to get the tip, then again when he gets his shaft cleaned I will touch it off say a month later and reshape the top.
You put it on short so it doesn't last 10 years of play...........so a handful of months down the road they are back.
with the layered tips some act as if they got a lifetime guarantee with it lol......
so when they have to go spend $30 for a tip they dread it..........when you can solve all their problems equipment and monetary wise for about $10-15
thats one problem with the industry the big parent companies are pushing manufactured products that keep customers from frequenting the custom maker or repair mans shop.
It creates seperation in the industry between buyer and seller..........now wonder no one appreciates anything....they don't have to.
all the while customers come by less and less and you have more tied up in materials for longer waiting on them to show to get a new tip after their iridium tips final half life has ran out...........NO GOOD NO GOOD
If your car tires cost $500......would you buy a set for $2000 that you would never have to put air into....and that was their only benefit?
-Grey Ghost-
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