Toothpick

[Bumpa]

Experienced players -

A surgeon does not use a Bowie knife for fine work, so I have been wondering why I have been using what feels like a baseball bat to play pool. Most cue shafts I have average 12.5 +/- mm in diameter with ferrules 3/4-1" long. I am not a banger and am trying to develop a "finesse" style to help me control the cue ball. So just for fun, I recently sanded a cheapo Miz cue shaft down to 11.5 mm diameter for the first 12-13", cut the ferrule down to 12 mm length, installed a new tip, and have been playing with it. I don't break with it, and it feels great. It just feels more precise, and it may even help me improve my newbie game.

Anybody see a downside to doing such a sacreligious thing?

Thanks.

Rick

 

[prad]

In my opinion if you think that "finesse" has anything to do with the shaft diameter then you are wrong my friend.
You say you are not a banger but i think you need to understand a little bit more about the pool game and work more on the fundamentals. Hopefully the "finesse" will come to you.

 

[JMuck]

Experienced players -

A surgeon does not use a Bowie knife for fine work, so I have been wondering why I have been using what feels like a baseball bat to play pool. Most cue shafts I have average 12.5 +/- mm in diameter with ferrules 3/4-1" long. I am not a banger and am trying to develop a "finesse" style to help me control the cue ball. So just for fun, I recently sanded a cheapo Miz cue shaft down to 11.5 mm diameter for the first 12-13", cut the ferrule down to 12 mm length, installed a new tip, and have been playing with it. I don't break with it, and it feels great. It just feels more precise, and it may even help me improve my newbie game.

Anybody see a downside to doing such a sacreligious thing?

Thanks.


Rick

You have made it into a low end mass,low deflection cue.Examples of companies who manufacture them are Ob cues and Predator

 

[pdcue]

Experienced players -

A surgeon does not use a Bowie knife for fine work, so I have been wondering why I have been using what feels like a baseball bat to play pool. Most cue shafts I have average 12.5 +/- mm in diameter with ferrules 3/4-1" long. I am not a banger and am trying to develop a "finesse" style to help me control the cue ball. So just for fun, I recently sanded a cheapo Miz cue shaft down to 11.5 mm diameter for the first 12-13", cut the ferrule down to 12 mm length, installed a new tip, and have been playing with it. I don't break with it, and it feels great. It just feels more precise, and it may even help me improve my newbie game.

Anybody see a downside to doing such a sacreligious thing?

Thanks.

Rick

As prad said, you are putting your emphasis on the wrong end of the cue.

Precision happens in the stroke. The size of the tip, or shaft has nothing
to do with it.

IMHO - if you think 12.5 mm feels like a Louisville Slugger, you are likely
playing the wrong game anyway.

Dale

 

[ShootingArts]

can be a good tool

Experienced players -

A surgeon does not use a Bowie knife for fine work, so I have been wondering why I have been using what feels like a baseball bat to play pool. Most cue shafts I have average 12.5 +/- mm in diameter with ferrules 3/4-1" long. I am not a banger and am trying to develop a "finesse" style to help me control the cue ball. So just for fun, I recently sanded a cheapo Miz cue shaft down to 11.5 mm diameter for the first 12-13", cut the ferrule down to 12 mm length, installed a new tip, and have been playing with it. I don't break with it, and it feels great. It just feels more precise, and it may even help me improve my newbie game.

Anybody see a downside to doing such a sacreligious thing?

Thanks.

Rick

That is a pretty unforgiving tip size. hit the cue ball slightly wrong and the error is magnified far more than with a bigger tip. Play with your toothpick awhile and then swap back to your bigger shaft. You'll feel like you can't miss.

You may find you want to take the bigger shaft down to a diameter from 12.30 to maybe 12, few people like playing with something smaller long term.

I played pool for awhile with a twelve ounce snooker stick. It was low deflection before low deflection was cool. I had to learn to aim differently for a lot of shots and the cue weight no longer felt like it did any work, everything was muscle with little help from gravity and inertia. I fought with that stick for months. When I finally got it working I played better pool with better cue ball control than any stick I ever played with. Your toothpick concept isn't doing things the easy way but it isn't too far wrong either.

Hu

 

[Fatboy]

Oscar was using a 8 or 9mm shaft for a while a few years back, i hit a few balls with it and it was possible to hit the CB very accurately with it, however on some shots I dont think it had enough backbone to do the job, so the trade off wasnt worth it. 20 yeas ago when we had slow cloth 12.75 was on the thin side, 13-13.5 was the norm, you needed the meat of a fatter shaft to move the rock, now with pitty pat pool on super fast cloth 12.5 +/- seems to be the optimal diameter.

 

[JohnPT]

Oscar was using a 8 or 9mm shaft for a while a few years back, i hit a few balls with it and it was possible to hit the CB very accurately with it, however on some shots I dont think it had enough backbone to do the job, so the trade off wasnt worth it. 20 yeas ago when we had slow cloth 12.75 was on the thin side, 13-13.5 was the norm, you needed the meat of a fatter shaft to move the rock, now with pitty pat pool on super fast cloth 12.5 +/- seems to be the optimal diameter.

Can't remember whom but a well known commentator was of the opinion those microshafts (made that up myself ) was holding Oscar back and basically did him more harm than good.

 

[Fatboy]

Can't remember whom but a well known commentator was of the opinion those microshafts (made that up myself ) was holding Oscar back and basically did him more harm than good.

most did, including myself, until i played with his cue, WOW it was great for lots of precise shots. he since has fattened up, not sure how much I sent him a txt yesterday about something else, i'll see what he is using now, 11 i think-guessing. he dont have a heavy handed stroke so that does afford him some allowance for a thinner shaft. What ever the case is, he made the Mosconi Cup, so how can that be knocked? O is a great person and player, proud to be his friend.

 

[mortuarymike-nv]

tooth pic

On a big table i would think a 11mm shaft would be somewhat of a handi cap.

I heard Earl strickland use a 9 or a 10 mm shaft.
myself personally anything under 12mm and I replace the shaft.

If its on a custom cue I think it would hurt the value.
MMike

 

[Bumpa]

Prad et al -

Thank you for your comments.

As I try to develop a "finesse" style, I am working on fundamentals every time I play. Cue weight, balance, diameter, tip type, etc., are just part of experiencing options available to us all. Pool is about having fun, and this has turned into a fun little edumacation and entertaining experiment for me.

Rick