Unacceptable Shafts & Cues You've Used

drivermaker said:
Maybe you've chosen the wrong one. Seems like most guys are going smaller and smaller on the tip diameter these days. Why it's in vogue, I don't know. I don't think it lends itself to as much accuracy. Sigel had an article in BD a while back and says that he's found 12.9mm to be the best of all worlds for him in tip size. I always thought that he could play a little... :D
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Mike says on his tape 13mm is the best (this is an old tape..but it taught me a lot way back when, plus it doesn't hurt copying another lefty). I've always stayed between a 12.75 and 13mm. I also like to break with my playing cue..so I'm an old schooler in that aspect. I watched an older 9 ball tournament and noticed Buddy H. and Nick V...breaking with their playing cues, just torturing the racks. I don't really know "who" made the break cue popular. Sorry...getting off subject.
 
drivermaker said:
Maybe you've chosen the wrong one. Seems like most guys are going smaller and smaller on the tip diameter these days. Why it's in vogue, I don't know. I don't think it lends itself to as much accuracy. Sigel had an article in BD a while back and says that he's found 12.9mm to be the best of all worlds for him in tip size. I always thought that he could play a little... :D
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Thats odd since he played with a 13 1/4 when he was winning all those tournaments years ago. I guess he is referring to what most players may be comfortable with but he always used a bigger shaft himself.
 
macguy said:
Thats odd since he played with a 13 1/4 when he was winning all those tournaments years ago.
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Well, on his tape from "those" years there is a section on selecting a cue. They have a slow scan of that nice Joss he had from those years and he says that his preference is a 13mm. Believe me, I've watched the tape so many times I have it memorized. Maybe he did play with a 13.25, but on the tape he claims it is a 13mm.
 
macguy said:
Thats odd since he played with a 13 1/4 when he was winning all those tournaments years ago.
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Since he was using a Joss...I guess so. But, he could have anything he wanted done to it back then.

It was further back than I thought...Sept. 2003 issue of BD. He said:

I like to use just under a 13mm tip size, about 12.9mm, to be exact. For me, it seems like I can get the best spin on the cue ball with this size tip, while still making long shots easily. When playing 9-ball, you are constantly both moving the cue ball around the table with English and taking longer shots, so it's important to have that flexibility. Anything over 13mm, say 13.5, and spinning the ball with English becomes more difficult. On the other hand, with this wider tip, long shots seem easier, because the tip covers more of the cue ball, especially when the shot is straight.

When the tip size is under 13mm, closer to 12.5, then English is slightly easier to apply, but those long shots appear much more difficult, because the tip looks smaller on the cue ball.
 
drivermaker said:
Since he was using a Joss...I guess so. But, he could have anything he wanted done to it back then.

It was further back than I thought...Sept. 2003 issue of BD. He said:

I like to use just under a 13mm tip size, about 12.9mm, to be exact. For me, it seems like I can get the best spin on the cue ball with this size tip, while still making long shots easily. When playing 9-ball, you are constantly both moving the cue ball around the table with English and taking longer shots, so it's important to have that flexibility. Anything over 13mm, say 13.5, and spinning the ball with English becomes more difficult. On the other hand, with this wider tip, long shots seem easier, because the tip covers more of the cue ball, especially when the shot is straight.

When the tip size is under 13mm, closer to 12.5, then English is slightly easier to apply, but those long shots appear much more difficult, because the tip looks smaller on the cue ball.
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A lot of players years ago especially straight pool players used big shafts. Danny D. used a 13 1/2 most of his life and you rarely saw a shaft under 13 back then. Now on the other hand Lassiter used something around a 12 1/2 and would even comment about he thought some players would play a little better if they went to a smaller shaft. I think today most have gone the way of Lassiter. I started using a 13 1/2 but while playing the game for like 45 years changed gradually to a 12 3/4. When I say gradually I mean I kept going down till I felt what was the point of diminishing returns.

I personally now think a beginner should start out with a little larger shaft and once they have some experience begin moving to smaller shafts. When I haven't been playing for a while, I have gone a few years without playing at times I always feel better with the bigger shaft when I first start back. Danny D. by the way made the change over night. He took a nice Szamboti shaft and asked me to turn it down from like 13 1/2 to 12 1/2. I said "Don't your want to think about this a little"? I refused to do it because I was sure he would be remorseful. He went over to the gizmo I had in the pool room for spinning shafts, got some sand paper and did it himself. It was awful watching as he sanded away at the Szamboti. He loved it and I don't think he has gone back to the bigger shaft since. This is a direct quote from Danny. " All the years I have been playing, going to the smaller shaft has been the first real thing that almost instantly improved my game, I wish I had done it years ago". Ask him about it if you get the chance.
 
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Can't say that I like meucci's much. Have owned six or seven over the years and always found I was putting spin on the cueball that I didn't intend to put on it. Only had one out of the bunch that I liked and it was a sneaky. Can't remember what was different about it.

I like schons, joss cues, my dzuricky, scruggs, my bob griffin, mcdermotts (though I haven't owned one in many years, last one was a d 21 I think), and I've hit with a jacoby that I really liked.

I don't play good enough to be overly picky, and can adjust to what I'm shooting with and play around the same level most of the time. Gave up searching for the magic wand and now just buy things to try, keep them if I like them, sell them if I don't.
 
drivermaker said:
I own 4 red dot shafts and about 6 black dots as well as a Meucci original circa 1980 which is stiff as a board. I have no clue where all of you get on this bandwagon about how whippy a red dot is. It's not like a whippy golf shaft that you can wiggle in your hand and feel the movement or in the transition from backswing to forward swing. How goddamn hard do you strike the CB to feel this supposed bend? Are you really ball bangers? You all make it sound like you're hitting with a bull whip...it's wood for chrissake!
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I had a meucci cue with blackdot shafts and they played real nice I use to put them on my palmer cue and play with it instead of the meucci, I'm sorry I sold the shafts I should have kept one , my opion on the blackdot shaft was when shooting short shots I didn't have any deflextion but on long shots you acually felt the shaft give some-what but it was ok that way, I like the 12.75m dia.and it was a really nice shaft to play with thats my opion on them

Steven
 
I retired from the Navy reserve in 2003. Everytime I went on my annual two week duty i brought with me my old Meucci (Originals.) It took some time for me to get used to it and I played well with it. Playing young sailors I easily won every tournament I entered in Norfolk, San Diego, Honalulu, and Great Lakes. Tournaments held at Q-masters, Brians, Karbotsas's place (Forget the name) and the place in San Diego (I can't recall the name either) I did pretty well but always finished out of the money.

My regular playing cue is a Tim Scruggs and just a couple of years ago I got a Predator shaft. What can I say? I loved the Scrugg's and decided to give the predator a try. I can't really tell much differance between them.

I guess I would like to say I'm easily adaptable to sticks but I'm not. The McDermott's of old I did not like the feel. After a hit I couldnt tell you what Whitey had in mind. The steel joint type I can play with though.
 
Shorty said:
The Sledgehammer break cue...

I just can't break a rack worth a dern with one.

*shrug*

I can break fine with this Colt I have with a Phenolic tip on a short ferrule...but that one piece Sledgehammer tip/ferrule job I had just did not work worth a dern for me.

No clue as to why.

Shorty
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A lot of people seem to have problems with the Sledgehammer. Personally, I break with a custom Mike Sigel with the Sledgehammer tip and really like the break, but it is just me. When I started breaking with it, I had to back off on english and hit more center cue, but now, I really get good breaking action with the cue. Please realize, however, that I like stiff hitting cues and play with a SW, these are just my personal opinions.
 
If you get a cue without thinking of "Who" and "how" it was made and you use it everyday to a point the cues would play as any other , would it still make a difference to get a high value , or high end cue ?

i say this because i play with "Orchid" cue wich isn't really that good , but i don't really "care" about the brand , since i play good with it and im used to it (And money might be a issue ;) ) .. Would it better to grab a better cue ?
 
I gradually went down from 12.75mm to 12mm and back up to 12.75mm. I think, if anything, it's easier to pocket balls...make ridiculous cuts, etc...because you can sight the ball more exactly. Pocketing long shots isn't a problem either. Only thing is, it's unsettling using draw, etc. because the shaft doesn't have much spine at 12mm (or at least mine didn't)...transfer of power is no good. I think 12.75 is a happy medium

drivermaker said:
because the tip covers more of the cue ball, especially when the shot is straight.

When the tip size is under 13mm, closer to 12.5, then English is slightly easier to apply, but those long shots appear much more difficult, because the tip looks smaller on the cue ball.
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Tons'O'fun said:
I just love how it's become the Meucci thread. It always comes back to Meucci.

There should be a seperate forum just for Meucci supporters and Meucci haters to bang heads together and listen to the hollow echoes. :D
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What planet have you been recently visiting?? There isn't much on Meucci here at all. There's always crap about a Predator, or production vs. independent cuemakers ( the word custom is overused and mostly a misnomer), but Meucci only comes up occasionally. No more or less than say Schon vs. Pechauer or Joss.
 
Egg McDogit said:
I gradually went down from 12.75mm to 12mm and back up to 12.75mm. I think, if anything, it's easier to pocket balls...make ridiculous cuts, etc...because you can sight the ball more exactly. Pocketing long shots isn't a problem either.
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I've never understood this "sighting the ball more exactly". What the hell does that mean and how does it affect things more positively? What are you looking at that improves the process of aiming or tip offset for english? I mean 1/2 tip of offset is 1/2 tip of offset.

I think pocketing long shots IS more of a problem because one little mm of an imperfect stroke is going to cause you to put spin on the ball and that's definitely going to take with a smaller tip than a larger one.
 
Predators are consistent in their hit not matter how they're positioned when shooting. This is good.

McDermotts are good cues, good price, etc. but I can't hit a thing with them....I have no reason why.

Jeff Livingston
 
I actually use what I can see of my shaft to help sight shots like 9 foot 80 degree cuts. I see what you're saying...look at the object ball last, so what diff does it make. I do 2-3 checks in aiming to check that my shaft's lining up with my aim point correctly. The more of the shaft I can see and the thinner it is, the more exactly I can verify the aim point. But when I pull the trigger, I'm always looking at the object ball only. I can tell you from personal experience though, that I cut long 70+ degree cuts better with thinner shafts.

I didn't really experience any problems with english. I think part of the reason is that it's easier to tell where you're hitting on the cueball since the tip/shaft is smaller. As a note, my shaft was originally 13mm and deflected a lot. After turning it down to 12mm, the deflection was close to a predator.

Before you destroy my fragile ego with your response, please keep in mind that I'm just a street player :(

drivermaker said:
I've never understood this "sighting the ball more exactly". What the hell does that mean and how does it affect things more positively? What are you looking at that improves the process of aiming or tip offset for english? I mean 1/2 tip of offset is 1/2 tip of offset.

I think pocketing long shots IS more of a problem because one little mm of an imperfect stroke is going to cause you to put spin on the ball and that's definitely going to take with a smaller tip than a larger one.
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Egg McDogit said:
Before you destroy my fragile ego with your response, please keep in mind that I'm just a street player :(
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Now why did you have to go and say that...I was just getting ready to bomb you. :mad: SIGH....OK, I'll let you slide this time. ;)
 
I've played with 13.25 mm shafts for many years. For some reason they just feel more comfortable in my hand. Though I have played with 13 MM or a hair smaller and did not have any problems adjusting to them. I do prefer a very stiff, firm hit and think that the thicker shaft is more conducive to that.
 
tom said:
I play with a Cognoscenti that came with 2 shafts, one is perfect, great hit and very low deflection, the other is very different, it deflects much more.
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I have a Kersenbrock kinda like that. One shaft plays well for me and the other is kind mushy feeling. I changed the ferrule and tried like six different tips on it and it still did not make a difference.
 
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