what did you really think about meucci cues?

its a shame really, I love the looks of some of the newer Meuccis, and I was pretty well set on buying one, until I found AZ and found out how the majority of players disliked them. I might have liked it just fine, but I am still very happy I went with a Schon.
 
I recently bought one and it is ok feels like it has good balance but don't think it was worth the price - was playing today with a guy that had one but it was from yrs ago - when I picked his up you could tell it was a real good solid cue. I don't play with the one I bought. I tried Mezz and they hit solid but you really have to get used to them. I play with a Dominiak overall for me it performs best altho there are better out there and the Mezz is a more solid hitting stick. Just my opinion.
 
jay helfert said:
Back in the 80's when Hall, Rempe, David Howard and many other top players played with a Meucci, it was a good, solid playing cue. I don't know what Bob Meucci did but now the Meucci's don't even compare to the cheap Taiwan imports. I wouldn't give over $25 for any Meucci cue because that's about what I think they're worth.
Click to expand...

Once I was at the Super Billiards Expo and Mike Sigel had a booth promoting his cues near the front entrance. He was going on about how it was when he played and how many world championships he won back in the day. All of the sudden a voice comes out of the back of the crowd, "Tell them what brand of cue you were using when you won all those championships Mike" shouts Bob Meucci over the crowd.

Silence. Crickets Chirping. Bob says, "It was a Meucci" and walks away.
 
undertaker said:
hello,
here in germany the cues have since a few years a very bad reputation. nearly every new player uses a different brand and many of the old player switch to something like mezz, joss, jim davis...
how is the situation in your country? how many cues do you think does he actually sell? did anybody know how the quality of the new 21 century line is?
please give me any thoughts, infos on meucci that you know.
thank you very much
Click to expand...

When I first went to Germany in 1989 Meucci and McDermott were the ONLY brands that everyone had and wanted - primarily because they were the only ones getting promoted.

My personal experience with them has been mixed. As a player I have owned several of them. One I was absolutely in love with from the way it played and looked. It was stolen and the replacement was the same model same weight and played like crap for some reason. I sold it the day after I got it. Other than that I have had a few that were so so.

I haven't really played with the whole black dot red dot shafts so I can't comment on those.

Bob Meucci has been a pioneer on a lot of levels in this industry. Unfortunately his views on how a cue should be built don't always go well with how a cue should stay together or perhaps the problem was that he is just lax in controlling his quality. After all a good design and good engineering can be ruined through sloppy execution.

Who knows what the underlying reasons are, the facts are that throughout the 90's and early 2000's the quality of the cues declined and the service from the factory went down as well. This led to very inconsistent cues and very unhappy dealers who had to contend with very unhappy customers.

I can tell you that Bob Meucci is working hard to make a comeback and restore his cues to prominence. The damage may be too deep however in the pysche of dealers and players.

Those of you who enjoy high dollar artistic cues can thank Meucci though as he has pushed the envelope on design and price forever. The list of cuemakers who sell cues in the price range that some Meuccis have sold for is still a short one and few of them can match the wide variety of design that Meucci puts up.

Here is a scenario I would like to see. I would like to see Meucci license his designs to other cue makers. Wouldn't it be cool to see some of Meucci's best designs done by your favorite cuemaker?

The gambler cue is a prime example of a design theme pioneered by Meucci and rendered in some form by many prominent cue makers throughout the years.

So, how do I really feel? I think a Meucci is a pool cue that works for playing pool. Some of them have a really great hit and some do not. Some of them stay in great condition and some do not. Lack of Consistency is the biggest production issue facing Meucci and perception of low quality by dealers and consumers is the largest problem for the marketplace. If I had to put my money in a cue to play with then It would not be a Meucci right now unless I was getting it for a price that was too low to pass up and even then it would be a very hard decision to trade any dollars for a Meucci.
 
undertaker said:
hello,
here in germany the cues have since a few years a very bad reputation. nearly every new player uses a different brand and many of the old player switch to something like mezz, joss, jim davis...
how is the situation in your country? how many cues do you think does he actually sell? did anybody know how the quality of the new 21 century line is?
please give me any thoughts, infos on meucci that you know.
thank you very much
Click to expand...

I have liked the designs since the 1970's, however, the quality of materials, and their Quality Control of finished products sucks ass.
I have sold their cues for around eight years, and it have gotten to the point that on an order of 10 cues I have to send back at least 40%, some times more and this is over and over again. But, I still have customers who like these cues so I continue to sell them, but I do know how much longer,

Craig
 
Murray Tucker said:
I think most of it is between the players ears.

Here is a Post from John McChesney circa 1999:

Here's something interesting we tried in 1991:
At an event we had 16 cues with the butt, joint and the ferrules covered
with masking tape...then numbered. No one could "see" if the cue was a
steel, plastic or wood joint (as in a Pete), nor detect by the style of
ferrule. We had 70 players...each hit balls with the cues throughout the
weekend.

The results:
Of nearly 800 attempts over the time period, the players guessed wrong about
what type joint was in the cue more than 7 out of 10 times. A top pro
(Meucci staffer) happened to be there, having done an exhibition and the cue
he liked the most during the attempts: He thought was surely a Meucci,
plastic joint when in reality it was an older Adams with a piloted steel
joint; and additionally guessed the Meucci he shot with as a cue with a
steel joint. Again, I maintain that cues with different joint materials may
sound differently; may be balanced differently, but what is "hit" ? Doesn't
"hit" have to do with all the senses: Vibration (feel), sound, balance, etc.
What is a "soft" hit? What is a "hard" hit? (what does this mean, if not
the sound the cue makes upon impact, or are people ref. to the vibration in
the butt?) Does a hard hit vibrate more and make a different sound? A soft
hit vibrate less with a different sound? I maintain that the primary
criteria that differentiates one cue from another begins with: The tip
(soft, med or hard) The shaft diameter and density of the wood The taper (or
stiffness of the shaft) To this day, I still don't believe the joint has
much to do with the reaction of the cueball off the shaft, rather it is the
3 aforementioned that have far more bearing on how a cue plays than anything
else. Remember, what makes the predator shaft play differently is what is
located at the tip, inside the shaft, the ferrule and the laminations....not
the joint or butt. In closing, our experiment asked which cue the players
liked best: Of the 70 players, nearly 55 liked the hit of two cues with
different numbers: When the two were exposed, they both were sneaky petes,
wood to wood joints, (one a Scruggs and the other a Huebler); both about 19
oz., both about 13 1/4mm and tended to be on the stiff side of "hit". By
the way, the 55 who liked the hit of these two cues: more than half thought
they would be steel jointed.
Click to expand...


Murray, thank you for reposting this.

I think what it shows is that hit is between the player's hands as in what they really feel as opposed to what they expect to feel.

In the mid-90s I had a player walk up to my table at a tournament and ask if I had a cue that was as "weiche" (soft - whippy) as a Meucci. The only cue I had at the time with a taper that was close was a Joss and I handed that to him. He shot with it and came back complaining that it was too hard (stiff). Then he picks up a Robertson (import brand) with a literal tree trunk of a shaft. 13mm tip with nearly a straight taper. He asks how it hits, hard or soft, and I told him to just go play with it and tell me. He does and comes back 30 minutes later proclaiming it to be the best cue he ever played with and buys it. I am sure that if I had said the cue was stiffer than the Joss then he would have put it down and gone away.
 
In the 80's IMHO the Meucci Sneaky was dollar for dollar one of the best cues you could buy. In fact I wish I still had a couple that I let go.

Today there high end cues are dollar for dollar one of the worst you can buy :rolleyes:

The only reason I moved off of the Meucci was the whippiness of the shaft on long shots, which was I think their biggest downfall.

Woody
 
Murray, thanks for posting that article. I have always said most of it is in a guys (or girls) head.

Ive never understood the hangup with some people over a quarter of an ounce weight or the smallest change of tip diameter.

I knew a guy several years ago that bought a new cue, played with it for several months and raved about how well it played. One day another guy comes in with one of those cards with holes in it to check shaft size, he put it on the cue and the owner found out it was a little different than what he thought it was. Not long after he had to sell the cue because he didnt like the way it played! His confidence dropped the instant he new the size. Of course he never figured out that the 25 cent gauge could have been wrong.

Till this day I couldnt tell someone what weight or diameter my cue is. I just pick up a cue and try it, and either I like it or I dont.

Not trying to start a debate on if an ounce makes a difference or not, lets please keep that for another thread LOL.

Woody
 
woody_968 said:
Murray, thanks for posting that article. I have always said most of it is in a guys (or girls) head.

Ive never understood the hangup with some people over a quarter of an ounce weight or the smallest change of tip diameter.

I knew a guy several years ago that bought a new cue, played with it for several months and raved about how well it played. One day another guy comes in with one of those cards with holes in it to check shaft size, he put it on the cue and the owner found out it was a little different than what he thought it was. Not long after he had to sell the cue because he didnt like the way it played! His confidence dropped the instant he new the size. Of course he never figured out that the 25 cent gauge could have been wrong.

Till this day I couldnt tell someone what weight or diameter my cue is. I just pick up a cue and try it, and either I like it or I dont.

Not trying to start a debate on if an ounce makes a difference or not, lets please keep that for another thread LOL.

Woody
Click to expand...

I usually like a 19oz or slightly under, I bought a cue that played great and it turned out to be 21.95oz. I bought it for resale but almost kept it.
The point is... I agree, who cares what it weighs just play with it, if you like it buy it.
Jason <----still misses his early 90's meucci.
 
That must have been mine...

D@mn that must have been my huebler i used to have. It was the best hitting and balanced sneaky pete Ive ever owned. Never did know what happened to it. had to sell it for gas money.:D

Murray Tucker said:
I think most of it is between the players ears.

Here is a Post from John McChesney circa 1999:

Here's something interesting we tried in 1991:
At an event we had 16 cues with the butt, joint and the ferrules covered
with masking tape...then numbered. No one could "see" if the cue was a
steel, plastic or wood joint (as in a Pete), nor detect by the style of
ferrule. We had 70 players...each hit balls with the cues throughout the
weekend.

The results:
Of nearly 800 attempts over the time period, the players guessed wrong about
what type joint was in the cue more than 7 out of 10 times. A top pro
(Meucci staffer) happened to be there, having done an exhibition and the cue
he liked the most during the attempts: He thought was surely a Meucci,
plastic joint when in reality it was an older Adams with a piloted steel
joint; and additionally guessed the Meucci he shot with as a cue with a
steel joint. Again, I maintain that cues with different joint materials may
sound differently; may be balanced differently, but what is "hit" ? Doesn't
"hit" have to do with all the senses: Vibration (feel), sound, balance, etc.
What is a "soft" hit? What is a "hard" hit? (what does this mean, if not
the sound the cue makes upon impact, or are people ref. to the vibration in
the butt?) Does a hard hit vibrate more and make a different sound? A soft
hit vibrate less with a different sound? I maintain that the primary
criteria that differentiates one cue from another begins with: The tip
(soft, med or hard) The shaft diameter and density of the wood The taper (or
stiffness of the shaft) To this day, I still don't believe the joint has
much to do with the reaction of the cueball off the shaft, rather it is the
3 aforementioned that have far more bearing on how a cue plays than anything
else. Remember, what makes the predator shaft play differently is what is
located at the tip, inside the shaft, the ferrule and the laminations....not
the joint or butt. In closing, our experiment asked which cue the players
liked best: Of the 70 players, nearly 55 liked the hit of two cues with
different numbers: When the two were exposed, they both were sneaky petes,
wood to wood joints, (one a Scruggs and the other a Huebler); both about 19
oz., both about 13 1/4mm and tended to be on the stiff side of "hit". By
the way, the 55 who liked the hit of these two cues: more than half thought
they would be steel jointed.
Click to expand...
 
woody_968 said:
Murray, thanks for posting that article. I have always said most of it is in a guys (or girls) head.

Ive never understood the hangup with some people over a quarter of an ounce weight or the smallest change of tip diameter.

I knew a guy several years ago that bought a new cue, played with it for several months and raved about how well it played. One day another guy comes in with one of those cards with holes in it to check shaft size, he put it on the cue and the owner found out it was a little different than what he thought it was. Not long after he had to sell the cue because he didnt like the way it played! His confidence dropped the instant he new the size. Of course he never figured out that the 25 cent gauge could have been wrong.

Till this day I couldnt tell someone what weight or diameter my cue is. I just pick up a cue and try it, and either I like it or I dont.

Not trying to start a debate on if an ounce makes a difference or not, lets please keep that for another thread LOL.

Woody
Click to expand...


This is how I sell cues. I just tell people to play with them. On my own I don't know the weight or the diameter or the pivot point or the taper or anything other than if they feel right or not.
 
Funny this comes up. I saw a guy at the club the other day who I bought my first schon from. This would have been like 15 years a go. He sold it to me and some other cue's becuase he bought the first cue from the Meucci master piece series. lol 2 Grand he paid for it! Not only ugly but worthless. I believe in the first blue book of cue's they said if it was new never played..still wrapped in plastic it was worth about a grand. anyway there he is still playing with it. I don't know if you believe in the anti deflection stuff or not but I noticed every time he hit a ball it looked like a damn tuning fork vibrating back and fourth. lol
I played with mcdermott's early on...I loved the way mucci's looked but they hit like shit in my opinion.
 
Wake up

I remember the day I switched cues.Tony robles and myself switched to predator. If I remember correctly Tony was still using his old grey meucci. he played very well with that cue, his game was very solid.He played with that cue for years. I had 4 cues, A paradise titlist, 2 palmers and a heubler.

Bottom line is if you can switch from Meucci or Paradise to a Predator, YOU CAN PLAY WITH ANYTHING, it's a matter of getting use to.I am sure you can also switch from a predator to a Meucci, just get use to it . Remember the crooked house cue, bad tip, overlapped ferrule? I guess no one ever played well with a bad house cue.

If meucci was the only cue made in the world I don't think all the sharp shooters would have a problem running racks with it, winning world tournaments with impressive play.

If meucci was the only cue made in the world this thread would be about who has the prettiest.

DON'T RAG on Meucci I am sure most have learned with a bad house cue. Yes I know a house cue is one piece and pretty solid, I guess that makes up for the warps, flat tips, bad ferrules, weight, etc
 
Well, I believe my 8 year old has a firm grasp of the Meucci situation.
Last year at Hardtimes he told Braden Murphy, while pulling a Meucci out of my case, that (and I quote) " It's a P.O.S. Meucci, that's not worth breaking with, but I'll use it because it's signed by Johnny Archer. That makes it alright to play with."
But the Meucci of the old days...... can give the 5 ball to the Meucci cues from the last few years. I've liked two made since 1995.
Either get back to the original quality, or give it all to China, that's pretty much where they stand. But I think everyone knows the past of that anyway.
 
These two statistics are accurate in match play, but I cant remember tournament play.

I have never lost to a player with a Meucci cue.
I have NEVER lost to a player with a pool glove.

This is because most top players understand they are inferior as marketed, and most Pro players that use them have custom shafts made for them.

Kinda like the Earl Strickland cuetec thing- I used one for years for bar/small room hustling, with a Duct-Tape case with Duct tape strap. I even wore a pool glove for extra show. I still cant play top level with one, and have never been able to break one. But there are SEVERAL videos of earl snapping a cuetec. This tells us what is really going on.
 
jay helfert said:
Back in the 80's when Hall, Rempe, David Howard and many other top players played with a Meucci, it was a good, solid playing cue.
Click to expand...
Earl Strickland played with a Meucci also during the 80's.

Bob Meucci sponsored a number of pro's when the Pro Billiards Tour was in control of men's pool. He had a lot of the big name pro's playing with Meucci cues and they played pretty well with them. Efren beat Earl Strickland in the color of money race to 120 with a Meucci cue.

I don't own a Meucci and I don't care to own one, but before the quality went down they weren't that bad.

James
 
I have two Meucci cues. My first was the 97-10 model and I really liked it. I upgraded (I thought) to the Gambler 2. Both shafts have bowed on me enough that I can't even get rid of it. Oddly, the 97-10 has never had a problem. I gave it to my wife and she loves it.

The real reason I went away from Meucci cues was a conversation with Bob at Valley Forge some years back. I showed him the warped shafts from the Gambler and asked him if there was anything he could do. After all, this was a fairly expensive cue to have both shafts warp that quickly. He talked to me like I was a moron. Basically, he blamed me for not taking care of them. He was not interested in helping me and came off as a first rate ass. I left his booth and went around the corner and ordered a custom cue. I haven't touched the Gambler since.
 
I played with a Meucci Original for a number of years and I now break with the same cue. I paid 145 for the cue and won an easy ten times the amount I paid for the cue. It never let me down and I think it affected many of my opponents when they saw it lying on the table while I racked the balls. They were playing with higher priced cues but they weren't doing them any good.
 
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