What Do You Look For In A Cue?

Looks and feel

We all see things a bit different. I have a Pat Diveney Custom Ebony Hustler. It is around 19 oz. and has a 31" butt and his 30" Lake Salvage shaft that he turned to 12.5 mm with an extended taper. The cue feels "perfect" to me. The ebony and birds eye maple look very simple and classy to me. Nothing fancy, but very nice and I have received many compliments on it. I like it so much I had him make another in cocobolo. Unfortunately, it is lost in our dysfunctional postal mailing system. A claim is filed and we are still hoping it shows up. So for me, I like a cue that "feels" good in my hands, is not butt heavy, and has a "classy" look with out being to busy. When I go to Iowa next year I plan on visiting Pat and working on a design for him to build me a cue that has ebony, cocobolo, snake wood and birds eye maple. Noting to busy, but well executed. I prefer cues with no wrap and letting the beauty of the wood show.
 
Cue preference

Anything with a Tiger Ultra X shaft. :thumbup:

Weight and length dont matter although I find myself gravitating to lighter cues when I have to play off the wall.
 
galipeau said:
Define handmade vs machine made... Do you mean custom vs. production? Just curious as it takes a machine (at least one) to make a pool cue, custom or otherwise.
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Hand made I mean custom made. I use the terms from snooker eg hand spliced vs machine spliced.

I currently use a one piece Parris cue. Simple in looks its a plain ash cue with ebony hand spliced into the butt. Simple in its looks but its a top quality made cue. I don't think I could ever go back to using a 2 piece cue. For such a small tip it squirts a hell of a lot, but like with any cue if you use it long enough you learn to love it. I'm contemplating testing out a custom made american made cue. Must be 1 piece and have the small diameter tip I require. I'm in the process of gathering a few makers to contact.

If anyone hasn't tried a hand made 1 piece cue I highly recommend trying one out if the opportunity arises.
 
Full splice,bocote,wrapless sneaky pete type cue w/solid maple shaft.Phenolic joint collars
58"
LBM ferrule
Pooldawg8 milk dud tip
Radial,flat faced,wood to wood joint
18.5 oz w/4.1oz shaft
19" balance point
No veneers,no inlays,just Josey '12 sig between points
This,IMO,is a players cue...and I own it,but he can make you one !!!
 
Beautiful wood

Quality cuemaker

Value being held

Hit

11-12mm tip tops preferably

Hard tip

Forward balance

18-20oz is fine.
 
Fit, finish, ie. build quality are my MOST important things I look for in a cue...if a maker can achieve great results in those areas the rest is just personal choices to end up with a cue you will love forever....
 
peppersauce said:
I've played with a half joint Parris pool cue (ebony into maple) and loved it. I've also been across the pond and played some snooker with club cues, but didn't really like them. That's not the same thing as a hand made one piece but... If I lived in an area where snooker was a prominent game, I would have a one piece snooker cue for sure and I've actually considered buying one anyway even though I very rarely have an opportunity to play on a 6x12.

I actually knew a guy here in the states who played with an old one piece Dufferin house cue. He looked kind of weird walking in the door with a house cue in hand but he liked it and played well with it.
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Looking on the Parris website he has started making American style pool cues. Its about time too. When I first got mine it was a snooker cue. The tip was too large to play with for snooker so I had a ferrule from a Z2 put on it, had about an inch taken off from the tip end to make the tip slightly bigger and I couldn't have asked for a better cue. I would like to have a maple Parris cue made at some point. Since I started playing pool I just love maple cues. They don't snag on my facial hair like ash cues. Luckily with my cue now if I hold it the same way each time it doesn't snag.

The only issue with a one piece cue is travelling with it. Cases for them are awkward to fit in some cars. Luckily for you Americans you all drive pick up trucks, right? ;-) plenty of space in those things for a full cue.

I wouldn't recommend getting a snooker cue unless you have access to a table. You might be better off getting one of the Parris cues for pool on then site.
 
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