What era of Schon plays best? (Cue Geek Talk)

[garczar]

Just about all old-school wood shaft cues were/are hi-deflection. IMO none were/are as bad as the so highly touted SW's. I've only hit one that was worth a shit to play with. You think Schon's are stiff?? Go try a SW. Most of them play like a phone pole with a tip stuck on. And people wait yrs to get one. whatever.

 

[Jimmy_Betmore]

I don’t disagree with you on any point. Just trying to stimulate some conversation. BTW, which player are you referring to? I know James Walden also preferred Schon based on his recent interview.

Fair enough. And for what it's worth, an old stitch ring Schon R2 is about the only cue I'd still consider buying even though a new cue is that last thing I need. To me, they're just aesthetically the perfect cue. Many moons ago played with an older early to mid 90's Schon that was very similar to the newer STL 7. The main difference, if I recall correctly, was that mine had actual notched diamond inlays in the butt instead of the newer "star" shaped ones. It hit pretty nice with the original shaft. But the second shaft I ordered for it from Schon didn't hit nearly as well.

The player is Jason Miller out of Dayton, Ohio. Dude was playing out of his mind and won the all-around in 2006. If I recall correctly, he won the banks, placed 2nd in one pocket, and finished top ten in 9 ball. He also won he big 8 ball tournament put on by an infomercial guy right around that time, too. I'd seen him play a lot up at Airway in Dayton. If I didn't know better I would have thought he had supernatural control over the balls.

 

[skor]

I have a newer schon, plays great. First thing I did was toss the shaft aside, and throw on a jacoby v4. That took it exactly where I wanted it to be.

The bottom line is, if you think a cue plays like crap in general, change the shaft and tip. The butt has almost nothing to do with the stiffness of the hit. It has a lot to do with the "feel" and the sound, but a whippy shaft is a whippy shaft, a stiff shaft is stiff.

Best player in one of my leagues plays with a shaft that costs 4x as much as he paid for the butt of his cue.

I play with a Schon because they're local to me and I want to support local makers. I also got a smoking deal from the good guys at Schon, which helps.

My main playing cue is a custom cue I built for myself, because nothing beats a tailored cue.

I disagree.
I have 6 cues with 5/16x14 SS joint and I've used them all with the same shafts and tips and there is definitely a difference between them in terms of stiffness of the hit.

Same goes for a bunch of cues that I have with 3/8x10 cues.

 

[skor]

Just about all old-school wood shaft cues were/are hi-deflection. IMO none were/are as bad as the so highly touted SW's. I've only hit one that was worth a shit to play with. You think Schon's are stiff?? Go try a SW. Most of them play like a phone pole with a tip stuck on. And people wait yrs to get one. whatever.

One of the stiffest cues that I ever hit with was a Purple Heart SW.
It's true that all solid maple shafts are hi-deflection, but not all are the same and different shafts had different pivot point, and if that point is right at the point where you naturally hold the cue and bridge, then applying english becomes easy and naturally without guessing.
My Carmeli with its original shaft is like that, but I've used a Predator shaft on it most of the time (now I also have a Cynargy and a Rhino to fit it as well). My SugarTree SP is like that if I grip the but right at the edge of the butt.