What's a good contrast wood for cocobolo?

Fenris

Fenris

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm trying to find a good contrast wood for a wrapless cue design with cocobolo forearm and buttsleeve. What wood would go well in the handle? I want a lighter colored wood. My top choices so far are:

1. Tulipwood
2. Ropey Bubinga
3. "Classic" Curly Maple

I think the tulipwood would make for a really interesting contrast wood, in that it has similar figure to the cocobolo, but is lighter in color. And I just like bubinga.

What do y'all think?
 
Fenris said:
I'm trying to find a good contrast wood for a wrapless cue design with cocobolo forearm and buttsleeve. What wood would go well in the handle? I want a lighter colored wood. My top choices so far are:

1. Tulipwood
2. Ropey Bubinga
3. "Classic" Curly Maple

I think the tulipwood would make for a really interesting contrast wood, in that it has similar figure to the cocobolo, but is lighter in color. And I just like bubinga.

What do y'all think?
Click to expand...

Curly or Fiddle-back Maple.....nothing beats a classic :)
 
Fenris said:
I'm trying to find a good contrast wood for a wrapless cue design with cocobolo forearm and buttsleeve. What wood would go well in the handle? I want a lighter colored wood. My top choices so far are:

1. Tulipwood
2. Ropey Bubinga
3. "Classic" Curly Maple

I think the tulipwood would make for a really interesting contrast wood, in that it has similar figure to the cocobolo, but is lighter in color. And I just like bubinga.

What do y'all think?
Click to expand...
i have a 6 pointer ordered for my wife. Tulip into cocobolo. Should have it in a couple of weeks. I will post pics.
 
Hoosier, that would be great, especially since it has points. If you don't mind my asking, who's the cuemaker?
 
Satinwood looks AMAZING with cocobolo. If you have ever seen some of Paul Fanelli's work, he uses it combined with coco....and it is the bomb. It is a rich golden color, and straight grained, so if offers a nice contrast with the wilder grain of the coco, while keeping with the earthy tones.

Lisa
 
Do you happen to have any pics of Fanelli's work with the satin/coco combo?
 
Fenris said:
I'm trying to find a good contrast wood for a wrapless cue design with cocobolo forearm and buttsleeve. What wood would go well in the handle? I want a lighter colored wood. My top choices so far are:

1. Tulipwood
2. Ropey Bubinga
3. "Classic" Curly Maple

I think the tulipwood would make for a really interesting contrast wood, in that it has similar figure to the cocobolo, but is lighter in color. And I just like bubinga.

What do y'all think?
Click to expand...

Curly Maple
 
MAPLE!! You can't go wrong. The whiter the better. I love Curly, but if you get a great piece of BEM!! Man that is nice.
Check out the RAT CUE#9 at his site. Just freaking sharp and the price is unbeatable.

http://www.poolndarts.com/p-5937-Rat-Cue/

he is a member here and I am sure he would add the rings to B,C as well.
 
Last edited:
My vote is a hot piece of curly Koa:
(Sugartree cues pictured below. See top cue forearm)
sugartreecues008.jpg
 
I really dig a great piece of fiddleback.

All of the above suggestions sound like they would look great. A fun dilemma to have. :D
 
Olivewood.

It looks really good...
I'll try to find you a pic and PM you with the link.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Looks like Curly Maple is in the lead.

I've been reading up on woods, especially tonewoods, and I'm trying to design a cue with tonewoods as the major woods. I've always loved cocobolo, even before I learned that it is a tonewood. For the contrasting handle wood, I'm thinking either another true rosewood (like tulipwood) or some other tonewood. As for curly maple, I read somewhere else on these forums that there is soft curly and hard curly. If I went with curly maple, I'd go with the hard kind. I was also thinking of having it stained either a golden honey or cherry.

Anyway, I'll wait until I see how tulipwood and cocobolo look together.

And Hoosier, do you have other Stacey cues? How do they play?

Thanks.
 
Curly Maple

Cocobolo is a dark red with black grain. A light curly maple goes good with this. I have a Raven SP coco butt, pink ivory inlay, with curly maple fore arm. Sweet. Hits like a glass rod breaking.
 
Depends on the piece of wood you have. If you have very highly figured piece of cocobolo, something less intense than highly figured maple may look better.
 
Last edited:
Fenris said:
Do you happen to have any pics of Fanelli's work with the satin/coco combo?
Click to expand...

I thought I still had a pic as an example, but I recently cleaned out my pic files. :(

The one I was alluding to was one that Cornerstone had on his site, but I checked, and it is now gone...you may try contacting him to see if he still has it on his HD.

I am one of those who feels that a cue just gets too 'busy' when you start mixing two highly figured woods together...it tends to detract from both. However, with that said...a suitable alternative would be a nice curly, which will be softer, or a BEM, which will be harder. A honey stain would be the darkest I would go with it before it would begin to detract from the coco. Another wood that you might consider, besides a satinwood or yellowheart, might be an osage orange...or, if there is a lot of red hues in the coco...perhaps even a bloodwood.

Remember, you can add a straight grained wood to the handle, and still add character to it by adding some segment rings in coco. The key here is for it not to be like everyone elses, and let's face it, coco with a maple handle is not terribly original. Just a thought.

Lisa ----------> knows how to design an aesthetically pleasing cue. :)
 
"Lisa ----------> knows how to design an aesthetically pleasing cue."

Really? Just for fun, design me a cue with the only requirements listed below:

1. Wrapless
2. Cocobolo forearm and butt sleeve
3. Brass custom ringwork at A, B, C, D and E
4. Brass 3/8 x11 joint pin

For reference, the weight would be 19.0-19.25 oz and the balance point would be 19" from butt end. Budget is $1500 max.

This is just for fun, but depending on the design, I might actually go with it.

Know what? Anyone who wants to design me a cue with the above requirements can post their design. I'm curious as to what others with more cue knowledge/experience will come up with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top