Pre Ultra joint Lambros sneaky pete. Its Cocobolo has a piloted joint and a short ferrule. His ultra joints are sweet hitting cues but that sneaky is my player. Has been since I bought it and will remain to be for many many years. Why mess with a good thing!
What's the best hitting cue you've played with?
- Thread starter Nitro Psycho
- Start date
I like the list but I have to wonder how many have played a game with half of these makers. My self I have played with
2 Gus Szamboti's
1 Barry Szamboti
1 Schick
1 Searing
1 Tim Scruggs
1 Jerry Rauenzahn
1 Kiekel
1 Eddie Farris
1 John Bender
1 Gina
1 Southwest
1 Fisher
3 Benders
3 Perry Weston's
1 Blackcreek
etc
I havent owned all of these cues but some of them I have, my point is that all of the above cues played as well as i could and were all capable of playing above my ability. I can only state that the Mike Benders, Parry Westons and both of the Gus Szamboti's were consistant between the cues. The others having sampled only one each were good but I cant state with any certainity that if i had played another cue by the builder that it would play similar. If i were to choose one of the cues from the list above that plays best it would be the Searing but to be totally fair it is the cue I now have, also it isnt as if it plays head and shoulders above the others. I am sure all of the builders above probably have turned out a cue that didnt measure up to someones standard but I am also sure that it was the exception. Any of us should be PROUD to play with any of the above cues or the cues mentioned in the previous threads.
2 Gus Szamboti's
1 Barry Szamboti
1 Schick
1 Searing
1 Tim Scruggs
1 Jerry Rauenzahn
1 Kiekel
1 Eddie Farris
1 John Bender
1 Gina
1 Southwest
1 Fisher
3 Benders
3 Perry Weston's
1 Blackcreek
etc
I havent owned all of these cues but some of them I have, my point is that all of the above cues played as well as i could and were all capable of playing above my ability. I can only state that the Mike Benders, Parry Westons and both of the Gus Szamboti's were consistant between the cues. The others having sampled only one each were good but I cant state with any certainity that if i had played another cue by the builder that it would play similar. If i were to choose one of the cues from the list above that plays best it would be the Searing but to be totally fair it is the cue I now have, also it isnt as if it plays head and shoulders above the others. I am sure all of the builders above probably have turned out a cue that didnt measure up to someones standard but I am also sure that it was the exception. Any of us should be PROUD to play with any of the above cues or the cues mentioned in the previous threads.
Hmmm...
Best hitting for me is, most suited to the way I play...
My Dennis Dieckman "Kokopelli in the sky with diamonds" plays like a rampaging tiger. It's Soooo focused and the energy unleashed by the cue is unbelievable. Most people who've played with it don't like it, but I really do :grin: You can't throttle it you have to let it hunt on its own. It does have a very distinctive 'tick' when you hit it.
I just picked up a very early Dominiak that has some very similar qualities, I like...
other cues I have liked, but not favorites:
Jim Rempe Meucci original JR-1, plays well and breaks like a Mack truck
Meucci 97-27 - couldn't stand this cue then had the ferrule and tip replaced, now it's reasonable... very neutral feeling - does what I tell it to do.
McDermott EJ-3 (Balloon stick) Had custom weight bolts made to drop the weight as low as I could, with a Predator 314 original shaft, breaks very interestingly... feels like the shaft curls back and then explodes through the ball.
Best hitting for me is, most suited to the way I play...
My Dennis Dieckman "Kokopelli in the sky with diamonds" plays like a rampaging tiger. It's Soooo focused and the energy unleashed by the cue is unbelievable. Most people who've played with it don't like it, but I really do :grin: You can't throttle it you have to let it hunt on its own. It does have a very distinctive 'tick' when you hit it.
I just picked up a very early Dominiak that has some very similar qualities, I like...
other cues I have liked, but not favorites:
Jim Rempe Meucci original JR-1, plays well and breaks like a Mack truck
Meucci 97-27 - couldn't stand this cue then had the ferrule and tip replaced, now it's reasonable... very neutral feeling - does what I tell it to do.
McDermott EJ-3 (Balloon stick) Had custom weight bolts made to drop the weight as low as I could, with a Predator 314 original shaft, breaks very interestingly... feels like the shaft curls back and then explodes through the ball.
The best Cue is all subjective. It's what you like in terms of balance, weight, and tip. INTERESTINGLY, with the Southwest coming in first place in the list above... do you know what feels like a southwest? Yeah .. just a plain older Meucci. You can have one for a few hundred bucks too.
Chris Hightower
Lorider, Chris is a well respected cue maker. His name actually pops up here frequently. You musta just missed them. He builds a good cue. I don't think you would go wrong with one of his cues.
As for me I have 4 that stand out. My current player is a Kieth Josie bocote sneaky. Hits wonderful.
An old Hebler plain jane with a Kevin Varney shaft. It hits a little stiff and the butt is too thin. But it hits like a ton of bricks.
An older ugly custom from some builder in Whithall PA. Don't know who made it. Ugly as sin. And some Floridian shaft mker. But it plays amazing. I just hate the wrap.
The last one will get me laughed off the forum. But it is a simple wrapped Players sneaky. Has a wonderful soft fluid hit. tons of feedback. And pockets balls with aplomb. It can even get with it when jacked up and slammed for a long stun shot. The wrap is horrible, and I want to have a linnen joint and radial pin put in it. And have a stacked leather wrap put on it. Maybe later this year when I can scrape up the jing. BTW it's my first cue. First time lucky I guess.
Mark Shuman
Lorider, Chris is a well respected cue maker. His name actually pops up here frequently. You musta just missed them. He builds a good cue. I don't think you would go wrong with one of his cues.
As for me I have 4 that stand out. My current player is a Kieth Josie bocote sneaky. Hits wonderful.
An old Hebler plain jane with a Kevin Varney shaft. It hits a little stiff and the butt is too thin. But it hits like a ton of bricks.
An older ugly custom from some builder in Whithall PA. Don't know who made it. Ugly as sin. And some Floridian shaft mker. But it plays amazing. I just hate the wrap.
The last one will get me laughed off the forum. But it is a simple wrapped Players sneaky. Has a wonderful soft fluid hit. tons of feedback. And pockets balls with aplomb. It can even get with it when jacked up and slammed for a long stun shot. The wrap is horrible, and I want to have a linnen joint and radial pin put in it. And have a stacked leather wrap put on it. Maybe later this year when I can scrape up the jing. BTW it's my first cue. First time lucky I guess.
Mark Shuman
tops for best playing cue I've ever used is an mid-80s John Robinson .
Oddly , the second best hitting cue I've ever used is an old Stratford collarless sneaky pete . 20 year old production cue , has no right to play as good as it does . Every now & then the assembly line spits out a quality cue by mistake . . . .
thump . . . thump . . .thump . . . *!THUMP!* . . . thump . . . thump . . thump . . .
Oddly , the second best hitting cue I've ever used is an old Stratford collarless sneaky pete . 20 year old production cue , has no right to play as good as it does . Every now & then the assembly line spits out a quality cue by mistake . . . .
thump . . . thump . . .thump . . . *!THUMP!* . . . thump . . . thump . . thump . . .
Doesnt really matter on brand.........
I've played with many great cues..it all depends on the weight, balance and shaft taper as well as the quality of the shaft wood. If I just based it on which cue maker uses the best shaft wood..I'd have to go with Ed Prewitt. He makes me shafts to my diameter and taper preference ( trust me its thin ) and they still come out very stiff, all because he chooses very dense shaft wood. Ed is extremely particular about the shaft wood he uses and it pays off.
I've played with many great cues..it all depends on the weight, balance and shaft taper as well as the quality of the shaft wood. If I just based it on which cue maker uses the best shaft wood..I'd have to go with Ed Prewitt. He makes me shafts to my diameter and taper preference ( trust me its thin ) and they still come out very stiff, all because he chooses very dense shaft wood. Ed is extremely particular about the shaft wood he uses and it pays off.
for a good price and easy to get any japanese made Adam or Helmsteter and his other cues such as HOF and balabushka. add a predator shaft and ull never use another cue again. Nothing beats a custom from ur favorite cue maker because of "comfort." ull go through 10 cues before u realize that the cheap ass players was no different than the rest
No easy question, as one gets to try so many cues over the years, but yes, I do remember the best-hitting cue I've ever tried: Pete Tascarella's own playing cue he used back when I first met him in 1989, a Plain Jane honey-stained birdseye maple butt with a Bushka-type glitter ring, off-white acrylite ferrule, butt cap and joint, and McDermott-type 3/8-10 pin directly into wood. It was lighter than what I like playing, but had the finest hit and most consistent deflection of any cue I know. Other Tascarellas I tried were all great, too, each a bit different - many people whom I let hit a few balls with mine think of it as the finest-hitting cue they've ever come across.
Needless to say I love the Jerry Franklin Southwest I've been using for so many years, in particular the feel thanks to the non-standard curly maple pro taper shaft, but modern (young) players tend to love the feel, but find the deflection impossible to master.
Among the many other cues I've tried and would be proud to call my own and/or happy to play with are a friend's ivory-jointed radial pin Bill Stroud Joss West, another early so-called low-deflection construction that I continue to think is as smart as any I've ever seen/come across.
Favourite old-style cues with more deflection but terrific feel include a fancy ivory-jointed Bill Schick that hit solid like a rock as Buddy Hall observed at the time, and which belongs to a former national champion (female) who's given up playing years ago, but who I suppose still has it. A rare ivory-jointed Gus Szamboti Pete Tascarella pointed out to me at a tournament many years ago was as good as a cue gets. Also won't ever forget Joe Balsis's Balabushka that Jerry Briesath let me play with for an hour or two many years ago, but I'll admit there may be some nostalgia playing into that fond memory.
But note one thing: these are just personal impressions by someone who's been playing for decades. None of this has anything to do with recommendations, let alone helping anyone to make buying decisions. First of all, "feel" is subjective - I'm always surprised players agree on certain cues as "playing great" at all, but people do, so it may be worth trying out a few of those consensus cues to see what the hype is about, but more importantly, to form an idea of one's own. Yet more importantly, the search for the holy grail in cues ends when the valiant knight decides to settle and live happily ever after - not because the "perfect cue" as a concept per se exists!
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Needless to say I love the Jerry Franklin Southwest I've been using for so many years, in particular the feel thanks to the non-standard curly maple pro taper shaft, but modern (young) players tend to love the feel, but find the deflection impossible to master.
Among the many other cues I've tried and would be proud to call my own and/or happy to play with are a friend's ivory-jointed radial pin Bill Stroud Joss West, another early so-called low-deflection construction that I continue to think is as smart as any I've ever seen/come across.
Favourite old-style cues with more deflection but terrific feel include a fancy ivory-jointed Bill Schick that hit solid like a rock as Buddy Hall observed at the time, and which belongs to a former national champion (female) who's given up playing years ago, but who I suppose still has it. A rare ivory-jointed Gus Szamboti Pete Tascarella pointed out to me at a tournament many years ago was as good as a cue gets. Also won't ever forget Joe Balsis's Balabushka that Jerry Briesath let me play with for an hour or two many years ago, but I'll admit there may be some nostalgia playing into that fond memory.
But note one thing: these are just personal impressions by someone who's been playing for decades. None of this has anything to do with recommendations, let alone helping anyone to make buying decisions. First of all, "feel" is subjective - I'm always surprised players agree on certain cues as "playing great" at all, but people do, so it may be worth trying out a few of those consensus cues to see what the hype is about, but more importantly, to form an idea of one's own. Yet more importantly, the search for the holy grail in cues ends when the valiant knight decides to settle and live happily ever after - not because the "perfect cue" as a concept per se exists!
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
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Ha! You's all sooo wrong!
Becuz the betterestest monster player on da world is mine!! Can't have it, tho, hehe.
I tuned it with a smiley sticker and since then it plays at least twice as good as it because I'm only half as angry when I walk up the table.
Seriously, I fell in love with mine. How can your broom sticks dare to match up?
Bought it from that guy who didn't know what its worth for like ten dollars back at that town at that tournament where those bad ass players played (one of them knew Efren and the other one was related to Chuck Norris i swear).
Does anybody have any experience with fixing Moria-Gems to ferrules for better light with your sighting?
Mwaha.
No pun intended, but feel great relief
Gwenn
Becuz the betterestest monster player on da world is mine!! Can't have it, tho, hehe.
I tuned it with a smiley sticker and since then it plays at least twice as good as it because I'm only half as angry when I walk up the table.
Seriously, I fell in love with mine. How can your broom sticks dare to match up?
Bought it from that guy who didn't know what its worth for like ten dollars back at that town at that tournament where those bad ass players played (one of them knew Efren and the other one was related to Chuck Norris i swear).
Does anybody have any experience with fixing Moria-Gems to ferrules for better light with your sighting?
Mwaha.
No pun intended, but feel great relief
Gwenn
Last edited:
Ha! You's all sooo wrong!
Becuz the betterestest monster player on da world is mine!! Can't have it, tho, hehe.
I tuned it with a smiley sticker and since then it plays at least twice as good as it because I'm only half as angry when I walk up the table.
Seriously, I fell in love with mine. How can your broom sticks dare to match up?
Bought it from that guy who didn't know what its worth for like ten dollars back at that town at that tournament where those bad ass players played (one of them knew Efren and the other one was related to Chuck Norris i swear).
Does anybody have any experience with fixing Moria-Gems to ferrules for better light with your sighting?
Mwaha.
No pun intended, but feel great relief
Gwenn
LOL, seriously? Is English your enemy?
