Why wrap a cue?

If your hands sweat allot, or the room is extremely humid, no wrap speaks for itself. If your hands slips when you don't want it to you've got a problem, fix it.
 
Bob Jewett said:
OK.

One of the most important functions of the grip area (you will see why I don't call it the wrap shortly) is that it should keep my hand from slipping on the cue stick even with a light grip. There are finishes/wraps/grips that accomplish that well. Irish linen is not one of them. I like an unwrapped cue -- just the normal, shiny finish -- because it will not slip even with a fairly loose grip. Even leather wraps can become slippery in dry weather.

If you require your wrap to allow slip for some reason then an Irish linen or even a dacron wrap may be what you want. Willie Mosconi used a slip stroke.

That is all well and good for YOU, and Mr. Mosconi apparently. But again, how in the heck does linen lend itself to less accuracy? Not how it feels with certain strokes but actually aiming and delivering the cueball to its intended target.

Still waiting for proof on the accuracy issue. If this were actually true not a SINGLE professional player would ever use linen and I know that the majority do (i.e. ever seen Rodney Morris' Szamboti or Thorsten Hohmann's Lucasi?)
 
The only reason I wrap a cue is the $65 ($125 for leather) :) Otherwise, I prefer to let top quality wood speak for itself.
 
cuetique said:
The only reason I wrap a cue is the $65 ($125 for leather) :) Otherwise, I prefer to let top quality wood speak for itself.

For accuracy reasons or is it merely aesthetics? I can certainly understand someone loving the look and feel of a wood handle but to attribute accuracy, or lack thereof, to linen seems just plain disingenuous.
 
Personally, I've learned not to judge anything a customer prefers. They want linen, I wind on linen...they want leather, they get leather. Triangle, Moori, Kamui, Sniper, hard, soft, medium, nickel radius, dime radius, paper, plastic, cream and sugar, black, over easy, poached, scrambled or hard fried ;)
 
Koop said:
... If this were actually true not a SINGLE professional player would ever use linen and I know that the majority do (i.e. ever seen Rodney Morris' Szamboti or Thorsten Hohmann's Lucasi?)
Describe the wrap on Ronnie O'Sullivan's stick. He has made far more money in one tournament with it than any of the pool players on the IPT. Over $200,000 for a single frame (147 clearance).

Describe the wraps of the top 20 carom players.

A lot of players act out of ignorance and tradition rather than by working to find the truth.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Describe the wrap on Ronnie O'Sullivan's stick. He has made far more money in one tournament with it than any of the pool players on the IPT. Over $200,000 for a single frame (147 clearance).

Describe the wraps of the top 20 carom players.

A lot of players act out of ignorance and tradition rather than by working to find the truth.

I don't need to describe carom players and their wraps. The fact IS, so many top professionals play with linen that it makes any argument as to accuracy absurb.

Good for Ronnie O' Sullivan. Props to him and I suppose he would have never won had he used linen. I see you are only using people to support your argument though. Again, look at Thorsten Hohmann. Didn't he just win $350K with an irish linen wrap?

The truth? What makes you think that it is true? Because you say so? Do you not think that the top pro's would try just about anything to gain an edge? Including scrapping linen wraps if it REALLY did make them less accurate?
 
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cuetique said:
Personally, I've learned not to judge anything a customer prefers. They want linen, I wind on linen...they want leather, they get leather. Triangle, Moori, Kamui, Sniper, hard, soft, medium, nickel radius, dime radius, paper, plastic, cream and sugar, black, over easy, poached, scrambled or hard fried ;)
OUCH!!!!:eek: :D
I made myself a sneaky. French polish with a magic mix does it for me.
No ferrule even. Just a hard backer.:eek:
 
Koop said:
For accuracy reasons or is it merely aesthetics? I can certainly understand someone loving the look and feel of a wood handle but to attribute accuracy, or lack thereof, to linen seems just plain disingenuous.
What if the linen wrap causes you to deathgrip the cue?
Btw, all makers know you grip hand gets better feedback with bare wood.
Also when you go to long wars with your cue, linen wrap and leather wrap can get sticky and there's not much you can do on the spot.
With bare wood, just wipe it off and put some powder in there if necessary.
You can also apply emergency marking tape when the weather is too cold for you like Efren did at DCC.:D
 
I remember it also ....

Was for those long hot days and nights in the down the stairs, no air conditioned stuffy no windowed Pool Rooms in "The Day!" :( as mentioned, nowadays the rooms are quite a different story and the need isn't quite as neccesary for the Linen Wrap ! in fact I recently acquired my first no wrap cue and kind of like it! :)
 
JoeyInCali said:
What if the linen wrap causes you to deathgrip the cue?
Btw, all makers know you grip hand gets better feedback with bare wood.
Also when you go to long wars with your cue, linen wrap and leather wrap can get sticky and there's not much you can do on the spot.
With bare wood, just wipe it off and put some powder in there if necessary.
You can also apply emergency marking tape when the weather is too cold for you like Efren did at DCC.:D

And what if it doesn't? Hypothetical and not worthy of proving something to be definite.

My point here is, until someone comes up with some definitive proof that linen causes less accuracy, I will continue to call bull sh!t.
Also, why would any cuemaker install linen if they KNOW that accuracy is lost. If this is a true statement then I would love to hear from all the cuemakers and their thoughts. I've eaten crow before and I'm pretty sure I will eat it again but this truly sounds like a bunch of hooey considering the players out there who play with linen now.

As to Efren, hell, that guy could beat most people with an umbrella.
 
Perhaps instead of blaming linen...

Koop said:
And what if it doesn't? Hypothetical and not worthy of proving something to be definite.

My point here is, until someone comes up with some definitive proof that linen causes less accuracy, I will continue to call bull sh!t.
Also, why would any cuemaker install linen if they KNOW that accuracy is lost. If this is a true statement then I would love to hear from all the cuemakers and their thoughts. I've eaten crow before and I'm pretty sure I will eat it again but this truly sounds like a bunch of hooey considering the players out there who play with linen now.

As to Efren, hell, that guy could beat most people with an umbrella.
:D we look at improper grip ! if you are holding the butt like its your girlfriends ? (or for some of you :eek: your boy friends!) then that might be your problem!
 
MrLucky said:
:D we look at improper grip ! if you are holding the butt like its your girlfriends ? (or for some of you :eek: your boy friends!) then that might be your problem!

:D Good one MrLucky, good one!
 
I could see how some type of wrap may diminish feedback, but that does that mean the cue is less accurate with a wrap? Cutting a channel for the wrap may increase feel(vibration), does that mean that it is more accurate? Do they cancel each other out?:confused:

I don't understand the reason why you would lose accuracy. Can someone please explain in detail.

Rodney<------confused:confused:
 
As to the accuracy question of different wraps and finishes, it's common knowledge the most slippery is pressed linen, the least, polyeurethane or equivalent, with leather and various skins falling between.

What is not definitive is a correlation between grip and accuracy. Lots of people say, the lighter the better. I don't agree, but neither should the grip be that taken to a baseball bat. Most snooker pros use a pretty solid grip, with no gap in the thumb to finger web. Other very accurate shooters using a firm grip include Rempe, Mizerak, Sigel and Allison Fisher. Manalo, Hohmann and Morris are a few of the modern "grippers." But Efren, Busta, and Santos certainly make a case for light grips.

I think what's a fair argument is, we want a grip without tension, whether it wraps or cradles the cue. If a slick finished cue affords a less slippery grip, it stands to reason it requires less pressure to hold securely, thus less tension. So I think Varney's contention that an unwrapped butt is more accurate is probably true, though admittedly unsubstantiated. Conversely, it's tough to make a case that a linen wrap is more accurate. I can think of no reason for that.
 
tedkaufman said:
As to the accuracy question of different wraps and finishes, it's common knowledge the most slippery is pressed linen, the least, polyeurethane or equivalent, with leather and various skins falling between.
...
No, rubber is the least slippery. All the top carom players use rubber grips. Maybe they do that for a reason. If you ever see a top carom player at either 3-cushion or balkline, you will realize that their accuracy in many parts of the game is far beyond what pool players dream of. Sayginer uses a rubber grip. So do Ceulemans, Blomdahl, Caudron, Sanchez, .... If you have never seen those players, you have a real treat in store.
 
tedkaufman said:
... . Conversely, it's tough to make a case that a linen wrap is more accurate. I can think of no reason for that.
Here's a possible explanation. A linen wrap permits a slip stroke. If you have problems with bring the stick straight back and straight through, the slipping action may help straighten things out. (I don't personally feel that this is a good way to fix a crooked stroke, but it might work.)
 
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