Best Cuemaker for your money

[Steve748]

Has anyone played American Pool with an MW cue with a 9.5 mm tip ? If you have could you share your experience please ?

I have a MW 9.5mm legend, 20oz and I played pool here with it for about 4 years with a great degree of success. I found the blackspin tip was to my liking but I had to be careful or I would miscue.
A year ago Mike made me a proper USA spec pool cue with an 11mm tip 20oz & a 30mm round butt and I have been using 11mm Kami MH tips which seem to be very much like Mike's blackspin tips.
Both cues felt right straight away and I got used to the difference in tip size fairly quickly and I prefer the round butt to one with a flat.
This is the third MW cue I have owned and they have all been perfect.
Years before my first MW I bought a Parris traditional and a superior and I could not get to like or get used to the way they played. I don't know what it was about them but they just didn't feel right.
Otoh all three of Mikes cues I bought have felt right straight away and took only a few hours for me to feel at one with them.

[bywagh]

Thank you Steve748 ,
If you have had success with a 20 oz MW cue with a 9.5 mm tip, my 19 oz MW vintage should do just fine I think, I was worried about cracking the cue, but if you have played 8 ball and 9 ball with it, that is a relief.

[minionas]

Ive played 8&9 ball with adr147 taiwan 9mm 18oz cue for a year. And now am playing with 10mm 18oz ton praram for almost a year with great success. I just dont break or jump with em.
So no worries about cracking it.

[Mark187187]

I play 8 and 9 ball. I use a 12.5mm radius pool cue. I have snooker cues I use for snooker, and have tried them on a pool table and just don't think their any good for the job. It felt too much like hard work, and the forces going through the cue felt like they'd cause damage in the long run. Playing with a larger radius cue makes moving the cueball around effortless. I'm sure a 9 or 9.5m tipped snooker cue can work for 9 ball, but why wouldn't you just by a cue that's made for the job? It'll work much better, and you won't have to worry about the shaft splitting or the ferrule bending out of shape every time you need to use some power.

[Steve748]

Yes Bywagh you will be fine with the smaller tip. I don't break with it as I have a big heavy cue for that. I never worried about splitting or cracking the tip or ferrule because I don't hit the cue ball that hard, a lot of shots are soft hits as I'm trying to keep the cue ball under control. I found with care I could screw the cue ball with control and power, just had to be careful not to hit too low but I never worried about damaging the cue and I can't see it happening.

I tried US pool cues but I always felt the tip and shaft was like playing with a tree trunk and the smallest tip I could find was a 11.85mm Predator and it still felt too thick and big. With the prices they wanted for them I thought I could get Mike to make me exactly what I was used to, a Legend 20oz with an 11mm tip and a 30mm round butt which I prefer to having a flat for less money. Also with the 11mm tip I can put an 11mm Kamui tip straight on for a perfect fit.

All the USA made cues seem to have a lot of fancy butts and cost a lot of money for inlays that are purely decoration. I like a handmade Ebony butt with ash shaft and low deflection ferrule and I'm happy as I believe I have a great playing cue which I think is excellent value as well.

Enjoy playing with a 9.5mm tip as I have done but I think 11mm is the perfect compromise for me.

[bywagh]

Yes Steve 748, I started off with pool cues then moved to a predator with a 11.75 mm tip, but you are right they are still too big !!
I played with a 19.4 oz peradon for a while and that cracked at the 3/4 joint, so I moved to 18 oz cues, they work fine but its little too light for me. SO.... I'm working with 19oz 3/4 cut parris cues but one "came" with a crack :-) the other one is developing a crack in it :-) .
So ....I'm thinking center cut 19 oz , but given your experience I should be fine with an MW Vintage ...Cant wait to get it !! Given all the reviews I think I'm going to do fine ...

[Mark187187]

Maybe all these broken cues are trying to tell you something 😁 Each to their own, but i've never had a pool cue crack from playing pool. I get that they're chunkier than a snooker cue, but there's good reason for that.

[bywagh]

Well I know maybe ...if this MW vintage cue does not work I'll try a slightly bigger tip maybe, the thing is I just cannot adjust to the pool cues I have tried for a couple of years before I gave up ...I like the smaller tip and the taper of a snooker cue ... so it is what it is.

[matthias]

Best Cuemaker for your money

his new bulls eye ferrule claims to be unbreakable,
maybe that's the way to go?

[Ninja.cues]

Yes Steve 748, I started off with pool cues then moved to a predator with a 11.75 mm tip, but you are right they are still too big !!
I played with a 19.4 oz peradon for a while and that cracked at the 3/4 joint, so I moved to 18 oz cues, they work fine but its little too light for me. SO.... I'm working with 19oz 3/4 cut parris cues but one "came" with a crack :-) the other one is developing a crack in it :-) .
So ....I'm thinking center cut 19 oz , but given your experience I should be fine with an MW Vintage ...Cant wait to get it !! Given all the reviews I think I'm going to do fine ...

I'm not trying to sound funny but a you sure the cracks your seeing are not just the splices moving and leaving what I've had a few think it's the cue cracking?

[bywagh]

Nope, I have a Parris Ultimate 2900 that has developed a crack on the butt side of the joint, its a very fine crack but it radiates from the joint and goes out. I got it in October 2017, I'll need to get i fixed soon.
I got a used Parris Special cue from EBay as a replacement and that came with a crack on the shaft side and this one I had not played with at all!
Both are about 18.8 /18.9 Oz ... So I'm not sure if its a Parris cue thing, bad quality etc.
The 18 oz Parris I have is doing just fine its about 4 years old, although it is bent a little and am getting that fixed ... the Jason Owen 18Oz cue I have is doing fine as well.. I got that in August but again its 18 oz and that weight is a little too light.
So either its Parris Cues or its the weight. The ferrules, tips etc. are all fine, the funny thing is I do not hit the ball hard at all, very rarely, and I do not break with any of them I have a break cue ... so its puzzling.

[ste bed]

I don’t think it’s puzzling stop playing 9 ball with snooker cues

[anish147]

Have you thought of using a one piece to eliminate the joint issue - any additional work in wood will create tiny weaknesses which could grow larger over time.

Also, I recently bought a Ton Praram Beyond which is 9.8mm but the taper is very different - it just feels more solid and robust - possibly not a thin taper that many cue makers employ.

Might be worth having a slightly broader taper on a 1 piece.

I'm just speculating - I only play snooker.

[Ninja.cues]

Nope, I have a Parris Ultimate 2900 that has developed a crack on the butt side of the joint, its a very fine crack but it radiates from the joint and goes out. I got it in October 2017, I'll need to get i fixed soon.
I got a used Parris Special cue from EBay as a replacement and that came with a crack on the shaft side and this one I had not played with at all!
Both are about 18.8 /18.9 Oz ... So I'm not sure if its a Parris cue thing, bad quality etc.
The 18 oz Parris I have is doing just fine its about 4 years old, although it is bent a little and am getting that fixed ... the Jason Owen 18Oz cue I have is doing fine as well.. I got that in August but again its 18 oz and that weight is a little too light.
So either its Parris Cues or its the weight. The ferrules, tips etc. are all fine, the funny thing is I do not hit the ball hard at all, very rarely, and I do not break with any of them I have a break cue ... so its puzzling.

Sounds like the ebony may not have dry enough when it was use to make the butt...

[Steve748]

I think pool cues won't crack as they have chuffin huge joints but my problem was the shafts on a pool cue was not what I was used to. Mikes 3/4 cues have been fine with me and no cracking on the joints is evident and I have been hitting them hard. What I like about his cues is there is virtually no deflection and there are people over here paying $800 for a Predator Revo because they are supposed to be a no deflection shaft. They are still too thick for me, it is surprising the difference of around a mm makes.