Trouble With a New Pool Cue and Tip
4/24/2010 3:43:35 PM
Trouble With a New Pool Cue and Tip
Hi everyone. I have just purchased my first pool cue (a cuetec 99455). I am unable to put any kind of english or draw on the ball. I have scuffed the tip, it appears to be shaped adequately, it's holding chalk, but I'm mis-cueing on anything off center. Any advice? Not sure what the tips are that come on these cues, but should I look to switch it out for something different?
Trouble With a New Pool Cue and Tip
Replies & Comments
quickshot on 4/24/2010 4:05:19 PMDo not blame the tips. If you are having problems than you are doing something wrong. As for english, if you are hitting the cue ball outside a limit you will have problems: A good way to determine the limits is to look at one of your stripes. The limit of your english strike is just inside the white before the color begins. Once you pass the color line you are prone to a miscue. I do not know your skill level, but maybe you should avoid english all together. Many pros use it rarely.
pobrian on 4/24/2010 4:24:51 PM
The reason why I was questioning the tip is because when I use the "cheap" sticks that came with the starter kit with my table, I can draw the ball more effectively than I can with the new, better cue, with significantly less mis-cues.
Fenwick on 4/24/2010 4:57:15 PM
Bad batches of tips happen. I had a bad Everest tip and miscued way too often. Replace the tip and see what happens. I now use a LePro med.
- quickshot on 4/24/2010 5:09:39 PM
Maybe there is a learning curve youhave to work with. The cuestick is a good one so I do not believe it is the tip. Give it time.
- quickshot on 4/24/2010 5:41:08 PM
Play around with it and experiment with your contact point. As Fenwick pointed out, it may be a bad tip or at best one you are not accustomed to. Give it time.
"Maybe there is a learning curve you have to work with. The cue stick is a good one so I do not believe it is the tip. Give it time."
Good point. So pobrian ,are you stroking or poking? Try first shaping your tip to a dime shape. Next with a smooth stroke go 1/2 tip below center. Next go 1 tip below center and pause on the follow through. Last have a friend do the same. If you and your friend still can't get draw it's the tip maybe.
Mitch Alsup on 4/25/2010 11:45:58 AM
The harder tips require a different stroking technique, where the tip impacts the CB and then continues to accelerate at the same energy level. You cannpot poke a hard tip and expect good results, you must be accelerating through the CB at impact.
However, once you figure out the required technique, there are things you can do with harder tips that you canot do with softer ones. In additinon, once you can properly stroke a hard tip, you will never have troubles with softer tips you may run into from time to time.
One way to practice this and figure out the tip, is to slow your stroke speed down (way down), and practice accelerating through the tip at impact. It is easily found that a lot of the technique comes from the wrist. The wrist remains flexible as the stroke begins, and then snaps forward through CB impact, yet the rolling speed of the CB remains rather small. You should be able to do this wrist acceleration and roll the CB less than 2 diamonds even on fast cloth.
Great responses from everyone. Thank you very much. I will try to the different techniques mentioned. I know it's hard to tell from a few written words, but I am someone who has played for a long time, and am a pretty decent recreational player. I have just purchased my first table (besides the one I grew up with in the family basement) and bought the stick in question. I've been pretty frustrated with the miscues with the new stick, so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking something. Again, thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond!
What tip came with the cue? I had 2 shafts with Everest tips. Miscued with both. Le Pro's need to be hand sorted to find one that has not gotten too hard. Another thing I learned is if a new tip is turned down with a lath the heat can cause the tip to harden considerably. Last question. Did you go up or down with the shaft size? That could factor in to the learning curve. It sounds like you know what your doing so it's either the tip or the shaft size IMHO.
I'm not sure what tip came with the cue. I checked the website but it wasn't available, and I simply don't know enough about tips to know what it is (and the retailer didn't know).
Regarding shaft size, I went up slightly.
Going up in size, even .050 changes things. That's the reason I said shape your tip to the dime shape. I was guessing you had the standard 13 mm shaft. Generally 13 mm or so dime shape. 12 mm or less nickel shape. I use a 11.75 on my player and a 12.25 mm shaft for breaking. Even so you should be able to get some draw. Miscues is another story. Sounds like you have a very hard tip on your cue. Have you tried a tip pick? Get back to us after you spend some time at the table.
If you do come to the conclusion that you will never gain confidence in the tip, it only costs $2 to put on a new single layer tip (yourself) to $30 to have a pro put on one of the modern layerd tips of whatever fashion you desire. So the problem is always fixable.
Also note: 80% of the hit and palyability of the whole stick is in the tip.
So here's another related question...
I searched on the web for a local pro to put one on. I live in Rochester NY. What's the best way to find one?
(you guys are the best!)
My question is what tip well you put on? Moori, Talisman, Le-Pro, Sniper, Elkmaster ,Everest, Kamui, Triangle?
This might help you decide.
http://www.wolfbite.com/tip-selection.htm#Lots%20of%20Choices%20
Knowing very little about tips beyond what I've read in the last week or so, I was reading a number of recommendations for the Moori, and I was thinking either Soft or Medium.
I found several in one google search using "Rochester NY cue repair"
I like Talisman, almost the same hardness as Moori. But overall, tips are like girl-friends, you have to find the one that suits your game.
Tip hardness is another mater and is one thing that you will quickly narrow down upon. Unless you are playing 14.1 almost exclusively I recommend even beginning players to use nothing softer than a medium and if you like to use a hard break nothing softer than a medium hard (78 on the durrometer). I use a hard tip (82.5 on the durrometer) for my play cue and a XX-hard on my jump cue (95 on the durrometer). The only thing I use a medium (75) on is my Massé cue and this thing gets replaces "quite often" due to the kind of abuse it has to endure.
Back when I was growing up (if you bother to call what I did growing up) There were about 3 kinds of tips, those that you replaced all the time, those that you replaced regularly, and those that you could use forever. We simply got used to playing them. My dad is still using these same tips 40 years later (on the same cues, too).
Trouble With a New Pool Cue and Tip
- Title: Trouble With a New Pool Cue and Tip
- Author: pobrian
- Published: 4/24/2010 3:43:35 PM
