Advise on my new cue!

[Reycerb]

Hi there, i decided friday that i'm going to have a cue made for me by b&w billiards in cradley heath. Ive chosen to have a macassar ebony butt with cocbolo splice followed by a macassar splice. My question is do you think the cocbolo splice won't stand out enough being next to a dark colour anyway? It's a light shade of cocbolo btw, very orangey lol.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[KeithinFrance]

Hi there, i decided friday that i'm going to have a cue made for me by b&w billiards in cradley heath. Ive chosen to have a macassar ebony butt with cocbolo splice followed by a macassar splice. My question is do you think the cocbolo splice won't stand out enough being next to a dark colour anyway? It's a light shade of cocbolo btw, very orangey lol.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

First of all, the woods chosen are in very good taste! B&W make nice cues with good shafts and nice woods for the veneers and the people who work there are very good to deal with: Yvonne in particular is a darling!

If it were me, I'd ask to put veneers under the 2 front splices to draw attention to the cocobolo which will darken with time. The veneers are up to you, but, of course, a plain maple/white veneer will draw attention to the cocobolo; I think that a thin white veneer would be subtle but effective, but it's your cue, perhaps you'd like another colour!

Good luck with it and I hope you get on with it when it finally arrives!

[trevs1]

Here's my thoughts on that.

I would not tend to put a timber like Cocobolo against Macassar simply because they are too similar in colouring, and, because they both can display the same kind of grain figuring. So, what you can end up with by doing that is a cue which does not make the best of the timbers you have chosen.

If you are using a few different timbers, and, some of them are kind of similar in appearance, then it's a good idea to separate them by using veneers. This can make the timber more prominent and allow you to see that there is some variation to what is in the butt.

A simple way I describe this to people is like this.

If you imagine a painting of a desert scene, mainly in shades of pale browns and sandy colours, AND, this painting was hung on a wall which was in a neutral sandy colour, then you would not be able to see the painting all that well and it would have little visual impact.

But, if you put a black frame around that painting, it would jump out at you and become far more defined against the background, even though that background is the same colour.

Do you see what I mean???

The same pretty much applies to cues, although it's not always that simple.

At the end of the day, it's for the individual to decide on how they like the cue to look and not everyone likes the same appearance do they.

[Reycerb]

Cheers KeithinFrance, I was actually thinking of a thick maple veneer myself, just kinda weighing up what colour combinations would go best, i'm going to pop in sometime this upcoming week and discuss some possibilities.
My only concern is that the cocbolo might eventually go too dark to even see along with the ebony, is this likely to happen?

Brett.

[trevs1]

Yes it is, but only after quite some time.

[Reycerb]

I see what your saying Trev1 yes. Thats why i might possibly change my decision of the cocobolo spilce to something along the lines of tulipwood, or bocote. I will definitely be putting 2 veneers on, maybe 3, a mixture of thick and thin. Thanks again for your advice!

[trevs1]

If you PM me your mail address, I'll send you some images of timbers, along with some of these on completed cues, so you'll be able to make a better decision.

It would probably be very useful for you.

[Reycerb]

Ok sorted, that would be great. I don't think i yet have the option to PM people, is it due to the amount of threads I post??

[KeithinFrance]

Ok sorted, that would be great. I don't think i yet have the option to PM people, is it due to the amount of threads I post??

Once you've posted more than 10 times you can PM people, so you're OK now with 11!

[trevs1]

Yes it does depend on your post count, but I have no idea how many.

[trevs1]

Ah, there we are, Keith to the rescue.

[Reycerb]

Sweet! Just trying to figure out how now...

[Reycerb]

i've sorted it.

[KeithinFrance]

Ah, there we are, Keith to the rescue.

Thanks Trev, it's amazing how much useless information I've collected, eh?

By the way, from what I saw of the game yesterday, between the kids' baths and preparing dinner (!), it looked like a really good game yesterday, you must be chuffed to bits with the boys! Wales for back-to-back slams??

[KeithinFrance]

i've sorted it.

Good man.