Choice of cue

[Straight strike]

Parris definitely got a competitive edge in buiding edge in building cues for the pros for the experience he earned. It might have helped him to become a better cuemaker perhaps.

You might have got a mistake here. There is little chance for the Chinese to have Guo as their last name. It could be Xiao Guodong or Pang Weiguo (retired). The Chinese put their surname in the front. I remebered when Ding came to England the first 2 years, he was always introduced as Junhui which was in fact his first name. Westerns only got it right in recent years.

[poolqjunkie]

Parris definitely got a competitive edge in buiding edge in building cues for the pros for the experience he earned. It might have helped him to become a better cuemaker perhaps.

You might have got a mistake here. There is little chance for the Chinese to have Guo as their last name. It could be Xiao Guodong or Pang Weiguo (retired). The Chinese put their surname in the front. I remebered when Ding came to England the first 2 years, he was always introduced as Junhui which was in fact his first name. Westerns only got it right in recent years.

Thank you very much. My apology about the name. I stand corrected. It should be Xiao Guodong.

[Straight strike]

It's OK, a common mistake for the Westerns. Don't forget to make the switch next time.

[shamreez]

one thing common in all these cues are they are really expensive and only worth buying if you are planning to take your game a little more than the initial stage...

I don't know when I would be emptying my pockets for one of these...

Trying to hold back the temptation every day...

[Straight strike]

First of all, we are talking about the top 16 pros' choice of cue. Second, I do not suggest anyone to get an expensive oneright from the start, you always got the wrong specs at the initial stage. But when you can play better or begin to addicted to the game, you will be tempted to get a better cue, it's a natural process really.

[JonLonergan]

Going back to the original question of why there aren't many pro's using MW or TW cues, but many using Parris cues, to me it seems quite simple.

If you are a professional player, and John Parris is willing to give cues away free of charge then surely one of his cues is going to be more attractive than one off another reputable cue maker who may charge you a fair amount of money for it.

Equally if Parris did send a professional a handful of cues so that they could try them and see which they liked best, then this is also a more cost effective way for a pro to get a cue that suits them. Why order six off another cue maker, pay for them all, then select the one that suits them (if there is one) and then sell the rest, when they could get six off Parris, select one to keep, and send all the others back and not even pay for the one they've kept. He gets his advert, they get their cue, everyone is happy.

[Straight strike]

Your argument on cost saving stands if TW and MW play no better than JP. If TW and MW are seemingly far superior than JP, the pros will be motivated to get a TW or MW in order to enhance their chance to win more matches as the reward must be bigger than the cost.

The fact that JP saves their time and trouble in search of a quality cue seems more convincing to me.

[poolqjunkie]

Your argument on cost saving stands if TW and MW play no better than JP. If TW and MW are seemingly far superior than JP, the pros will be motivated to get a TW or MW in order to enhance their chance to win more matches as the reward must be bigger than the cost.

The fact that JP saves their time and trouble in search of a quality cue seems more convincing to me.

Sometimes, comparison of playability may not come into play with their decisions. Just off the top of my head I can think of the followings:

A: If I were a pro and I like MW but he tells me he wants 900 GBP for the cue, I may go to JP and try out say 20 cues and pick one that I like for free. I am a pro and I know I can play just fine with my John Parris.

B: How about if I was a pro and I met John and he gave me a good cue for free so I just keep using it. I never bother to try out any other cue because I am playing great with what I have and if I change a cue I need to give it a lot of time, which in my point of view really is not necessary. I am not into fancy cues and I have never heard of Trevor White or Mike Wooldridge. A cue is just a tool for me to make balls and win frames.

C: How about I was a pro and I want to change a new cue but both MW and TW quoted me a very long waiting list. My season is starting in a couple months. I go to John and he gives me 15 cues to try out. I find one that feels awesome and John tells me I could have it for free.

D: I was a pro and I have heard great things about Trevor White. I emailed him for a cue but he never replied my email. I emailed John and he posted several cues for me to try, which are all awesome cues. Needless to say, I am very impressed.

E: I was a pro and I was going through a very bad patch. I was using a cue from another cue maker but I had just totally lost confidence in my cue. I met John in a tournament and I talked to him. He offered to build me a cue with the same spec. I started practicing with this new cue and I am playing great again. I start to have my confidence back and I am starting to win again.

Playability is subjective...I am sure some pros use John Parris simply because after they have tried many cues they come to the conclusion that JP cues are just the best. My point is just that there are so many possibilities that we simply cannot say with a blanket statement if such and such cues are better then the pros will not all be using JP cues.

[mchpddl1]

I am absolutely sure Xiao Guodong plays with a cue that comes from same company as Ding, I played Xiao before. It's a 1-piece ebony with red splicing.

[Straight strike]

Airin,

This is what I mean, I come to a conclusion that JPU should be equall y good as TW and MW. Otherwise the pros would still look for a MW, though they might just pay to have a plain butt instead of a multi-splicing cue which cost them less.

But I have a question is that have these pros ever gone to TW and MW for a cue built (except for Walden an Day of course)? I think TW and MW would give the top pros the first priority on the list. I asume every cuemaker should regard building a cue for a top 16 player a highlight of their career should he be given such chance. Perhaps we could only ask them in private.

[shamreez]

Sometimes, comparison of playability may not come into play with their decisions. Just off the top of my head I can think of the followings:

A: If I were a pro and I like MW but he tells me he wants 900 GBP for the cue, I may go to JP and try out say 20 cues and pick one that I like for free. I am a pro and I know I can play just fine with my John Parris.

B: How about if I was a pro and I met John and he gave me a good cue for free so I just keep using it. I never bother to try out any other cue because I am playing great with what I have and if I change a cue I need to give it a lot of time, which in my point of view really is not necessary. I am not into fancy cues and I have never heard of Trevor White or Mike Wooldridge. A cue is just a tool for me to make balls and win frames.

C: How about I was a pro and I want to change a new cue but both MW and TW quoted me a very long waiting list. My season is starting in a couple months. I go to John and he gives me 15 cues to try out. I find one that feels awesome and John tells me I could have it for free.

D: I was a pro and I have heard great things about Trevor White. I emailed him for a cue but he never replied my email. I emailed John and he posted several cues for me to try, which are all awesome cues. Needless to say, I am very impressed.

E: I was a pro and I was going through a very bad patch. I was using a cue from another cue maker but I had just totally lost confidence in my cue. I met John in a tournament and I talked to him. He offered to build me a cue with the same spec. I started practicing with this new cue and I am playing great again. I start to have my confidence back and I am starting to win again.

Playability is subjective...I am sure some pros use John Parris simply because after they have tried many cues they come to the conclusion that JP cues are just the best. My point is just that there are so many possibilities that we simply cannot say with a blanket statement if such and such cues are better then the pros will not all be using JP cues.

I think you just nailed every possible chance there..