Mike Wooldridge - *NEW* 'BlackSpin' Ferrule System

[billabong]

. . . or x-rayed it . .

[MikeWooldridge]

Is anyone else finding that they can't use VCM on an iPad or iPhone?
It works fine my PC but not on these

I'm working on an app. Would work brilliantly on iPad given current layout/size.

[cally]

How do you find the hours mike? your a creative fooker fairplay you don't stop dreaming up ideas, must be a right stoner i reckon with all these ideas/plans you have on the go, straight heads just int as creative as this mun...

[pottr]

So... er.... just off the phone with the legend himself...

... Mine arrives TOMORROW!

30 Day turnaround from the cuefather.

Needless to say, I am very excited

[MikeWooldridge]

erm...check your email.

a few minutes after i got off phone to you, we had a slight problem in workshop. will be next week now.

sorry for getting your hopes up, but pretty much sums up a totally sh*t day here.

the turnaround was/is quick cos i've cleared backlog so was able to 'focus'. wish it was always like that...

[jrc750]

Is cue stuck in customs ???

[pottr]

Oh well, can't miss what you don't have

[narl]

tip.jpg

Re-tipped my "Lej" today, not too hard if you have a very sharp knife handy

[pottr]

Is that one of those new invisible tips Narl?

[narl]

Is that one of those new invisible tips Narl?

Yup, bought it from fedia. Apparently the cue can now make tons on its own

[narl]

Wondering if I can use wire wool to clean up a couple of scuffs on the Ferrule, have some 00-00 stuff here but not keen on trying it out. Works ok on brass obviously, not sure how it would work on the blackspin material.

[MikeWooldridge]

I use wire wool with no problem

[tomhsh2013]

How can I use the VCM? I can't get in to the webpage.

[MikeWooldridge]

sorry, i'm 'shut' for a while due to workload.

check back in 3-4 weeks. vcm will be on in shop then.

[ken147]

Hi forum members,

here is my review of the blackspin ferrule system. Late last year I had my 1 piece Trevor White maple cue sent to Mike for a blackspin ferrule. The whole process of sending my cue and fitting to receiving my cue back took about a week which is very fast and efficient service from Mike.

The blackspin ferrule system was very well fitted and flush to the shaft with MW black prototype tip. I tested my cue out with a 3 hour session at a local club and was not particularly impressed with the results... My 1 piece Trevor White in its original form played well, responsive, feel and very consistent but it lacked the ease of long ball potting. The blackspin ferrule did improve the long ball potting but the trade off was it made my cue feel dull, dead, not as responsive, i.e. it lost a lot of screw power, made the cue feel dead and i needed to hit the cue ball harder to generate any amount of spin especially screw. All in all I lost approximately 30% spin.

Mike did call me to discuss the short comings I suffered with the blackspin ferrule and he suggested that it might be a problem with the fitting of ferrule system or the prototype black tip. I didn't feel that there was anything wrong with the installation of the blackspin ferrule system so I suggested to Mike that I will persevere with it and try it with different tips.

I tried many tips on the blackspin ferrule, Talisman Soft, medium, Buffalo Diamond, MW super tip, a good played in elk from my other cue, omin tips, Kamui MH and I can honestly say didn't improve the situation at all. What this blackspin ferrule system has done is the core (rod) made my shaft stiffer (my original TW was of medium flex) which goes approximately 3 inches into the shaft.

Would I recommend this blackspin ferrule system to other members? From my experience, no, but I am sure there have been many satisfied customers who have reaped the benefits of the ferrule system. What I would like to add is I'm not convinced that the ferrule system retro fitted to all non Mike Wooldridge cues will improve the hit, the spin the crispness the responsiveness etc as each cue plays differently, are tapered differently, are of different stiffness of shaft etc...

I've sent my cue back last month to Trevor White he's installing a brass ferrule and extending length of the cue with extra splicing as the core is not easily removed without the use of specialist tools, and hopefully it will come back as it originally was, playing wise.

I haven't tried a MW cue with the blackspin ferrule system so I can not make a comment upon how it plays and compared to a regular brass ferrule from the same cue.

Thanks for reading my findings on the blackspin ferrule system and hope I've given an impartial and informed review.