cue balance

[alanvdh]

Hi There, I'm new to this forum and indeed snooker as a whole. Started to practice and play 3 weeks ago. I bought an of the shelf cue but soon found out it wasn't my cup of tea. The shop I bought it from said no problem at all and will make me a custom cue.
So far I have all the specs needed exept for the balance point. If I understand correctly the balance point is standard at between 16 and 18 inch? However my specified cue is 55.5 inches long and I would like a forward balanced cue.
I would be grateful to get your input.
Cheers,
Al

[pottr]

As you're a beginner, I wouldn't worry too much about the balance point.

You wouldn't be able to notice the difference in the end result anyway.
Buy a cue with standard specs

57/58 inch long
9.5 ferrule

Don't worry about weight, taper, butt diameter, balance point. Just play with something you feel comfortable with.

As your game improves, your knowledge of what the cue does for you will improve the same.

[j6uk]

How forward you wanna go?! On a 57 I would say anything over 17 is forward and under 16 is starting to go back heavy for me. So do the math and I sure you'll come up with a good bp

[j6uk]

How much are you spending on this new cue of your alan?

[cueman]

Balance point is a very grey area with cues from my experience. Usually I prefer to play with a cue around 17" at standard length, just under 18oz. However I have some cues at 18.3oz at standard length, one balanced at fraction under 16, another 16.5 and yet despite the same weight, length etc, that half an inch BP really feels noticeable. The cue balanced at 16.5 feels very powerful and sits nicely on the bridge, yet the cue at 16 feels light and is tough when cueing off the cushion or using a lot of power as the cue feels light on my bridge hand.

I think what pottr says is right. Just try and find a cue that feels right rather than going for specific balance point as its not a precise science that it will feel right even if its what you requested. A lot of it is to do with the density of the shaft and tbh a good cue maker will get the optimum balance point based on that, if you trust his/her judgement.

[billabong]

I found a big difference when using cues with different balance points, but only in certain types of shot.

Mainly playing league pool, with tables with a mech to get the balls out,
the white is slightly smaller than the reds & yellows. When your cueing over a
colour to the white, you ( I ) need to raise the cue slightly and subsequently move my grip forward.

This is when I find the cue going front-light, resulting in some miss-cues.
with the balance point farther forward ( about 18" for me ), I find the cue feels
similar to the feeling when playing parallel to the table, and less miss-cues .

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[sberry]

If you're new to snooker and unless you are an accomplished cueist from another game you would do very well to stick to standard and not worry at all about tinkering with specs before you have learned how to play the game and played enough to know what might work better for you.

Standard specs are 57-58 inch cue, 17-18 ounce weight and about 9.5 to 10 millimetre tip - you do not need to worry about balance points as cues should and mostly do balance about where the shaft meets the tips of the splices and unles you have abnormally sized hands you need not worry about butt diameter.

Best bet for any beginner is to spend up to £50 or £60 on a standard cue and any other money you have on practice and the odd lesson - there's an old saying "the more you think about something the further away you'll become from it" - stick to standard until you are above standard is another good rule for snooker.

[j6uk]

Give yourself more time at the table and, as has been said, look for a good coach to help with the basics. Look to 'start' on the journey to becoming a cuist, be the guy with the best cue-action not the guy with the best cue. Then when you start knocking-in 20's fairly regular and your comfortable with the rest then look at your tools.. Oh, and enjoy it! :snooker:

[alanvdh]

+- 300 pounds
Cheers

[j6uk]

I just looked though my cues and Iv got a hand finished inexpensive 55" I can send you

[alanvdh]

Hi All, thanks for the input. I did clarify my new cue will be 55.5 inch, therefore not quite standard i.e. 57 to 58. I also said that I know that on standard, the bp is at 16 to 18 inch. My question however is how does that translate to a 55.5 inch cue? Do you still have the same bp?
BTW, I have a coach I see twice a week. He drives me nuts but he's always right. At first I made great improvements and then all of a sudden I couldn't knock any reds in to save my life. I do get great satisfaction when I pot a ball.
The reason I'm concerned with balance point is that my first cue was 57 inch and I had to hold it quite far from the butt end, therefore making the tip end lighter. The shaft had no weight on my bridge.

[alanvdh]

Much appreciated but mine is paid for already

[pottr]

So you've parted with £300 for a cue and then sought the advice of a snooker forum as to a suggested spec?

That's mental.

[j6uk]

just a wee bit

So you've parted with £300 for a cue and then sought the advice of a snooker forum as to a suggested spec?

That's mental.

[alanvdh]

It's a replacement so I can specify and I have time. I do have a cue I use till then. I might be mental, but not in this case. I'm basically doing my homework.