How they are spliced

[itsnoteasy]

Sorry if this has been asked a thousand times before, but why are the splices on cues the length they are, I'm not on about the secondary ones but the main Ebony ones. Is it just aesthetics, is it balance , or cost or what, it's something that really interests me.

[RogiBear]

I believe originally it was due to the natural balance point it would create at that length. These days, ebony is very easily sourced at that size, so kind of chicken and egg scenario. which influences which

[SouthPaw]

I'm no expert but i think the ebony is used to make the cues heavier and the length is purely aesthetics, and maybe balance in some cases like mentioned... weight can be added or removed easily in the butt, most 3/4 cue's i come across seem to be spliced to 20" if jointed at 16" and 16" if jointed at 12"... Though I'd like to hear from the craftsmen in case there's another reason...

[mattyshinobi22]

I am a great fan of the wooldridge legend cue, notice the long spliced ebony butt. Like to hear from mike himself why he decided on the long ebony butt. I have owned some ye olde ash cues in the past like this however not all have been same what I have seen, so maybe by acccident. Where as mike's are as standard

[itsnoteasy]

I must admit Matty I like a long splice, it just makes the cue look nicer to me, too much shaft on the shorter spliced cue, it looks out of proportion.

[narl]

Have a sinbin MW cue as well and prefer the splice length, they're a fraction under 20" which fills the bottom of the cue more. 17" just looks too short and (dare I say) more of an old style length when the weight was mainly in the butt of the cue. Looking to get a maple legend on the go at some point as soon as Mike gets back to me So might have an ash MW cue for sale at some point.

[grey]

Ebony is the choice wood for a cue butt as it is about twice the weight of ash and offered natural balance. It was also chosen as it holds its shape well in detail, which make a nice crisp splice. It was also the 'wonder-material' of its time! Imagine discovering there you could get black wood... everyone wanted a bit of it. It still fascinates people today!!!

When cues were originally hand spliced, cues were always one-piece; to splice a one-piece cue the shaft has to be planed both sides from tip of the splice to the bottom of the butt so ebony laths can be stuck on (both sides). The cue is rested planed again (quarter turn) and the other two laths applied. This creates a long splice.

Today we have a trend towards 3/4 length cues. Many makers will use a 3/4 shaft and start the splice just above the joint and finish the splice at the joint (rather than at the butt of the cue). This creates a shorter splice. Cues constructed in this manner often have a single piece butt section.

[ADR147]

i assume that most makers if not all try to reduce the wastage so splices are based on the length of ebony they have!