Machine Spliced vs Hand Spliced

[Wayne G]

in essence a machine spliced cue is two different bits of wood glue together whereas a hand spliced cue is one bit of wood decorated with other bits of wood.

Yes, with a 1 pc., but how about with a 3/4? Still two pieces.

[Tim65]

Its all a matter of personal preference, how much you want to pay & for what..Also your playing standard comes into it.A professional may pay £1k for a cue to improve his game by 1%.The same cue might improve my game by 1% too but there would probably be adjustments I could make to my technique that would improve it much more for no cost.I would rather stick with a good quality cue, with no adornments, that I am comfortable with rather than constantly change.Cues are not like clothes - you wear different clothes for different occasions.Cues are more like women - try different ones when you are young by all means,but when you find one you like stick with it.And don't let anyone else borrow it.

[Ramon]

A glowing example guy walks into your club for a quick few frames he has come straight from work so no cue ! picks a cue from the rack and proceeds to win every frame he plays, with some real worthwhile breaks, Old chap with a beat up center jointed at least 30 years old makes mincemeat of some of the young guns driving them mad with snookers (Ex Billiard players always appear good at putting you in trouble with snookers)

yeah,, is a good one !! agreed . Mark Selby was a ex Billiard player,, was'nt he ??? Anyway,, he is realy good with that kind of things !!

[rimmer10]

Anyone out there ever played with a blank shaft only?

[j6uk]

you mean all ash or maple? if so yes and they played lovely

Anyone out there ever played with a blank shaft only?

[DeanH]

a friend has an all ash cue by Cannon, it is a lovely playing cue a bit short for me else I would have to make an offer

[rimmer10]

you mean all ash or maple? if so yes and they played lovely

Yes mate, just an unspliced piece of ash or maple. Reason for my asking, I've got a blank Peradon ash cue which I really like. Been reluctant to play with it though because I always thought it's wrong for snooker and I need to get used to a "proper" cue

[Master Blaster]

people like buying different cues for the same reasons people like buying different clothes, watches, shoes, etc - they like variety or something different but at the end of the day it's a bit of dead wood and your arm will make it do what it does.

not sure what adr was trying to say, it's not a 'completely different method of construction' - it's just making something out of a few bits of dead wood, the end result is the same - man, wood, tools, glue = cue

in golf they call it 'all the gear no idea'

I thought you were an engineer? How can a hand spliced cue be made the same as a machine spliced cue? The construction is different and so is the feel. In a machine spliced cue, the butt is a solid piece of hardwood mated to a shaft using a four pronged joint. In a hand spliced cue the shaft extends all the way to the butt end with thick splices on top. The mechanical properties are different and so is the feel. So yeah, ADR is right (and he knows cues!), they are made very differently.

[Master Blaster]

Yes mate, just an unspliced piece of ash or maple. Reason for my asking, I've got a blank Peradon ash cue which I really like. Been reluctant to play with it though because I always thought it's wrong for snooker and I need to get used to a "proper" cue

Years ago I used to see a friend play with one very well. He made it himself and he had a cavity in which he could alter the weight of the cue by changing inserts at the butt end. Clever chap, very good player. The reason for splicing the cue with hardwood at the end is both aesthetic and practical. Ebony is one of the densest and toughest hardwoods around. It adds a bit of weight to an unspliced cue and it's very hardwearing in the hand and against the bumps of the table/floor. And it looks great with a bow tie! lol

[sberry]

both types of cue are made by glueing separate pieces of wood together, the end result is the same and anybody who says they could feel the difference is talking out of a cows arse - see the threads on tips, ferrules and throw - over 99.99% of all players would not be able to tell the difference between tips and throw, let alone whether something is hand spliced or not

some of these threads on cues, tips, etc are complete cods and it's amazing how many people are worrying about things that make no difference other than in their minds - why confuse yourself?

[Master Blaster]

both types of cue are made by glueing separate pieces of wood together, the end result is the same and anybody who says they could feel the difference is talking out of a cows arse - see the threads on tips, ferrules and throw - over 99.99% of all players would not be able to tell the difference between tips and throw, let alone whether something is hand spliced or not

some of these threads on cues, tips, etc are complete cods and it's amazing how many people are worrying about things that make no difference other than in their minds - why confuse yourself?

Curmudgeon!

[Willeverton]

both types of cue are made by glueing separate pieces of wood together, the end result is the same and anybody who says they could feel the difference is talking out of a cows arse - see the threads on tips, ferrules and throw - over 99.99% of all players would not be able to tell the difference between tips and throw, let alone whether something is hand spliced or not

some of these threads on cues, tips, etc are complete cods and it's amazing how many people are worrying about things that make no difference other than in their minds - why confuse yourself?

I have to say I tend to agree. I'm no great player and I've been guilty of changing cues far too often. I've now found a cracking cue that happens to be machine spliced and I love it. People need to concentrate on potting the balls in front of them and nothing else. Worrying about if it's hand made or not will just add another thing to make this already difficult game even harder!

[eaoin11]

Either that or you are lacking any ability to feel what a cue does. I think the splicing is mainly for balance. But the ferrule is located at the most concentrated point of the cue, where all of the energy is transferred and if you think there's no difference in feel and throw between a metal and synthetic ferrule then you probably need a walking stick, not a cue.

[Master Blaster]

Either that or you are lacking any ability to feel what a cue does. I think the splicing is mainly for balance. But the ferrule is located at the most concentrated point of the cue, where all of the energy is transferred and if you think there's no difference in feel and throw between a metal and synthetic ferrule then you probably need a walking stick, not a cue.

Spot on. They'd be fine with a broom handle, it's just a bit of wood with bits glued on afterall. Stick an elk on a broomstick with no ferrule and I guarantee it will play exactly the same as JP Ultimate with a titanium ferrule and Kamui. Honest. LOL!

[vmax4steve]

Let's look at the different ways that cues are constructed shall we and try to make an educated assumption about feel.

Take the machine spliced cue that is essentially made by finger jointing the shaft and the hardwood butt and then glueing them together. This joint is all of six inches long and that's all that's holding the cue together. The shaft wood ends at the bottom of the splices and thus surely the feel from the shaft would end in the same place.

The one piece hand spliced cue made from one piece of shaft wood that goes the whole length of the cue has hardwood splices glued on from about twenty inches or so from the butt end. One would think that the feel of the shaft goes all the way to the hand, and that would be correct, but only if the cue is unweighted as surely a hole in the shaft to place the weight would make the resonance of the timber end in that place.

Take the 3/4 jointed cue that is hand spliced, well only about three or four inches is it hand spliced as it is then married to a solid hardwood butt. That butt can be weighted as also can the shaft above the joint so where would the resonance in the shaft end on such a cue, obviously it depends on its exact construction.

Take the 3/4 jointed cue that is not married to a solid single piece of hardwood for the butt but instead a piece of throw away shaft wood that has thin splices of hardwood spliced around it, that is also drilled and weighted and a mini butt as well. Where would the resonance in the shaft end on such a constructed cue ? surely at the tip of the splices on the shaft.

Take the one piece hand spliced cue that is actually made by cutting the cue blank around the twenty inch mark, or indeed using two different pieces of wood, drilling both pieces, inserting a small weight in the shaft, glueing the two pieces together with a wooden dowell and then hand splicing as one would a true one piece. Many modern cues are made this way, where would the resonance in the shaft on such a cue end ? where the shaft has been cut and the small weight inserted in the shaft around the twenty inch mark I would say.

So the answer to feeling the resonance in the shaft all the way to the hand only happens in very old one piece hand spliced cues that are unweighted, in every other type of cue the resonance ends near or on the tip of the splices or where the weight is inserted, so in that respect the feel of any cue is all about the shaft wood up to that point, how it reacts, flexes throws with side etc is all about how one gets used to it over time.

So a cue is all about the shaft and a hardwood butt is only for decoration to follow the tradition of the very old true one piece billiard cues that were unweighted.
When buying a cue look to the shaft.