Cheap or expensive cues

[Scottythegeordie]

Hi all as I'm just starting back out in snooker I bought myself a £60 cue.Now looking through some threads that's a hell of a difference from some people who pay £00s or even £000s.what is people's opinions on this subject?thanks.😀

[Ramon]

The main thing is , the cue feels right in your hand / your specs and suits your game .
What you pay for is NOT important .
It could be a 1000 mark cue OR a 60 mark cue .
As long as you can play with , makes No diff what you payed for it.

Hope this helps .

[denja]

The main thing is , the cue feels right in your hand / your specs and suits your game .
What you pay for is NOT important .
It could be a 1000 mark cue OR a 60 mark cue .
As long as you can play with , makes No diff what you payed for it.

Hope this helps .

I have had some expensive cues however some time ago while looking round a local bog standard sports shop I came across a Powerglide Maxi 3/4 57 inch 9.5 mm for the pricely sum of £39.99 from the splurge its supposed to be hand spliced ?????!!!!! hummmm dont know what it was about the cue that attracted me it was arrow straight with seven good chevrons and a very good vacuum type joint after lots of deliberation thinking it must be crap at £39.99 I purchased it, well to cut a long story short went down the club with it and have been playing some of my best Snooker ever, I did however give it a refinish to get rid of the lacquer, back to bare wood and some good quality cue oil and bingo its a keeper and player, maybe its just a mind thing who knows who cares as long as you put balls in pockets.

[cueman]

There are no guarantees that a £500 cue will play better than a £50 cue. The truth of the matter is wood is wood, the more expensive cues you are paying for a premium looking shaft and more time and effort taken in splicing with exotic hardwoods, better finish and just all round generally more time taken.

However, if somebody tells you that a certain shaft will play better than another is living in la la land. I don't know many if any cue makers that truly can tell from a board of ash how good it will play, so when people are paying silly premiums for supposed AAAAA+ shafts then they are having the wool pulled over their eyes.

There is a guy in my snooker team that plays with a rack cue, probably cost all of about £5 to make. Its a cue craft rack cue, the club I played in ordered in around 20, machine spliced, but its one of the nicest and most responsive hitting shafts I've seen. Its very well balanced, there just isn't a shot you can't play with it, so if you can get a decent cue that can do all that, it does beg the question why many of us are guilty of spending hundreds and into the thousands on a single cue when with a bit of looking around you could find something like this. I sometimes feel a little embarrassed when we talk cues and mine is a £550 maximus ultimate and his was just a £5 rack cue. My cue is simply not 110 times better and certainly is no better to play with! Yes I have a nice cue that has resale value and has nice exotic golden amboyna burl splicing and a very nice looking shaft but ultimately what it boils down to is how they play. I simply cannot say to you my cue plays better when in theory if you pay that much you would think it should.

[denja]

There are no guarantees that a £500 cue will play better than a £50 cue. The truth of the matter is wood is wood, the more expensive cues you are paying for a premium looking shaft and more time and effort taken in splicing with exotic hardwoods, better finish and just all round generally more time taken.

However, if somebody tells you that a certain shaft will play better than another is living in la la land. I don't know many if any cue makers that truly can tell from a board of ash how good it will play, so when people are paying silly premiums for supposed AAAAA+ shafts then they are having the wool pulled over their eyes.

There is a guy in my snooker team that plays with a rack cue, probably cost all of about £5 to make. Its a cue craft rack cue, the club I played in ordered in around 20, machine spliced, but its one of the nicest and most responsive hitting shafts I've seen. Its very well balanced, there just isn't a shot you can't play with it, so if you can get a decent cue that can do all that, it does beg the question why many of us are guilty of spending hundreds and into the thousands on a single cue when with a bit of looking around you could find something like this. I sometimes feel a little embarrassed when we talk cues and mine is a £550 maximus ultimate and his was just a £5 rack cue. My cue is simply not 110 times better and certainly is no better to play with! Yes I have a nice cue that has resale value and has nice exotic golden amboyna burl splicing and a very nice looking shaft but ultimately what it boils down to is how they play. I simply cannot say to you my cue plays better when in theory if you pay that much you would think it should.

A GREAT POST Could not agree more.

[Muneebsarwar]

Ken Doherty played his all pro carrier with £5 cue...
However you can rely on £00s Thai mades like Ton Praram,Maximus,Niche etc and ADR147 they are as good as £000s or even £0000 commercial cues.

[Muneebsarwar]

Ken Doherty played his all pro carrier with £5 cue...
However you can rely on £00s Thai mades like Ton Praram,Maximus,Niche etc and ADR147 they are as good as £000s or even £0000 commercial cues.

[billabong]

Hi all as I'm just starting back out in snooker I bought myself a £60 cue.
Now looking through some threads that's a hell of a difference from some people who pay £00s or even £000s.
What is people's opinions on this subject ? thanks.

My opinion is that I've got a £60 Peal 3304 cue, and a 10+ times dearer Trevor white cue, and both play very nice for me.

Some may say that the TW doesn't play 10+ times better , so it's a waste of money, but that's missing the point.

I work hard, and pool & billiards are what I enjoy in my downtime, so I reward myself with a thing of quality & beauty.

I didn't expect it to play better, I just wanted it.

Work hard : Reward your hard work.



I've seen people saying that you don't need more than one cue, and if the cheap one plays well, then that's all you need,

but then again these same people don't wear a £4.99 digital watch ( which tells the time as well as a £50, £500, etc watch ).

How many people also have a smartphone, but don't need one, or at most need one that costs more than £70 ?

I choose not to spend my life finding the lowest price for my cue/ my watch / my phone, my car, etc.


It's about the freedom to choose what YOU want. .

If the £60 cue does the trick, then enjoy, and don't worry about what cue others are playing with.

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[Muneebsarwar]

My opinion is that I've got a £60 Peal 3304 cue, and a 10+ times dearer Trevor white cue, and both play very nice for me.

Some may say that the TW doesn't play 10+ times better , so it's a waste of money, but that's missing the point.

I work hard, and pool & billiards are what I enjoy in my downtime, so I reward myself with a thing of quality & beauty.

I didn't expect it to play better, I just wanted it.

Work hard : Reward your hard work.



I've seen people saying that you don't need more than one cue, and if the cheap one plays well, then that's all you need,

but then again these same people don't wear a £4.99 digital watch ( which tells the time as well as a £50, £500, etc watch ).

How many people also have a smartphone, but don't need one, or at most need one that costs more than £70 ?

I choose not to spend my life finding the lowest price for my cue/ my watch / my phone, my car, etc.


It's about the freedom to choose what YOU want. .

If the £60 cue does the trick, then enjoy, and don't worry about what cue others are playing with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Completely Agree...
but the Question was that do Cheap cues play Decent Enough to get Full range of Game ..Here the place I live the Cheap Cues are 100% crap even Broom handle plays better reason is these are not PROPER cues with unknown Shaft wood and painted splicing but If one can find Decent and Proper made cue in very less sum of money than he should go for it Especialy if he is not keen about things you mentioned, specific number of arrows,ultimate shaft specific type of butt wood with rare wood splicing etc,,,there is no Limit for Enthusiasm but there is always a Lower limit and Top is always vacant .....

[billabong]

Completely Agree...
but the Question was that do Cheap cues play Decent Enough to get Full range of Game ..Here the place I live the Cheap Cues are 100% crap even Broom handle plays better reason is these are not PROPER cues with unknown Shaft wood and painted splicing but If one can find Decent and Proper made cue in very less sum of money than he should go for it Especialy if he is not keen about things you mentioned, specific number of arrows,ultimate shaft specific type of butt wood with rare wood splicing etc,,,there is no Limit for Enthusiasm but there is always a Lower limit and Top is always vacant .....

I didn't notice the guy asking this question. I thought he just wanted to know peoples opinions on the fact that some pay £60, and some pay £00s or £000s.

It is a shame if you can't access a nice old cheap cue to try. T

Theoretically you should always try before you buy, but The 2 x cues I mentioned in my post are different specs,
and some days I play better with one of them, the next time it may be the other one.
I'm just not at a high enough level to feel that sensitivity that top players may have.

Old second hand cues can be great players, are usually stable enough at this stage of their life, that they won't move / warp.

[jrc750]

...
but the Question was that do Cheap cues play Decent Enough to get Full range of Game ..

That was not the question at all as Billibong said !

[Stevie1]

My opinion is that I've got a £60 Peal 3304 cue, and a 10+ times dearer Trevor white cue, and both play very nice for me.

Some may say that the TW doesn't play 10+ times better , so it's a waste of money, but that's missing the point.

I work hard, and pool & billiards are what I enjoy in my downtime, so I reward myself with a thing of quality & beauty.

I didn't expect it to play better, I just wanted it.

Work hard : Reward your hard work.



I've seen people saying that you don't need more than one cue, and if the cheap one plays well, then that's all you need,

but then again these same people don't wear a £4.99 digital watch ( which tells the time as well as a £50, £500, etc watch ).

How many people also have a smartphone, but don't need one, or at most need one that costs more than £70 ?

I choose not to spend my life finding the lowest price for my cue/ my watch / my phone, my car, etc.


It's about the freedom to choose what YOU want. .

If the £60 cue does the trick, then enjoy, and don't worry about what cue others are playing with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nice put bill

[jamesg19851]

I have had some expensive cues however some time ago while looking round a local bog standard sports shop I came across a Powerglide Maxi 3/4 57 inch 9.5 mm for the pricely sum of £39.99 from the splurge its supposed to be hand spliced ?????!!!!! hummmm dont know what it was about the cue that attracted me it was arrow straight with seven good chevrons and a very good vacuum type joint after lots of deliberation thinking it must be crap at £39.99 I purchased it, well to cut a long story short went down the club with it and have been playing some of my best Snooker ever, I did however give it a refinish to get rid of the lacquer, back to bare wood and some good quality cue oil and bingo its a keeper and player, maybe its just a mind thing who knows who cares as long as you put balls in pockets.

I went to a sports shop and I think the Powerglide cues were the best for the money. For about £40 there are some ok Powerglide machine spliced cues.

[Scottythegeordie]

Thanks guys for your input some excellent posts.

[Ramon]

I have had some expensive cues however some time ago while looking round a local bog standard sports shop I came across a Powerglide Maxi 3/4 57 inch 9.5 mm for the pricely sum of £39.99 from the splurge its supposed to be hand spliced ?????!!!!! hummmm dont know what it was about the cue that attracted me it was arrow straight with seven good chevrons and a very good vacuum type joint after lots of deliberation thinking it must be crap at £39.99 I purchased it, well to cut a long story short went down the club with it and have been playing some of my best Snooker ever, I did however give it a refinish to get rid of the lacquer, back to bare wood and some good quality cue oil and bingo its a keeper and player, maybe its just a mind thing who knows who cares as long as you put balls in pockets.

That's the trouble with most of the cheap cues . ( lacquer )
I play with a club cue at the moment ( abit too short though ), and i had the same problem. You can get rid of the lacqure , that's for sure .
I had and have seen and treid many expensive cues .
The main difference between cheap and quality cues ( more expensive ones ) is the finish and how the cue is balanced ,imo.
e.g. TW cues have much better finish and craftsmenship compared to my playing cue at the moment . I know that for sure lol

Not to mention , abit more difficult to find a cheap mass production cue with exactly your specifications.

I think it's matter of personal preference. and how much you can afford to pay for it.

When it comes to playability, you gonna have to try it. otherwise you never know.
I've seen sum expensive cues JPU/TW/TP/and ... some of them were great players. and some of them not.
the same point can appl towards the cheap cues.

Not every cheap cue is automatically a great player just cuz it's cheap.
and not every expensive cue is automatically a great player just cuz it's expensive. :snooker: