New Cue - help please!

[ExeterCW]

Hi fellas,

I'm looking to buy a new cue soon (brand new, rather than second hand). I'm a fairly average standard club player, but I do play in a league every week. I'll have 20-30 breaks reasonably often, but rarely anything above that.

My first cue cost me about £30 and is made by BCE. It does the job, but the shaft is too heavily varnished in my opinion and becomes 'sticky' too often. I'll clean it regularly, but after a week or so it gets sticky again. Also, the tip is a bit too hard compared to some of my mate's cues.

I'm looking to spend £50-£75 on a new cue, preferably with a case and a mini-butt extension if possible. My dad has a Peradon cue which has a really nice smooth shaft with only a thin layer of varnish on it. Do all higher range cues have that sort of finish, or are some of them heavily varnished too?

If you could recommend a few decent brands/models to me for that sort of price range, I'd be very grateful.

Cheers

[goshow]

Hi mate, the higher range of cues will have an opiled finish on them rather than varnish and will undergo a sanding process of no less than 9 grades of sanding / polishing.

I'm a big believer in you get what you pay for and for £75 i would go for a good second hand cue rather than new.

Once you have reached 10 posts or more you will be able to send PM's. Then i would advise sending ADR147 a PM as he trades in lots of cues and may have something up your street.

[paulb]

I started a similar thread about 2 months ago....have a look at that (http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ad.php?t=14795).

I ended up getting a Craftsman Legend and am extremely happy with it, though it sells for 110 with mini-butt, no case. If you can stretch your budget it's a very nice cue; Craftsman have cheaper machine spliced models as well. ADR147 on this forum might be able to help with a slightly better price also....I bought mine through him and he's helpful and trustworthy.

[ExeterCW]

cheers for the replies so far.

Two that have caught my eye so far are the Craftsman Victor Burr Wood cue (although it appears to be out of stock at the moment):

http://www.craftsmancues.com/acatalo...ssic_cues.html

and also the Cue Craft Buxton 5-piece set, which looks like a decent deal.

http://www.cuepower.co.uk/categories...ft_buxton.html

Anyone know anything about either of these and whether they are any good or not? I really can't afford to go much over £75

Thanks

[RGCirencester]

Theres a ken doherty 3/4 cue on here with case and other assorted paraphanalia,
http://snookerstuff.com/offers.html#logo
It really depends on what you want, if you are after the best snooker cue you can get then the craftsman is probably the best bet, be aware though that you will need to buy a case seperately. If however you are after a good deal then the bundles may be the way to go. Also remember that the tip can (and should) be replaced for a higher quality tip, especially on the cues at the cheaper end of the market. Putting a decent tip on a cheap cue can really make a difference. If you are looking for something to get into the sport more then the ken doherty may be the way to go, it should play well however i have personally not had any experience with the particular cue. In the future if you decide to buy a better cue at least you will have a case to put it in!
Personally i would buy the craftsmen cue however buying a case along with it will take it over your budget.
Sorry if this post got out of hand i think i started rambling a bit so i shall try to summerise...
Personally the craftsmen will probably be a better performing cue, whether you notice or not is another matter. It sounds to me like the ken doherty may be the way to go if above your budget try and find one that says "grade a shaft" as this should signify a better quality of wood at the business end
p.s this is the third time ive written this post as i have managed to press the back button both times before!!! sorry if i rambled on a bit and ignore me if you think im spouting rubbish

[RGCirencester]

p.p.s i used the quick reply function to write it... o how ironic...

[ExeterCW]

haha! no problem RG, i think i get what you're saying and I appreciate the advice.

Basically, I've been trawling through this forum all night trying to find out as much as I can. What I want more than anything is a cue with an oil-finish which will stay smoother for longer. If possible, an extension would be pretty useful too, but this would mean I'd have to buy a new case too, as the one I have at the moment wouldn't fit a cue and an extension.

Craftsman seems to have a good reputation, so I'm thinking about getting one of them. It's annoying that there's nowhere nearby where I can try them out. With golf clubs, for example, I wouldn't dream of buying any before I'd actually used it!

In short, my question to the people on here is that if you could have a cue with a nice, smooth, barely varnished finish for under £75, what would it be?

I've got a university tournament at the end of March, so I'm keen to get one asap and practice with it a bit.

[brisy72]

hi mate ,
if your from exeter i have some cues you might like ?

[RGCirencester]

I think it'd be pretty bad if you got a hevaily varnished shaft for the 75 pounds mark. Also it depends on the type of cue your after, personally i prefer a 3/4 length cue purely because i find the centre joint is right underneath your chin. If you plan on ordering a 2 piece cue then youcan get a case pretty cheap and go with the craftsman. If however you decide as i have that 3/4 is the way to go cases seem to get more expensive.
Anyway my vote goes in for the craftsman.

[RGCirencester]

Ive just had another idea! Sell your golf clubs!! Theres only one green i want to play on and its baize!!!

[ExeterCW]

yeah could do, but i wouldn't get much for them, especially if the person i sold them too saw me playing with them

I fancy a craftsman, but their website says they're out of stock on the models i like, which is really annoying.

Brisy - yeah, i live in Exeter atm. Have you got a shop or something nearby then?

[ExeterCW]

really?! who makes them then? Are they much poorer in quality?

[Billy Ards]

Jesus wept theres some crap advice being thown around in this thread.

Craftsmancues are excellent cues and you'll be hard pressed to find better value for money from any shop than them for a new cue.
Their Classic cues are just as good as their own range but a little cheaper because they are spliced in Thailand where labour costs are much less and finished off in Leeds.

The Legend fits your budget but it's machine spliced, not very popular at all nowadays as most prefer the hand spliced look. They are out of stock probably because demand for a machine spliced is virtually nil.

The Cue craft job mentioned again is machine spliced and not even ebony, a waste of time buying it unless you like paying twice what it's really worth.

Riley aint made a decent cue fo nigh on 50 years all they sell now is cheap chinese rubbish.

And as for the Docherty rubbish do you really want to pay £40 for a printed signature under varnish on a piece of wood best suited for propping up tomatoe plants?

[RGCirencester]

thats pretty much what i was getting at, but i think the doherty cues not as bad as you make out, it may not be the greatest thing in the world but from what ive seen (not personael experience mind you) the shaft is much better than most people give it credit. Given the painted butt would drive me nuts but thats just me. i said personally i would go for the craftsman and i don't actually have a problem with machine spliced cues, i know peter ebdon for one still prefers this look on his cue. I personally think if your on a tight budget those packs arnt a bad starting point.

[Billy Ards]

Copy the picture of the Docherty cue blow it up and look at the badge.

Master billiard Supplies. The same make as the house cues up and down the country in every club. Why ? because they are the cheapest you can buy, made in china from unseasoned wood painted with toxic paint and riddled with woodworm.

Okay a bit over the top but not much

To be honest reading throug the first post again if it were me I'd spend a couple of quid on some raw linseed oil buy a few sheets of fine sandpaper and finer still wet and dry. 50p on a new tip the same on some super glue search through the forum for "finish" and "Linseed oil" read how to get a first rate finish apply it to the cue your used to and that's it problem solved for about a fiver.

If you want a better cue therafter go for one but dont expect your game to improve.