Cue tapering and accuracy

[MikeWooldridge]

i have 1 of your cues mike a 1 piece classic 1 and its a little bit thin for me at the butt end the taiper very nice so i had a old cue respliced by trevor white with a 30mm butt and its perfect for me and when i measured the butts yours was 29.5 and trevors 30mm i was amazed how 0.5 of a mm can make such a difference when its in your hand

absolutely. 0.5mm makes a big difference in the hand.

by far and away, the most commonly requested butt size for custom orders is 29.5mm. that's why i use it as a standard.

but as i've said many times, and in depth in the advice section on my website, you can have any size. it's whatever you feel most comfortable with. and in your case, you like the butt a full 30mm.

[MikeWooldridge]

Mikes getting his tapers too thin?????

In defence of Mike ( not that he would ever need back up) he does offer three different tapers on the website to begin with, and any quality cuemaker will be able to replicate your cue taper as well as can be expected if you are willing to send the cue off and pay for additional work

nah, they're not too thin really are they? i don't think in general people would say 29.5mm was thin. just a preference for a bit more 'meat'.

CueAntW147 did have slimmer one but it was a special edition and not my chosen standard sizes.

actually i'm gonna remove those 3 taper options and have two:

1) my way

or:

2) the highway

[joe2311]

over the years why as butt size come down as old cues quite often have 31/33 mm butts but you never seem to get that in todays cues ?

[joe2311]

also i think the way the flat is shaped on the butt can decive you a bit to how thick or thin the butt actually is

[MikeWooldridge]

also i think the way the flat is shaped on the butt can decive you a bit to how thick or thin the butt actually is

true.

but i need to say more cos true is less than 10 characters....

[mchpddl1]

Hi Mike,

Just for curiosity, do your cues send to Asia tend to have a butt size smaller than 29.5mm ? I am just wondering that due to smaller sizes of shirts, do snooker fans in Asia tend to use an even smaller butt?

[MikeWooldridge]

what has shirts got to do with anything?!?...

not necessarily. invariably they want 57" or shorter, but there doesn't appear to be a particular tendency towards smaller than 'standard' butt sizes.

[Qubit]

I like big butts. I cannot lie.

[MikeWooldridge]

I like big butts. I cannot lie.

do you do that song at karaoke...

[keith auld]

Hi Qubit - I've jusr received an order from a new customer on the Isle of Wight - he wants a custom cue made with a 36mm butt tapering to 8.5mm tip and a weight of 16.5 ozs - this one's going to be a challenge !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CueAntW147]

Hi Qubit - I've jusr received an order from a new customer on the Isle of Wight - he wants a custom cue made with a 36mm butt tapering to 8.5mm tip and a weight of 16.5 ozs - this one's going to be a challenge !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blimey Keith he must have hands the size of a giant.... 36mm that really is a broom handle it will also make it tricky to get the weight down to 16.5oz then i would think if its ebony... a one piece or 3/4 jointed ?

[Qubit]

do you do that song at karaoke...

Only the once - was a bit of a floor emptier. My singing is worse than my snooker (yep, that bad!)

Keith - 36mm -thats huge! Personally Ive found that anything less than 30mm feels too small. Nothing to get hold of, so to speak!

[keith auld]

Hi Qubit - It's all down to individual taste - 36mm butt will be the biggest I've ever made and to get the taper, weight and balance right will be a bit of a challenge - I reckon that the ash pole alone will probably be close to 16.5ozs before splicing so I'll probably have to look at something like ebony veneers with cherry or if possible birdseye maple, I'll just have to look at individual woods to go over the ebony veneers and see what I come up with

[trevs1]

Having done a cue of similar dimensions before, I'd say it should'nt pose any big problems for you Keith.

The ferrule is only 8.5mm, so if it's tapered to a typical shape to acommodate that ferrule size, it isn't going to be the thickest cue towards the upper part of the shaft. Also, a butt size of 36mm might sound like it would add lots of weight, but in fact, it probably won't, especially if the total butt length can be done to no more than 17" long, with splice fingers that measure about 6.5" in length. Doing it that way would mean there is a fair amount of ash running through the centre of the butt, with the ebony splices being of minimal thickness. The butt may have to be 36mm at the base of the butt, but as it travels up the cue, it can begin to take on a more 'normal' shape, perhaps being approximately 27mm - 28mm diameter at the tips of the splices at 17" long.

I am surprised that you say the shaft would weigh approx 16.5oz's alone though Keith, that's one VERY heavy piece of ash for a cue that's going to end up to the dimensions you've been asked to build this cue. I'd have thought the shaft for such a cue would weigh no more than perhaps 14 - 15 oz's tops, even if it were quite a dense piece of timber. In my own experience, ash shafts which weigh 16+ oz's are of a VERY full size, with a taper of perhaps 11mm to 31mm, whch for this cue, isn't going to be necessary.

Good luck with it anyway.

[keith auld]

Cheers Trev - It won't be a problem really - as you know once you get started on the thing it generally takes shape without to much a problem - most of my 1 piece ash/ebony cues come out at 14 - 15 ozs as standard - thanks for the input - most appreciated