I'm a beginner, and found this very clear and helpful for lots of reasons, mainly putting me on the right track to begin with. Much appreciated thank you.
Now THIS information is high quality and concise. Thanks, Bob, and poster =] A friend who plays very well gave me this information when I was starting out about 20 years ago. I have always played with a hard tip, dime shape, and a 12.75-diameter shaft (diameter at the END of the shaft where the tip is mounted). Never had any issues with making balls, getting shape, and miscues. I currently use a Tiger sniper hard tip with a white carbon shaft. The white carbon shaft was a game changer. SKILL is the biggest factor in a pool player's success and equipment DOES make a difference on a smaller degree. The white carbon shaft added A LOT more positive effect than any other piece of equipment I have used over the years. I highly recommend getting one. For what it's worth.
Best explanation I have seen! So many people feel they have to have a soft tip... a hard tip, and good stroke will out player... deflection, and changing shape of the tip is no good!
My Meucci cue stick has served me well for over 25 years, not bad for 230 bucks! I agree that a good convex shape is best and medium hard. (Keep the shaper handy)
I have a 12mm Red dot cue but I use center ball English on long cut shots. I never cue more than a 1/4 ball on long shots and I shoot harder and I make as many shots as anyone else. Plus when I need to really put spin on a shot, I can get more on it than other 13mm shafts.
I've been playing with hard tips for the last 25 years and the only thing I don't like is the noise, and the cracks it puts in the cue ball breaking with them. Deflection is needed on some shots so I like deflection, just not a lot.
He had me at "Hardness of the tip" 🤣🤣🤣 if you didnt have a visual, it could be mistaken for a Mr. Roper moment. Balls, soft tips, hard tips shafts, friction....pounding the tip? Yup, I love pounding the tip, but not as much as she does.
I played with elk master tips for 50 plus years I have hard time adjusting to hard tips unless I keep them stuffed up. When I play with house sticks I always carry my Willard stuffer/shaper I had for most of my play playing days. IMO you really have to keep hard tip scuffed especially house cue’s that take a beating. I start out with 13.5 tip when I replace it and ends up about 12.8.
R Mo Totally agree! On my snooker cue now i am using mike wooldridge's black spin tip. The hardest tip i've ever played.The new chalk from Finland helped a lot to prevent miscues and bad contacts.And it just stays on the freakin hard tip!
After playing with some soft snooker tips ( elk, kamui...) i tried medium Le Pro! Pros- straighter shots, a bit more cue power; cons- needs more chalk and holds the chalk harder, easier to miscue, harder to apply side(english). And today i went back with kamui because my le pro ( medium) broke . It was a hard session... I was strugglin' on those follow trough and long shots which was easier with the medium tip.
Hmm, could someone explain to me why smaller diameter shafts/tips makes longer shots harder? Snooker cues standard is about 10mm and snooker is played on larger tables with smaller holes right...
you're hitting area on the cue ball is smaller, for some people that don't have true stroke or aim you can miss more. smaller tip will induce more spin when hitting off center and sometimes control can be problem. lets face it unless we have the stroke of Jimmy White (See banana shot) small tip increases or changes of missing.
Snooker balls are smaller so snooker cues have to be narrower so that players can pick precise points on the ball to control spin and ball speed. If the tip is too big for the cue ball you can only pick a few general areas near the center. In theory that shouldn’t matter so much but in practice when a tip is so big that it covers up a 1/4 of the ball you can’t really see well enough to know exactly where the tip is making contact with the ball and whether or not you’ll miscue. As for long shots, generally the narrower the tip, the lower the front end mass. If there’s not much weight on your bridge hand but a lot of weight in your stroking arm, tiny variations in your backhand stroke become more pronounced at the front end. A heavier front end tends to resist your unintended efforts to take the cue offline. It’s got very little to do with the physics of a small tip vs a large tip and a lot to do with human error. If you don’t believe me, try turning your cue backwards so the butt of your cue sits on your bridge hand and take a few strokes between two pieces of chalk allowing just enough space for the cue to pass between them and see how often you accidentally touch the chalk with your cue, then try the same exercise with your cue the normal way around. This is why snooker players will spend hours practicing hitting the cue ball from the baulk rail to the end rail in a straight line before they even start potting balls, which is something pool players tend to spend less time on.
I’ve played with elks too long I can’t or have no desire to switch. IMO once you get feel for tip it’s hard to change, the woody part IMO don’t make difference, it all in the tip.
Ive noticed in many videos of techniques or advise that "old schoolers" give,the information is almost opposite of what is taught or advised now days.itw almost like they're so stubborn of what they preach that whatever they say is the way is supposed to be.just what I've noticed but who knows.maybe pounding your tip.on concrete does actually work....I'll never know
been playing for +35 years and I can tell you most of what he is saying I have found to be true also. I play with hard layered tips and play as good as anyone on my best days. The only difference I have is I, like deflection, learn how to use it as an advantage.
I've seen data that shows that tip hardness doesn't affect deflection at all. The harder tip can APPEAR to deflect more if you were to compare hard and soft tips with the same stroke, but this is simply because of the more efficient transfer of energy the harder tip gives you that imparts more velocity onto the cue ball. This higher velocity reduces the cue ball swerve that you get that counters the deflection. So, if you were to adjust your stroke to get the same cue ball velocity with both the hard and soft tips, the deflection would be identical. The exception to this would be if the hard tip was heavier in weight than the soft tip. Added mass to the tip of the cue would increase deflection. DrDaveBillards channel has a good video discussing this if your interested.
This Guy needs to let a professional give the lectures. He obviously has no script either thereby using concepts in the wrong path of factual evidence already established. All this was just thrown together with little regard for the importance of the subject. He could have at least used a power point presentation. I wonder if he even proof reviewed this before he pulled his pants down in front of the world. LMAO
Why is it that I seem to do exceptionally better with a very flat tip? I am much more consistent with all types of shots. Is this going completely against the grain?
*HOW DO YOU POUND THE SIDES OF A ROUND LEATHER TIP AND KEEP IT ROUND? IT WILL FLATTEN SQUARE. THAT IS IF ALL THE LAYERS OF THE TIP DO NOT SEPARATE BY THEN!!* *POUNDING ON TOP WILL FLATTEN THE TIP OUT TO A PANCAKE AND RUIN A 20 OR 30 DOLLAR TIP OR RUIN A 3 DOLLAR TIP. IT WOULD MUSHROOM LIKE CRAZY OR FLATTEN OUT AND SEPARATE ALL THE LAYERS. TIPS ARE NOT MADE TO BE HAMMERED WITH A HAMMER ON CONCRETE. THIS WHY MEUCCI DONT MAKE TIPS* DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO
I actually don't think the rigidity of the structure has anything to do with it....shaft deflection and cb squirt are commonly accepted by those who don't make up stuff, the equations and such don't include that which, key point bob tried to make but fails. It's also known that the surface area of tip contact including hit from soft to hard is pretty much equal. But hell as much as I dislike bobs general marketing bs.....just about every player out there generally describes "tips" of English as the width of shafts actual tip ...tip contact size is like 3mm the width of the red and blue circle balls from armith and Brunswick.
I like mushrooms on my pizza. Not so good for pool. hhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahhhahahahahahhahhaahahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahLOLLOL :)
Bob Meucci......making a fool of himself. He needs to stick to running his CNC lathe and leave the pool playing and technical aspects to the real pro's of the game NOT the cue builder. It takes thousands of people to build an F-15 fighter plane but how many of them even have a license to fly a single engine prop plane. Same goes for cue builders vs those who take cues to the extreme in playing the game. The manufacturing workers /ground crew don't tell the pilots how to fly. It's the test pilots that set the planes parameters and make the cal for changes and so it is with the professional style pool player, he is the test pilot for the game of pool. You might be interested in reading this comment I found on A-Z Billards.com: forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=442413
The engineers that made the plane do actually tell the pilots how to fly the plane. The technical specs are very important to pilots because if you fly in to combat without knowing your performance advantages/disadvantages you'll probably lose; the designers can tell you those things. Also, the F15 is fly-by-wire so the engineers are flying the plane with their software; the pilot is just guiding it.
This is absolute garbage. Harder tips cause more deflection. The best choice is a medium hardness. Something that allows you to play the entire range of shots. A very hard tip is like having a very small clutch in a car (harder to control). A very soft tip wont hold its shape. Learn stance and cue action. Don't break your head about tip shapes, hardness, deflection, cue weight, taper, cue thickness and all this other nonsense.
I totally support your opinion. Tired of "less deflection" everywhere, brands trying us to spend hundreds of dollards in carbon fiber shafts, when for most of average-good players what matters is cue action, we lose games because we miss shots we shouldnt, not because of the deflection. Just having a solid cue action , , and not missing any kind of straight open shots you will not lose many games :)
@@idegrado you are one of the rare people who agrees with me. I spend my whole time in a snooker hall and i am tired of people bullshitting themselves about tip, chalk, table, ball set, air conditioner, their wives etc. They can't play a decent screw back, are afraid to play with side. All they want to do is touch their chin and chest to the cue and talk all kinds of nonsense when they can't put a 30 break. Sometimes i feel like this whole thing is a bad joke.
I use a Kamui Clear Black Medium tip after switching from a soft and super soft and agree with everything you said. Medium stiffness tips are the best and hold their shape the longest
