any of you guys ever play with or just even seen a Kersonbrock up close? unbelievable, what chip reese would have used if he were a pool player

they are nice cues for sure. they have been called southwest for a long time. i knew dave a little bit when he lived in vegas and made some cues himself i believe. close to a ten year wait to get one now new.

i have a bunch of cues some 90 year old conversions.

but as long as you have a good shaft and tip you should be fine for the most part.

agreed; concentrate on the shaft.

buy a new or used predator shaft (or any other good low deflection shaft, but i'd prefer a predator as they are easy to be find/traded/good waranty) that fits the cheapest cue with the right weight you can find in your local shop. you just want to eliminate deflection as much as you can, then worry about the rest

Ive owned cheap cue's (J&J , etc), custom cue's (bob frey, scruggs), and higher end cues, and at the end, the shafts is the most important, then the weight distribution , then the looks. My player is a bacote sneaky pete bob frey that costed around 750 , fitted with two 314² shafts and a kamui black tip, for total of around 1.3K $. its not a headturner, but it hits amazing.

buy or find a cheap J&J jump/break cue and a case, and for around 400$ you should have everything you need to start.


if you want i can sell you my old J/J jump/break cue if you live in europe. (im from belgium). further the transport cost > price of the cue. used it in my first 2years and did the job. cheap as hell.

I just bought a Predator from seyberts, I was surprised how expensive the cues were, I paid $387 and then another $65 on top for shipping and to be honest I wasn't happy with it there was a weight loose which I had to get someone to fix, then on closer inspection there was a pretty big dent in the shaft and then a little dent right at the bottom of the butt. I was going to send it back but then I would have all the hassle of shipping it and waiting for a new one.

Anyway what I am trying to say is when I buy a new one I think I would rather try and look at the cue first, check everything looks okay and that i like the feel of it, I hated mine at first but now i'm used to it but it's not ideal especially after spending $450.

I'm quite tall so could do with a longer cue and now I think I would be more suited to a smaller tip, if i continue to take the game seriously then I will definitely be investing in a new one, but this time I will go somewhere that I can try them out and buy one off someone who knows what they are talking about and help me find one more suited to me.

Good luck

Not sure on seyberts return policy considering that you've used this cue already, but one option would be to let them know how the cue arrived and tell them you'd be satisfied with just replacing the shaft and ask them for the longer predator shaft in the thinner model... I think it is the z2?? I'm not a predator fan, so I may be wrong on the name. Doubt they would let you exchange it if it's been played with already.

never hurts to call and see what they will do for you. but also if then you want to change things they get suspicious.
unless your getting a custom cue. i would say to only buy after you tried hitting it. and for 400 or so you can buy a decent used custom cue. dont buy into the hype of what the production cue people are pushing.

another thing. tend to stay with the standard in equipment when still learning as usually people are changing things only finding out it was because they had stroke issues and not equipment issues. also when you want to sell a longer cue or one with less than 13 mm tip you may find it not selling.
the best players in the past and even the tall ones used 57 inch cues with 12.5 to 13 mm shafts.

Right. I ordered a 1"+ shaft by accident once and didn't know it until I put it on the cue and hit it once. "oh ****! This ain't right". They make a huge difference.

Just checked my cue and it's a Viking not a Predator

I was going to send it all back but it was to much hassle, but I am definitely going to buy a new shaft, maybe i'll just get it a little thinner 12.5mm tip.

One thing i have no idea about is the actual tip, and the moment I just have the standard tip, but I don't know if I would be more suited to a medium or softer tip?

I like to hit the ball fairly firm, ideally i need to buy things where i can text them out, but it's all new to me so having an extra shaft or 2 won't hurt

I'm going home for xmas and i am going to measure my now pool cue and my snooker cue back home, i have used my snooker cue for 20 years. When i hold my 9 ball cue i hold it with just 2 fingers at the end, so in my head i think it's to small, but maybe that's how i hold my snooker cue anyway( i can't remember)


I think I will buy a new shaft anyway as a spare, maybe just a little thinner tip 12.5mm, but can you give any advice on hard and soft tips, is just preference or is soft better for people who strike the ball harder or vice-versa, that kind of thing

cheers

Tip is all about personal preference. You really have to try them out and decide yourself. I like a firm feel and I use a Moori Medium tip. I don't use anything harder than that because I feel like I loose too much control as I like to use a lot of english sometimes.

yes and unfortunately the best tips are about 20 bucks or more and are the layered ones. also most are harder then they say. moori are good and so are most others. but as suit says its all personal preference. and most players agonize over the cue and tips but it is really you who determines what happens. unless the cue or tip is defective in some way.
just have something that feels comfortable so your mind is off the equipment when shooting.

I understand what everyone is saying about the tip being personal preference, but I really have no idea if I would be suited to a softer tip or not, I've only ever really played snooker, not sure what kind of tip that would be, it was just the well known make you would get in any snooker club.

Where I am there is no where that sells cues or shafts to try out different tips etc.... so I am ordering from the states, but I think I will go with what suit said because I also use English(side) on nearly every shot I play.

I'm not the kind of person who will swap and change everything, I think I can use any cue given enough time to practice, but getting the length and maybe a better feel on impact is probably something which would benefit me.