[huebler]

Yesterday I received my new Juiced Balabushka from Fast. What a beautiful cue! Mine is the GB-21. Love the look.

Now, about performance. I feel like a surgeon who was just handed his first truly sharp scalpel. My prior cue was a fine cue as well, a 30 year old Paul Huebler with a 12.75mm shaft and a Triangle M tip. A great cue, but the 11.5mm juiced shaft is far more lively. While I have only shot 30 or so racks with it so far and will still need time to adjust, there is no doubt I have more english and draw, no loss of follow, and much better touch on distances. I did have a couple of miscues as I am adjusting to the Talisman H tip on the 11.5mm shaft. But after grinding in some chalk a few times and breaking the tip in, those issues quickly passed. After about an hour of hitting the 8-7 drill and an L-drill, I did a 10 rack set of 6 Pocket and scored my second highest score ever with a cue I was still adjusting to.

The Juiced package comes with the Limbsaver anti-vibration device. I shot for about 20 minutes without putting that on to see the cue perform with the normal bumper. After putting on the Limbsaver, I cannot really tell the difference on softer shots (which are 85% of my game), but on power shots there is a definite difference in the feel. So I know it is doing something and should be helping all shots. I just do not feel the difference on the softer shots. I like the traditional look of the Balabushka cues, and was concerned about the Limbsaver ruining the look. It actually looks pretty good. A mix of old school design and high tech.

Very happy with the purchase so far. Thanks Fast Larry!

[huebler]

huebler, on Jun 23 2009, 09:58 AM, said:

Yesterday I received my new Juiced Balabushka from Fast. What a beautiful cue! Mine is the GB-21. Love the look.

Now, about performance. I feel like a surgeon who was just handed his first truly sharp scalpel. My prior cue was a fine cue as well, a 30 year old Paul Huebler with a 12.75mm shaft and a Triangle M tip. A great cue, but the 11.5mm juiced shaft is far more lively. While I have only shot 30 or so racks with it so far and will still need time to adjust, there is no doubt I have more english and draw, no loss of follow, and much better touch on distances. I did have a couple of miscues as I am adjusting to the Talisman H tip on the 11.5mm shaft. But after grinding in some chalk a few times and breaking the tip in, those issues quickly passed. After about an hour of hitting the 8-7 drill and an L-drill, I did a 10 rack set of 6 Pocket and scored my second highest score ever with a cue I was still adjusting to.

The Juiced package comes with the Limbsaver anti-vibration device. I shot for about 20 minutes without putting that on to see the cue perform with the normal bumper. After putting on the Limbsaver, I cannot really tell the difference on softer shots (which are 85% of my game), but on power shots there is a definite difference in the feel. So I know it is doing something and should be helping all shots. I just do not feel the difference on the softer shots. I like the traditional look of the Balabushka cues, and was concerned about the Limbsaver ruining the look. It actually looks pretty good. A mix of old school design and high tech.

Very happy with the purchase so far. Thanks Fast Larry!

I now have about 6 more hours playing time on the new cue. I beat my best 6 Pocket score by 14%! I definitely feel the touch I have with the juiced shaft is the reason for the improvement. I still need a lot of work on my draw. It is better with the juiced shaft, but often a draw I mean to come back 8" becomes a stop shot. Other times I get 16" when I want 8". But english is definitely improved. I get much better action with much less deflection. Occasionally I get so much the CB takes off the rail with twice the power I mean to apply, but time will get that under control.\

The shaft seems to have multiple taper angles, and it reflects the light differently than other shafts. I applied a small amount of wax, which feels great, but added a slight sheen. The sheen I am used to as my prior cue shaft was waxed as well. But the juiced shaft taper having several different taper angles was distracting at first. Add in the feel of the smaller tip in a closed bridge, and there was some adjustment required. These things seemed to break my focus and cause me to lose my aim point on the OB or cause me to lose focus on tip placement on the CB. I am getting used to this and it is fading into the background. But there is much more going on with the taper on that juiced shaft than a traditional pro taper and an 11.5mm tip.

The biggest adjustment has been long straight in shots, particularly near the rail (CB near end of table, OB near middle of table). These I had tremendous accuracy on with my old cue (12.75 mm tip). The 11.5mm tip on the juiced shaft requires more attention and focus on CB tip placement. Small inaccuracies on table length straight in shots near the rail can quickly be magnified. Fast describes the juiced shaft as a high performance sports car, and just like a high performance sports car, you have to be very focused and pay more attention than driving grandpa's sedan. The shaft is amazing, but you really have to keep your focus and be very accurate with tip placement on the CB and with the power of the shot. This is a fine trade off for the performance you get, but if you get lazy or lose focus, that same performance power will magnify mistakes as much as it magnifies what you do right. I have worked on these table length shots and have them dialed in again with the new cue. But I find I have to be more focused than with my prior cue. This may change over time as I get more used to the juiced Balabushka and it all becomes second nature.

The cue almost instantly felt comfortable and an extension of my arm. Good balance, good solid hit. I had almost no adjustment to the Talisman H tip as I had recently adjusted to a Triangle M tip after replacing a worn and mushroomed Le Pro on my old cue. The adjustment time has been more about the feel of the taper on long strokes and the smaller tip. My game has improved with the cue, and in just 3 days (about 8 hours playing time). I expect it will improve more as I get completely comfortable with the cue. I would definitely recommend the juiced Balabushka to anyone looking to step up to a higher performance cue. You get a beautiful, well crafted production butt and a custom, pro designed shaft for the price of other high end production cues.

[huebler]

It's now been just over two weeks with the new juiced Balabuska. Still loving it.

I took a couple of days off of shooting seriously to do some woodworking (made a ball rack to put some vintage Hyatt's in my pool room), and when I picked up the cue and started shooting again, I was amazed at the control I had on whitey. Took some warming up to get my aim dialed in, but I had magically gained better draw and skids.

Using one of my Brunswick house cues to break, the 13mm tip looks huge. I cannot imagine playing with such a big timber any longer. The 11.5mm is perfect now that I have adjusted.

I made a new high score in a 10 rack set of 6 Pocket, running out twice in one set and having 4 other racks over 10 balls. Never did that with my old cue. Yes, I have put in some serious practice time since getting the new cue, 2-3 hours every day. But there is some serious action in that juiced shaft and the 11.5mm tip that are definitely contributing beyond my 12.75 pro taper Heubler (vintage 1979).

Had a bit of a buzz develop in the cue and realized the limbsaver screw had vibrated loose. I think I didn't tighten it enough when I installed it. Gave it a good torque and it has not been an issue since.

FL is absolutely right about the juiced Balabuska. I would highly recommend one to anyone looking to step up to a higher end cue and looking to step up their game.

[Cracker Barrel Gizmatchi]

Congrats on your buy... It's nice to have a cue you can thoroughly enjoy! I still need to get me a cue soon...

[Demondrew]

mrcrawdad, on Jan 20 2010, 10:25 PM, said:

Just a thought for all of you playing with narrow shafts...........When you play golf ,you don't use one club and a putter......then why limit your pool to one all arounf shaft.........ok,
I break now with my three cushion shaft.....I have retired my phenolic tip shaft...illegal in some tournaments
my long straight in shots are shot with this above shaft or my standard playing shafts
other shots requiring english that I don't feel comfortable with reg shafts I then use my Z2 shaft....same basic as your juiced shafts
I jump with and x breaker....ash shaft.....
So as you can see, its' starting to sound like a golf game......by the way.......it helps.....my strength of game is usually the fact I don't make many mistakes.
Crawdad

Glad to see I'm not the only one using more than one cue, I have my 13mm straight taper Big Kahuna at 23 oz for straight pool. a 19 oz 12.5mm for eight ball and a 19.5 oz 11.4mm cue for when i'm forced to play nine ball. I have a dedicated break cue 21.25 oz 13mm for breaking with a Talisman X, all the other cues I'm using Talisman H.
If I'm playing one game and I have a shot that is better suited to a different cue I'll use which ever cue I feel is right for the job.

[huebler]

One problem I have found with the juiced shaft at 11.5 mm is where I am shooting over another ball or cue ball is tight on the rail. I find I mis cue a lot in this situation with the juiced shaft, but shoot it fine with my 12.75 mm Huebler.

I do not think the juiced shaft is necessarily the issue with shooting when only the top part of the CB is available, I think it is my stroke. On tight to the rail shots I notice I am angling upward rather than stroking level. Not sure what is happening when shooting over a ball. May be a problem I have always had, but the larger tip compensates for my stroke and still connects. I have tried to focus on my stroke on these shots by making sure to strike level or even slightly downward, and that helps when I remember to concentrate.

In tournament play I am defaulting back to my Huebler on these shots and trying to work on them in practice with the Balabushka. Since I have taken to using the 12.75 mm Huebler as my break cue (with Triangle M tip), I have it with me and trust myself with it for these shots when it counts.

Any thoughts on why I might be struggling with the small tip on these shots?

[w7jh8mcs]

I have also had that problem in the past. What has helped me is to shoot it with a closed bridge and to choke up with my grip hand. I found the problem was my cue sliding off the cue ball