You are probably looking to buy a very beginner cue or found screw tips that made you think are the screw on cue tips good.
The short answer to that is No.
Screw tips are for usually very low-end house cues. Over the past decades, their availability has become a lot lesser than they were in the early 2000s. Simply because they have lost their reputation as something close to a serious cue.
WHAT MAKES THE SCREW CUE TIPS BAD?
As soon as the tip comes in contact with the ball it does not give a nice sound. Secondly, the control of the shot is a lot lesser than the same cue tip if it was a glued tip.
More importantly, the threads both on tip and ferrule will weaken over time. Because these cues are for total beginners, manufacturers don’t make the threads from good material hence both the threads on the ferrule and tip are susceptible to getting damaged.
As you play the shot the threads get weakened quicker, as a result, the grip of the tip loosens over time and the player gets a very rough uncontrolled shot because of the shaky tip on the cue.
Another negative thing is that imagine that you want to replace the cue tip. You may think that it’s going to be an easy task because you would have to simply unscrew the tip and screw in the new one. Well, that is right, but because the threads are constantly ripped each time the players makes the shot the new cue tip will not get perfectly attached because of the weaker thread connection.
In the end, the new cue though would be good in the beginning but its own stronger thread would make the ferrule thread weaker quicker and this time you will get a more shaky cue tip. This would demand the ferrule replacement. That means more money and more maintenance headache for screw tip type cues.
Another drawback is, very few companies make screw tips and those who make screw tips make very few versions of their tips for threaded ferrules. So this reduces the tip choices.
IS THERE ANY BENEFIT OF SCREW ON TIPS
Yes, it’s not all bad while it takes away the flexibility it has a positive side to it. You can have the freedom to change the cue tip for different shots during the game. For the break, you can rely on a hard tip and then quickly change to a softer or medium tip based on the game situation. Then revert back to a hard tip if stuck in snooker that requires multiple cushion contacts.
CONCLUSION: ARE SCREW ON CUE TIPS GOOD
Well, it’s not all bad for the screw on cue tips but there are more negative downsides to the screws than to the positive ones. If you are looking to start out or have a decent budget I would recommend that you put in the confidence and buy a cue like this custom Lucasi stick I reviewed here and stick with the same cue for a year. This will improve your game in a shorter amount of time and make you understand that glued tips have a very nice feel on the impact.
