The joint in a cue makes it convient transport, but it is most important in other ways. Both the design and the material of the joint have a great effect on how the cue plays and feels. To make cues with different materials at the joint play the same has always been one of my primary goals as a cuemaker. After 29 years of cuemaking, I finally think I have gotten close. The joint I use today is radically different from the one I started with. This modern joint design utilizes a thin joint collar either metal, ivory or other material bonded to an interior reinforcing ring of pheonolic which is then epoxyed to the wood of the butt. This layered construction provides the maximum strenght and the natural flexibility required to produce a consistant hit and feel.