A maple wood is just a more solid wood than an ash wood . and from my experience , maple is more lasting and easier to maintain . maple cue’s deliver different kind of cue power especially on stun shots ( those angle which might look like not enough to stun of a cushion , u can do with a maple )which ash wood cues can’t deliver . but as for screw shots and power shots i can say ash wood would be a better choice.
As for me , why do i use a omin maple cue ?
Firstly it’s because i have natural screw back shots even when i was a beginner . i always over screw lots of screw shots while i was using a o min ash wood cue . thats why i uses maple now.
Secondly is because i always twist my wrist after i punch out my cue on a shot . (like Stephen Maguire and Ng Ann Seng !!) so when i use an ash wood cue , the grains on the top of the cue will twist a little that it always confuse me .
Lastly and the most important reason is because of the humid of the snooker centres in Malaysia . our cues always gets wet and sticky. especially for ash wood cues. but for a maple cue u can just wipe off the stickiness with a damp cloth and it will be really smooth. and the smoothness will actually last longer than a ash wood cue.
JH

Then again, if you’d think about it, JP and Stamford is based in the UK, where most of the top players are at. So by having a cuemaker being so close to them, its easier for them to get their cues custom-made/tested and repaired if anything goes wrong.

JH once told me he saw Ronnie’s cue being serviced/repaired by O’min when he was there in Thailand.

So is there any other articles you would like to read?