Stinger is McDermott's dedicated jump and break line, built around a patented tip design engineered to transfer maximum impact energy into the cue ball rather than a standard playing hit. We carry 7 Stinger products, 6 currently in stock, priced from about $60 for the standalone jump handle up to about $640 for the top break/jump cue. Two of McDermott's touring ambassadors play a Stinger as their dedicated break cue. Below is how the tenon tip/ferrule design works, what the dedicated Stinger shaft specs out at, and where this line's warranty coverage differs from the rest of McDermott's catalog.
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4.8/5 average from 208 customer reviews across McDermott Stinger Cues.
McDermott has built cues at its Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin factory since 1975, and Stinger is the line the company built specifically for jump and break shots rather than everyday play. Every Stinger cue goes through the same construction process McDermott uses across its catalog, more than 150 separate procedures starting from kiln-dried, hand-selected North American Hard Rock Maple, but the tip and ferrule assembly is engineered differently from a standard McDermott playing cue, which is the entire point of the line. McDermott markets itself as an American manufacturer and backs the cues it builds domestically, Stinger included, with the same lifetime warranty against warpage and manufacturing defects that covers the rest of its catalog. Published retail listings credit McDermott generally with more than 50 years as a family-owned operation out of Menomonee Falls and point to a three-piece butt construction as a contributor to long-term stability, a construction method that carries over to Stinger even though the line's own engineering focus sits at the tip and ferrule rather than the butt.
McDermott's own materials describe the Stinger's tip and ferrule assembly as patented tenon tip/ferrule technology: a phenolic tip with a stem, what the company calls the "stinger stem," that projects through the ferrule and down into the center of the shaft. On a standard cue, the ferrule absorbs and disperses some of the impact energy from a hard hit; on a Stinger, that stem carries the energy from the tip more directly into the shaft itself, which McDermott says produces a larger effective sweet spot and results the company describes, in its own marketing language, as explosive enough to overpower an opponent's break.
Beyond the complete cues, McDermott sells a standalone Stinger Jump/Break Shaft on its own, priced at $110 in the manufacturer's own materials. It's specced with a 13.25mm phenolic tip on a pro taper and a standard 3/8"-10 joint, so a player who already owns a McDermott butt with a matching pin can add Stinger tip technology to their setup without buying a complete dedicated cue.
McDermott also says Stinger cues can be custom ordered with a BCA-approved McDermott Big Boy hard leather tip in place of the standard phenolic tip. That gives a player who prefers a more traditional leather-tip feel on a break shot the option to keep the rest of the Stinger's tenon/ferrule construction while swapping out the tip material itself.
Of the 7 Stinger products we carry, the NGJH is a standalone jump handle at $66.60 rather than a complete cue, aimed at a player who already owns a jump shaft and wants a dedicated short handle to pair with it. The rest are complete jump/break cues: the NG08 and NG01 both price at $436.50, the NG01W at $454.50, the NG05 tops the range at $639, and the NG06/NG07 pair both come in at $396. By cue-type tag, our Stinger stock splits 7 marked Jump and 6 marked Break, reflecting that most of these cues are built to handle both jobs from the same stick rather than being dedicated to just one or the other the way a player's separate playing cue is dedicated to regular shots. Against the rest of McDermott's catalog as we stock it, the Stinger line's $66.60-$639 range sits below the Select Series' $640-$920 band and below most of the G-Series, reflecting that Stinger is priced as a specialty tool rather than a primary playing cue.
The NGJH is a standalone jump handle rather than a full cue, a black, lightweight, ergonomically shaped grip on a 3/8x10 joint with a leather wrap, meant to pair with a jump shaft you already own rather than replace a whole cue. It carries McDermott's Lifetime Warranty like every other Stinger product. At about $70, it is the least expensive way into the Stinger lineup, in stock now on the NGJH product page.
The NG01 is built on a maple forearm set with four recon ebony and yellow veneer points around a quick-release joint, backed by a rosewood butt sleeve and a cream composite butt plate with the gold McDermott logo, left wrapless. Its 13.25mm phenolic tip runs through a 1/2-inch Ivorene ferrule on the dedicated hard rock maple Stinger shaft with a 10 to 12 inch pro taper, on the standard 3/8x10 joint. Weight options run 18 through 21 oz, and it is in stock now at about $440 on the NG01 product page.
The NG01W is the same NG01 build with one change: a black Irish linen wrap flecked with white in place of the bare handle. It is out of stock at the moment, priced at about $450 when available on the NG01W product page.
The NG05 is the one Stinger built to double as a playing cue, shipping with two shafts: the hard rock maple break/jump shaft with its 13.25mm phenolic tip and Ivorene ferrule, and a separate 29-inch G-Core playing shaft with a 13mm Tiger Everest tip on a Juma ferrule. The black forearm carries maple points, wrapped in black Irish linen, on the standard 3/8x10 joint. It tops the Stinger range at about $640, offered in 18 through 21 oz weights and in stock now on the NG05 product page.
The NG06 and NG07 both build the stinger stem directly through the ferrule rather than housing it behind a separate maple shaft, wrapless, on the standard 3/8x10 joint. The NG06 wears a black forearm and butt sleeve with a yellow Stinger graphic overlay, while the NG07 pairs a black painted maple forearm with a black-and-white honeycomb butt sleeve carrying the Stinger bee logo. Both are in stock now at about $400 on the NG06 and NG07 product pages.
The NG08 swaps in a solid maple shaft built around the Stinger stem rather than the hard rock maple break shaft used on the NG01 family, under a black painted maple forearm with a grey Stinger overlay and a leather wrap rather than the linen used elsewhere in the line. The 13.25mm phenolic tip and Ivorene ferrule carry over from the rest of the line, on the standard 3/8x10 joint. It is in stock now, offered in 18 through 21 oz weights, at about $440 on the NG08 product page.
Six of the seven Stinger products are single-purpose break and jump sticks, and the real decision among them comes down to finish and wrap rather than performance, since they all share the same tenon tip/ferrule design and a 3/8x10 joint. The NG05 is the exception: it is the only Stinger built to double as a playing cue, shipping with both the dedicated break/jump shaft and a separate G-Core playing shaft, so a player who wants one case to cover break, jump and regular play can do that without buying two products. McDermott also lets any Stinger be custom ordered with a BCA-approved Big Boy hard leather tip in place of the standard phenolic tip, which matters for players in leagues or tours that have moved away from phenolic construction.
Phenolic is a hard resin material, and cue makers use it on break and jump tips because it does not compress the way leather does, sending more of the hit's energy straight into the cue ball instead of absorbing it. McDermott's patented twist is the stinger stem, a tenon that projects from the tip down through the ferrule into the shaft, which the company says widens the tip's effective sweet spot and sends more of that impact energy directly into the shaft rather than losing it at the ferrule joint.
Most of the lineup runs an Ivorene ferrule, the ivory-look material McDermott uses between shaft and tip across most of its catalog. On the NG06, NG07 and NG08, that ferrule is built to let the stinger stem pass through its center rather than stop at the shaft face.
A Stinger's forearm and shaft still come from the same wood McDermott uses across its catalog, kiln-dried North American Hard Rock Maple, chosen for how cleanly it machines and how well it holds a straight taper under repeated hard impact. See our glossary for more on ferrule and tip terminology.
All 7 Stinger products we carry use McDermott's standard 3/8x10 joint, the same pin used across most of McDermott's catalog, so a Stinger butt or shaft is interchangeable with other 3/8x10 McDermott gear rather than locked to a proprietary pin. Shaft size splits between 13.25mm (3 units, the dedicated Stinger phenolic-tip diameter) and 13.00mm (3 units). Every Stinger we carry uses a classic wood shaft rather than carbon fiber, which keeps the line's engineering focused on the tip and ferrule assembly instead of the shaft body itself. Wrap splits across wrapless (3), linen wrap (2) and leather wrap (2) grips. If you want a spare Stinger-spec shaft rather than a full replacement cue, our shafts category carries them on their own.
Stinger is a dedicated-purpose cue built for jump and break shots rather than regular play, and McDermott's own touring roster reflects that split in practice. Brian "Superman" Pauley, a McDermott ambassador since 2015 who competes in WPA artistic pool and trick-shot events, plays a Stinger as his break cue alongside a separate G903 playing cue with an i-3 shaft and an i-1 Big Boy jump shaft for jump shots specifically. Charles Marshall Jr., an ambassador since 2017 who plays 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball, pairs a G1101 playing cue with a Stinger break cue the same way. Neither player uses the Stinger as an everyday playing cue; both keep it as the dedicated stick they reach for specifically when it's time to break or jump, which is exactly the role the tenon tip/ferrule design is built around. McDermott's no-charge personalization program, weight, shaft size, wrap and stain all listed as interchangeable, applies to Stinger cues the same as the rest of the catalog, so a player can still have a Stinger tuned to a specific weight for their break stroke at order time.
Stinger cues carry the same Lifetime Warranty against manufacturing defects and warpage as the rest of McDermott's American-made lineup, good for as long as the original purchaser owns the cue and contingent on the cue having been bought through an authorized McDermott retailer; the warpage clause specifically only covers cues built since 2004, and turning a shaft down below 11.75mm voids the warranty outright. One exclusion is specific to this line: McDermott's free Lifetime Maintenance Plan, which otherwise covers a standing multi-point inspection and butt refinishing on American-made cues, does not include butt refinishing on the Stinger, alongside the Sledgehammer SH1, Star, Lucky and Element models. A Stinger owner should expect the defect and warpage coverage that applies across McDermott's catalog, but not the same refinishing benefit that comes with a standard McDermott playing cue.
Owners on the AZBilliards forums who actually use an NG01 or NG02 Stinger are largely positive: several call it a good break cue for the money that also jumps well, and more than one describes swapping the stock phenolic tip for a Samsara or Big Boy leather tip with no real drop in performance once rule changes pushed some players away from phenolic. A separate thread opened with a secondhand claim that quality slipped after McDermott took over Stinger production from its original maker, but the actual owners who replied pushed back hard, reporting years of trouble-free use, and one described McDermott replacing a shaft that split at the tenon free of charge under the cue's lifetime warranty. Read together, the complaints on the forums come mostly from people who have not owned one, while the owners themselves report a durable break and jump cue backed by responsive customer service.
To pair a Stinger break or jump cue with a McDermott playing cue, see the McDermott Pool Cues category, or browse the full pool cues selection.
The joint is what decides whether a shaft fits, and every cue in McDermott Stinger Cues uses the 3/8X10 pin. That is the same 3/8X10 pin used across Elite and Stealth, so shafts move between them — always confirm the exact pin before buying.
It uses a patented tenon tip/ferrule design, a phenolic tip stem that projects through the ferrule into the shaft, transferring jump/break impact energy more directly for a larger sweet spot.
McDermott's dedicated Stinger Jump/Break Shaft runs a 13.25mm phenolic tip on a pro taper with a standard 3/8"-10 joint, priced at $110 from the manufacturer.
Yes. McDermott says Stinger cues can be custom ordered with a BCA-approved Big Boy hard leather tip instead of the standard phenolic tip.
Yes. Ambassadors Brian Pauley and Charles Marshall Jr. both use a Stinger as their dedicated break cue alongside a separate McDermott playing cue.
Partially. It carries McDermott's standard Lifetime Warranty, but is excluded, along with a few other models, from butt refinishing under the free Lifetime Maintenance Plan.
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