I have a span ruler with the peg. My peg is adjustable and it has to be located properly to get a proper, accurate read.

My span ruler agrees with my regular ruler that I uses, like your pro shop does. BUT it also has to be positioned correctly in order to be accurate.

More importantly, how does the drilling feel to your hand??

Also beveling has to follow your hand and the skin on it; some people have wider bases and some people have looser skin. Beveling can make these appropriately comfortable but doesn't change the actual measurement. If you add too much bevel, it can make the span feel smaller than is proper and than is comfortable; so a lot of caution needs to be exercised is adding bevel.

Well, the ball was intended to match another ball exactly.  A ball that took several attempts to perfect.  Needless to say, this ball feels short. 

Is there no consistency in the ball drilling universe.  Four inches = Four inches 100 percent of time.  Correct??

It should be.
Maybe the beveling is too much? That can make a span feel shorter.
If it is unacceptable to you, then the driller should fix it. How he/she fixes it is up for further discussion.

My old driller was super accurate. One time a ball just never felt right; after discussing it for a while, he remeasured and I watched. The span was off by 1/32"; it's insane to push for a correction at that tiny a length. I lived with it with no real problems. It's a shame he had to move after drilling my stuff for 25 years.

The good news is....if the new drilling feels short and your new gauge says 3/16 and 1/8 to short, have him drill it at that much longer and see how it goes. Put that new gauge tool to work!

Quote from: vg7pin on July 07, 2016, 06:36:51 PM

How do you guys measure - true span - ??

With a Jonell Span Gauge. Allows you to measure full and cut to cut span correctly and accurately. Well worth the money.

http://innovativebowling.com/Jonell-Span-Gauge-w-1-12-Stud_p_239.html

Not being a pro shop, I used this little gauge to check span. Same idea as that behind the Jonell gauge:
http://www.buddiesproshop.com/p-1650-innovative-6-inch-span-ruler.aspx

The PSO took out his steel ruler, with the peg sawed off, literally, and showed me how he measures.  His ruler, as he held it, was spot on.  My ruler, with the peg in, revealed that he was off by 1/8 plus each finger.  Their was no confusion over true span or cut to cut.  The specs I gave him were confirmed before drilling, the specs were true span, not cut to cut.

The PSO informed me that every operator has their own way of operating a span gauge.

I just think this is BS.  I have purchased a dozen balls on line, they always come back as I expected, every time.  Because I wanted to experiment with a span change, I had the local guy plug many balls.  Then after finally deciding on the "winning span" the final specs were texted to him, and you know the results. 

It just amazes me that someone can measure a span and get a different numeric result than the next operator.  If I know my specs, a ball drilled by shops across the country should come back within a 1/32 at least.  1/8th is hard to accept.

If he's off by different amounts to each finger and you are both talking about the same thing then he probably missed and is holding the ruler back to make it read the correct measurement, so it doesn't look like he missed.

You need to make sure that you are measuring to the center of the thumb hole.

Measure to the center of the thumb hole??? might want to re phrase that part.

The true span is measured from gripping edge to gripping edge, not the center of the holes.