not very many, he also dosent work at home and has a big nut to crack every month on rent, power etc. Tony builds one cue at a time start to finish, he builds batches of blanks to a certain point, then from there ist one cue at a time to be exact. Unless you have played with anything he has built in the past 5 years, you cant compair the cues that are moe than 5 or 6 years old, he redesigned everything about 5 or 6 years ago.
They are worth the $$$(if you have the $$), Someone has to be the most expensive-bit there are reasons why, Tony aint getting rich. I know the numbers but will not put his private biz in the street. Its a real low number and lots of overhead. From a business standpoint its a horrible biz-Tony has told me so and I can see it. For him its a passion to build the best hitting cues possible. I'll explaine a few reasons why.
He dosent asseble his cues like most other cue makers with a bolt at the A joint, its one piece of wood from the joint to the bumper which makes for a different hit. One other thing he does is the Ivory over SS joints, that isnt for looks like most people think, its a way to regulate the weight at the joint. He has 4 different set-ups that look about the same, but each one weighs a different amount, because SS is heavier than ivory he uses more ivory on the lightest one and more SS on the heaviest one. By having 4 different weights he controls the weight where he wants it in the cue. He has a few other tricks to add/reduce weight in the middle of the cue and like most cue makers in the bottom of the cue with a weight bolt. Being able to add or reduce weight in different parts of the cue has a big impact on the hit of a cue. There are billiard cues(3 cushion cues from Italy) with weight bolts that have weights on them that slide up and down in the back 16/- inches of the cue, so the player can dial in the weight where he wants it to be as well as how much weight he wants. So you see things can get complicated real fast, my cue weighs 19 oz but plays like it weighs 20.5oz just because of where the weight is distibuted-its just not the balance point. When you measure the balance cue that is not moving thats different than a cue in motion. i'm not a physics guy and dont have all the right words Tony does. I just know it makes a big difference where the weight is at, its as important as how much a cue weighs. total weight and weight distributation-how many threads do you see on that on AZB? Its just not how much a cue weighs, but what it weighs and where on the cue that weight is located at that effects the hit of a cue, Tony can regulate that, so can other cue makers but I like Tonys way the best. The Italian 3C cues have the best system of all for weight and weight distribution.
The decorations or art or inlays what ever you want to call it, is where he makes his $$$ and it aint a ton. For the hours he works Tony should be making more $$$-but its hard to sell cues for more than $20,000. He built one for me last year that was lots more than $20,000, but it took 5 months and 2 weeks, he did manage to get a simple cue done during that time as well, because Donnie was doing the inlays it freed up some of Tonys time. He just isnt set up to be a high out put shop. Point is Tony lives life like he wants to and building cues the way he wants to, he has his following. Like he said "If I could figure out how to build cues that play good as mine for less money, I would" and if that was possible he would make a ton more $$$. He has humidifiers and dehumidifiers to keep the wood perfect in his shop for years before its used, i seen it myself. Just the time he puts into managing his wood is a full time job. "Trying to make something perfect with imperfect materials is a *****" is another thing he says now and then, and he is right. Wood, ivory move as they age, and with atmospheric conditions. He is a scientist/cue maker, he aint full of shit. Tony is the real deal. He credits Gus with teaching him the most. And also says Gus was the all time best cue maker, which I agree with too.
The people who pay that much for cues dont care about ROI, They like Boars and how they play. I play with a $22,000 everyday for the past 2 years(except the last 3 months I took off playing). Lots of champions have used my cue and they all love it, havent seen a champion yet say anything negative bout the hit of it, and I try and provoke them into saying something negative about it, they like it and are not just being polite. Even Henneessee who dosent like anything liked it
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If I move to a 3rd world country I'm gonna paint mine(daily player) solid matte black so nobody will notice it, I'm dead serious-Tony and I have discussed how were gonna do it, its way to flashy to play with in the PI for example. Since I play mostly at home it dosent matter, but I dont like the attention it draws at a pool room.
Thats the Black Boar thing as I know it. And might help people understand why BB's cost what they cost. If Tony was getting rich there would be other cue makers copying his style, Vollmer is the only one I know of.