Abe Rich of Star Cue MFG interview

Thanks for the links. I only visited him once in the late 90's, I think. I was awestruck by the racks of exotic woods that took up most of his shop. He wasn't making cues anymore by then and only had a few sneakies available in an old locker in the back of his shop. He still had lots of passion for the craft though. He wanted to see what I had in my case and when I pulled out a Searing he recognised it and said something like 'not bad for an electrician' in his thick accent. I hope someone that appreciates wood as much as he does gets the wood racks. RIP Abe

misterpoole said:

Thanks for the links. I only visited him once in the late 90's, I think. I was awestruck by the racks of exotic woods that took up most of his shop. He wasn't making cues anymore by then and only had a few sneakies available in an old locker in the back of his shop. He still had lots of passion for the craft though. He wanted to see what I had in my case and when I pulled out a Searing he recognised it and said something like 'not bad for an electrician' in his thick accent. I hope someone that appreciates wood as much as he does gets the wood racks. RIP Abe

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Someone already has bought all his wood. I won't say who, but I am sure he will let it be made known soon that he has all that old wood. Abe kept on making cues after you were there. He just did not make many and mostly concentrated on repairs.
A few years ago I bought a cue from him that he built in the 70's that he had rewrapped with linen. He would not ship the cue to me. I drove all the way down there from Georgia to buy a cue from him and see his shop. Of coarse I had to take the wife to the keys while in the neighborhood. Walking into his shop was like walking back in time a few decades. He had none of the modern cuemaking equipment you would see in todays shops. I remember he wanted $800 for the cue and I offered him $1500 for his last two cues and he said no way. He was fun negotiating with. He finally came down $20 on one cue and opened the Blue Book of cues and showed me a Balabushka with similar acrylic window and knurls inside. Abe said, "See it is the same cue and it is listed for $6500." He went on to say Balabushka was not even a wood turner. Then he said, "I guess I will have to die before my cues bring that kind of money."
He was very entertaining to listen to. He felt like all of us modern cuemakers are cheating by using routers to taper our cues, instead of turning them by hand. He did act impressed when I told him I turned my first cues by hand also. I wish I had bought both cues. He had some more cues he was turning on at the time, but they were not going to have the acrylic windows so I was not interested in them. He kept trying to sell me the place. But he would not sell me the wood alone. He had a real loyalty to his customers and he wanted someone to keep the repair business going. That shop was his mission and he felt it was an important mission and he felt that it closing would let the local people down.

Bump For one of the old timers and great cue makers.

I used to love visiting Abe in his shop when I would go down to South Beach. Everytime he asked me "how's the electrician doin" referring to Dennis Searing. He knew I was friends with Dennis and always made a
reference.

God speed Abe and I hope you find a workshop.

I have two of his cues. One has the window and one doesn't. I got them in the early 70's and held on to them. They hit really solid and compared to the price of other cues at the time were a bargain. RIP Abe.

Anyone know what they are going to do with his shop? Is anyone going to continue the business? I am going to be in Miami Beach in a month and wanted to stop by. It is where I bought my first cue 28 years ago.

ELBeau said:

It seems some of the info is no longer online, so I've attached the Miami Herald article.

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Still have the Mp3? I couldn't find it on the station's website. Could you put it up somewhere where we can download it?

Found this is it the right one?

http://wlrnunderthesun.org/2009/01/the-pool-cue-maker/