Folks, I've been a long time lurker and enjoy looking at the various new cues that come across the forum both in the gallery and the for sale section. I've been playing for about 8 years and consider myself to be a strong player, winning local tournaments occasionally, but due to my job travels I do not play in the local masters league.
I also don't buy into the hype of "special" cues, and I purchase cues for their ability to play, rather than their aesthetic value. While I love the look and design of some higher end cues, I prefer to have a cue that can get dinged and I won't cry about it.
After making a decision to get a new primary player, I opted for a full splice cue. I shoot with a G-core shaft and wanted a cue maker that could match the butt to the shaft. I also wanted an ebony into bocote, zebrawood, or snakewood forearm. After shopping a number of cuemakers both on and off this forum and receiving quotes from $500-900 for just the butt, I ran across a post by Jim Baxter who was offering to make a full splice cue for another individual. In his post he had a picture of a number of hanging blanks and I really liked his bocote into ebony blank. I reached out to him and explained what I wanted. My cue is the Hoppe style bocote into ebony in the middle of the above picture.
The blank turned out to be a Mark Bear blank, which I've really grown to appreciate because it's sharp at both ends, and the workmanship is excellent. Jim kicked around some design ideas with me and came back with an astonishing low price. I jumped at it and he agreed to begin work without even a deposit. In addition he was willing to offer for sale one of my LP sneaky petes on AZ (since I don't have any selling history here) and applied that sale to the price of the cue. When Jim finished the cue, I asked if I could have another two weeks to get him the payment due to some large vet bills that I incurred, or rather my dog incurred for me. He was very understanding and had no problem waiting.
After receiving the cue, I really appreciated the guidance Jim offered. He suggested thinning the blank a bit to give it a more narrow feel. At first I thought this was a strange suggestion and it didn't matter much to me if the butt was just a hair thinner than most other playing cues, but it makes all the difference! In fact I find myself comparing this cue to my other cues and it just rests so much more easily in my hand. The weight and balance of the cue are fantastic and lend itself to an effortless stroke. He also recommended a G10 pin to give it the firm hit that I was looking for and I can definitely feel the difference. I'm not sure if it's the pin or the density of the woods, but the cue has a nice firm hit (not the jarring hit of some cues, but nice and firm). The workmanship and simplicity of the cue is fantastic and I've already had offers to buy it at the local pool hall. I had looked for a cue maker that could offer some beautiful woods in his cues and Jim really fit that bill. You can tell from the above pictures that all of his cues really have a beautiful look to them.
Given Jim's affable disposition and ease to work with, I have a feeling that his cues are going to become quite popular on AZ and I hope they generate the attention that he deserves. If anyone has any questions about my cue or working with Jim, please feel free to PM me. I'm sure I'll be placing another order with Jim fairly soon. Those two cues below mine in the picture really caught my eye :smile: Thanks again Jim for all your help.-Ryan
