good move
I want to say sorry to recent people I have interacted with on az threads..
tony zinola a few others that has felt me bitter side of others
I have recently been to defensive and offensive about my work I seem to be bitting before seeing is it's my master around the corner or not....
I could come up with (what I think to be valid excuses) but I wont...
The people in question knows the reasons.
but anyhow I am sorry....
Fellow cuemakers are artisans by far ..... I always try ....it's hard sometimes.... try to keep my mouth shut about things that bother me .... But I know it shouldn't I should just keep doing what I'm doing and do good at it.
and I know with enough blood and sweat I can make my goals.
I will , unless questioned, attacked, ridiculed, or anything of those nature be harmed (my work and or the results of losing face and customers.), keep my mouth shut ...and or ask through PM about the intentions of their remarks towards me and my work, before attacking anyone...
Otherwords,
look before I leap.
Sorry everyone.... I do respect other cuemakers....that's why I also buy even though I build.
Good move posting this thread, it took courage. One thing you have to realize, every question or every time someone else disagrees it doesn't necessarily cause you to lose face or honor to listen to what they have to say or write. If you disagree, disagree politely, even thank them but tell them you are more comfortable doing something else.
I started to try to guide you a little bit earlier concerning your board dealings but in truth I tried to do the same privately with another young cue builder on the forum that I saw making mistakes. It was a waste of my time and effort, he was the now infamous Eddie Wheat. This post makes you seem a little smarter than he was and a lot more honorable.
One thing to remember, very few cue builders charge anything near what I feel should be fair. Consider that many lease or own a shop separate from their home so they have that overhead, not just lease or mortgage but insurance, a second set of utility bills, licenses, all the things a commercial business incurs. Then they all have investments in stock and equipment. Few have less than ten thousand invested, most have many times that often hundreds of thousands invested if it is all added up.
When you set a price on something you have to cover all overhead plus time and materials plus hopefully a little more for your artistic vision. The small shops around me doing machine work or repairs on things as simple as small engines and such typically charge from $55 to $100 an hour shop time, sometimes more. It seems like a cuesmith deserves somewhere in this range. However, if they really keep up with every minute of their time from start to finish including set up and break down time, finishing time, everything; few sneaky petes being produced one to three at a time have less than 12-15 hours in them and most will go over twenty hours. Add together actual shop time and the cost of materials and shop materials used and no sneaky should actually be selling for less than about $750 minimum for a very plain one, fancy sneakies more. Custom cues, joint protectors, most things that cue builders turn out are quite a bargain compared to what a comparable shop gets for it's shop time.
I have the machinery and materials to start a cue shop and indeed built one next to a friend's machine shop. Much as I wanted to build cues I could walk next door and help him cut components for industrial equipment and make far more money for far simpler work. I also didn't have to fight issues of component compatibility, aging wood, or finishing anything. I just did simple operations on a lathe or mill all day for someone else to make far more than all but a very elite few cue builders make while having zero investment.
When you see one builder charging $35 for something and another $75 try to remember that their actual costs to produce it may be far different and both are probably undercharging in comparison to similar shops around them. A fortunate few have earned a reputation over years of hard work that makes people willing to pay more for their work too.
There are some things that I'm sure other cue builders on these forums would like to learn from you. You can learn a lot from them also. The thing is both sides have to be willing to share. Visiting the cue builders forums and discussing things there will lead to better communication than posting on the main forum where both sides may feel the need to defend their business and shop practices in front of present and potential customers. From this post people already know that if I build cues, they won't be priced near the lower end of the scale! :grin: :grin: :grin:
Hu
