Your 1st Cue, 30 Years Later

[MmmSharp]

My friend and I use to play in our twenties. Never serious, but loved the game. He worked at the dufferin games room when it was still around and had access to their cue building shop. My first cue was one of those well loved silver leaf ebony/maple full splice with the white flame. I still have it, but it warped at the joint. My own fault, i was a dumb kid and left it in my car because i never knew when i would need it. Canadian winter/summers took its toll. I keep thinking of tossing it, becuase iti s not fixable but I cant seem to part with it. It is 27 years old. Not quite 30.

Now i have a small collection mid to high end customs but keep my eye out for old canadian made dufferins. Nothing wrong with cheaper cues, some play better than my pricy customs.

 

[Jedco]

I started playing pool in 1960. Our church had a youth center that had 2 ping pong tables and 2 pool tables. Table time did not come easy since the older teenagers used it mostly and they were a lot bigger and very intimidating to me and my friends. But when a table was open, we’d jump at the chance. The following summer, we were older and bigger and table time increased but also because some of the other teenagers turned 18 which meant they could go to bars and drink. But then the Hustler was released and all that summer we played pool getting ready to see the movie. And I turned into a pool addict, especially since I could go to Ames Billiards to play pool once I turned 16 yrs old. And I did and played a lot of pool there imagining myself playing Jackie Gleason in front of a big crowd.

When I was ready for my 1st cue, my step dad took me to the Palmer Cue Factory in New Jersey. He knew the manager and when we walked in, he greeted us, showed us around and we wound up at the display cases. My step dad said it’s his choice…..and the manager asked anything special? He smiled and said…..No, just any cue he wants.

I was showed Palmer Frank Paradise cues, lots of cues with fancy inlays and veneers but none of that appealed to me.
So the manager asked me what I wanted and I told him just a plain cue, all wood, but something that had a rich look.
I didn’t want a cheap looking SP cue but something that had a different look. He thought for a moment and said I think
I have the cue you might want in the back that we haven’t yet added to our catalog line. It’s all Cocobolo wood and it
has a dark stain with lots of graininess you can see. It’s different from other cue forearms you see. He brought it out and as soon as I saw it, I knew that was my cue. Back at that time, Cocobolo was becoming to be popular with cue makers.

The cue came with one shaft but I asked for a 2nd much thinner shaft get made for playing billiards. I needed a case and a violin case just looked so cool and so I chose the nicest version they had….The Palmer deLuxe Case. I stopped playing with that cue many years later after getting my first custom cue from Bob Runde back in ‘85 while Schon was still relatively new.

Now the Runde Schon is also retired, ironically also many years later, after I switched to playing with flat ivory cue joints.
Here’s my very first pool cue…my Palmer Cocobolo version of what I suppose could be considered a Merry Widow design.

That looks familiar!

 

[wolfgang144]

well,
back in 1972, when pool was new in Germany, I started with a 11,5mm Carom cue (nothing else available then)
in 1978, with the help from a friend serving the forces in Ger, I got my first american pool cue.
It was a custom made Tim Scruggs w. two Shafts (12,5 and 13mm) in a nice 1/2 leather tube... I still regret selling it.
By now, I've owned a lot, and tried even more cues... still searching the perfect one...

 

[Mark V]

My first cue was a birthday present when I was 19, so probably around 1997.

Bubinga Merry Widow USA made McDermott (think they were all USA back then). Black Irish linen wrap with white spots with a wood to wood joint. eBay purchase from no one other than Joe Rackem (his real early days). I shot with that pool for years. It’s still straight as an arrow. It is now, lovingly kept in a soft NOS it’s George case that has never been out of the house. Black suede with a cue, 8 ball and a 9 ball embroidered on the front.

Not a fancy cue by far, but means a lot to me.

 

[soyale]

Im still using my first cue 14 years later

 

[BRKNRUN]

The first cue I bought was an off the wall Adams and one of those red single cue cases from a Pool Supply place.....The place sold Chlorine, pool pumps, equipment supplies etc.....but also sold Pool tables, Pool Cues and accessories.........All purpose pool supply place.

I kept it behind the seat of my Nissan Hardbody pickup truck....My truck was broken into and the cue stolen.

 

[Maniac]

I didn't start playing seriously (other than bar-banging) until I was 53 years old, @ 2007. So, obviously I don't have a cue from 30 years ago.

My first cue purchase was a Cuetec Mahogany Series I bought circa 2008 or 2009. When Cuetec came out with the R360 shaft, it made that cue play very well, and I still pull it out and play with it from time to time. The SST shaft that the cue came with was dog sh*t, but today my son still has and plays with that shaft.

I've purchased quite a few more cues since that Cuetec. Some have been duds, some have been awesome.

 

[Bavafongoul]

I’ve been fortunate……probably have owned 15-16 cues in my life and not a single one has been a disappointment.
Naturally some have played more to my satisfaction otherwise I’d have more pool cues. The ones I have are basically
the keepers, although I will confess that there were 3-4 I wish I’d hung onto but that’s now all in my rear view mirror.

 

[Mensabum]

My first was a custom from an unknown maker but the shafts were fantastic. Till this day I believe it is the best shooting cue I've ever owned. It was a plain Jane and a reason why I am a huge fan of them with exotic woods and some nice ring work.

I went big from the beginning. LOL

It was $500 in 2003 for that plain Jane custom cue of mine. It had ivory ferrules and I didn't know anything about ivory at the time.

Sadly that cue was stolen and cue maker is retired.

 

[Mensabum]

I owned one of those. Sold it to a friend who still has it.

 

[Pushout]

I’ve been fortunate……probably have owned 15-16 cues in my life and not a single one has been a disappointment.
Naturally some have played more to my satisfaction otherwise I’d have more pool cues. The ones I have are basically
the keepers, although I will confess that there were 3-4 I wish I’d hung onto but that’s now all in my rear view mirror.

I've owned about that many myself. I often sold one cue to buy another, never thinking I'd have any reason to have more than one playing cue. My custom Joss from Dan Janes. My rosewood Southwest. My rosewood wrapless Kevin Varney. And more. Sigh.

 

[David in FL]

My first "real" cue was a Mali. Circa 1984.

Followed fairly shortly thereafter by a Meucci JR-3.

I still have both.

 

[Mensabum]

I've owned about that many myself. I often sold one cue to buy another, never thinking I'd have any reason to have more than one playing cue. My custom Joss from Dan Janes. My rosewood Southwest. My rosewood wrapless Kevin Varney. And more. Sigh.

If I had money, I'd bankrupt myself buying cues. The damn things speak to me. Lol. Buy me!! Buy me!!
Works of art, one and all. (Except for the lower tier production garbage of course. Lol.)

 

[markvl]

I received my first cue, well actually it was just the butt, when I was about 14-15, a Viking. This was about 90-91 and eventually I was able to ID the cue as a 1979 model or may of been 80. It was given to me by a bar owner that my mom was dating, whose cooler I helped stock. I helped myself for my stock too, out the back door, but he knew and laughed it off. He also let me shoot free pool all summer with an house cue, we didn’t have much extra money at the time. Anyway, the butt was tucked away behind the bar in a corner w a couple random shafts that didn’t fit, they had different joints. Luckily, Viking was in Madison just about 20-30 minutes from my house and I convinced my parents to take me there to find out about a shaft. I wanted a 10mm shaft made and learned the joint was called a super-joint. The sales person at Viking, who I have no memory of convinced me to get a 11mm because anything less would not be covered under warranty. I think it was around $70 and I had to come back a couple weeks later to pick it up. The thing I remember most about the Viking shop was the massive pool table (Gordie's daughter just confirmed it was actually 12*6, seemed bigger back than) in the showroom and large pool balls on posts for advertisement out front. I played with that cue for probably about five years before buying a Pechauer off a guy when I was helping out at an underage pool hall and put the Viking in a soft case behind the counter in a corner, it’s new resting place. Years later probably about twenty I always wondered what happened to that cue, well I got it back. Yes over 20 years later….. To be cont.

If you still have your first cue from 30 plus years ago, is there a story behind it And how often do you get it out for old times sake?

My first cue was a Walmart cue I bought for $10. I used it until I bought a mali sneaky pete which lasted until I was breaking hard enough to snap the shaft. It was a real cheap one. I then bought a Palmer custom cue this was back in the late 80's and early 90's. That cue is in a palmer case on a shelf. I currently use a Joss for a playing cue and a Mike Webb for a break / extension cue. Have had both for almost 25 years and still play with them.

 

[RJV]

I bought my first cue from Tad when he was on Washington Blvd, about 1970. It was plain, but birds-eye maple with Irish linen wrapping. He charged me $75. I just wish I still had it.

 

[3kushn]

My first good cue was a Palmer model 8 with my name on the ribbon inside the window.
Man I wish I still hade that one!

My 1st cue was an Adams. Sold it because it was 'fancy" IMO. Traded that one in for a Huebler. Traded that one for a Muecci.
Still have the Muecci. So wish I still owned the Adams and Huebler.
Sold off part of my personal 50 years in this game.

 

[rtbbf]

First cue Richard Black Casino Model. still plays great.

 

[buddabrown]

In 1978 my family would get to pick one Christmas present, I was 16 at the time. I asked my parents for a Gandy pool cue, we went to the local pool room in Columbus Ga. depot billiards and ordered my cue it cost 75 dollars. I still have the cue and have had it refinished. It is hanging in my pool room today. In the day no one would gamble with you if you had a two piece cue, so I bought a bar stick and carved DB in the side of the cue so when I gambled at bars I could leave with my cue.

 

[Storman Norman]

I was a pretty good bar box player with house sticks, I was invited to join a bar team. I went out and bought this. My first "real" pool cue bought in the early 2000. Purchased it from a pawn shop in Phoenix Az. $100 i think it was and I thought that was a lot of money for a cue.

 

[Rosewood]

In 1980, I bought my first cue, a McDermot C3 at the Corner Pocket in Chicago. Paid $75 for it. At the same time, my friend bought a used plain Jane birdseye cue for $50 from a guy who made cues in his Chicago bungalow basement. His name was Burton Spain. Who made the better purchase?