Ok thanks. Still some nice work on the full splice. I might have it refinished and put a leather wrap on it.
It may have been branded Adam. In the 90's and 2,000's Adam licensed cues out of Kao. I believe Adam also used splices from Kao, and vice versa.
To me, that butt cap material, bumper, and screw are Kao. The inlays are also lower end work, not mitered. The veneered splice is nicely done, but you can see the points are uneven, which is workmanship, it simply required diligence and attention to detail to maintain centers to get the points even. In addition the rings do not line up. Many will see that joint under the handle and say it is Adam factory, but I do not believe that construction is exclusive to Adam.
The shaft in the background does not look like it has long taper. It gets fat pretty fast. It might not play like we want a modern shaft to play, pretty stiff. These cues also often used some pretty crappy ferrule materials, loke some kind of PVC. Of course it is in the background, at an odd angle, so I am stretching it a bit as far as what I can legitimately see.
To be candid though, because Adam and Kao cooperated and used each others parts, it's hard to say definitely how it was originally branded, and which factory did the final assembly.
Kao did, and does, make some very nice cues. Like Adam, they made everything from low end ramin wood cues to their higher end cues with good materials and good workmanship. They simply never gained the reputation in the US that Adam did.
In the end, a cue will stand on its own merits. If you like it, by all means do as you like with it and play the hell out of it.
Enjoy the cue.
