.....because of me.
Because Gus and I had a mutual friend he arranged for me to visit Gus at his home in Penndel Pennsylvania.
The first thing Gus said to me when he opened the door was, "I understand you want to make cues".
I said yes and Gus said, "I don't let cue makers into my shop", then he let me in.
There are no words that can explain how nice Gus was to me while answering all my questions.
My first question was, when did you make your first cue.
Gus said a wife of a co-worker asked him to make a cue for her husband. Gus charged her $20.
I asked what happened to the cue.
Gus said he bought it back and put it through the bandsaw because he didn't want there to be a bad Szamboti out there.
Bad or not, what would Gus' first cue be worth today?.
As we descended into the basement I asked how he got all his machines down here.
Gus pointed to a small window with sunlight coming through it.
I took everything apart and put it back together after it was down here.
Gus explained what each machine did and while on the last machine under the small window Gus said, "This cue had a linen wrap and the owner now wants a leather wrap".
"I also took the butt apart and rebuilt it for free because I figured out a better way to build it".
What Gus didn't have to repeat was, "I didn't want a bad Szamboti out there".
We spent most of time talking about making cues and Gus said one of the things that helped him the most was a player who kept coming back asking for small changes.
While this was not easy to deal with Gus said it was one of the things that helped him make the cue he makes now.
Gus never said who the player was and I did not ask who.
Gus also said when a Balabushka came in for a repair he would take apart what he could and put it back together to learn what he could about how George made his cues.
The phone rang and I seem to remember the phone that was near a curtain towards what I think was the back of the house. I'm 76 years old and at first I thought it was the old style black phones with a loud ringer but now I seem to think it was a "Princess" phone but back to the phone call.
After a few words Gus said, "I started your cue", then a few more words I do not remember then Gus hung up.
After hanging up Gus kept starting at the phone Gus said, "I can't stand that guy!".
I said but you said you started his cue.
Gus said, "Yes, I planted the tree".
Gus had a great sense of humor.
As we talked Gus suddenly said, "I didn't let cue makers into my shop except for one, because I didn't think he could do anything with what he saw".
Gus told me the name but I am not going to say who the cue maker was.
Again, a great sense of humor.
Gus said after he was satisfied with his cue he placed the business card size ad in the National Billiard News and in nine months he had more orders than he could expect to make in his lifetime.
Certainly the greatest compliment I have received was when out of nowhere Gus asked if we would like to stay for dinner.
After a wonderful visit as I was leaving Gus said, "I'm guessing you would like a cue".
I would have never asked Gus to make me a cue but he had offered.
I said yes and we exchanged telephone numbers.
On the long plane flight back home I decided that I would no longer try to make cues.
I realized I couldn't do anything with what I saw.
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Back to why there are no new signed Szambotis as there is with new signed Balabushkas.
The above was to show how Gus and I became friends, such good friends that Gus helped me collect $5,000 from a guy in Japan but that story is for another day.
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I do not remember anything on the day Barry called to explained what happened to Gus.
I do remember Barry saying his father made nice comments about me in his notes about cues.
After the shock wore off I called Barry back and explained that he should contact David Forman who owned Sutro and tell Forman he should not use his father's name to sell cues.
Sutro was a wholesale distributor of billiard supplies, they were Imperial's main competitor.
Yes that is correct, they were Imperial before they became Imperial International.
Barry said that one of his dad's close friends was an attorney and he would do something to make sure no one could sell a fake Szamboti.
Clearly it worked because to this day no one else except Barry has sold Szamboti cues.
