Howdy folks.
I figured I could start posting some of my equipment. I do not play much anymore, but I still enjoy my equipment. Will start with a Schmelke Sneaky Pete I ordered about a year ago when I was attempting to start playing regularly again. I wanted a simple, plain looking cue that was affordable and did not attract too much attention. My last cue was a custom built in 2011, which I will show later, and a year ago I had no intention of spending more than 400 bucks on a cue. It had to be American made.
This cue started as a model R020 4 point rosewood sneaky pete and I had David add some custom touches to it. I asked to upgrade the standard maple shaft to a Kielwood shaft, turned down to 11.75mm tip diameter, and a Tiger Everest tip installed. I also asked for their QR joint pin, with black rings on both the butt and shaft joints. The last "upgrade" was a black/white Irish linen wrap. Weight is 19oz. I believe the total price was around $380 with joint protectors and shipping.
On arrival, the cue looked exactly as I wanted it to look; plain. It did have some issues. First, the tip had been sprayed with their UV coating on the sides and it started to crack and peel, down along the ferrule, to the wood. The Irish linen wrap was very fuzzy too. I called David the next business day and he immediately sent me a return label. I had the cue back within 2 weeks with a beautifully pressed Irish linen wrap and the finish on the shaft had been corrected.
I am aware that Schmelke does not put a lot of thought into things like balance and other extra fancy features and engineering. The opinion of players seems to be heavily divided, with folks having both good and bad experiences. They are plain and basic cues. One either likes it, or not. In my case, I ended up liking the cue. It has sharp points, a nice bright maple forearm, a gorgeous piece of Rosewood, it hits very nicely with the Kielwood shaft that appears to be very well made, with good feedback and follow through. I am not too sensitive to balance, so I can't comment on that. I feel I got my money's worth of cue and David took care of the issues without a problem. I would have preferred not having any issues at all with the cue, but David stood behind his product and made it right.
The only thing I believe Schmelke could do better on their cues would be to move the splice and points a bit closer to the joint; if one wants to add a wrap, like in my case, there is only a very small area where the wrap can be applied towards the joint without halfways covering the points. I believe my other cues have around 3" of extra wrap surface towards the joint, but those cues have been spliced closer to the joint. This detail probably matters little to most, I still have plenty of grip area, but it is merely personal preference. I do think it would be more aesthetically pleasing with a bit more wrap area.
Eddie
Some pictures:
