I really don't care who does how much of the work on the cue. I collect cues also, so I am speaking as a collector here and not a cuemaker. I collect mostly older cues and it does not bother me one bit if someone buys a point blank, or has someone else machine their joint pin, or has someone write their CNC programs for them or do inlay work for them. Some people buy Ivory tusks and cut them up from scratch. Others buy butt plates and joints and ferrules already turned round. It does not make me any difference. We have a few Hall of Fame cuemakers who had someone else make alot of their parts for them. But the final product will always speak for itself.
When someone puts their signature or brand name on the cue it is just a brand name to me. Whatever that brand represents whether a one man shop or ten men it is what it is. Almost everyone of the cuemakers you know has someone build some of their parts for them or do some of the work for them, whether it is a joint screw, leather tip, ferrule, rubber bumper, leather blank, point blank, wood turning square, shaft dowel, inlay or inlay slab.
The decorative parts that you mention like veneered forearm point blanks or inlay work will not be the major deciding factor on how the cue plays. So I do not look at it like the maker barely made anything. He had help. He just had more help than some others get, but we all get help on our cues, even the one man shops still did not do 100% of their work from scratch.
I guess because I collect older cues and know that most of the old timers purchased point blanks that it has never been an issue for me when buying one of their cues or anyone elses cues.
