Why is it newer cue makers always

S

shotmaker45

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
seem to skip putting good looking rings on their cues. it seems like every newer cue maker, whose cues i see, usually skip putting fancy rings on their cues and only put a silver ring?

imo they'd sell a lot more cues if they'd add some nice looking ring work to their cues. even plane jane cues seem more attractive if they have nice rings.
 
newer cue makers

I am with you on that thats why we are doing more with our rings, And we intend to keep it going. And it does not really add alot of extra costs to a new cue! Ron Twisted turtle custom cues:cool:
 
A fan of ring work

shotmaker45 said:
seem to skip putting good looking rings on their cues. it seems like every newer cue maker, whose cues i see, usually skip putting fancy rings on their cues and only put a silver ring?

imo they'd sell a lot more cues if they'd add some nice looking ring work to their cues. even plane jane cues seem more attractive if they have nice rings.
Click to expand...

I agree I like most all cues that have ring work rather than no ring work. In addition I like when the ring work matches in the cue rather than having multiple styles of ring work in the same cue. I am a big fan of symetry in my cues.

Kevin
 
Doing stitch rings is more work and takes more skill. Silver rings are easy and do not have to be aligned. My son is no beginner and he is going back to plain jane rings and making a really thin stiff hitting cue butt. He thinks he will make a nitch with his new thin, stiff, lower dollar cues. He has come up with a way of stiffing the back of the shaft and swears it is the best thing ever. He is holding the price under $300 right now and would not do that with fancy rings. So selling price can also have a lot to do with why not to put fancy rings in.
 
cueman said:
Doing stitch rings is more work and takes more skill. Silver rings are easy and do not have to be aligned. My son is no beginner and he is going back to plain jane rings and making a really thin stiff hitting cue butt. He thinks he will make a nitch with his new thin, stiff, lower dollar cues. He has come up with a way of stiffing the back of the shaft and swears it is the best thing ever. He is holding the price under $300 right now and would not do that with fancy rings. So selling price can also have a lot to do with why not to put fancy rings in.
Click to expand...

i'm a big fan of plane janes but i don't think i'd buy a PJ without nice ring work. even if the cost was lower
 
probably b/c they don't want to take the time to line all the rings up right. I've seen 1k$ cues with rings in the butt, joint, and shaft and none of them line up....its just an extra detail I guess they dont want to hassle with.

Grey Ghost
 
Because they are hard on cutting tools (I'm speaking of metal rings here). Also, if your work is not properly supported in the lathe, the cutter or the tool bit can chatter, deflect, gouge, all kind of bad stuff. In addition, it is oftimes difficult for the newbe cue maker to produce an acceptable finish on the rings (here again I refer to metal). My good friend Andy Gilbert once showed me how to make metal rings sparkle. It goes like this...
 
They avoid metal rings because they are more prone to pop the finish, better safe than sorry theory here I believe...
 
I like adding trims to my collars.
 

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It's probably inexperience &/or lack of know how. Making nice rings is complex & requires skill aquired through experience. Not only do you have to learn how to make billets with the proper depth slots, but you have to be able to cut rings off that are uniform thickness & true square to center. The hole throughs on every ring has to be exactly uniform or they go on sloppy. Not only does making nice rings require skill & knowledge, but also extra machinery that newbs might not have. Don't even get started into assembling ring packs, facing them correctly, then installing them all exactly lined up. Ringwork is a seemingly simplistic job because it's small & takes up very little area on the cue. But the truth is that it's complex & newbs just aren't going to be doing it out of the gate either without help from an experienced builder or else they have built 50 cues before ever selling the first one.
 
shotmaker45 said:
seem to skip putting good looking rings on their cues. it seems like every newer cue maker, whose cues i see, usually skip putting fancy rings on their cues and only put a silver ring?

imo they'd sell a lot more cues if they'd add some nice looking ring work to their cues. even plane jane cues seem more attractive if they have nice rings.
Click to expand...


In most cases they do not have the skills yet to make their own ring billets, but I kinda think you answered your own question with a single word NEW!!

But this is also not always the case, many of the top cue makers in the country use silver rings at the joint in their cues. Not because they can't build ring billets, simple because they like the look or these rings.

Take Care
 
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shotmaker45 said:
seem to skip putting good looking rings on their cues. it seems like every newer cue maker, whose cues i see, usually skip putting fancy rings on their cues and only put a silver ring?
.
Click to expand...
You can't expect all cuemakers to have the same taste, and more likely, you can't expect them all to have good taste.
 
IMHO ringwork does add a nice visual element to the look and presentation of the cue, but like basic inlays plays little part in the payability of the cue. For me personally it is a matter of individual taste. Some styles of ringwork I like, some I don't. And it all depends on the overall design the cue owner is looking for. For me it depends on the cue. For a sneaky or a simple player I prefer not to have any rings. But for a more complex design I would consider more complex rings. For a beginning cuemaker I would venture to guess their emphasis is on the quality of work on a playable cue, as opposed to concentrating on the fluff to make it look extra pretty. I also believe this is also why some cuemakers concentrate or only offer one type of joint. What good is a cue if it looks great with a ton of detail but doesn't hit a ball worth a crap.

But that's just my humble opinion coming from a banger who just appreciates the game and the craftmanship involved. It is truly an art and everyone's tastes/opinions are different.
 
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cueman said:
Doing stitch rings is more work and takes more skill. .
Click to expand...

I don't believe so. Stitching only requires a cuemaker to route the "stitching" around a dowel. After that is done, all he ever has to do is slice off wafers off the dowel and sandwich the wafer between two pieces of material. It should ce a basic skill for any cuemaker. Yes?
 
LAlouie said:
I don't believe so. Stitching only requires a cuemaker to route the "stitching" around a dowel. After that is done, all he ever has to do is slice off wafers off the dowel and sandwich the wafer between two pieces of material. It should ce a basic skill for any cuemaker. Yes?
Click to expand...

"LAlouie", just what the hell do you know about cue making?
A master cue maker states that there is more work and skill involved with doing stitch rings and you want to quote him to tell him "I don't believe so." So please tell me, how many cues have you built? Is there anyplace that we might see your work?

Building a dash/stitch ring billet takes time and yes, there is skill involved. It also takes specific machinery to slot the billet accurately.
Each one of those slots is inlaid by hand. The part needs to 'fit' the pocket/slot accurately or you have a glue line. Now you get to part-off the ring.
I think this is worth quoting: "all he ever has to do is slice off wafers off the dowel". That's the basic premise but it ain't done with a hacksaw.
Again, specific machinery/tooling (and skill).
All this takes time and money for the proper tooling and no CM gets into the business to give his work away.
You want fancy stitch rings in a PJ, fine, but that PJ will cost more money. Stitch rings at all locations can potentially add $100/125 to the price of the PJ.
The entry-level CM is trying to get his work into the market at a reasonable/competitive price. If you want fancy rings in that cue then you should be expected to pay for it.
 
Personally, I love solid black collars. No ringwork at all. I cant explain
why, I just do. Also, I believe that one silver ring is poplular because
you can buy an aftermarket, or LD shaft that would match pretty
closely without paying for matching ringwork. JMO.:thumbup:
 
KJ Cues said:
"LAlouie", just what the hell do you know about cue making?
A master cue maker states that there is more work and skill involved with doing stitch rings and you want to quote him to tell him "I don't believe so." So please tell me, how many cues have you built? Is there anyplace that we might see your work?

Building a dash/stitch ring billet takes time and yes, there is skill involved. It also takes specific machinery to slot the billet accurately.
Each one of those slots is inlaid by hand. The part needs to 'fit' the pocket/slot accurately or you have a glue line. Now you get to part-off the ring.
I think this is worth quoting: "all he ever has to do is slice off wafers off the dowel". That's the basic premise but it ain't done with a hacksaw.
Again, specific machinery/tooling (and skill).
All this takes time and money for the proper tooling and no CM gets into the business to give his work away.
You want fancy stitch rings in a PJ, fine, but that PJ will cost more money. Stitch rings at all locations can potentially add $100/125 to the price of the PJ.
The entry-level CM is trying to get his work into the market at a reasonable/competitive price. If you want fancy rings in that cue then you should be expected to pay for it.
Click to expand...

tap tap tap
kj, your "wafer cutter" definitely makes it easier though :thumbup:
i thought plain janes were supposed to be plain, no fancy rings ???
easy? simple?
just yesterday i fk'ed up a set of slot rings.
pics to come later
 
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