Poop happens....

ratcues

ratcues

Theewen Custom Cues
Silver Member
I worked the Midwest regional tournament this past weekend and had this cute girl come and wanted a stack wrap to match the veneers in her cue. I installed one for her two years ago and she was pretty happy with it so I told her to come back in a few hours and I'd have it done.

The cue had a leather wrap so I peeled it away to find the wrap thickness was .050" thick, meaning the the undercut was .100" off the diameter. That is way to much so my initial thought was I'd like to be able to take the cue back to the shop, install a new handle, undercut it properly, and send it to her. Second thought was to build up the channel. I mixed some epoxy and slathered it on.

Once cured, I started to undercut and clean up the edges. I had a couple of guys talking to me and about ten other watching. I got the butt sleeve side cut, which was my bigger concern of the two and flipped the cue around to cut the forearm side. I made a couple of passes and checked the measurements. I turned my Porper on and was ready to make the next couple of cuts when the guy I was talking to asked a price to refelt a pool table. Well, Muellers had an additional 20ft of booth, along with mine so I took my eyes off of the cue to say "Go talk to that guy..." BANG! The A joint came apart and the cue smacked my plexiglass. It sounded like a .22cal going off. I blocked the rebound as the piece flew towards me and shut the machine down. I finished my sentence....."...price will depend on type of cloth and railwork so just ask that guy. He'll be able to help you." I stayed calm, even though my heart was pounding. I stayed matter-of-fact about it...that it wasn't a big deal because I could fix it. Then everyone had a good laugh at me as I went back to work on the rest of the stuff in my cart.

The cute girl was not happy but understands theses things happened. I brought the cue back to the shop, the handle is already replaced, and the wrap will go on next week. Here's some pics of the damages....

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As you can see, there are glue gaps as well a thin wall thickness to the A joint. The pin for the A joint is a lag screw with the head cut off. I see why is came apart but never said anything of the sorts to the cute girl. I took full responsibility, since in the end, I broke concentration, thus breaking the cue. In the end, the cue should be better off with the correct sized handle and I'll probably add a fresh coat of finish. All no charge, the includes the wrap, repair, and shipping back to her.

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Which is why I always say. Whatever will go wrong, will go wrong when the customer is in front of you, or in this case someone else. Did you happen to call or send an email to the Cue maker and explain what happened? I would have.
 
Michael Webb said:
Did you happen to call or send an email to the Cue maker and explain what happened? I would have.
Click to expand...

I believe it is an import but that is just my guess, from what I've seen. No markings of any kind. Maybe I'll ask the owner if she knows who made it.
 
Admitting it on the internet is a sign of great character.... integrity. I trusted you before. This thread absolutely puts my trust in stone! :groucho:
 
JimS said:
Admitting it on the internet is a sign of great character.... integrity. I trusted you before. This thread absolutely puts my trust in stone! :groucho:
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I am not above mistakes...or admitting them. I learned from this mistake and most of the ones I've made in the past. I just try to not make the same one twice.
 
Ken_4fun said:
I would like to see the FINAL result pictures.

Ken
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The cue is back to one piece. I'll make the final pass on the new handle and then put the wrap on. Good news is that the cue rolls straighter now than it did before I broke it. :thumbup: I'll post pics when I get it done.
 
ratcues said:
I worked the Midwest regional tournament this past weekend and had this cute girl come and wanted a stack wrap to match the veneers in her cue. I installed one for her two years ago and she was pretty happy with it so I told her to come back in a few hours and I'd have it done.

The cue had a leather wrap so I peeled it away to find the wrap thickness was .050" thick, meaning the the undercut was .100" off the diameter. That is way to much so my initial thought was I'd like to be able to take the cue back to the shop, install a new handle, undercut it properly, and send it to her. Second thought was to build up the channel. I mixed some epoxy and slathered it on.

Once cured, I started to undercut and clean up the edges. I had a couple of guys talking to me and about ten other watching. I got the butt sleeve side cut, which was my bigger concern of the two and flipped the cue around to cut the forearm side. I made a couple of passes and checked the measurements. I turned my Porper on and was ready to make the next couple of cuts when the guy I was talking to asked a price to refelt a pool table. Well, Muellers had an additional 20ft of booth, along with mine so I took my eyes off of the cue to say "Go talk to that guy..." BANG! The A joint came apart and the cue smacked my plexiglass. It sounded like a .22cal going off. I blocked the rebound as the piece flew towards me and shut the machine down. I finished my sentence....."...price will depend on type of cloth and railwork so just ask that guy. He'll be able to help you." I stayed calm, even though my heart was pounding. I stayed matter-of-fact about it...that it wasn't a big deal because I could fix it. Then everyone had a good laugh at me as I went back to work on the rest of the stuff in my cart.

The cute girl was not happy but understands theses things happened. I brought the cue back to the shop, the handle is already replaced, and the wrap will go on next week. Here's some pics of the damages....

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Click to expand...

Reminds me of a similar situation in my shop. I had a buddy, a pool player, who used to watch me work on cues. I won't mention his name to avoid embarassment. He'd watched me wrap many cues and I guess he thought he understood the process. He was at a tournament one night and a buddy of his casually mentioned he wanted to get his $1200 Shon re-wrapped. My buddy told him, "no problem" and he brought the cue with him to my poolroom the next day. At the time I had my shop set up at my poolroom. He told me he wanted to wrap a cue he had and asked if I'd let him give it a try using my equipment. I wasn't crazy about the idea but let him go for it. He'd no sooner put the cue between centers and he hit the power switch. He'd forgot to lock the tailstock down and in about 2 revolutions the butt end came loose and was smacking my buddy about the head and shoulders at high speed. Tooks me a few seconds to reach the power switch with him being in the way and getting his ass kicked by a Shon. Was a good lesson to both of us! I don't let people use my equipment anymore (unless I trained them) and my buddy don't ask! I ended up doing a refinish, rewrap and new pin, at full retail, on this cue at my buddies insistance. He'd learned that it's better to pay someone to do it right.
 
I believe it is an import but that is just my guess, from what I've seen. No markings of any kind. Maybe I'll ask the owner if she knows who made it.
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Ya think............looks like a cheap Gina knockoff POS made in the land where the attitude is "I don't give a crap because some lazy American is going to be owning it".
 
Nothing shocks me anymore.
WTG for repairing that thing Ryan.
 
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A lag bolt of all things. They work great when building a deck.
Anyway, once Ryan is finished with it, it will be 1000% better than it was before.
 
Blue Hog ridr said:
A lag bolt of all things. They work great when building a deck.
Anyway, once Ryan is finished with it, it will be 1000% better than it was before.
Click to expand...

It is a rather crude way of attaching the forearm it seems but, isn't that the way Balabushka did it?

Dick
 
Dick, I guess it does seem crude by todays methods.
Cue makers of old had to use their ingenuity and whatever materials they had at hand. And they did a great job, from bolts, adhesives, finishes and fishing line.

But by todays standards when we have quite a few cue suppliers and our choice of quality materials, you'd hope that makers didn't have to resort to
hardware store bolts.
 
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