My First Custom and a Tribute! - Thank you, Mr. Wayne Holmes! PHOTOS ADDED!
!!!!PICS OF FOREARM ADDED!!!
Greetings, fellow pool enthusiasts. I'll try to make this short, but I can't guarantee it. If you have some time to kill, pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, and hopefully enjoy a good read.
It was thirteen years ago when I conjured up a design for my first custom cue. At 23 years of age, I was excited to finally have a custom cue made specifically for me; having played with a crappy Walmart Sportcraft cue the first year I began playing pool, and then a couple of production cues thereafter.
Through a fellow pool player, I befriended a local cuemaker and a few months into our friendship, I asked him if he would like to build me a cue. Many of you know of him here on AZ and can probably guess who he is after the next few sentences.
Unfortunately, I never did get to see my design come to fruition as this cuemaker decided to skip state with not only mine, but the money of many others in the Seattle area. I have yet to confront him but I am positive he will have his day; whether it is by me or by someone else who he happens to cross. I am a firm believer that "what goes around, comes around." At least he'll have his day in front of our good Lord...which I'm sure he'll try making up some lame excuse to why he did what he did. LOL!
So fast-forward to October, 2010. My financial state is at a much stronger point in my life than previous years and I am finally ready to have a cue made. My brother had his own design created over seven years ago by a Mr. Wayne Holmes, so I decided to contact Wayne to see if he would be interested in building a cue for me based on my original design.
After many emails and a few phone conversations, Wayne steered me towards making a full-splice cue based on my style of play. I didn't just want a collectors cue, but one that I could truly put to good use. Of course I wanted it to look striking, but functionality was my first priority. So I went back to the drawing board to make some changes to my original design. What I came up with is the following:
When I originally sent Wayne this design, his reply was:
"Hey Chris,
The White/Blue/Teal using either Ebony or PurpleHeart for the forearm....That is GEORGEOUS!!! I think that's your best so far.
I have a lot going on today and the sun isn't very bright but if at all possible I'll get a photo of these colors against both Ebony &
PurpleHeart so you'll be able to see them in actual colors rather than computer generated colors.
I realize it's a lot easier for me to visualise the finished cue than it is for you, but that color combination is a "knock-out"!!!
The White against the Ebony/PurpleHeart, and the Teal against the point wood show sooo nice!"
I couldn't agree more!
I first wanted to go with four veneers, and blue (my favorite color) had to be one of the colors. I chose teal to frame the Purple Heart points because it was the only blue hue that contrasted just right with purple. I picked royal blue as the middle veneer to subdue the bright teal a bit, and then to really give the points a pop, I chose bleached maple for the outer veneer. Against the black of the Gabon Ebony, I couldn't find a better combination. I tried adding a fourth veneer but it just didn't seem correct. So there you have it, three veneers; Final Answer!
The butt sleeve I chose to go with is pretty simple. Nothing too fancy, yet classy with the type of rings and windows. I first designed the windows to be just ivory inlays, but I listened to my mother and added the ivory/ebony outline to frame the windows. I have to give a big thanks to my mother for helping me decide, because the butt sleeve looks fantastic!
I like the diamond shape so chose to do a contrasting set of ebony into ivory for the windows, and ivory into the points. The design reminds me of a photograph negative; the white in the butt and negative black in the forearm. Of course, being a Purple Heart lover, the sleeve had to show a lot of wood grain too...as you can see in the following teaser pic Wayne sent to me yesterday:
I will post up more pics as Wayne makes them available, but I would like to say a few words about Mr. Holmes. Wayne is truly one of the best in the business, or WAS that is. You see Wayne decided to retire after this last batch of cues. In one regard I feel very fortunate to be included in his last set of cues, but in another way I am very sad that I won't be able to commission him again to build my next cue.
Folks, Wayne is a rare type of person that comes along only a few times in your lifetime who truly wows you with his friendliness, courtesy, professionalism, honesty, and humor. The guy is as genuine as they come, and he truly enjoys what he does; which is making dreams come true. Sure, there are many cuemakers out who build amazing pieces of art...Tad, Scruggs, Prewitt, Szamboti, Kikel, Black, White, to name a few...but there is more to a work of art than just a design; there is also the person behind the brilliance. Not taking anything away from any other cuemaker, including the aforementioned, but I look at this experience as more than just having a cue made. Wayne added so much to the process and truly made the experience feel "complete" so to speak. I'm sure others who know of Wayne and his work can relate.
Wayne, I'm sure you'll read this someday and I just want you to know that I feel blessed and honored getting to know you as not only the person who built my first custom cue, but as the friend who built my first custom cue. You will truly be missed in the industry and I am so happy to be able to share with others the way I feel. I am thankful that I'll be able to keep in touch either by phone or email, and hopefully visit you and Pat at your new home in the very near future!
Well, to those who've made it this far into my story, thank you for letting me share with you my experience. Now I just have to wait a few more LONG, AGONIZING
days until the cue is in my hands. Until then, I'll post up a few more pics as Wayne makes them available. If there are other customers of Wayne who would like to share their own experiences, by all means please post them up in a reply! Wayne deserves to be recognized as one of the greats that this industry has seen.
Chris :O)
Wayne sent me a few more teaser pics this morning. Here they are as promised!
!!!!PICS OF FOREARM ADDED!!!
Greetings, fellow pool enthusiasts. I'll try to make this short, but I can't guarantee it. If you have some time to kill, pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, and hopefully enjoy a good read.
It was thirteen years ago when I conjured up a design for my first custom cue. At 23 years of age, I was excited to finally have a custom cue made specifically for me; having played with a crappy Walmart Sportcraft cue the first year I began playing pool, and then a couple of production cues thereafter.
Through a fellow pool player, I befriended a local cuemaker and a few months into our friendship, I asked him if he would like to build me a cue. Many of you know of him here on AZ and can probably guess who he is after the next few sentences.
Unfortunately, I never did get to see my design come to fruition as this cuemaker decided to skip state with not only mine, but the money of many others in the Seattle area. I have yet to confront him but I am positive he will have his day; whether it is by me or by someone else who he happens to cross. I am a firm believer that "what goes around, comes around." At least he'll have his day in front of our good Lord...which I'm sure he'll try making up some lame excuse to why he did what he did. LOL!
So fast-forward to October, 2010. My financial state is at a much stronger point in my life than previous years and I am finally ready to have a cue made. My brother had his own design created over seven years ago by a Mr. Wayne Holmes, so I decided to contact Wayne to see if he would be interested in building a cue for me based on my original design.
After many emails and a few phone conversations, Wayne steered me towards making a full-splice cue based on my style of play. I didn't just want a collectors cue, but one that I could truly put to good use. Of course I wanted it to look striking, but functionality was my first priority. So I went back to the drawing board to make some changes to my original design. What I came up with is the following:
When I originally sent Wayne this design, his reply was:
"Hey Chris,
The White/Blue/Teal using either Ebony or PurpleHeart for the forearm....That is GEORGEOUS!!! I think that's your best so far.
I have a lot going on today and the sun isn't very bright but if at all possible I'll get a photo of these colors against both Ebony &
PurpleHeart so you'll be able to see them in actual colors rather than computer generated colors.
I realize it's a lot easier for me to visualise the finished cue than it is for you, but that color combination is a "knock-out"!!!
The White against the Ebony/PurpleHeart, and the Teal against the point wood show sooo nice!"
I couldn't agree more!
I first wanted to go with four veneers, and blue (my favorite color) had to be one of the colors. I chose teal to frame the Purple Heart points because it was the only blue hue that contrasted just right with purple. I picked royal blue as the middle veneer to subdue the bright teal a bit, and then to really give the points a pop, I chose bleached maple for the outer veneer. Against the black of the Gabon Ebony, I couldn't find a better combination. I tried adding a fourth veneer but it just didn't seem correct. So there you have it, three veneers; Final Answer!
The butt sleeve I chose to go with is pretty simple. Nothing too fancy, yet classy with the type of rings and windows. I first designed the windows to be just ivory inlays, but I listened to my mother and added the ivory/ebony outline to frame the windows. I have to give a big thanks to my mother for helping me decide, because the butt sleeve looks fantastic!
I like the diamond shape so chose to do a contrasting set of ebony into ivory for the windows, and ivory into the points. The design reminds me of a photograph negative; the white in the butt and negative black in the forearm. Of course, being a Purple Heart lover, the sleeve had to show a lot of wood grain too...as you can see in the following teaser pic Wayne sent to me yesterday:
I will post up more pics as Wayne makes them available, but I would like to say a few words about Mr. Holmes. Wayne is truly one of the best in the business, or WAS that is. You see Wayne decided to retire after this last batch of cues. In one regard I feel very fortunate to be included in his last set of cues, but in another way I am very sad that I won't be able to commission him again to build my next cue.
Folks, Wayne is a rare type of person that comes along only a few times in your lifetime who truly wows you with his friendliness, courtesy, professionalism, honesty, and humor. The guy is as genuine as they come, and he truly enjoys what he does; which is making dreams come true. Sure, there are many cuemakers out who build amazing pieces of art...Tad, Scruggs, Prewitt, Szamboti, Kikel, Black, White, to name a few...but there is more to a work of art than just a design; there is also the person behind the brilliance. Not taking anything away from any other cuemaker, including the aforementioned, but I look at this experience as more than just having a cue made. Wayne added so much to the process and truly made the experience feel "complete" so to speak. I'm sure others who know of Wayne and his work can relate.
Wayne, I'm sure you'll read this someday and I just want you to know that I feel blessed and honored getting to know you as not only the person who built my first custom cue, but as the friend who built my first custom cue. You will truly be missed in the industry and I am so happy to be able to share with others the way I feel. I am thankful that I'll be able to keep in touch either by phone or email, and hopefully visit you and Pat at your new home in the very near future!
Well, to those who've made it this far into my story, thank you for letting me share with you my experience. Now I just have to wait a few more LONG, AGONIZING
days until the cue is in my hands. Until then, I'll post up a few more pics as Wayne makes them available. If there are other customers of Wayne who would like to share their own experiences, by all means please post them up in a reply! Wayne deserves to be recognized as one of the greats that this industry has seen. Chris :O)
Wayne sent me a few more teaser pics this morning. Here they are as promised!
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