Eightball, you seem to be offended by my post (if not no worries, but your tone seems so). Everything I stated is just a culmination of observations of not just myself, but many others as well. I don't think I stated anything that is't well known already, and nothing I said is designed to be controversial.
"the market hasn't demanded an alternative..."
I didn't say the market demands an alternative, as a matter of fact my point is the opposite, that there isn't strong motivation for an alternative (which you acknowlege further down in your post).
Regardless, just because there isn't a whole market demand doesn't mean there isn't room for an alternative product and that people aren't allowed to innovate. The world doesn't demand improved pool tables either, yet the tablemakers continue to improve their tables in a slow evolutionary way and market those improvements as a competative advantage. The same happens with tips; innovaters tinker, and some of what they do sticks, and some doesnt; most of the modern tips available come from this model. Heck, there's no current market demand for a Hello Kitty tip, but I bet I could sell some if I decided to make them; I'd probably make my investment back.
"No two players, and no two [wood] cues are a like. As far as leather, Mother Nature's quality control is pretty damn consistent - how it's processed is a different story. You think that if there was a synthetic replacement that it would be ideal for all players, cues, and playing conditions? No, there would have to be variations. But how many; Three, Four, maybe Twenty? Would it be enough to make everyone happy? I don't think so. How many tips are on the market already..."
My comments had nothing to do with the variance of players, not sure what the point is on this. Back to the tip... In terms of consistency, I think what most players expect is that when they replace their Moori, Everest, Triangle, or whatever tip, they expect it to behave exactly as the same brand and model as the previous tip did (I hope they don't expect something else)... But as many postings on AZ will back-up, that is not always the case. Plenty have experienced their brand of tip isn't as good as it used to be (some is perception, and some are legit).
The discrepency could be bad quality control, bad handling, a process issue, a problem with the leather, a problem with installation... But note that the material could be the problem. Nature isn't as consistent as you give it credit for, as the quality of the leather will depend on multiple factors (nutrition, health, age, genetics, weather, etc..); some that can be controlled and some that can't. Just like everybody in my own family has different skin, different cows will have different skin... That can't be changed, but it can be mitigated.
Synthetics can have variances as well, however if properly designed the variances can be narrow because most factors in synthetic manfacture can be controlled.
Also, I never said one synthetic tip would be appropriate for all players, nor would I expect it to be enough to make everyone happy; not sure how you gleaned that from my post. All I said was that it has the potential to address some of the real issues that exist with leather tips. I don't care if people want to glue some rubber off the bottom of their old sneaker to the front of their cue, or if they want to shoot into the left pocket with a Sniper and the right pocket with a Kamui... That's their business and i.
As far as how many tips there are on the market now, that's not the point... By that point, nobody should ever come-up with a new tip again, there are already plenty...And yet I would bet you good money that new tips will continue to come to market in the future; innovation and marketing will demand that.
"In a perfect world, maybe. And what would that kind of quality control cost us as consumers?"
Quality control is not the issue, no matter what the tip is made of it requires quality control. Synthetics (plastics in this case) have an inherent potential for more consistent structure (molecular structure, chain structure, blah blah) and control over the manufacture of the base materials. Frankly, it's not rocket science anyway the costs we are talking about are miniscule in the grand scheme of things, tips are more about time, testing, and effort.
"There are more than enough patents filed to show that R&D has been done. Again, there's no demand so I partially agree with you here."
I'm not sure what the patent point is. A patent is just the attribution of a novel idea, e.g.: This is a patent for an alternative billiards cue tip which, instead of traditional leather, is made from synthetic polymer plastic filiments that are sintered into a porous solid shaped into a traditional pool cue tip. Etc, etc... That's not a real patent concept, as it's not specific enough, but just an example. Anyway, that idea still isn't enough to make a marketable tip. There could be thousands of varitions of that patent that need to be developed and tested, but none of that would be done prior to filing that patent. But only a couple of people in the entire industry, it seems, are interested in the R&D part.
"Your convinced, I'm not - your arguments are fallacious.
Leather works fine, it's that simple ...agree to disagree"
Leather does work fine, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have problems, and it doesn't mean my arguments are "fallacious". Perhaps you don't have any issues with leather, that's fine continue to use it nobody is stopping you... But some others have see room for improvement and it's that simple.
Happy New Year.
Johnnyt
