Has Your Filipino or Overseas Cue Stayed Straight?

[cueman]

I have done a lot of repairs through the years and have seen very few perfectly straight shafts, no matter where they came from. Rolling a cue on the table while in a standing position may allow a cue to look perfectly straight, but that does not mean something has not warped a little. Around ten years ago when the cues from the Philippines started flooding the USA market, overall they were some of the most unstable cues I had seen. But many cuemakers from over there have improved their methods and started producing some more stable cues in recent years.

As a general rule butts are more stable than shafts and do not get the same bending and such that shafts get and are more prone to staying straight. Wood is wood no matter who is working with it and rushing the process will produce more warpage. Coring has cut down on butt warpage and pie shaped laminating and other lamminating methods cuts down on shaft warpage. But I have seen laminated shafts that are not perfectly straight also. I have seen a lot of the "perfectly straight" term being used in this thread. Perfect is a word I have rarely seen to accurately describe the straightness of any used shaft with any age on it. Pretty straight is more accurate in my experience. Some using the Perfect word here might be surprised if they had a cuemaker put the cue between centers on their lathe and get an indicator reading on the run out.

 

[JolietJames]

Slightly off topic... Glad to hear you guys out west not having too much warpage issues. I'm heading out there this winter and fear for my Hearns cues going from the humid midwest to the hot, dry southwest. I fear since my cues were made out east perhaps they won't survive that well in the hot and dry.

 

[Falcon Eddie]

Yea mine arrived the same day he passed. That was the shortest lifetime guarantee I've ever had. I actually logged in the day after to give an initial review of it for others and saw he passed the night before. That was just sad. I'll never sell it either. Its the one on the bottom.. gets more compliments than my bobby hunter

Everyone that sees it loves the cue, and when the shafts are put on a lathe you cant even tell they're spinning its so straight. Not even the slightest shift on either shaft.

However I did buy an Audrick back in 2005 which was a complete POS. Night and day difference between the two. Always good and bad wherever you go. audrick = horrible, dindo = awesome.

The one on top is the only one left for sale from his partner Ron..great price on it as well.

 

[DogsPlayingPool]

Wow, 17 -13 so far. Pretty good chance a cue from overseas will warp. Maybe the solution is to hang it for a while as soon as it arrives?

 

[BarneyCalip]

Machinest V Block

When, I got my warped cues.
The first thing I did was put the cue on a machinest V block's and used a dial indicator to measure runnout.

I was horrified to see how warped the first one was.

I then asked Vince Puyo to send me another one.
Months later it too was way off.

I wouldn't custom order a cue from the Phillipines.
You need to see it here and verify it is straight, with no deposit.
They do make some beautiful cues as I have two.

i gotta believe the the humidity is the culprit.
If your cue is ready in a month don't buy it.
Buyer be ware.

 

[Chopdoc]

I have three Filipino cues made in 1997 that I have owned since new.

All three are straight but I could only vote once.

 

[J.L.]

I Voted Yes.....But....the cuemaker is from USA.

I have 2 QP cues....form Philippines by Ronnie Powell (he is from USA)...Both have more spin on the cue ball than my JF Southwest and are dead stright Both.

http://queperfect.biz/

Regards.

 

[The Renfro]

I could only vote once so I answered yes.... I have a cue from Steve Urate or something close to that I think.. It is unsigned orangewood and snakewood.. The shaft has some rollout from the hand sanding of the taper but it's straight.....

Now the beautiful Audrick I bought turned into a pretzel within the first 3 months I owned it... The shaft was straight as was the forearm but the handle which was Ambonya burl turned tried to turn into the letter "U".....

The Audrick is now at the cuemakers and will have a new handle section cut and installed.... Will miss the burl but not the thumpity thumpity it made rolling it on the table.........

 

[The Renfro]

I Voted Yes.....But....the cuemaker is from USA.

I have 2 QP cues....form Philippines by Ronnie Powell (he is from USA)...Both have more spin on the cue ball than my JF Southwest and are dead stright Both.

http://queperfect.biz/

Regards.

Man thanks for the link...

I blew sweet tea out of my nose reading all of the stuff on the lower right section of the page.... That's some good stuff there... or at least it was written while on the good stuff LOL

 

[FeltMaster]

I could only vote once so I answered yes.... I have a cue from Steve Urate or something close to that I think.. It is unsigned orangewood and snakewood.. The shaft has some rollout from the hand sanding of the taper but it's straight.....

Now the beautiful Audrick I bought turned into a pretzel within the first 3 months I owned it... The shaft was straight as was the forearm but the handle which was Ambonya burl turned tried to turn into the letter "U".....

The Audrick is now at the cuemakers and will have a new handle section cut and installed.... Will miss the burl but not the thumpity thumpity it made rolling it on the table.........

Pretty sure the wood Steve used for that cue came from me. It was cured many many years by a cuemaker who has since passed on, Joe Sanko. I wish I could get in contact with Steve again, we made many cues together.

 

[Maniac]

I have seen a lot of the "perfectly straight" term being used in this thread. Perfect is a word I have rarely seen to accurately describe the straightness of any used shaft with any age on it. Pretty straight is more accurate in my experience.

I am guilty of using this term in my post, and I digress. Pretty straight is a better term.

Anyways, the butts on my imported cues are all "adequately straight" :thumbup:

Maniac

 

[Fast Lenny]

I have two Vince Puyo cues from the Phillipines.
Both are perfectly made with 8 points.

They both butts came in at separate times terribly warped 1/8 inch, ugh.
After 6 months you could feel the raised rings and inlays.
Still the prettiest cue, I have owned.

I had a Z shaft made for it and play with the cue.
It hits great.
Francisco saw it at the Swanee and wanted it.

I have JossWest, Schrager, Stout, Schuler and Burton Spain cues.

Lenny, I will be at Mountain View see you there.
I will bring the cue, 1950 Lincoln "Chocolate", and 49 Ford Convertible "Blondie".

Take Care, Barney

See you there Barney, lets go cruisin! :thumbup:

 

[JuicyGirl]

I didn't vote.
Mine was made here in Tampa. I have a Ricco that's 15 or 16 years old and it's still straight. But I'm off topic a little! I have friends in the Philipines, we should ask him to send us some cues. hmm Thanks for the Idea.

 

[Dirtbmw20]

I am guilty of using this term in my post, and I digress. Pretty straight is a better term.

Anyways, the butts on my imported cues are all "adequately straight" :thumbup:

Maniac

Ok, I'll admit I too am guilty of using that term, Pretty straght would be a much better term than Perfect straight.

BUT, without highjacking the thread, let me ask this, what is "acceptable" run out on the shaft with a dial indicator set on it and what is deemed "too much" and the shaft is warped ??

 

[ralphe]

my 2006 Linds cue is still perfect straight. One can only feel the rings a little at some spots.

 

[CK6Speed]

I have a 1990 Southwest, 2008 Blackcreek, two Carolina Customs, a It's George, and a Bebot Bautista that as far as I can tell are dead straight.

I have a 2009 Richard Black and a Shon that has a warp in the Butt. The Richard Black is mild and doesn't affect play that I can tell, but it's just irritating that a $2,000 cue warped like that. The Shon Butt is warped really bad. Neither cues are left In a car or whatnot. In fact most of them just sit in their case in my closet.

 

[manwon]

I had a brand new Joss butt warp by 1/2" within 90 days of being new. I sent it to Joss and even they agreed it was warped too badly for repair. They offered to replace the butt for $195. I asked about new cue warranty and was told by Danny James himself "Once you chalk the cue, its out of warranty."
I promised him I would badmouth his cues forever and have so far, lived up to my promise.

I have had a similar problem with a Joss Cue, and it was a custom not one of their product cues. One of my customers had a Custom Joss cue made, he ordered it directly from Joss and included a design for the cue. The cue was beautiful when it arrived except for one little problem, the cues Ivory Joint was larger than the cues forearm where they met by almost 15 thousands. The joint was engraved with a great design and outside of the problem above the cue was perfect. However, when the customer asked me if I thought the problem with the joint was a big deal, I told him I thought it certainly was for a custom 1 of 1 cue that cost around $1500.

So he send the cue back to Joss to get the problem corrected, and from that point forward the bullshit started. Danny got upset that the cue was returned and he had few choice words about me for telling the customer that I thought there was a problem. Well to make a long story short, when the cue was returned to the customer the problem was not corrected. The only reason that it was not corrected was because the Ivory Joint had been engraved and to reduce it to the correct diameter would have ruined the engraving. The guy who owned the cue sold it a little while later at a 40% loss because of the problem.

Even though I thought the way Joss handled the situation was wrong and I would never let a cue leave my shop like it, I still think Joss is great company that has much to this industry. I also think Danny is a very intelligent man that must have had a bad day when this problem occurred. We all have them no matter how big or small our cue making shops are but it sucks when a customer has to pay for those
bad days.

 

[BankT8Ball]

Never had any problems with my high end cues (to many names to list) all of them are perfect.
I been buying cues and having custom built cues made for me for over 8yrs from JD cues and I own 9 of his cues with not one problem and also purchased a cue in 2006 from Linds and no problem at all with that cue.

Hey Craig I still have that custom made one of a kind Adam jump cue you made that I purchased from you.:smile:

Mike

 

[Spider1]

I've had a JD cue since 2008. Made in the humid Philippines, bought it in dry desert AZ (off an AZB member no less!), it made the trip with me clear across country up to humid Maine and it is dead straight still. No problems at all.

Wish I could say the same about some of my aftermarket shafts for other cues, unfortunately.


Dadivas is a great cuemaker, and also a really great guy. I'm happy to own one of his cues, and if I was looking for another cue I'd buy one of his products again in a heartbeat.

 

[J.L.]

Man thanks for the link...

I blew sweet tea out of my nose reading all of the stuff on the lower right section of the page.... That's some good stuff there... or at least it was written while on the good stuff LOL

It's a pleasure....enjoy the site!! :thumbup::thumbup: