JB Cases
So I will reiterate that I will honor Jack's warranty and repair any Justis that Jack won't repair if you purchase an interior from me. QUOTE said:
Be sure to inform the owner of the case that any repair you make on one of our cases will lower the value even more than changing the interior.
Would you allow Cuetec to make a repair on your Searing?
Ouch. Brutal. Well, seeing as how the repairs I might have to make to your case would be invisible when I am done I doubt it would affect the resale price whatever that might be. Since people buy from me for performance I don't think that anyone who is already using my interiors in your case is too concerned about preserving the "value" too much. And for that matter what would the resell price drop to?
Say I put a new snap on the case and it was a $600 case from you orginally? What could the owner expect to lose if I were to honor your warranty and put a new snap on the case? If he put it up for sale would he get $200 for it? $400? Just curious since you seem to be wanting to use this as a scare tactic so let's figure out what a Justis case is worth and what type of depreciation one could expect if someone else repairs one.
And while we are at it, could you please show EVERYONE on the forum the threads where your cases are selling for MORE than your retail? I have yet to see one where the case was say $700 originally and the asking price was higher than that and it sold. I mean I am sure that there are some but I just missed them. Should be easy enough to point them out to us all.
Nothing I said is untrue. I realize its a tough pill to swallow when a Chinese woman working for JB can build a case that offers more protection in the event of something happening outside normal use as in a drop, someone knocking over your case, etc.....Even in my own line of work it sometimes bothers me that people perform better than me but hey... I don't make up lies to make people think otherwise, like the folks that say johns cases damage cues. There are many folks that prefer beauty over function...me being one of them....I was just stating facts and the dozens upon dozens who switched their interiors can't all be wrong.
All true. The telling point is that the CUSTOMERS are the ones making it clear what they prefer. If they get my interior and don't like it then they can take it right back out, they can get a refund, I have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. But no one asked for a refund yet on their new interior. What I hear most often is that now they have the case of their dreams, the Justis look with JB protection.
Other than ego I can't understand why this is a problem. I have no problem if someone wants to change a JB interior. In fact my customers ask me all the time if I will tweak ours to suit their needs. No problem, we can modify the interior to be exactly as they desire it to be.
Hit is subjective. What is not subjective the fact that Szamboti is an investment. Same with a Justis case. In the years to come, the cue and case will only go up in value. While the cue (which you did not name) and a JB case will not....
Truth.
Justis cases do not appear to be going up in value if the sales on this forum are any indication. I have not formally tracked it but I rarely see one that sells for more than the retail price listed on Jack's site.
So while I can agree with you on the investment potential of a Szam the same cannot be said as fact for a Justis simply based on the factual sales that have taken place over the past five years or so.
I find that Szamboti's, Searing, Tascarella, Hercek and Murray Tuckers cues are consistant from one to another as is Ron Ross tooling and Jack Justis cases. I don't open my case and turn it upside down so I will be just fine with my cases and their original Justis interior. I have never heard my cues rattle in a Justis either. I have a couple Dale Perry cues and I put them in a Instroke case made in Europe.
It is true that Justis cases are very consistent. I liken Jack to a cue maker that has settled on a certain way of building and decoration and that's what you get. Which is a good thing because you know exactly what you are getting, the look is set, the build type is set, the brand is known, it's a safe bet. And I do find that business model to be admirable. It takes more courage and discipline to pull that off than to be the jack-of-all-trades and willing to try anything for your customers.
I will be honest, true custom work as we are doing it is not paying us what it should. We put more effort into our cases than Jack does, we are willing to experiment, change things, spend an enormous amount of time trying to make every desire come true and at the end of it, even with the cheaper labor rates in China, we still don't make nearly enough compared to the effort.
If there is anything that I still admire about Jack it's that he is consistent in what he offers and is not afraid to ask for the price he wants. And when you get a case from him then it is nice and elegant and exactly as you expected it to look. And I suspect that it gives you the ego boost that you paid for with many admiring and approving comments on it. Why would it be otherwise?
When you own a Justis you are part of an elite club. Not just because of the price, but because there simply aren't that many of them around. And if you're one of the few that owns the very high end Justis/Ross work then you are at the top of that club. The actual performance of the case is secondary at that point in my opinion.
I get all that and it's cool with me. I only want to provide an alternative interior without getting accosted over it. Jack set it up so that the interiors can be easily removed and so I stepped in to provide replacement interiors.
I wouldn't do it if it required using tools to take the exterior apart. If I thought that replacing a Justis interior would in any way damage the exterior I wouldn't offer it. I don't offer DIY interior replacements for ANY case where tools are
required to separate the interior from the exterior.