Best excuses from a wood dealer why you received crap.

JoeyInCali

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
You know, getting woods not even close to the one described.

1. My wife, daughter or secretary sent you the wrong package.
What they really meant was, shipping costs so much and I just hope you just eat it.
2. That's just like the one in the picture
What he really means is I hope you don't notice the knots and run-outs on the ones you received.

Good thing we still have one really big wood supplier who always delivers ( labels all of their pieces ).
 
Ive been burned too many times. I only order from CC and the ones who label their wood. Both are also very accommodating on special requests.
 
Exactly the reason I personally visit the supplier & hand pick the wood myself. I spend more money on fuel & hotel than I do the wood itself, but what I have in the end is a pile of all that crazy stuff everybody calls the supplier in search of. It's gone by the time you even ask, because I already bought it all. I do that, too. When I find something unique or extraordinary, I buy it all. Even if I have no intention of ever using it all, I want it all so it's unique to me. I don't want to build a cue with some crazy wood, then see that same wood in a hundred other cues because I only bought one or two pieces. If you can personally visit a supplier, then you should. Buying online or over phone is just asking for somebody to grab whatever off the top of the stack & that's what you get.
 
qbilder said:
Exactly the reason I personally visit the supplier & hand pick the wood myself. I spend more money on fuel & hotel than I do the wood itself, but what I have in the end is a pile of all that crazy stuff everybody calls the supplier in search of. It's gone by the time you even ask, because I already bought it all. I do that, too. When I find something unique or extraordinary, I buy it all. Even if I have no intention of ever using it all, I want it all so it's unique to me. I don't want to build a cue with some crazy wood, then see that same wood in a hundred other cues because I only bought one or two pieces. If you can personally visit a supplier, then you should. Buying online or over phone is just asking for somebody to grab whatever off the top of the stack & that's what you get.
Click to expand...

I have a few cuemakers who come pick their wood in person. I know they get tired of hearing that some pieces are not for sale when they try to get into my personal stock.
 
For Eric and Chris, well, and anyone else who is a supplier/tries to hand pick from a supplier:

How often are you turned away/turn people away when asking to come in and hand pick your wood? I'm from South MS, and currently in south Louisiana, and there aren't many exotic wood dealers down this way, so I have not had this issue, but I have seen some websites that discourage people from coming in, and only want to deal with online/phone orders.

So specifically for Chris (and any other suppliers, not necessarily for wood), do you only allow certain people to come in? And is this based on prior experience with them as customers so you know you aren't going to get tire kickers wasting your time?

And specifically for Eric (and any others who do or have tried to hand pick wood), have you ever been turned away from a supplier when you have tried to come in and hand pick your wood?

Of course, if you do not care to answer, I certainly understand and I'm not trying to call anyone out, just curious as I believe as Eric does, that once you try to reach a certain level of the game, hand picking wood is the only way to go. Chris, I think you're one of the best in the business, and definitely one of the most willing to talk about your business practices, but if this is overstepping, shoot me a pm and I'll be happy to remove this comment.

TIA!
 
I currently live in south New Mexico. I travel up to UP Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn, Arizona, Calli, Ohio, etc. to visit suppliers. Nobody has ever turned me away, but I don't mind spending, either. It depends on what the supplier has & how much of it they have, but I typically spend between $1K-$5K.

I visited a supplier in PA once & they had a box load of EI rosewood sat aside, said those pieces didn't look like the rest so they stuck them in a box & put them aside. It was all root burl. I made a deal for the entire box. Same trip I found a load of fiddleback redheart & crazy figured olive, figured bubinga, curly narra, curly pyinma, & some funky cocobolo. I spent a mint on that trip but my truck was loaded with insane wood. That trip was 2000mi each way. Nobody on the other end of a phone or email would have picked that wood out for me. I got there when they opened, took a lunch break when it was time, but otherwise spent a day digging through two warehouses.

It's no accident getting stocked with "cream of the crop" wood. It takes money, patience, money, time, money, willingness to travel, and money. And it helps to treat the suppliers nicely. I like to get to know them. Buy them dinner, beer, & shoot the breeze with them. They may just begin setting the good stuff aside for your next visit.
 
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