$25 house cue to $2k

ktmrider765

ktmrider765

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
this may get people fired up a little but id like to get peoples views or thoughts on this

Everyone that goes to a pool hall sees the house cues on the wall, they walk by them everyday, not talking about the cheap painted ones but their are places where the house cues are just cheaper full spliced in some cases,.,with that being said everyone walks by them every time at a pool hall and some people may use them to break with from time to time or use them when they don't have their own cue with them. But nobody really acknowledges them nor do they care about them and most wouldn't pay $25 for a house cue from off the wall,.,.,.,but why is it if a top tier cue maker grabs one of those cues off the wall and all they do is place a butt cap on it cut the one piece cue and make it a 2 piece wood to wood joint,.,no ringwork with just 1 of their shafts and sign it with their name or logo and give it a nice finish and people go nuts over it,.,they instantly praise the cue, say how great it is, how beautiful the craftsmanship is and praise how great it plays...yes their shaft will make a difference on it but how can people go from just walking by it everyday to instantly praising it just because one of the greats worked on it,.,its still a house cue conversion with their shaft and people go from not wanting to even pay $25 for it to giving $2,000.00 for it.,.,.,i know its not always the case of a house cue as they do make their own full splice but there are cheap house cues they do this with,.,i personally don't understand it but,.,to each is their own,.,and it all comes down to what someone is willing to pay
 
I never understood it either my friend. But hey, if its working for them more power to it.
 
bc they dumb. real dumb. have you seen the threads on cues here??
don't get me wrong, i like a handmade, (if you want to call machines doing the work handmade), because the wood is better and the shafts are properly turned, but the amount of cue makers out there today the cues should go for half of what they sell, both fancy or simple.
southwest and searing have 10 year waits, which is moronic, bc the wait is what makes them valuable, if they were so good as they say they wouldn't resell so frequently even for flippers. a buyer would eventually keep it bc its so good, but its all nonsense.
I love pool and support it anyway I can, but a cue is wood glued and screwed togehter, if you like a look of a cue, i personally love hoppe ringed cues, you buy one, otherwise its all just a hobby really, an expensive one at that. I recently had a bad experience, where I paid good money for a custom, and it got to me with a roll both with the butt and the shaft, I send it back, got my oney back and my custom cue days are pretty much over.
im way off topic, house cues converted are an easy money maker for a cue maker, they play decent and are usually cheap. titlist conversions are expensive bc everyday they get rarer.
 
Last edited:
ktmrider765 said:
this may get people fired up a little but id like to get peoples views or thoughts on this

Everyone that goes to a pool hall sees the house cues on the wall, they walk by them everyday, not talking about the cheap painted ones but their are places where the house cues are just cheaper full spliced in some cases,.,with that being said everyone walks by them every time at a pool hall and some people may use them to break with from time to time or use them when they don't have their own cue with them. But nobody really acknowledges them nor do they care about them and most wouldn't pay $25 for a house cue from off the wall,.,.,.,but why is it if a top tier cue maker grabs one of those cues off the wall and all they do is place a butt cap on it cut the one piece cue and make it a 2 piece wood to wood joint,.,no ringwork with just 1 of their shafts and sign it with their name or logo and give it a nice finish and people go nuts over it,.,they instantly praise the cue, say how great it is, how beautiful the craftsmanship is and praise how great it plays...yes their shaft will make a difference on it but how can people go from just walking by it everyday to instantly praising it just because one of the greats worked on it,.,its still a house cue conversion with their shaft and people go from not wanting to even pay $25 for it to giving $2,000.00 for it.,.,.,i know its not always the case of a house cue as they do make their own full splice but there are cheap house cues they do this with,.,i personally don't understand it but,.,to each is their own,.,and it all comes down to what someone is willing to pay
Click to expand...

Because if they start with two $25 boards, they become a $4000 cue.

Dale
 
I guess I'll play devils advocate. Now I've seen Titlist or Hoppe coversions run up into the thousands but I've never seen a house cue conversion run 2k or 3k.

Not saying they don't exist just that I haven't seen one. Would love a link if someone knows of one.

Typical conversion runs from 150 to 350 with some of the bigger names like Scruggs pulling 500-700ish.

The more expensive conversions I've seen are the butterfly ones or the vintage Tru-Balance or older Brunswick...surely we can see the value in some nice vintage conversions.
 
House cue?

Bishop said:
I guess I'll play devils advocate. Now I've seen Titlist or Hoppe coversions run up into the thousands but I've never seen a house cue conversion run 2k or 3k.

Not saying they don't exist just that I haven't seen one. Would love a link if someone knows of one.

Typical conversion runs from 150 to 350 with some of the bigger names like Scruggs pulling 500-700ish.

The more expensive conversions I've seen are the butterfly ones or the vintage Tru-Balance or older Brunswick...surely we can see the value in some nice vintage conversions.
Click to expand...


I've owned and sold 3 very nice Titlist all were $1500. I have not seen a house cue conversion for anything over $500 and that's with 2 shafts and some ivory.
 
Hmmm well I can speak from experience in that my Lambros sneaky is from an old ebony dufferin butterfly blank. I paid a little under $800 for it so its not in the $2k-$3k range but most Lambros cues, even the very basic ones, start at $1,250. Most people who have shot with it say it feels very very solid. Now I'm not sure if that comes from the ultra joint or the ebony butt or the taper or the tip, but it does feel very different and unique from other cues. Most cue makers even taper the butt to their own specs so they do put in work on those conversions. I know at least for my cue, Mike had to do some work on it as the ultra joint seems to be constructed in a very different way than other cues. Still has a unique hit and feel which I suppose is distinct to Lambros cues. Most conversions I hope would still have that same uniqueness in hit specific to each cue maker.
 
Last edited:
the titlest and willie hoppe cues were house cues long ago.

old house cues make the best conversions because the wood is old and settled.

a basic conversion with a new shaft and real joint is worth about 300 dollars. the rest is add on fluff and runs the cost up.
 
I'm not so sure about a Dufferin house cue conversion costing $2000+. I suppose it 'could' happen, but it certainly isn't typical.

As for a conversion, what exactly would folks think they should sell for? Does it matter who builds it or what kind of work goes into it? I can only speak for myself, so don't relate what I say to any cue maker but me. My shafts start at $150/ea. A finish or refinish from me is $150+. That's $300 deep into a house cue before I have even begun to machine anything. Considering that only one of maybe 30-40 house cues will be quality enough for me to take on, there's still a lot of work to be done before it becomes a cue.

It has to be long enough and fat enough for me to cut down to my taper while still being able to keep the points even. If it isn't, then I have to add a butt sleeve. Adding a butt sleeve means boring a deep hole in the back, threading it, and screwing/gluing in a tenon to make up the length I need. It has nothing to do with adding frills to drive cost. I then have to machine a sleeve for that tenon. Once I have the butt tapered to final size, I have to install a joint pin and do the butt work for weighting and the bumper. I also must machine the shaft(s) to fit and match. There's a lot more going on here than simply pulling a cue from the wall, cutting it in two, and sending it out the door.

While some builders might do that, not all of us do. Personally speaking, if the cue will not be dimensionally the same as my customs and of the same quality, then it's not going to happen at all. For this purpose I cannot sell a house cue conversion for only a few hundred bucks, nor will I be guilt tripped or ridiculed for selling it at a higher price than many other builders might charge. If you refuse to understand or accept why it costs what it does, then don't ask me to do it. House cue conversions for me, and several other builders I know, are most certainly not quick easy money. They are a P.I.T.A. to be avoided because nobody wants to pay for the work required to do the job properly. They often do make some great cues, but in the end they're still just cheap house cues at heart. I'd rather put the same or less effort into a cue made from scratch that brings more money, anyway. Just my perspective....
 
Searing conversions = 3k each.

Bishop said:
I guess I'll play devils advocate. Now I've seen Titlist or Hoppe coversions run up into the thousands but I've never seen a house cue conversion run 2k or 3k.

Not saying they don't exist just that I haven't seen one. Would love a link if someone knows of one.

Typical conversion runs from 150 to 350 with some of the bigger names like Scruggs pulling 500-700ish.

The more expensive conversions I've seen are the butterfly ones or the vintage Tru-Balance or older Brunswick...surely we can see the value in some nice vintage conversions.
Click to expand...
 
most cues are vastly underpriced

The fact of the matter is that most cues out of a custom shop are vastly underpriced. If a builder keeps up with his hours from first turning and usually a dipping all the way through a final shaft and the various turnings and then finishing on a blank, a very plain jane cue, no wrap, no inlays, nothing but joint collars and a buttcap, will have at least fifteen to twenty hours in it by the time it leaves the shop. The second shaft most people want adds to that time.

Anybody else running a similar type of business typically gets $100 or more an hour for their shop rate, some much more. Call the shop rate $75 an hour, that is $1100 to $1500 labor on a plain sneaky. As has already been pointed out in this thread, converting a house cue right isn't much of a time saver, may take more time, offset that by a slightly cheaper or customer supplied blank, maybe. Decent blanks can be bought as cheap or cheaper than the older larger diameter used house cues that are usually used as blanks. Then if it is a really clean old cue it is a collectors item and shouldn't be converted so the blanks come from cues that are good, but not too good!

Blud blew enough smoke up my butt that I built a cue shop close to ten years ago now. Fortunately I built it next to a friend's machine shop. I made a hell of a lot more on short run production turning in the machine shop than I made in the cue shop or would have made building cues.

The last I checked there are plenty of damned good custom cues available new for under $1000. Those are every one a steal! Most people trying to get established are working for maybe $20 an hour. I don't know of any other area where any business owner is billing their work that cheaply.

Hu
 
I'll double your $25 to $50.
I'll buy all of your Titlist house cues that are usable.

Why is a file knife usually cheap but cost a lot more from a well-known knifemaker?
 
maha said:
the titlest and willie hoppe cues were house cues long ago.

old house cues make the best conversions because the wood is old and settled.

a basic conversion with a new shaft and real joint is worth about 300 dollars. the rest is add on fluff and runs the cost up.
Click to expand...

Actually, Titlist were 'house cues', but Hoppes were made from butt length blanks,
not full length Titlist.

Dale
 
There's 2 sides, those that think everything that comes out of Searing, Southwest And Black Boar's shop are sprinkled with magic pixie dust & those that know better. As long as there are those that will sit on certain cue makers lists for 10 years or pay some exorbitant amount they'll retain their popularity. I watch people here go rabid over certain cues & I just chuckle but to each his own.In1990 I can remember BB Tony traveling to pool halls all over Maryland trying to give top tier players one of his cues to play with, they were beautiful, but they didn't play that way, considering what some on here are paying for them now I hope they've gotten better. Again, beauty, value are in the eyes of the beholder. One mans treasure is junk to another man. Also looking great doesn't always equate to playing great but there's the crowd that has a ton of $ that can't string 3 balls together and collects objects of beauty, to each his own.
 
The OP's comments would have a little more street cred if he himself did not already shoot with a McDaniels ????
 
I have nothing against anyone who buys these conversions I myself have paid $750 for a Scruggs sneaky.,.,it played great.,i no longer have it and i don't know if it was a house cue conversion or his own full splice...I don't know,.,but if it didn't have his TS logo on it I wouldn't have paid that for it,.,i myself have done this,.,and like others say its the "wow" factor to the owner of having it,.,i have seen majority of these types of cues sell for the $450-800 range on average but some are crazy,.,i understand the willie hoppe cues.,those are now collectibles ,.,but for the typical house cue conversion,.,the prices of the high top tier makers are astronomical for what they are,.,and god forbid if someone found a house cue converted by Gus Szamboti lol,..,but im not kocking anyone with these cues by any means I myself have done it,.,but I personally just don't see it anymore especially if its not their own full splice done by them
 
Last edited:
Dennis has never, nor would ever, personally charge $3K for a house cue conversion. They might sell for that in secondary market, but never from the source.

And what does it really matter what someone pays? If I go to work & earn a paycheck, is it not acceptable that I spend it the way I want without being ridiculed by naysayers? If you earn $40G's/yr and struggle to support a family on that, then yeah $2G's for a house cue conversion is insane. Dare I say though, it's none of your business. If I earn $400G's/yr and am single, a $2K house cue conversion is about as ridiculous as you going to McDonald's & buying a Big Mac. It's a novelty, a luxury, and a cheap one at that. Go to a presidential fund raiser dinner & you will pay $5G's+ for dinner, and leave with a key chain souvenir. So what's $2G's on a house cue conversion for a cue nut? And again, why is it anybody's business but the buyer & seller?
 
ChicagoRJ said:
The OP's comments would have a little more street cred if he himself did not already shoot with a McDaniels ????
Click to expand...

I currently play with a McDaniel cue yes,.,not sure what this has to do with a house cue conversion.,.,but I like how they play,.my personal favorites are McDaniel, Gilbert, Scruggs for players,.,ive have owned others,.,.i do not mind paying for a nice custom cue wether its cnc or hand made,.,.,like I previously stated I owned a Scruggs sneaky,.,i don't know if its his own full splice or not,.,it played great,.,.,.,but I have owned cheap cheap cues that play just as good as my current player..yes its a cnc'd McDaniel but I like the material and appearance of it and his shafts play nice and have good hit in my opinion,.,but I wouldn't pay the long dollar for his house cue conversion just because his shafts play good and the hit is good to me,.,if its his own full splice yes id pay up to a certain amount
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top