Aside from the generalities of your lecture on basic manufacturing where can you find the "worse than before" cues?
Let's talk specifics. 25 years ago was 1989. I was in the cue business then, also a frequent flea marketer throughout the 80s. The place to buy the worst cues was at the flea market. Those were the ramin wood ones.
Ramin wood has been banned from use for over a decade maybe longer.
Since I am in the business I have been fortunate enough to visit factories that make most of the world's cheap cues and I round that out with visits to the retail outlets where most of those cheap cues go to. Sears, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Dick's Sporting Goods etc...
In addition I have been to the factories that make mid-range and even try to dabble in high-end cues. Worked in one of them.
In the showroom of one of them is 40 years of cue samples. From the el cheapo ramin wood cues to cues sold under the brands of many world champions from Mizerak to Sigel in many disciplines. It is a fascinating, to me, history of cue manufacturing presented in one large showroom. Pretty much every type of cue ever built using pretty much every major construction method is represented.
The one thing you forgot, or perhaps more likely don't even know, in your lesson above on manufacturing is the development aspect. Because you see in addition to always looking to become more efficient and lower costs, some makers are very much into learning the best methods and implementing them at scale. Some CUE manufacturers are blessed (or cursed) with a broad range of clients demanding a broad range of cues.
One client might be a cue maker who wants cues built his way. Another might be a player who wants a line built his way. Another might be a distributor who wants cues built the way he thinks his customers want. Having the ability to fulfill all these orders means that the cue maker's factory has to be adept at doing just about every technique that has ever been tried to make cues. They have to never stop learning, stay abreast of new materials, new methods, and even invent some of their own, to insure that their product meets the client's demands consistently.
Now, I have seen all this first hand. I have seen it play out since 1997 when I first set foot into Asian cue making operations, since I brokered the sale of two containers of wood from Jerry Pechauer to Taiwan, since I spent a week at Bludworth's house filming his lessons to an asian client about a 4 head CNC milling machine.
So again, I ask you, where do you find the cues today that are worse than the worst ones built 25 years ago?
This was the worst 25 years ago -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pool-Cue-2-...065?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339648bb69
You can even buy the vintage version 1988 -
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-198...101?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item33964d7a65
Now you can't even find these made new anymore. Oh there might be one or two outlets somewhere but for the most part the level of quality has risen dramatically to the point where even $36 cues are decent.
http://www.cuesight.com/stdcbk.html
So I disagree that the worst cues today are worse than the worst ones 25 years ago. It's not even close, the worst ones made today are still much better than the worst ones made then. But that's not even what we are really talking about in this thread as I interpret it.
I think we are talking about the McDermott/Meucci/Viking class of cues and whether that level is better or not. And I doubt that any of those companies, even Meucci, will say that their 1989 cues are better than their 2014 cues.