Cue construction

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60,000 shafts to get only 300 good ones is a bit more of a stretch, in my somewhat educated opinion. That's .5% yield. John, you don't believe that, do you? That would be like you entirely buying out the Fort Worth Stockyards auction just so you could make one run of the mill case. Somebody's blowing smoke. If beginning with high grade logs, which given the projected product they should be, the yield of top grade shafts will average 30%. The only way to make his statement true is if they are starting with junk logs, which obviously will never produce a good shaft. If the log isn't straight, then neither is the grain inside it. That would make horrible business sense because it still requires the exact same machine operations, so I highly doubt that's the case. If that guy is willing to pay for 60,000 shafts to get 300 good ones, then send him my way. I will supply his 300 good shafts for half the cost, and he won't have to dispose of 59,600 junkers :thumbup:

For a low priced production cue, it sounds to me, they'd go out of business rejecting 95% of their shaft dowels . :eek:
Hell ,if they ordered 60,000 sanded dowels from Champs, they'd be really aholes ( Champs ) not to send them at least 20% JEWELS.
If the numbers are real, they need a new supplier .
 
For a low priced production cue, it sounds to me, they'd go out of business rejecting 95% of their shaft dowels . :eek:
Hell ,if they ordered 60,000 sanded dowels from Champs, they'd be really aholes ( Champs ) not to send them at least 20% JEWELS.
If the numbers are real, they need a new supplier .
Seriously?

.....and you would think a connected guy like you would already know that the lesser grades are not rejected. They are used in other cues.

Sad to see that I have to spell this out for you.
 
I didn't want a quarrel. I did have a quibble. Which I voiced and you turned into a quarrel. Another turned it into a battle, while another just threw red herrings as a distraction. Had the quibble been directly answered then the discussion could have peacefully continued but the twaddle and twiddle had to be dealt with in order to sort the sense from the nonsense and get on with the business of finding the consensus.

When I am angry you will know it. As it is I am just content to be right. You and Joey can be flip and glib all you like but it doesn't make you right nor helpful. And you don't have to right either, no shame in being wrong if you are willing to learn and trying to help. You peas in a pod are neither IMO. Which, according to you, opinion is unassailable because a thought expressed as an opinion cannot be challenged. So there you go, don't dwell on it or bother to quarrel with me because my logic is impeccable. ;-)

Speaking of perfect examples:

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"Which I voiced and you turned into a quarrel"

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Perhaps you might point out where I said so much as a single syllable that indicated
even the slightest anger.

Dale
 
Seriously?

.....and you would think a connected guy like you would already know that the lesser grades are not rejected. They are used in other cues.

Sad to see that I have to spell this out for you.

They are rejected for STEALTH cues.
They go to the other brands.

And Stealth charges how much for their shafts ?

Me no believe .
 
They are rejected for STEALTH cues.
They go to the other brands.

And Stealth charges how much for their shafts ?

Me no believe .
That's right, they go to Stealth, Sterling, Action and a hundred other brands around the world.

I suggest you pm Hu for a lesson in how manufacturing works since you seem to be clueless. I confess that even though I have a severe dislike for you I did think you had a reasonable level of intelligence. I admit my mistake in overestimating that.
 
Speaking of perfect examples:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Which I voiced and you turned into a quarrel"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps you might point out where I said so much as a single syllable that indicated
even the slightest anger.

Dale
You instigated it with your remarks. As you continue to do with your off topic comments.
 

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Interesting topic. I see the merit in many of the responses so far as well, there were many good cues made years ago and many good cues being made today.

I will state this though, my opinion is that you can definitely get more cue for your money today than you could 20 years ago. Does this means today's cues are better? Not necessarily, but I think it does mean they can be manufactured more efficiently and with better quality. Not to mention that there are more cue manufacturers today putting out some nice quality work.

So overall, I think time has been good in that the average beginning pool player can go out and spend $50 to $100 and get a perfectly decent playing cue.

J. Alan
 
this question should be in the Ask The Cuemaker section....since 90% of the people here have no clue what they're talking about lol
 
Interesting topic. I see the merit in many of the responses so far as well, there were many good cues made years ago and many good cues being made today.

I will state this though, my opinion is that you can definitely get more cue for your money today than you could 20 years ago. Does this means today's cues are better? Not necessarily, but I think it does mean they can be manufactured more efficiently and with better quality. Not to mention that there are more cue manufacturers today putting out some nice quality work.

So overall, I think time has been good in that the average beginning pool player can go out and spend $50 to $100 and get a perfectly decent playing cue.

J. Alan

^^^^^ this^^^^^
 
Here's another question....

Take a custom Rambow built cue from 1930...(before Herman got old, and while he had the full resources of the Brunswick cue factory at his disposal) ..

Give it to Shane Van Boening or Darryl Appleton for a year...

Do you think their game would suffer at all ?
(Once they had some time to become acquainted with said cue)
 
Here's another question....

Take a custom Rambow built cue from 1930...(before Herman got old, and while he had the full resources of the Brunswick cue factory at his disposal) ..

Give it to Shane Van Boening or Darryl Appleton for a year...

Do you think their game would suffer at all ?
(Once they had some time to become acquainted with said cue)

I would say no, their game wouldn't suffer. We've seen Shane, Earl and Allison play with Cuetecs over the years and we have all heard the story of Efrens $15 cue he used when cleaning house at Reds in the 80s (or was it an $18 cue?? something like that)

I think a person can adapt to anything in regards to a cue, as long as it has a decent tip they should be good to go. This goes back to the saying "it's the Indian not the arrow"

Scrub players like me though, it sure doesn't hurt to have a fancy cue in my hands and build my confidence :)
 
Here's another question....

Take a custom Rambow built cue from 1930...(before Herman got old, and while he had the full resources of the Brunswick cue factory at his disposal) ..

Give it to Shane Van Boening or Darryl Appleton for a year...

Do you think their game would suffer at all ?
(Once they had some time to become acquainted with said cue)

If they don't get the shaft re-tapered, they'd probably quit playing with it really fast .
At least, Shane would. He likes that chopstick taper.
Also, old cues tend to have really fat grip. I think most pros today will have a hard time with them now.
 
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If they don't get the shaft re-tapered, they'd probably quit playing with it really fast .
At least, Shane would. He likes that chopstick taper.
Also, old cues tend to have really fat grip. I think most pros today will have a hard time with them now.

Well, that's why I mentioned 'custom', because that's what he did for the pros- made them how they liked them. Place a custom built ".................." in their hands and watch the sparks fly.
 
Well, that's why I mentioned 'custom', because that's what he did for the pros- made them how they liked them. Place a custom built ".................." in their hands and watch the sparks fly.

Well, let me put it this way.
I think most of the pros would have no problems playing with a customized sneaky pete. Cut-down old house and a nice shaft with a good ferrule and tip.
 
My experience with the pros tends to push me in the opposite direction. They are very tuned in, and they like what they like. If it's not what they like, they won't be comfortable with it, and won't shoot well with it.

A couple of years ago, I was working out the weight on the OB 121 sneaky pete that Alex just picked out. It's the one he plays with now. He asked me to make it just a touch lighter. I asked him how much, and he said as little as you can change it, "it's real close to perfect". I told him I would reduce it by about a quarter ounce or so, and he thought that would be fine, and left it with me. He came back an hour or so later, and I hadn't made the change yet. We were at a show and it had been real busy. Anyway, he asked if I had changed it, and for giggles I said "yes, go ahead and try it out". I really just wanted to see if he could even tell at all. Well, the instant he picked up the but, he said "are you sure you already changed it? This feels exactly the same as it did before". I was very surprised. I explained, made the change, and we all had a good laugh.

The point is that I'm not saying that any of them just couldn't play with any cue. But I don't think they would. When they have to compete at the very highest level just to squeak out enough to cover their travel expenses, they want to be at the very top of their game. And, they just don't feel like they will if they're playing with something they just don't feel good about. It's like it's in the back of their mind all the time and will rear it's ugly head at just the wrong time and distract them.

As for the cues, I think today's cues are much better than the older cues. You have to remember that not only has the knowledge and equipment improved tremendously but the resources have too. Even with the woods. I know all the talk about old growth and such, but today, there are companies cutting wood specifically for cue shafts. Our supplier literally chooses the trees before they are cut down based on how he needs to cut them in order to provide the pieces that we need. I just don't think cue makers had those options 50 years ago. I could be wrong, but I just don't think they had the resources available back then.


Royce
 
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