Where are the new Gold Crowns made???

[Bob 14:1]

My neighbor noticed this decal on my table, and a discussion ensued.

After an exhaustive google search, I could not find a definitive answer.

The only mention was a google link back to AZ in which someone said that Brunswick tables have been made in China "for some time now."

Do we have any Brunswick dealers or installers,etc. who might have an authoritative answer?

I'd hate to think that such an esteemed American mark wouldn't at least make their flagship table here in the U.S.A. If this overseas manufacturing is indeed so, do we know when the transition might have taken place?

Just merely curious. Thanks for any input...

 

[realkingcobra]

My neighbor noticed this decal on my table, and a discussion ensued.

After an exhaustive google search, I could not find a definitive answer.

The only mention was a google link back to AZ in which someone said that Brunswick tables have been made in China "for some time now."

Do we have any Brunswick dealers or installers,etc. who might have an authoritative answer?

I'd hate to think that such an esteemed American mark wouldn't at least make their flagship table here in the U.S.A. If this overseas manufacturing is indeed so, do we know when the transition might have taken place?

Just merely curious. Thanks for any input...

View attachment 373167

No GC is fully manufactured in one single location. There are several different locations that build different parts at their location, then all parts are shipped to an assembly area where all parts are boxed, crated, then shipped to the destination distribution center. Brunswick hasn't manufactured pool tables in this country for a long while now.

 

[jspence91]

Made in 'Murica ! jk I don't really know...

 

[Bob 14:1]

No GC is fully manufactured in one single location. There are several different locations that build different parts at their location, then all parts are shipped to an assembly area where all parts are boxed, crated, then shipped to the destination distribution center. Brunswick hasn't manufactured pool tables in this country for a long while now.

So if I follow, most, if not all, fabrication of all the various components is done outside the country, and sent to "someplace" in the States and amalgamated for their final distribution to dealers or customers.

I'd be curious as to when this started. If any of you know the approximate age of your GC, can you photograph or report any pertinent nomenclature to determine the table's origin?

Brunswick is pretty evasive. They mention some horse hockey that they are a geographically integrated corporation, or something to that effect. I wonder what members' 3's, 4's and 5's show. They gotta have something, somewhere, I would guess.

Seems like my 42 year old marriage day Zippo is the last bastion of American tradition. :crying:

Good grief!!!

 

[realkingcobra]

So if I follow, most, if not all, fabrication of all the various components is done outside the country, and sent to "someplace" in the States and amalgamated for their final distribution to dealers or customers.

I'd be curious as to when this started. If any of you know the approximate age of your GC, can you photograph or report any pertinent nomenclature to determine the table's origin?

Brunswick is pretty evasive. They mention some horse hockey that they are a geographically integrated corporation, or something to that effect. I wonder what members' 3's, 4's and 5's show. They gotta have something, somewhere, I would guess.

Seems like my 42 year old marriage day Zippo is the last bastion of American tradition. :crying:

Good grief!!!

View attachment 373228

Made in America lost that credibility a long time ago when employee pay scales started jumping up every year, forcing businesses to take production overseas so they could more afford the labor costs to produce the same products and still maintain a profit. Now, that slogan should simply read "Assembled in America, but made somewhere else.

 

[(((Satori)))]

I hope its not the same Chinese factory that manufactures the Cyclop balls. Their QC sucks.

 

[realkingcobra]

I hope its not the same Chinese factory that manufactures the Cyclop balls. Their QC sucks.

Ever wonder why no pool balls are manufactured in the USA? maybe because if they were, no one could afford to buy them....and they'd still roll off:thumbup:

 

[(((Satori)))]

Ever wonder why no pool balls are manufactured in the USA? maybe because if they were, no one could afford to buy them....and they'd still roll off:thumbup:

At least you didnt try to convince me the Cyclop balls dont suck.

 

[PoolTable911]

Made in America lost that credibility a long time ago when employee pay scales started jumping up every year, forcing businesses to take production overseas so they could more afford the labor costs to produce the same products and still maintain a profit. Now, that slogan should simply read "Assembled in America, but made somewhere else.

I agree 100% with that statement....The salaries for so many jobs have inflated so much...When is enough - enough? We have let this happen...Now we live with lost jobs and imported goods...I am still doing Pool Table moves & recovers at the same price I did 7 years ago...I need to talk to my union rep...lol

 

[lost]

Maybe the same place that their air hockey, and foosball, and shuffleboard tables are "final" assembled or made ready for shipment? Wherever that is.

 

[ROB.M]

Post

Cyclop has did aramith a favor and diamond billiards has made a mistake using the Chinese made balls..I've got several Cyclop sets with the numbers popping and the play like shit when they get dirty....
Diamond might as well move all production to china....
Aramith Belgium balls are the best pool ball IMHO. The Germans make a top notch ball as well.

Brunswick has sourced out parts and production to several places over the years, yalin builds the brunswicks in the Chinese market they also build the Riley for the Chinese market.

I used to work for a brunswick dealer several years ago, I know these days the brunswick tables are made of components from all over the map.

The table in the picture below was purchased in 2002.





Rob.M

 

[Bob 14:1]

I used to work for a brunswick dealer several years ago, I know these days the brunswick tables are made of components from all over the map.

The table in the picture below was purchased in 2002.



Rob.M

Very interesting, Rob! Now we're narrowing things down. Thanks for taking the time to photograph this! :thumbup:

 

[arnaldo]

My neighbor noticed this decal on my table, and a discussion ensued.

After an exhaustive google search, I could not find a definitive answer.

The only mention was a google link back to AZ in which someone said that Brunswick tables have been made in China "for some time now."

Do we have any Brunswick dealers or installers,etc. who might have an authoritative answer?

I'd hate to think that such an esteemed American mark wouldn't at least make their flagship table here in the U.S.A. If this overseas manufacturing is indeed so, do we know when the transition might have taken place?

Just merely curious. Thanks for any input...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
When I lived near Albany, NY about 20 years ago and was weighing different table options for a rec room in my then-Vermont home 50 miles east of there, I went into the largest Brunswick dealer there at the time, and asked the very question you've posted. I was told then that Brunswick itself (mid-1990s) was no longer producing tables at the home base. All table manufacturing below the Gold Crowns had been off-shored to companies in South America, and the frames and table tops for Gold Crowns had been contracted for manufacture by the Kimball Piano Co.

After plenty of research, I ended up ordering a Diamond 9-footer directly from Greg Sullivan's then-newly-formed Indiana company upon the recommendation of a very respected player, Frank Tullos who was then repping for them. I believe he was the house pro at Mothers in NC or SC I forget which, but a helluva nice, and very patient guy, carefully answering all of my questions and very important, put me in touch beforehand with several savvy players around the country who had recently purchased Diamonds for their own home rec rooms and absolutely loved them (and they explained in detail precisely what they loved about the Diamonds compared to their former Gold Crowns, which was mighty helpful).

The expert mechanic who delivered the table direct from the factory and installed in my Vermont rec room told me a funny, memorable story. He'd do Northeast deliveries in groups of threes, and mine was the last after one he'd installed the previous day in the home of a very skilled Providence pool gambler. The guy wanted to trap marks into after-hours games at his very old and winter-weathered, rickety wood-frame house. The mechanic mentioned to the guy that it's nearly impossible to keep any table level for long periods in that kind of house, saying "If you don't level it often, it's going to develop some funny rolls from time to time." The guy nudged him, smiling, and replied, "Yeah, but I'll know where the rolls are . . . and they won't!"

I met the mechanic at a trade show a couple years later and he told me that he heard the table had paid for itself within two months.

Arnaldo

 

[realkingcobra]

Cyclop has did aramith a favor and diamond billiards has made a mistake using the Chinese made balls..I've got several Cyclop sets with the numbers popping and the play like shit when they get dirty....
Diamond might as well move all production to china....
Aramith Belgium balls are the best pool ball IMHO. The Germans make a top notch ball as well.

Brunswick has sourced out parts and production to several places over the years, yalin builds the brunswicks in the Chinese market they also build the Riley for the Chinese market.

I used to work for a brunswick dealer several years ago, I know these days the brunswick tables are made of components from all over the map.

The table in the picture below was purchased in 2002.





Rob.M

Now Rob, if you still had the boxes that table came in, some of the boxes would be labeled "made in Brazil" but what most don't understand is that if the "final assembly" is in the USA, then it can still be promoted as made in America. The table you pictured....didn't have one single part made in America.

 

[Black-Balled]

I agree 100% with that statement....The salaries for so many jobs have inflated so much...When is enough - enough? We have let this happen...Now we live with lost jobs and imported goods...I am still doing Pool Table moves & recovers at the same price I did 7 years ago...I need to talk to my union rep...lol

Ever try giving the boss a hand job?!

 

[Bob 14:1]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
When I lived near Albany, NY about 20 years ago and was weighing different table options for a rec room in my then-Vermont home 50 miles east of there, I went into the largest Brunswick dealer there at the time, and asked the very question you've posted. I was told then that Brunswick itself (mid-1990s) was no longer producing tables at the home base. All table manufacturing below the Gold Crowns had been off-shored to companies in South America, and the frames and table tops for Gold Crowns had been contracted for manufacture by the Kimball Piano Co.

After plenty of research, I ended up ordering a Diamond 9-footer directly from Greg Sullivan's then-newly-formed Indiana company upon the recommendation of a very respected player, Frank Tullos who was then repping for them. I believe he was the house pro at Mothers in NC or SC I forget which, but a helluva nice, and very patient guy, carefully answering all of my questions and very important, put me in touch beforehand with several savvy players around the country who had recently purchased Diamonds for their own home rec rooms and absolutely loved them (and they explained in detail precisely what they loved about the Diamonds compared to their former Gold Crowns, which was mighty helpful).

The expert mechanic who delivered the table direct from the factory and installed in my Vermont rec room told me a funny, memorable story. He'd do Northeast deliveries in groups of threes, and mine was the last after one he'd installed the previous day in the home of a very skilled Providence pool gambler. The guy wanted to trap marks into after-hours games at his very old and winter-weathered, rickety wood-frame house. The mechanic mentioned to the guy that it's nearly impossible to keep any table level for long periods in that kind of house, saying "If you don't level it often, it's going to develop some funny rolls from time to time." The guy nudged him, smiling, and replied, "Yeah, but I'll know where the rolls are . . . and they won't!"

I met the mechanic at a trade show a couple years later and he told me that he heard the table had paid for itself within two months.

Arnaldo

Good stuff, Arnaldo! :thumbup:

 

[Quesports]

Cyclop has did aramith a favor and diamond billiards has made a mistake using the Chinese made balls..I've got several Cyclop sets with the numbers popping and the play like shit when they get dirty....
Diamond might as well move all production to china....
Aramith Belgium balls are the best pool ball IMHO. The Germans make a top notch ball as well.

Brunswick has sourced out parts and production to several places over the years, yalin builds the brunswicks in the Chinese market they also build the Riley for the Chinese market.

I used to work for a brunswick dealer several years ago, I know these days the brunswick tables are made of components from all over the map.

The table in the picture below was purchased in 2002.





Rob.M

I think that means the label was Made In America, something we can be very proud of.... LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[realkingcobra]

At least you didnt try to convince me the Cyclop balls dont suck.

Naaa, wouldn't do that, but at least they're trying to make the best made balls in the world, and I do give them credit, but like anything new...they still have some bugs to work out and I trust they will in time. But I still wouldn't jump on the Aramith band wagon just yet, as they've taken the best balls ever made in the 1950s' and cheapened them up until they are what they are today. How do you start out with Brunswick Centennial balls being produced with 86% phenolic resins, and reduce that over the years to 56% phenolic resin, then up the price and still call them Brunswick Centennial balls? The chemist who formulated the Centennial balls in the first place...is who sold the formula to the Cyclop company...that's my understanding anyway.

 

[Bob 14:1]

Now Rob, if you still had the boxes that table came in, some of the boxes would be labeled "made in Brazil" but what most don't understand is that if the "final assembly" is in the USA, then it can still be promoted as made in America. The table you pictured....didn't have one single part made in America.

So Glen, where do you think you'd place the changeover with regards to the evolution of the GC1's through the GC 5's? Stated in either approximate years or table versions?

Thanks a million!

 

[realkingcobra]

Mid production GC3s' and newer so somewhere around the late 80's which is also when Brunswick stopped using Brunstone for the playing surface.