LOL very true. That is probably the best answer. That about explains it.
I am sure if we do poll at least 80% do not own pool table
I have a question that is begging to be answered?
- Thread starter realkingcobra
- Start date
LOL very true. That is probably the best answer. That about explains it.
I am sure if we do poll at least 80% do not own pool table
I agree buddy. I talked to a guy off an on for years to do my table. Supposedly the best table mechanic around. He finally said he would be in town, gave me a price, set up a date and then you know what?? The guy was a total FLAKE and sent some one else out to do my table. He sub'd it out to another guy and never even had the decency to call me or let me know. He let the other table mechanic tell me.
So ... yes I agree with you. Guys, be sure you know who you are dealing with. Take the time. Read reviews. Do some F'n research.
I agree 100% with you Glenn.
GREAT POST TOPIC SIR !!!!!!!!!!
So in your opinion, these are the only two tables worth owning? Not a Gandy or an Olhausen or another Brunswick table?
The answer is: people buy tables they like. I buy a table I like that fits the décor of my house, then I hire a mechanic to make it play awesome. My table looks and plays awesome and it's solid mahogany, no MDF. I'm sorry Brunswick went to Brazilian slate instead of Italian, but c'est la vie.
Your argument is like asking: Why do people buy Hundai's and Kia's when they can buy a Honda or Toyota? The answer is because they like them. I usually avoid 4 rail banks anyway.
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Yes, you get dibs Doktor. I have a ton of nice wood that has been resting for many years. Hopefully, mine will be nice looking Merry Widows with the emphasis on being a decent playing cue over points and inlays.
If yer still around before I die, you will get the first one on the house to test drive it.
Remind me and hold me to it because I do have a bad memory. My Brain Op didn't do me any favors in that regard.
If yer still around before I die, you will get the first one on the house to test drive it.
Remind me and hold me to it because I do have a bad memory. My Brain Op didn't do me any favors in that regard.
My Buddy has one of those Turds in his basement. A nice enuff table, but the pockets are gopher holes that will attract a ball like the gravity from a Black Hole.
Not very enjoyable playing on it because it just doesn't test your skill like even a bar table can. Yes, the pockets are worse than a bar box.
Not very enjoyable playing on it because it just doesn't test your skill like even a bar table can. Yes, the pockets are worse than a bar box.
So let me get this straight......you are running low on work and need to make some money, but you refuse to work on tables that aren't high end and up to your standards.
Oh and by they way....nice job on coming on the largest Billiard site in the world and talking down to some of your future customers because they don't have the money to buy a higher quality table. That's an excellent business plan if you ask me. You'll be pushing carts at Wal-Mart soon.
Oh and by they way....nice job on coming on the largest Billiard site in the world and talking down to some of your future customers because they don't have the money to buy a higher quality table. That's an excellent business plan if you ask me. You'll be pushing carts at Wal-Mart soon.
Its quite simple Glen.
Most individuals have no education in craftsmanship or what to look for.
They have no real understanding on how all the components are supposed to come together and work in harmony.
I see it all the time in homes that I work on. People are under the impression the previous contractor did a wonderful job.
Until you end up taking it apart and explaining to them what has caused the problems they are experiencing.
They only become aware of something when the situation hits critical mass and a catastrophic failure is imminent.
Its not just individuals that either dont care about their tables or just dont understand. Pool hall owners are guilty of it as well.
I was practicing in a pool hall few years ago. I took a few shots and was thinking man I must be really off.
Took another shot and the damn head rail flipped off the table and fell on to the floor.
It was a face palm moment. :shakehead::shakehead:
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If I were you, I'd run right down to you nearest Walmart Store and see if you can find me there pushing carts for a living, but my guess would be the cart you see me pushing would be full of the groceries I just paid for, I might even be having a steak for dinner on the night you see me
PS, I don't have to beg for work, I have ALL I can handle....and then some:thumbup:
If I were you, I'd run right down to you nearest Walmart Store and see if you can find me there pushing carts for a living, but my guess would be the cart you see me pushing would be full of the groceries I just paid for, I might even be having a steak for dinner on the night you see me
PS, I don't have to beg for work, I have ALL I can handle....and then some:thumbup:
In case of a knockdown, go to the corner I tell you too!
I have a Gold Crown, the model where the feet screw to level. I think it is a 2.
What do you usually do to a table like that to spruce it up? The frame and bed is fine, nothing stripped out or anything. It has never been in a pool room was always a private table.
The real problem is the pockets. I just measured them and at the points of the pocket openings they are 5 3/16". How tight can they be made realistically and not be doing anything too radical to the table?
Can this work be done by shipping the rails out, or do you have to work on the whole table at the location. I also have an old 9 foot Saunier-Wilhelm table.
Years ago I had the rails worked on new rubber and the guy ruined the rails. Balls were bouncing all over the place. I think he had the rubber too low. I would like to get rid of that table but feel I have to fix it before I can sell it. Any opinions?
Excellent observations Allen !..RKC has never been one to express anything but HIS outlook, on any given subject !..By the way, he has NO (zero, zilch, nada) business plan...He is happy driving all over the country, doing his thing !..If lugging 300 lb. slates, up and down stairs, is his idea of a rewarding occupation, I am glad I'm not a pool table mechanic !..When his back finally gives out on him, I'll bet he will wish he had become a cue maker instead ! (but thats just me)..:nanner:
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What should I do then, lay around the house and get old and grumpy.....how's that plan working out for you?
A perfect pool table is not perceived as an edge, since your opponent will also be playing on it.
A wonky table gives the advantage of local knowledge (and greater entertainment) - an advantage similar to the mystical advantage of the magic cue, the magic chalk, the magic aiming system, the magic elbow drop, and the magic improvement that occurs as the size of the bet increases.
I wonder why a man should prefer a good billiard-table to a poor one; and why he should prefer straight cues to crooked ones; and why he should prefer round balls to chipped ones; and why he should prefer a level table to one that slants; and why he should prefer responsive cushions to the dull and unresponsive kind. I wonder at these things, because when we examine the matter we find that the essentials involved in billiards are as competently and exhaustively furnished by a bad billiard outfit as they are by the best one. One of the essentials is amusement. Very well, if there is any more amusement to be gotten out of the one outfit than out of the other, the facts are in favor of the bad outfit. The bad outfit will always furnish thirty per cent. more fun for the players and for the spectators than will the good outfit. Another essential of the game is that the outfit shall give the players full opportunity to exercise their best skill, and display it in a way to compel the admiration of the spectators. Very well, the bad outfit is nothing behind the good one in this regard. It is a difficult matter to estimate correctly the eccentricities of chipped balls and a slanting table, and make the right allowance for them and secure a count; the finest kind of skill is required to accomplish the satisfactory result. Another essential of the game is that it shall add to the interest of the game by furnishing opportunities to bet. Very well, in this regard no good outfit can claim any advantage over a bad one. I know, by experience, that a bad outfit is as valuable as the best one; that an outfit that couldn't be sold at auction for seven dollars is just as valuable for all the essentials of the game as an outfit that is worth a thousand. ... Last winter, here in New York, I saw Hoppe and Schaefer and Sutton and the three or four other billiard champions of world-wide fame contend against each other, and certainly the art and science displayed were a wonder to see; yet I saw nothing there in the way of science and art that was more wonderful than shots which I had seen Texas Tom make on the wavy surface of that poor old wreck in the perishing saloon at Jackass Gulch forty years before.
- Mark Twain's Autobiography, Chapters from the North American Review, November 1907
Always delighted to enlighten
A wonky table gives the advantage of local knowledge (and greater entertainment) - an advantage similar to the mystical advantage of the magic cue, the magic chalk, the magic aiming system, the magic elbow drop, and the magic improvement that occurs as the size of the bet increases.
I wonder why a man should prefer a good billiard-table to a poor one; and why he should prefer straight cues to crooked ones; and why he should prefer round balls to chipped ones; and why he should prefer a level table to one that slants; and why he should prefer responsive cushions to the dull and unresponsive kind. I wonder at these things, because when we examine the matter we find that the essentials involved in billiards are as competently and exhaustively furnished by a bad billiard outfit as they are by the best one. One of the essentials is amusement. Very well, if there is any more amusement to be gotten out of the one outfit than out of the other, the facts are in favor of the bad outfit. The bad outfit will always furnish thirty per cent. more fun for the players and for the spectators than will the good outfit. Another essential of the game is that the outfit shall give the players full opportunity to exercise their best skill, and display it in a way to compel the admiration of the spectators. Very well, the bad outfit is nothing behind the good one in this regard. It is a difficult matter to estimate correctly the eccentricities of chipped balls and a slanting table, and make the right allowance for them and secure a count; the finest kind of skill is required to accomplish the satisfactory result. Another essential of the game is that it shall add to the interest of the game by furnishing opportunities to bet. Very well, in this regard no good outfit can claim any advantage over a bad one. I know, by experience, that a bad outfit is as valuable as the best one; that an outfit that couldn't be sold at auction for seven dollars is just as valuable for all the essentials of the game as an outfit that is worth a thousand. ... Last winter, here in New York, I saw Hoppe and Schaefer and Sutton and the three or four other billiard champions of world-wide fame contend against each other, and certainly the art and science displayed were a wonder to see; yet I saw nothing there in the way of science and art that was more wonderful than shots which I had seen Texas Tom make on the wavy surface of that poor old wreck in the perishing saloon at Jackass Gulch forty years before.
- Mark Twain's Autobiography, Chapters from the North American Review, November 1907
Always delighted to enlighten
I don't have a real high end cue, I really can't afford it, and my table is a Valley coin table, it's about all I have room for. It's old and could use a little cosmetic work, but it plays well for me, and my cues are production cues. I've taken the time to educate myself as to the best quality cue and table products that suit me for the money and I'm happy with what I have. I'd love to be able to have some ace mechanic like yourself come to my house and re-cloth and level and make my table a showroom piece, but I'm a league player, and it's a Valley. It has good felt and the table is well taken care of. I do what I can with the resources I have. I can retip and repair (for the most part) my own cues if and when they need it, and I order cloth and rails save them until I can hire someone that know how to come and install it. I'd love to have beautiful classic Gold Crown or a 9 foot Diamond, but I don't have the room or the money. Like I said, I do what I can with the resources that I have
Well, it all depends on how far you want to take the table in looks and playability. This is the GC1 I just finished working on in Temecula, CA. Rebuilt the rails, new Super Speed cushions, 4 7/16th corner pockets, 4 15/16th side pockets. Replaced the figure 8 nut plates with threaded inserts, installed a screw adjusting system so that I could adjust the pocket castings to fit flush with the top of the rails, and modified the frame to make room for the installation of the GC 4 drop pockets.....but, because my truck was broke down for 11 days waiting on parts to get me back on the road, I told Matt, my customer....hey, let's refinish your table as well....because I'm going nuts sitting in the hotel room just watching TV....and I won't even charge you....just COME AND GET ME!!!....So, he did...and so did I, as you can see by the pictures of his table. Matt had some friends that would have liked to have me work on their pool tables as well....but I told him not to say a word to anyone that I was there until AFTER I had left
....so much for being unemployed Tate!
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Glen, when it comes to 10 dollar Pawn Shop finds, I can't polish a turd either.
I am saying that you change Diamonds and make GC's play like Diamonds.
You can't or not willing to make a cheap Brunswick or an Olhausen play a little better.
Judging by how you talk on AZ, it doesn't seem that it would take you all that long.
You have extra run money and the customer is happy.
I am pretty sure that not every mechanic is happy to work on whatever vehicle their boss tosses at them every day as well.
I am saying that you change Diamonds and make GC's play like Diamonds.
You can't or not willing to make a cheap Brunswick or an Olhausen play a little better.
Judging by how you talk on AZ, it doesn't seem that it would take you all that long.
You have extra run money and the customer is happy.
I am pretty sure that not every mechanic is happy to work on whatever vehicle their boss tosses at them every day as well.
Refinishing the GC is pretty easy and they come out nice. I painted mine light grey and white to match the fire place.Well, it all depends on how far you want to take the table in looks and playability. This is the GC1 I just finished working on in Temecula, CA. Rebuilt the rails, new Super Speed cushions, 4 7/16th corner pockets, 4 15/16th side pockets. Replaced the figure 8 nut plates with threaded inserts, installed a screw adjusting system so that I could adjust the pocket castings to fit flush with the top of the rails, and modified the frame to make room for the installation of the GC 4 drop pockets.....but, because my truck was broke down for 11 days waiting on parts to get me back on the road, I told Matt, my customer....hey, let's refinish your table as well....because I'm going nuts sitting in the hotel room just watching TV....and I won't even charge you....just COME AND GET ME!!!....So, he did...and so did I, as you can see by the pictures of his table. Matt had some friends that would have liked to have me work on their pool tables as well....but I told him not to say a word to anyone that I was there until AFTER I had left
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I'd like to ask Glen too, why are some mechanics cheap with their tooling and jigs? :thumbup:
To do the best job, shouldn't they have the best jigs and equipment ?
Oh yeah, thanks for telling me you'll be in Temecula .
To do the best job, shouldn't they have the best jigs and equipment ?
Oh yeah, thanks for telling me you'll be in Temecula .
Yes, sometimes I make an exception to my rules about some of the tables I choose to work on, but that decision is based more on the customer than the table. I just finished working on an AZB members pool table in Ft. Collins, CO. It had only had 2 cloths installed on it during the ownership of the table from new, and when I took it apart 8 out of 18 rail bolts were either missing because they were left out, the threads in the t-nuts' were cross threaded, broken off, and stripped. So, I used my hole saw and drilled out all 18 t-nut' anchors, removed the hole plug, replaced the wood wot new poplar wood plugs, the drilled them out and installed the threaded inserts I use to attach the rails. I also replaced the soft pocket facings with 3/16th 60 durometer neoprene, which eliminates 95% of the pocket rattle on an Olhausen, I also re leveled the slates....because he had been waiting on me I think for 3-4 years to get in his area. His name is Bruce, and Dr. Dave lives near him and has played on his table.