I know.....verbosity comes to mind......hope you'll indulge.
Ken's observation is shared by many cue enthusiasts & collectors and the thinking is really rock solid.In regard to pool cues, I've found myself being less rationale & logical.....it's just how I'm built. When Dean came up with this idea on how to get some nice custom cues made at a reasonable price, he had to locate a cue-maker & mutually agree on the parameters for a group purchase & the price. Making 10 similar styled cues vs.10 any design you want cues helped getting the lowest cue price too.
Regardless, Ken's post still rings true but if you were going to do a cue project like Dean came up with, what should it be. Mark & Joe at Classic were going to do a special cue project with Tascarella and all of the cues were high end, limited edition cues but the theme was going to be the same. As it turns out, the GTB cue is the only one produced but they did a similar project with Steve Klein producing a limited number of cues. ( I think it was 3 or 4 cues). I realize the aforementioned cues were very special cues and are not the same as having a Bushka design cue made by a cue-maker of your selection. Yup, got that.....absolutely, the Tascarella & Klein cues are different and rare cues and rarity has nothing to do with having 10 Bushka cues made. The cues that were made by Messrs. Tascarella & Klein were designs made without any specific customer. In other words, while the cue was made, the customer wasn't pestering Pete or Steve with tweaks in the design they have in mind to be built. The cue was made the way the cue-maker wanted the cue to look.....what he had in mind for the design.
With Dean's Bushka Projects, each & every cue has an owner before the cue is started and the owner gets to say what design to use and exactly what it should be. Therein lies the rub......what if someone wants their cue made exactly like a cue of some notariety.....like the Dove cue made by Pete and more recently, the one Jerry made for DunnM1. How do you refer to a cue you own that's made to resemble the original Mizerak cue design? When someone asks where did you come up with the design, is your reply...."It's a copy of MIzerak's cue" or "It's the same design as the George Balabushka made."....or fib and say it's something you just came up with.
When you order a cue made based upon a popular George Balushka design, we call 'em Bushka cues.When you have 10 customers concurrently place orders for 10 of these cues & you get a group price, it seemed logical to call this first project the Bushka Project & when it repeated itself, ergo the Bushka II. The question invariably arises is copying a cue design made by another cue-maker, active or deceased, the right thing to do....the proper thing. Yet when when we walk down memory lane of pool cue designs, there are countless examples of imitation by different, esteemed cue-makers over the decades. It's pretty difficult to be original with almost every cue you produce unless you are Thomas Wayne......and that's a compliment, not a slap in the face 'bout TW.
Coming up with 10 Bushka cue designs isn't so easy when you are free to change anything in the cue. Again, the project needed a name and Bushka seemed in line with the project's theme for cue designs.It sounds better to refer to a cue as a repro, or tribute rather than copy or even worse, a clone.....so what do you say your design is based upon.......why did you choose that design.......and the bottom-line is people sometimes give their cues nicknames and some may refer to their cue as a tribute.....I know, it does sound corny but it's far better to saying I had a knockoff made of an original Balabushka design. The good news for some Azers is I am not involved with the recent Owen cue project Deanoc just launched and that means I will be on the sidelines watching 10 cues get made. I just kick started Dean's thread posting photos of the cue Bob made for me. My point is when someone goes over the top, as I've been accused of doing, it deadens any interest in the topic and turns people off.
I think the best part of this is we are going to eventually see 30 great cue designs and if the Bushka design is one that appeals to your taste, you're in for a great treat......10 completed this year by Jerry and another 10 cues in 2016 plus 10 great ones from Bob Owen. Personally speaking, the Bushka design is my all-time favorite design and I can't imagine owning too many.
Matt B.