Just wanted to take a few minutes and express some strong opinions, sling a few insults and speak my mind about any production cue, and yes this means you too Schon, that sells for over $500 beans.
Why would anyone pay over $500 for any production cue?
I think there are two reasons: I have to get a cue right now and not one minute later, and: I am a confused member of the advertising generation and I have been convinced to over pay for a cue, a common cue, even if only a few are made - because they are all the same.
Are we all the same?
I called Schon one day and asked them if they would build me a cue. One of the features I like on my cue is a screw in extension. I was told, "But we don't make our cues with screw in extensions.'
Does that sound like a custom cue maker to you?
Now don't get me wrong .. if you want to spend 2 or 3 hundred you need to find a production cue that will best suite your desires. But for 7 or 8 hundred you can have a cue made to your specifications from many terrific cue smiths right here in the Great USA.
And .... you can get the weight, balance. shaft, joint and exact dimensions that YOU desire !! Yeah - that's what I'm talking about Willis!
Upper end production cues have priced themselves out of the cue market as far as I am concerned - they only sell today because of the way these manufactures baffle and bullshit the unsuspecting, lesser experienced player with powerful words like - Monster - HIt's like a freight train - Lights out, and you all have heard the rest.
Talk to a cue maker and you can speak in real terms about the attributes of a cue to be made to your specifications and become YOUR CUE. One that plays the way YOU think a cue should.
That's all I have for now.
Always remember that when in doubt raise the stakes and play another set.
Good rolls.
Actually not true the way you are trying to say it. I do understand you desperately want it to be true. I agree with the spirit, but your points of argument fail.
I spoke to two well established custom cue makers about building a cue. I specified a joint type. It is a common joint type. Both said "I don't build cues with that joint"
And .... you can get the weight, balance. shaft, joint and exact dimensions that YOU desire !!
A third one went as far as to say that if I wanted a cue with construction parameters so different from what he had established as his own over the course of decades then I actually didn't want one of his cues.
Beyond that, if you want an ivory joint or ferrule (the best IMHO), some custom makers will not work in ivory.
I do understand what you are trying to say but the situation isn't really the way you present it.
In fact you can go to a production maker like Schmelke, they will in fact make you a custom cue. There are certain parameters, joints, materials, etc they don't do, just like the ones you would consider custom makers. But you probably don't consider that a custom cue.
Dan Janes will still personally build you a cue. He has done so for decades. Yet I feel confident that because he owns JOSS cues you will probably not consider him a custom cue maker.
We now await the naysayers. Criticism, however, is a form of acknowledgement.
Not really. Inaccurate and/or incorrect information or poorly constructed arguments are just that.
I think that one of the reasons some people don't grasp the topic well is because of poorly articulated arguments such as the one provided. That only contributes to poor understanding I think.
IMHO- Once one transcends the threshold of $500 or so, one should at least consider having a custom made. There is a strong argument to be made for the customs. But the argument you are using loses ground in the secondary market because when you buy used, it isn't custom made for you. So there is a lot more to it than specifications.
Then you have to consider the fact that many who already like the characteristics of a certain cue like a Schon or Joss for example, simply might want a fancier one, which will cost more and can easily go beyond the price range you specify. If the cue you want is already made, why go custom? I can name some reasons for sure.
Then lastly, it should be mentioned that some very highly touted customs are actually "catalog" cues. Many Gina's for example...straight out of a catalog. Simply productions cues, albeit low production but nonetheless low production.
I don't disagree with the spirit of what you present. But it is poorly presented and not in keeping with reality.
Not buying that? OK then. Please order a Southwest. Please order a different taper for the butt and shaft, something other than the SW taper. Please order a piloted 5/16x14 thread ivory joint. Then please order your extension like you tried with Schon. Then please order it with full spliced 4 veneer double butterfly construction, cut in their shop, not outsourced or another maker's blank.
Isn't Southwest a custom cue maker?
Personally, with only one exception I never paid over $200 for a cue. The one exception is a custom by a well known very good cue maker with ivory inlays, two shafts, and veneered points. I barely went over your price threshold to get it actually. I bought it used and am having a few things changed, in other words "customized" to my liking, including the ferrules and the wrap.
Personally, I enjoy shooting with antiques and older "classic" cues. Some of them are custom, some production, some rare, some virtually impossible to identify. None of them were custom made for me. They range from about 100 years old to the early 1990's. They include names like Rieper, Brunswick, Katz, Victor, Joss, Huebler, Espiritu, Helmstetter (made by him, not Adam), Brunswick of Canada, Brunswick of France, Harry Sims, and more.
My next cue is being built by a HOF maker. I am providing a blank for conversion. It certainly won't be cheap, will go way past your threshold, and will certainly be a custom. The only things I specified are the tip diameters for the two shafts and the ferrule material. The rest will be his construction. He didn't get to be a HOF maker by not knowing how to build a great playing cue and I certainly am not going to pretend to know how to tell him to do it. The characteristics I specified are hardly the exclusive territory of the custom makers.
One of the things I have considered is having a nice cue made with a reverse thread pin. Why? Just to screw with people. It will start a whole new argument about what plays better...clockwise or counter-clockwise joint pins. Heck, we can even argue which plays better above and below the equator. LOL! And now it will start a new argument for you. If you don't order one with reverse thread then you have not ordered a custom cue because your cuemaker did not cut the threads on that pin, he ordered it from a catalog. The closest you can come will be a numbered Southwest pin...but even those are made in batches then numbered.
Lastly, the terms you cite:
Monster - HIt's like a freight train - Lights out,
are terms I have not seen the production makers use in their marketing and advertising. I do see a lot of second hand customs marketed with such terms.
Again, I don't disagree with the spirit of what you are saying. But your argument is really poorly constructed. That is only going to make it harder for people to understand that have not yet come to understand the relative benefits of the customs. :smile:
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