Bushkas or Guses - how many?

Kickin' Chicken

Kickin' Chicken

Kick Shot Aficionado
Silver Member
There must be estimates on how many cues were made by Gus and George during their illustrious careers but I have no idea where to find this info.

So, I will ask those in the know here on az; approx how many cues did these guys make?

Overall I do tend to see more Bushkas come up for sale and I even see more of them being played that are not for sale compared to Guses so I was wondering if this may be due to many more Bushkas being made.

Also wondering if the numbers are very lopsided, how this might affect values on similar level cues due to supply / demand.

TIA

best,
brian kc
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
There must be estimates on how many cues were made by Gus and George during their illustrious careers but I have no idea where to find this info.

So, I will ask those in the know here on az; approx how many cues did these guys make?

Overall I do tend to see more Bushkas come up for sale and I even see more of them being played that are not for sale compared to Guses so I was wondering if this may be due to many more Bushkas being made.

Also wondering if the numbers are very lopsided, how this might affect values on similar level cues due to supply / demand.

TIA

best,
brian kc
Click to expand...
Wiki says GB made approx. 1,200 cues in 16 yrs('59-'75).
 
garczar said:
Wiki says GB made approx. 1,200 cues in 16 yrs('59-'75).
Click to expand...

that works out to 7-8 cues month give or take.
considering that he was a cue assembler not a true maker like Gus it seems he could have made more per month.
also consider all the Verl Horn cues that have been sold as Buskas.
 
Gus' own words from an interview....
---------------------------------------------
"I don't need it," he said of taking on additional work. "I'm just in it to make a living, to live decently. . . . If I make 120 cues a year, it's a lot."
--------------------------------------------------

He was in the cue biz for about 19 years...but at first mostly making blanks.
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
Overall I do tend to see more Bushkas come up for sale and I even see more of them being played that are not for sale compared to Guses so I was wondering if this may be due to many more Bushkas being made.
Click to expand...

I have seen it discussed, but cant remember the numbers talked about off the top of my head. What I do seem to remember was that somehow, there seemed at the time, something like 5x more Bushkas on the market than were actually made. My number might be off, but you get the idea. :thumbup:
 
measureman said:
that works out to 7-8 cues month give or take.
considering that he was a cue assembler not a true maker like Gus it seems he could have made more per month.
also consider all the Verl Horn cues that have been sold as Buskas.
Click to expand...

In researching Palmer production possibilities I spoke with a current professional full-time cue maker about build times of cues from blanks from outside suppliers. His educated opinion was 40 hours on average per cue per person taking into account downtime for equipment maintenance, illness of the cue maker, and other miscellaneous factors beyond the cue maker's control.

Considering that information 7-8 cues per month sounds reasonable.
 
One thing is for sure, Blue Book production amounts are about as close as we are to landing a human on the sun :woot:
 
I always have heard that George made roughly 900 cues and the other 300 or so are from counterfeiters such as Verl. Gus didn’t make very much more than George.

The thousand cue mark is a good one for collectibility if you ask me. Like Jerry R has made keaw a freaking butt ton of cues.....

I wonder how many Timmy made in his career (Scruggs)


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measureman said:
that works out to 7-8 cues month give or take.
considering that he was a cue assembler not a true maker like Gus it seems he could have made more per month.
also consider all the Verl Horn cues that have been sold as Buskas.
Click to expand...

I can't stand when people say this... Just because George didn't build his own forearm blank does NOT mean he wasn't a "true" cue maker... He WAS and always will be one of the greatest "cue makers" ever...

To the OP's question, I'd say both are in the 1K club for sure.
 
I believe the general answer is about 1200 each.. I think the research that was done extensively by Rubino/Simpson for the Encyclopedias and Blue Books has to be given the most credence.

Its not like today where people want this guys 100th 500th, etc.. back then they probably hit "milestone" cues and didn't even think it or care. Now the records are better no doubt.

The real important numbers are how many are left, were broken, are hiding...

JV
 
Verl did not make phonies,he made tributes that looked a lot like balabushkas

tributes,just like schon did

i think he made some parts for gus and george

verl made a lot of nice cues and a lot of blanks


he was quite a guy

1200 each is the estimate i heard for gus and george
 
How many are left in hiding is the real question. I am pretty lucky and hope to someday find one... I'm not picky, would be happy with either....
 
deanoc said:
Verl did not make phonies,he made tributes that looked a lot like balabushkas

tributes,just like schon did

i think he made some parts for gus and george

verl made a lot of nice cues and a lot of blanks


he was quite a guy

1200 each is the estimate i heard for gus and george
Click to expand...



Yep and uh huh......

I learned to build cues on Verls lathes he purchased from McDermott.

And as a matter of fact I’d bet money those two lathes have seen more cue maker hands than any other.

McDermott, verl (rip)DPK, Mike Betts(rip), Joel Weinstock, Myself, Eddie Farris, Ken Quarters (rip)and a few others.....pretty strong


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greyghost said:
Yep and uh huh......

I learned to build cues on Verls lathes he purchased from McDermott.

And as a matter of fact I’d bet money those two lathes have seen more cue maker hands than any other.

McDermott, verl (rip)DPK, Mike Betts(rip), Joel Weinstock, Myself, Eddie Farris, Ken Quarters (rip)and a few others.....pretty strong


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Click to expand...

Damn!
What kind of lathe was it ?
I still have VH blank or two here somewhere.
 
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