Can/Do you play with your Szamboti cue or should you keep it safely stored away as a safe queen? You could purchase a vintage rolex, wear it carefully, & enjoy it without too much fear of damage. How does a high end vintage cue like a Szamboti compare? Would there be too much fear of damaging the cue from normal play or will it hold up just fine? It would make it easier to justify the purchase if you could actually play with it.
Szamboti Cue Play
- Thread starter gmansbu
- Start date
If you take care of your cue, regardless of its collector value, it should be fine to play with. I had a Gus for years and played with it some early on, but once I switched to a LD 314 shaft, I could never go back. I just found my Gus shafts to have way too much deflection.
I asked Barry at the Super Billiards Expo one year if he could custom fit a 314 with matching shaft collar I could use on my Gus butt. He was clearly offended to say the least, that I would even make such a request.
Sad part is I hate to play with my better Cues , Guitar, etc. I am trying to get away from that. What is the point of having them just sitting in a Case and not enjoying them. I spend more time about worrying about scratching or putting dents in them than enjoying playing with them. It takes all the fun of out of Owning them. The Great Guitar player Eric Clapton said when he goes looking for a used Guitar and he sees one that looks brand new and never played then it must have not been a very good one or the owner would have played it more. He said when he sees one that has been played and broke in then it must be a good one as the owner played it a lot. I guess I look at it from a Collector point of view, once you take off the new it takes away value. But then what fun it is to own something stored and away in a case you can’t play with. Your call
surlytempo
Member
ma gran always said, if you have nice things, you should use them.
I owned a basic Gus Szamboti cue for 6.5 years and it was my main player the entire time. Great experience that I highly recommend. Mine was not mint when I bought it and looked the same when I sold it. I was never concerned about damaging the cue by playing with it. But it got to where I could not take it to a pool hall that was new to me. No matter where I went, even as simple as it was, it drew attention. But in my local pool hall where I knew everybody and on my home table, it was great.
That is not really a good comparison to that type of cue. It's more similar to a $100,000 and up cars like an early Vetter or Ferrari. You can buy a book to read but if it's an early Bible worth 10s of thousands you don't take it to the beach with you. Some people do have high end cars they drive, some don't. Same thing with cues, or anything else. If you buy something due to it's practical value, you use it, if you buy it because it's rare, has historical value, one could buy it just to own it.
Here is a link of a match between Bob Cozzolino & Ed Latimer at Red Shoes near Chicago. Bob has an all original, one owner Szamboti that is 65 inches long split evenly. if I remember correctly. I may be off on the length due to my memory not being as sharp as it once was. It could be 62 but no shorter. Maybe someone that still lives there will comment. I have seen it myself as I played with both guys in the past. It was made for him by Gus. Anyway Bob has played with it as long as I can remember. He is not to tall so you might catch a glimpse of him with the cue and get an idea how long it is. Very special cue! Bob is the guy with no glasses on.
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
If you can afford an expensive cue, you can afford to play with it. If you can't afford to play with it, then you can't afford to buy it. Leave it for the Saudi Princes and quit playing investor.
I know some people collect or buy with the intent of selling later on, but I couldn't imagine shelling out all that money and not playing with it, personally. And if I didn't like the way it played or hit, I don't think I'd just hang on to it forever. I bought an old Ginacue Domino from the late 60s earlier this year and it plays fantastic for me and is now my main player.
My only hangup is that the original white with green speck wrap is not so white anymore after all these years. But there's plenty of guys that can remove, clean, and repress the wrap without the need to install a new wrap. I guess I don't really care how that affects the value if it's done by someone other than Ernie. Don't know how much longer Ernie is gonna be in the business for.
My only hangup is that the original white with green speck wrap is not so white anymore after all these years. But there's plenty of guys that can remove, clean, and repress the wrap without the need to install a new wrap. I guess I don't really care how that affects the value if it's done by someone other than Ernie. Don't know how much longer Ernie is gonna be in the business for.