DangleShot
New member
Hello!
Over 25 years ago I worked in a restaurant and one of the patrons left a cue case in the bar. It sat in their lost-and-found for several years and nobody claimed it. When the bar was changing hands, the bartender was getting rid of everything, knew I played pool, and gave me the pool stick that had been left behind.
At the time, even though I was pretty good at the game, I hated two-piece cues, anything other than a one-piece always felt like two mismatched unlinked pieces of wood, the taper too narrow and the vibration and solidity compromised at the joint. Granted, I never really held an expensive cue more than two seconds. So I took a look at the cue for a few minutes, didn't recognize any distinguishing brand names or trademarks. I could tell it wasn't a department store cue but it wasn't very ornate or much unlike some of the two-piece cues I saw other novices using. It had a good tip on it and there's no warp to it. I tried it a few shots, hastily dismissed it because I was used to heavy, 21 oz maple one-piece Dufferin cues.
After years of playing on my basement table which required shorter cues to navigate between the walls, and never one to play tournaments or in the messy bar scene, the proprietor of one of the bowling centers I bowl at is a good player and a few years ago he challenged me to a game, and I was using the house cue, which was better than average as far as bar cues go, and was playing pretty well, so he asked me, do you have your own stick? To which I said, no, which blew his mind. Then I remembered the stick the old bartender gave me 20 years before. I said, "well, I have one, but I never use it."
I started playing pool with him at some of the neighborhood pool halls, and in my experience, house cues were getting scarcer and in worse condition over the years. So one day I brought what I thought was the pretty underwhelming pool stick to play, and my buddy saw the butt-end of the cue, saw the -R- on it and said, "What are you talking about, this is not a crappy stick, this is a Rauenzahn!" I had never heard of Jerry or that brand, I had only heard of Meucci and Mali and Cuetec and McDermott...so I was like, "Is that good?" and he was like, "Oh, shit yeah! Only like the 2nd best cuemaker ever!" I said, "Do you want it?", and he was like, "No, you use it, you'll be even better than you are."
I'm used to it now, and I shoot fine with it. So it got me to researching about the maker and his works, and amazingly, in this information age, very little seems to be available about him. I've been reading posts on this forum and have created a patchwork of a background about him and his craftsmanship. But one thing seems funny about all this - every single cue I see that Rauenzahn has made has custom ornate inlays and multi-bordered arrows on the butt end, whereas my cue does not have any of those, it is a solid greenish-gray translucently stained veneer and a linen wrap. Which is why I thought it was commercially-made and cheap.
The cue is at least 30 years old and I am reasonably sure it's not a knock-off or imitation. I saw posts on here about conversion cues, maybe somehow this cue got work done by him and Jerry was ok with putting his name on it? I thought I remember seeing an article a couple years back about Rauenzahn expanding or licensing his name for commercially-made cues for a short while, being dissatisfied with the partnership, and aborting it..? Has anyone out there ever seen a Rauenzahn stick without arrows or inlays?
I am somewhat indifferent about the cue, whether it has value or not is really not that important. I doubt the stick is worth all that much, but if anyone could lend me some insight about it, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you for reading this far.
Bill
Buffalo, NY
Over 25 years ago I worked in a restaurant and one of the patrons left a cue case in the bar. It sat in their lost-and-found for several years and nobody claimed it. When the bar was changing hands, the bartender was getting rid of everything, knew I played pool, and gave me the pool stick that had been left behind.
At the time, even though I was pretty good at the game, I hated two-piece cues, anything other than a one-piece always felt like two mismatched unlinked pieces of wood, the taper too narrow and the vibration and solidity compromised at the joint. Granted, I never really held an expensive cue more than two seconds. So I took a look at the cue for a few minutes, didn't recognize any distinguishing brand names or trademarks. I could tell it wasn't a department store cue but it wasn't very ornate or much unlike some of the two-piece cues I saw other novices using. It had a good tip on it and there's no warp to it. I tried it a few shots, hastily dismissed it because I was used to heavy, 21 oz maple one-piece Dufferin cues.
After years of playing on my basement table which required shorter cues to navigate between the walls, and never one to play tournaments or in the messy bar scene, the proprietor of one of the bowling centers I bowl at is a good player and a few years ago he challenged me to a game, and I was using the house cue, which was better than average as far as bar cues go, and was playing pretty well, so he asked me, do you have your own stick? To which I said, no, which blew his mind. Then I remembered the stick the old bartender gave me 20 years before. I said, "well, I have one, but I never use it."
I started playing pool with him at some of the neighborhood pool halls, and in my experience, house cues were getting scarcer and in worse condition over the years. So one day I brought what I thought was the pretty underwhelming pool stick to play, and my buddy saw the butt-end of the cue, saw the -R- on it and said, "What are you talking about, this is not a crappy stick, this is a Rauenzahn!" I had never heard of Jerry or that brand, I had only heard of Meucci and Mali and Cuetec and McDermott...so I was like, "Is that good?" and he was like, "Oh, shit yeah! Only like the 2nd best cuemaker ever!" I said, "Do you want it?", and he was like, "No, you use it, you'll be even better than you are."
I'm used to it now, and I shoot fine with it. So it got me to researching about the maker and his works, and amazingly, in this information age, very little seems to be available about him. I've been reading posts on this forum and have created a patchwork of a background about him and his craftsmanship. But one thing seems funny about all this - every single cue I see that Rauenzahn has made has custom ornate inlays and multi-bordered arrows on the butt end, whereas my cue does not have any of those, it is a solid greenish-gray translucently stained veneer and a linen wrap. Which is why I thought it was commercially-made and cheap.
The cue is at least 30 years old and I am reasonably sure it's not a knock-off or imitation. I saw posts on here about conversion cues, maybe somehow this cue got work done by him and Jerry was ok with putting his name on it? I thought I remember seeing an article a couple years back about Rauenzahn expanding or licensing his name for commercially-made cues for a short while, being dissatisfied with the partnership, and aborting it..? Has anyone out there ever seen a Rauenzahn stick without arrows or inlays?
I am somewhat indifferent about the cue, whether it has value or not is really not that important. I doubt the stick is worth all that much, but if anyone could lend me some insight about it, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you for reading this far.
Bill
Buffalo, NY
At one of the pool halls I play at, if I call a cue a stick, I'll get sideways eyes. Other places I play, if I call only call it a 'cue', I'll be branded a geek or a nerd, even though I kinda am one, and be told to relax and enjoy myself. ;-) I know Jerry is revered and legendary, which is why I was trying to contrast the plainness and generic look with generic terms. Sorry, I didn't intend to diminish his work, I feel honored to have a tiny piece of history, however small. 
