Bob Frey by a mile. I grew up in Maryland which I believe has had the highest concentration of recognized cue makers here or that started here, Danny Janes & Bill Stroud started the original Joss cues before Bill went his own way with Joss West and Danny continued on with Joss cues. Mike Lambros, Black Boar Tony Scianelli, Tim Scruggs and Bob Frey. Look at the notoriety though. Joss cues went production and blew up, Bill Strouds works at Joss West have great value, Lambros cues are now priced up there. Tim Scruggs are valued by players and collectors alike and the most ponderous of all, Black Boars Tony Scianelli now gets upwards of 20k for some of his cues and while they're gorgeous to look at they play like dogs & always have. Now look at Bob Frey. He started at Joss, same as Tim Scruggs and they left and started Scruggs and that went through the roof but when Bob went out on his own his cues with the exception of a cult following has never received the attention, credit, reputation or $ for his cues that I believe he is due. I never understood this. I often thought it was due to Bob being Bob. He is a very quiet unassuming man who never was the self promoter that the others I have mentioned are but his work is superlative. The quality of it, how much of himself he puts into it and most of all just the sheer amazing playability of his cues IMO is far superior to those I previously mentioned who have garnered far more attention and financial gain from their work. It's really a shame, I've always believed he can give every one of the other makers from this area the 7 in cue building expertise. Scruggs are the only ones close in playability and Bob was a big part of that in the early years when those cues first took the billiard world by storm. He's definitely one of the most underrated ever IMO.
