I don't think it's high.
We pegged them at $50 in 2018, so it's easy to figure they are worth more now.
Original Balabushka bumper
- Thread starter middleofnowhere
- Start date
We pegged them at $50 in 2018, so it's easy to figure they are worth more now.
Pretty much.
And that's what it's down to with things like these bumpers and original Cortland.
People that have them don't want to waste them. Don't be surprised if a cue maker has Cortland and won't install it or sell it to you unless you have the "right" cue for it. Heck, there are a couple friends that have practically made me swear an Oath not to say what they have.
What do you do if you end up with a crack in a pearlized plastic part? A ring? A butt cap? Not just Balabushka cues. I saw a nice cue restored that had to have the A joint repaired. The rings had to be replaced. They were replaced with modern materials and now don't match. It wasn't a tremendously valuable cue so, OK. But if it was something worth 10k or 20k, it might be a challenge to match it. And when the cue maker has the material or can get it, what should they charge? It could be the last piece on Earth for all we know.
In some cases, you might have a better chance of sourcing weapons grade uranium.
If you have a real Balabushka, $100 to have the correct original part on it is almost nothing. It should barely be a decision. It's a screw on part. You don't even need any skills to do it.
So, these KU bumpers are still around, and although pricey compared to an average bumper, they really aren't expensive.
If you want a brown bumper on a modern build, there are cheap ones available that will look great.
middleofnowhere
Registered
I don't think anybody has said the price is a ripoff. I'm going to get them. I know I can't get top dollar for the cue because I don't have original shafts. It's a nice cue though with a Burton Spain butt. I've had this cue since 1980. I have another Balabushka with one original shafts and one Szamboti made for me. I got that cue in the mid 70s. I often played with it.
Last edited:
It doesn't really matter.. the KU-Bumpers out of the box are useless unless you know how he treated them. He had a solution to change the durometer rating of the rubber, which is why they have tape around them. So his are a little more dense than the stock KU bumper.
JV
JV
middleofnowhere
Registered
I was going to mention that. The bumper I removed had a piece of tape around it.
get tasc to make you a couple shafts for it just like george made them. it will make it playable again and saleable.
i looked to see if i had an extra george shaft i could get to you but i only have one original for mine.
but some stroud shafts billy made me for it. using my butt. thats what i use when i play with it. my original is too thin for my taste.
i looked to see if i had an extra george shaft i could get to you but i only have one original for mine.
but some stroud shafts billy made me for it. using my butt. thats what i use when i play with it. my original is too thin for my taste.
middleofnowhere
Registered
Your the cue guy how much devalued is my cue without an original bumper? Of course it is better then no bumper.
Wow. I know about the tape on the originals. He hardened them? I learn something new every day.
They get stiffer with age anyway. If you're not careful they get rock hard and need softened again
You guys are so gullible... lol
The tape is real which most people know...
I want to see how long it takes for the bumper hardening to become an internet myth....
JV
Attachments
Some of these bumpers turn to sh*t and some stay pretty decent. I would not expect it to devalue it much. We have had quite a few with KU bumper replacement.
JV
LOL!You guys are so gullible... lol
The tape is real which most people know...
I want to see how long it takes for the bumper hardening to become an internet myth....
JV
I was about to ask how you could tell the difference between age and whatever you said he did. I was skeptical.
Internet myth?
It's too late. Someone will read your post, without reading the follow up, and quote it on Reddit.
Someday a historian will find it and it will become an internet archeological discovery. It will be in their PhD dissertation.
The future is screwed. LOL!
I wouldn't expect it to significantly adversely effect value. Depends on the buyer. Surely they will use it to try to knock the price down. But what's $50 off a $10 or $20k cue? The provenance will be a lot more important, overall condition, and things like original shafts.
He didn't make the bumpers, so it's not as much of a "thing".
Tips and bumpers are "wearable parts", like tires and belts on a classic car.
Even if so, why bother with the tape? The bumper is screwed on and the gap is negligible, of no functional concern.
For what it's worth I've heard two theories on the masking tape. One, from someone else, the bumper was considered replaceable, and the tape would make it easier to do so. Two, my theory, was that tape around the bumper would seal the bumper against the buttplate, and dampen the sound of the cue hit, less of a void. Other theories welcome.
I was waiting for you to say he soaked the bumpers in rhinoceros piss to harden them.
middleofnowhere
Registered
You're not completely wrong. AI doesn't seem to know the difference between what's real and what's a joke. I've read some really messed up information lately.
I have thought it was a possible safeguard for the butt cap. We know if you drop the cue on the bumper, sometimes the momentary expansion of the bumper can split the butt cap. But I never felt strongly about that idea.
He could have used it for temporary fitting, to hold the bumper in with friction, then just never bothered to remove it when he ran the screw in to retain it.
And finally, he could have known we would be talking about it after he was gone, and put it there with no particular purpose except to mess with us.
I like the last one. I just feel like it would be cool of old GB was laughing at us for all the fuss over such things.
I think I even saw once a person making some kind of conversation about exactly what brand of tape he used, that he got it at the same hardware store where he got his A joint screws.
I want to picture him in the great cue shop on the sky yelling down at us "it's f'ing tape!" and "it's a f'ing screw!" "I didn't make that part! Look at what I made!" LOL!
I like to think if GB were a machinist and had a metal lathe, he would have made his own f'ing screw.
But he wasn't. And he didn't. So he used what was available.
I told a guy in a pool hall "that's a Balabushka bumper on my Joss". He was fascinated.