My Brunswick Conversions by CuesDirectly

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
Just thought I would post some pics of cues done for me by David Brainard at CuesDirectly, who posts on here. I sent him a batch of old cues and had two converted for me:

1- An interesting Purpleheart 26 1/2 from the 1920's that had a birdseye forearm.

2- a 1940's Titleist I believe is a lighter color rosewood with some pretty figure.

We worked on a simple, classic Hoppe design with rings. These two cues were very difficult to work with. There were warp and weight issues. Dave was able to get them straight and to the correct dimensions and weight for me (19 ounces) . His shaft wood is excellent - both of these cues play great and they feel exactly the same - solid. I am adding reproduction decals when I get time.

Dave is a hard working guy who starts at only about $300 for a basic conversion if you bring your own, or about $400 - $500 if he supplies the blank. These are super prices. He takes a few months because he lets the wood cure and acclimate. He's also a good source for reasonable, great playing cues. Check out my cues.

https://www.cuesdirectly.com/
 

Attachments

  • Old Brunswicks -1200 W.jpg
    Old Brunswicks -1200 W.jpg
    195.1 KB · Views: 871
  • Conversions Full Cues.jpg
    Conversions Full Cues.jpg
    195.6 KB · Views: 882
  • Conversion foreARM.jpg
    Conversion foreARM.jpg
    106 KB · Views: 903
  • Conversions Joints.jpg
    Conversions Joints.jpg
    178.4 KB · Views: 892
Last edited:

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
David does it again
I bought the most perfect titlist conversion from him at a very reasonable price considering other cues

His work is always top notch
 

Hungarian

C'mon, man!
Silver Member
Beautiful.

That Purple-heart cue is sweet. Actually they are both sweet. But the purple heart is doing something for me..
 

SBC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a purpleheart 26.5 that is flawless, perfectly straight, ivory ferrules. Just can't bring myself to convert it. Such a rare specimen.

Your cues look great.
 

Hungarian

C'mon, man!
Silver Member
Question, what does it mean when you say 26.5?

Thanks

I have a purpleheart 26.5 that is flawless, perfectly straight, ivory ferrules. Just can't bring myself to convert it. Such a rare specimen.

Your cues look great.
 

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
I have a purpleheart 26.5 that is flawless, perfectly straight, ivory ferrules. Just can't bring myself to convert it. Such a rare specimen.

Your cues look great.

Mine had a broken and repaired shaft area maybe 6" from the tip or I would have left it one piece. I could have probably had an end spliced on but it wouldn't have been original anyway. It was luck finding one with birdseye. Not much figure but it's cool and unusual. I guess they didn't really use birdeye - haven't seen many. In the old days, cue makers didn't think birdseye was a stable wood, but it's proven to be fine over the years as long as it's handled properly in the first place.
 

Attachments

  • Birdseye.jpg
    Birdseye.jpg
    176.2 KB · Views: 724
Last edited:

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
In the photo of the original cues at the top, the purpleheart 26 1/2 was 4th from the right, and the Titleist was 6th from the right.
 
Last edited:

CuesDirectly

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just thought I would post some pics of cues done for me by David Brainard at CuesDirectly, who posts on here. I sent him a batch of old cues and had two converted for me:

1- An interesting Purpleheart 26 1/2 from the 1920's that had a birdseye forearm.

2- a 1940's Titleist I believe is a lighter color rosewood with some pretty figure.

We worked on a simple, classic Hoppe design with rings. These two cues were very difficult to work with. There were warp and weight issues. Dave was able to get them straight and to the correct dimensions and weight for me (19 ounces) . His shaft wood is excellent - both of these cues play great and they feel exactly the same - solid. I am adding reproduction decals when I get time.

Dave is a hard working guy who starts at only about $300 for a basic conversion if you bring your own, or about $400 - $500 if he supplies the blank. These are super prices. He takes a few months because he lets the wood cure and acclimate. He's also a good source for reasonable, great playing cues. Check out my cues.

https://www.cuesdirectly.com/


Wow, very nice of you to take the time to write this, Thanks so much, it makes for a great morning. Yes it's ten minutes before 4 am, coffee is good and why am I on here so early? Taking a rare day off, will drive 100 miles, hike for 15-20 miles at 5,000 feet and then drive the 100 miles home, again, Thanks for getting it off to a wonderful start.

At this time I have around 40 of the old Brunswick cues for restoration and I am almost done with 4 more of the Hoppes, two for another customer in here and two for myself.

I shipped another one to a guy in Georgia last week, he loves the way it plays so much he wants another one already. Some say these play great, with very tight grain old growth wood that has been compressed from years of play, they only got better. How many times can you buy an antique and use it like it was new?


Thanks as well to Texas Carrom Club, Kicken Chicken and all the wonderful posters in here, Thanks to Hungarian, it was nice talking with you yesterday.

Thanks again, good day, Dave.
 

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
Wow, very nice of you to take the time to write this, Thanks so much, it makes for a great morning. Yes it's ten minutes before 4 am, coffee is good and why am I on here so early? Taking a rare day off, will drive 100 miles, hike for 15-20 miles at 5,000 feet and then drive the 100 miles home, again, Thanks for getting it off to a wonderful start.

At this time I have around 40 of the old Brunswick cues for restoration and I am almost done with 4 more of the Hoppes, two for another customer in here and two for myself.

I shipped another one to a guy in Georgia last week, he loves the way it plays so much he wants another one already. Some say these play great, with very tight grain old growth wood that has been compressed from years of play, they only got better. How many times can you buy an antique and use it like it was new?


Thanks as well to Texas Carrom Club, Kicken Chicken and all the wonderful posters in here, Thanks to Hungarian, it was nice talking with you yesterday.

Thanks again, good day, Dave.


Great - I hope you add some of the Hoppe pictures to your website, I'd like to see them David. These really came out nice!
 

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
you are right!

I have a purpleheart 26.5 that is flawless, perfectly straight, ivory ferrules. Just can't bring myself to convert it. Such a rare specimen.

Your cues look great.

You are right, old cues shouldn't automatically be cut up. I have a hankering for an old cue or two that is straight and playable now that I have a home table. Converting everything in sight may seem like a great idea at the time but a lot of people will be regretting those decisions later!

Along about 1970 a man came by my business with a 100% stock and complete 55 Harley Davidson. He was going cut it up to make a chopper, had gotten it for $250! I offered him a thousand, I offered him an Amen frame and a new in the crate Harley motor and transmission. Nothing doing, he wanted to cut up this machine! I damned near shed a tear. I'm sure that is a decision he regretted later.

Back on topic, anyone with an old cue or two that is straight, holler! I want one or two and I won't be chopping on them. I can replace ferrules and minor repairs but I don't want anything warped so badly that I have to replace the shaft section. They don't have to be perfect either, looking for house cues for my house. I would like at least one of the old baseball bat sized cues just because I used to play with them. They will overpower the tables and cloth today, they were meant to move balls around a ten foot table in the days of deep cloth and no air conditioning. Still just for nostalgia ...

Hu
 

cue4me

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Both of those cues came out great. Like you and KC (who posted a thread about David's work some time back) I had an excellent experience having David make me a cue. His prices are great, his communication is outstanding and his workmanship is excellent. He is obviously someone who really enjoys cue making. To top it all off, you won't find a nicer guy to work with.
 

BadEnglish

Registered
Those both look really good. I may look into one of his (non-conversion) custom cues as well. Those look nice, too and the prices seem very reasonable.
 
Top