So, are the old Gandy Big G tables really all that bad?
- Thread starter Sweatin'
- Start date
The only other gandy tables I've seen had smooth black
rails. A pretty generic playing table. Most, like Beenies were low,
like 28 inch from the ground. I didn't care about tables or the balls.
If there was a table and pool balls, I looked to go to gamblin.
Thanks
Wow....
Well, my home hall has 10 big G - Gandy tables in it. 3 of them are shimmed.
No one likes the rails or the pockets. The slate is indeed floating. No pegs. I personally know the guy that purchased these tables brand-new in the early 90's. He bought them purely to save some cash versus spending $400 more per table on Brunswicks. In the long run, I think stretching for the GC's would have been the way to go, but hey.
This hall does and has taken very good care of these tables since they were installed. I hate them, but I love them.... I have not been coddled and babied. You wanna make a ball consistently on one of these table into 4 inch pockets? Hit the center dude.... or start rubbing that rabbits foot.
Lesh
Well, my home hall has 10 big G - Gandy tables in it. 3 of them are shimmed.
No one likes the rails or the pockets. The slate is indeed floating. No pegs. I personally know the guy that purchased these tables brand-new in the early 90's. He bought them purely to save some cash versus spending $400 more per table on Brunswicks. In the long run, I think stretching for the GC's would have been the way to go, but hey.
This hall does and has taken very good care of these tables since they were installed. I hate them, but I love them.... I have not been coddled and babied. You wanna make a ball consistently on one of these table into 4 inch pockets? Hit the center dude.... or start rubbing that rabbits foot.
Lesh
middleofnowhere
Registered
This is kind of the bottom line. You could go to Gandy and buy 9 foot big G' tables out the door for $600.00. That is why so many new pool rooms back then choose them.
For the money you could not beat them. They played OK for the general public and stood up pretty well. I knew a number of rooms that started out with Gandy's to get the doors open but over time replaced them with other tables usually used Gold Crowns when they came available on the used market.
Honestly, for my own personal use in my home, I would not take a Gandy as a gift. I actually mean that. You are going to play thousands of hours on your own personal table and probably own it the rest of your life.
The dollar value as it relates the use you will get from your table, especially if you are a serious player, buy the best you can afford. You will never regret it.
There are few things in your life you will own that will provide a greater personal value to you then a pool table. The term "Pays for it's self" really applies when it comes to a pool table.
I'm in my 60s, but was in the Army in the 70s & 80s. The thing about pool players, is that they'll shoot marbles on a pool table with broom handle if they can make some money at it, so their endorcing one pool table over another really don't mean shit in the real world...LMAO
That's correct.
I'm also interested in Olhausen, Connelly, new Centurions old Gold Crowns and anything else that I can afford. I've got the luxury of a few months time so I can consider all options.
My general practice is to learn all I can then jump when something comes along that I like. It often looks impulsive but for me it's a thoughtfully considered process. Just my way of trying to avoid a messy mistake.
middleofnowhere
Registered
The times I was there I remember there being a variety of tables. Players will play and gamble on anything as far as that goes but given a choice would probably not choose a Gandy over other better tables. I may have some pictures around of Beenie's the room.
I am very happy with my Gandy 9" .... and have been for about
25 years or so. I used to be able to play a 'little' and now I can
play 'a little less'.... My table is the 'sportsman' model, not the
big G. It looks nice, and plays pretty well.... I have had new rails
put on in the last few years and tightened the pockets .. just a little.
Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.
td
25 years or so. I used to be able to play a 'little' and now I can
play 'a little less'.... My table is the 'sportsman' model, not the
big G. It looks nice, and plays pretty well.... I have had new rails
put on in the last few years and tightened the pockets .. just a little.
Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.
td
I’ve had Big G tables (two) for the past 35 years. They are great tables and an excellent value. The pros played major tournaments on them throughout the late 80 and early to mid 90’s. I have Olhausen cushions and Simonis cloth. My table is as true today as the day I purchased it thirty years ago and it does not vibrate when bumped as one person said. It sits on my concrete basement floor. At the end of the day, you’re looking at a structure, slate, and a ball return system. Everything else (cushions, felt) are replaced anyway on an older table. The slate is fine, the structure is fine and the ball return rails work fine. GC’s are great tables but both new and used ones are expensive these days. Even if the GC was built better; you are putting it in your house, not a pool room where it will get abused.
Gandys also only have 2 rails bolts vs 3 on a GC.
GentlemanJames
Well-known member
Like everything else, the answers are all subjective. In my experience the Gandy Big G tables weren't horrible, they were a solid C- to C table...but the Gold Crowns are in the solid B+ to A- range...with the Diamond tables being A++ and in a class all by themselves.
Prior to Diamond, there was the Robertson Black Max. IMHO it smoked GCs all day long. This boom time Pool Hall on Bainbridge Ave in the Bronx had them, they were flipping amamzing. I've heard other people give them similar reviews. The Robertson Pool Table manufacturing (of Tampa, FL) factory burnt to the ground a bunch a years ago and the owners elected not to rebuild...I think they just do standard billiard supplies now. Anyways, if you get the chance to play on one, by all means do so. They're the only table that I've ever found that come anywhere close to a Diamond.
With all this being said, I'm of the belief and experience that the table mechanic that installs the table factors heavily into how the table performs, regardless of the brand. -Z-
The Robertson Black Maxx was a fantastic late-80s iteration of the Brunswick Anniversary style; and, IIRC, retailed quite less than 1/2 the price of a new GC. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a GC-man thru-and-thru; but, I played on these a lot back in the early/mid-90s and really enjoyed them. A very solid table, and the rails played slightly 'springier' than a GC; which, worked/bothered some people more than others.
Speaking as a person who loves the styling of the Anniversary - but doesn't dig today's prices of a vintage B'wick - I'd love to see some enterprising person start making these again AND at the same relative price-point to that of a new GC6, to that of which Robertson was turning them out for before their factory fire.
You can find these used up and down the East Coast and especially in Florida - where Robertson is still located as a non-manufacturer - and, I've seem them offered from as low as $500, up to $1500.
The only complaint I can recall ever hearing about these from back in the day, was at one point in order to keep up with demand early in their production, it seemed Robertson was using Tulip Poplar for the frame which was not properly kiln-dried, and some of those warped a bit, which required being re-worked. And, IIRC, the original Black Max was supplanted by the Black Maxx II.
Good memories overall. - GJ
Last edited:
I thought they were good tables when maintained properly. The had them in an old pool hall I frequented.
Being "good enough" for Beanie's doesn't mean that they were good. I played at J&J plenty of times BITD, and it was the nonstop action that was the attraction, not those godawful Gandy tables. The best tables in the DC area at the time were the first three GCs at Randolph Hills and the front table at Brunswick Billiards, which was a 5' x 10' Brunswick from the 1920's with undersized pockets that left many a road player leaving emptyhanded.
Hell, if fame conveyed quality, then those slop pocket tables at Ames in New York would've been considered the greatest tables of all time.
Big G tables were very solid and played good.
Back in the 1900s
('98-beyond to be exact)
There was spot around Pittsburgh called Chalkys, all their tables were Big G 9ft Gandys. Some played decent , some not so much.
None the less they did their best to keep the tables as good as could be . Prior to that place my only experience playing pool was on valley bar bucket tables. So switching over to gandys was a challenge , more so due to the 9ft aspect ,opposed to the 7 footers I only knew.
Chalkys was the 1st place I got to see what real competitive pool was via the 9 ball tourneys they held weekly.
That place made me feel great at times & like dog sh*t other times ,depending on how I did in those tourneys.
Now in days that spot is no longer in existence, but looking back on how it opened my eyes to how big the world of billiards was, add to that the times I had there , money won or lost , I wouldnt trade those memories . That being said Gandy Big Gs will always have a special place in my heart.
('98-beyond to be exact)
There was spot around Pittsburgh called Chalkys, all their tables were Big G 9ft Gandys. Some played decent , some not so much.
None the less they did their best to keep the tables as good as could be . Prior to that place my only experience playing pool was on valley bar bucket tables. So switching over to gandys was a challenge , more so due to the 9ft aspect ,opposed to the 7 footers I only knew.
Chalkys was the 1st place I got to see what real competitive pool was via the 9 ball tourneys they held weekly.
That place made me feel great at times & like dog sh*t other times ,depending on how I did in those tourneys.
Now in days that spot is no longer in existence, but looking back on how it opened my eyes to how big the world of billiards was, add to that the times I had there , money won or lost , I wouldnt trade those memories . That being said Gandy Big Gs will always have a special place in my heart.
Attachments
Last edited:
the ones i play on have big pockets but will rattle a ball out real easy.
many times ive seen a ball hit the faces and do a dance across the shelf and not drop. ive even hit a hanging ball and had it just walk up and down the shelf inside the pocket and not fall.
its a great table for 14.1 i love it.
many times ive seen a ball hit the faces and do a dance across the shelf and not drop. ive even hit a hanging ball and had it just walk up and down the shelf inside the pocket and not fall.
its a great table for 14.1 i love it.
Haha are you playing in a Slick Willie's in Texas? Quite a few of their spots had those at one time.
No slicks all have Brunswicks, I'm playing out of bogies
Much nicer place.
In Austin one of the three SW's that used to be open has The Gandy's. I hated those things! The other two that have closed had a mix of mostly Brunswick Medalists and a few GC 3 and 4's mixed in. The remaining spot will be gone pretty soon I suspect.- redevelopment.
Bogies does have a lot of Gandy's. It has been a while but I have played on a few of them.