Mike Bender
- Thread starter AK-Stick
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Mike Bender is an ICCS award winning cuemaker with a rich history going back to David Kersenbrock. His cues are extremely well made and designed. Many of his used cues are a relative bargain right now. Mike has made very few cues over the last 5 years. I'm looking forward to receiving a small group of cues in the next month or so. Certainly among the USA's very best.
I SECOND THESE STATEMENTS...
Mikes cues and workmanship are definitely some of the very best!!!!
I will 2nd what Martin said. I have two Mike Bender cues. One of them is an ebony/ivory tuxedo that is in my collection and does not see play. The other is one of the best hitting cues I own. It has a very slight warp at the "A" joint but it does not effect play. I won't sell it because of this and because it plays so well. The warp I can't explain as my cues are kept in a pristine climate & protection environment. I have thought about calling Mike to see if he can straighten it out.
Good stuff
I shot a few balls with one of Mike's cues and liked it. The one he had a tournament a few years ago was a work of art, but I didn't ask him if I could shoot a few balls with it.
Pat Diveney told me Mike makes very good cues, so that is high praise from another good cue maker.
I think you should buy a 60" cue from him Stick and give it to me! Some thing with snake wood and an ostrich wrap.
I shot a few balls with one of Mike's cues and liked it. The one he had a tournament a few years ago was a work of art, but I didn't ask him if I could shoot a few balls with it.
Pat Diveney told me Mike makes very good cues, so that is high praise from another good cue maker.
I think you should buy a 60" cue from him Stick and give it to me! Some thing with snake wood and an ostrich wrap.
I will interject here I know Mike maybe not a close friend but a friend and some years ago at a function I over heard a gentleman ask Bill Schick of all the cue makers here other than yourself who would you have build you a cue " Bills reply without a doubt Mike Bender" that is some high praise.
justinb386
Banned
Here is one that looks really unique I think.
http://www.cornerstonecues.com/cue183.htm
Love the looks of that one.
http://www.cornerstonecues.com/cue183.htm
Love the looks of that one.
:grin-devilish: !
I don't want to diminish this post, so forgive me if that's how it comes across. Everthing I say below was directly from Mike Bender to me.
Mike Bender's history of cuemaking started before he ever met David, and Mike already had his cue design established. It's more correct to say that Kersenbrock had very little if any influence on what a Mike Bender cue is. David's greatest influence on Bender was the use of the table saw setup for the shafts (and live tooling in general). But in all, Kersenbrock spent all of only 5 days with Mike at what was known as the Omega/dpk cue company. The bulk of the 5 days was building that table saw system. The use of "dpk" was wholly marketing.
Kersenbrock "came back" to the company in 1990 to do inlay work.
"In Aug 1990, David Kersenbrock returned to Omega/dpk doing inlay work until 1993. Prior to David’s
return, Mike used a pin router for inlays then moved on to a pantograph. Kersenbrock introduced Mike to
making pantograph templates with an optical device, a method Mike continues to use."
So, there's the influence to use an optical device method to make pantograph templates.
Mike's wife Tracy Dunham is the responsible party as to why a Bender cue looks so amazing and nothing to do with Kersenbrock's inlay work in those two years. Mike Bender left Omega/dpk in 1992. It's an amazing piece of cue lore that somehow has become something more than what it was.
Freddie <~~~ marketing works
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I generally put Mike Bender in my top 5.
Freddie <~~~ has about 20 names in the top 5 list
Thanks for the clarification Fred. Since we're going down this road we'd be remiss to not mention the artistic and precise work of Mike's wife Tracy Dunham. If I'm not mistaken she does a good deal of the inlay work, among other things.
I actually had edited my post as there was a little overlap with Kersh and to add Tracy's significant part of Bender Cues.
Matt Bender by that time that David "returned" had already taken over the Omega/dpk operations. Mike and Tracy only came in to the shop to do some of their own projects. Tracy Dunham is truly the mastermind behind the artistic side of Bender Cues.
Your correct about Mike's history Mike went to machines school if conversation recall is correct and you are correct Mike and Traci are a team her work is as artistic as Mike's is perfection. IMO Mike's cues take second to none, is he the best, I don't think you can say there is a best but on the cues of Mike's have had and they were all beautiful they all played and played well. I actually know Mike's cues are respected but had he chosen to live some where other than Delta Alaska he'd receive more aculades. I know his pears respect him.
