Can an old straight cue (scruggs) warp years later?

twilight said:

I just purchased a Scruggs sneaky pete that is in mint, unplayed condition. It has been test hit but no dings and no blueing of the shaft. The person I bought it from said it was straight. When I got it, it wasn't. Not that I am unhappy with a 99% mint condition scruggs, but he stated that it was straight in his collection for years. I would have purchased this cue even if there was a small amount of roll in it. But the thing is, it took a week to ship and it's been very cold this last week. Could this cue have been straight this whole time and transit during the cold warp it?

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It is possible...extreme changes in weather and relative humidity can have an adverse effect on wood. It's not so much the temperature variances, but rather the changes in the humidity within those temperature variances that can be the culprit.

As a side note...I never, ever let anything that is temp or humidity sensitive be shipped via ground transport. I figure, if I spent good money for it, I'm gonna spend alittle more and have it shipped overnight...2nd Day on the very outside. Often, those items being shipped ground can sit in a trailer in a hub yard for an entire weekend. Throw a long, holiday weekend in there, and well, that could spell trouble. Believe it or not, alot of these trailers are leaky, so items can be prone to water damage (direct or indirect), or worse...theft. Unattended trailers are very easy to break into.

Lisa

twilight said:

I just purchased a Scruggs sneaky pete that is in mint, unplayed condition. It has been test hit but no dings and no blueing of the shaft. The person I bought it from said it was straight. When I got it, it wasn't. Not that I am unhappy with a 99% mint condition scruggs, but he stated that it was straight in his collection for years. I would have purchased this cue even if there was a small amount of roll in it. But the thing is, it took a week to ship and it's been very cold this last week. Could this cue have been straight this whole time and transit during the cold warp it?

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it is very possible.
what kind of scruggs sneaky was it and if you don't mind saying how much?

doesn't sound strange to me.

sound good to me! i paid a friend in ky $700 for an old 4 point full splice joss, knowing the ivory joint was cracked long ago. personal reasons helped me with the decision. a young friend,chris witten,used it in finals of bca juniors years ago, losing to micheal coltrain. stick hits fine, but i do want to get it fixzed. don't regret the money at all.

You can contact Mr Scruggs and see what he would charge to turn the cue, if the warp isn't too bad, to get it straight again....I am assuming, of course that the warp is in the butt section of the cue and not the shaft. If it is in fact the shaft, that's a pretty easy fix, and you could just see about ordering a new shaft for it from him.

Otherwise, contact Scot Sherbine @ Proficient Billiards, he's a wizard, and reasonably priced as well.

Lisa

twilight said:

I just purchased a Scruggs sneaky pete that is in mint, unplayed condition. It has been test hit but no dings and no blueing of the shaft. The person I bought it from said it was straight. When I got it, it wasn't. Not that I am unhappy with a 99% mint condition scruggs, but he stated that it was straight in his collection for years. I would have purchased this cue even if there was a small amount of roll in it. But the thing is, it took a week to ship and it's been very cold this last week. Could this cue have been straight this whole time and transit during the cold warp it?

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Your 99% mint Scruggs has a 99% probability of being warped before it was shipped to you.

I suppose that if it would have been during the summer, it's possible sitting in a hot, humid environment might allow the cue to warp, but generally it happens over a period of months.

Some cues will warp over time no matter what, no matter who made them, or how careful they were. The good cue makers eliminate most of the bad wood, but they can't put them through all the extremes of weather and other conditions they will be subjected to.

A small amount of warpage has to be acceptable for collectible cues, otherwise we would be tossing out 95% of them. Your Scruggs is collectible because it's original, like new. Since Tim hasn't made them for years, it is one of the few Scuggs SP's left in the world in this original condition. Because of that, I assume you will not be playing with it (I hope), so it makes no difference if it's a little out. In 20 years, the buyer of this cue will not care.

Sounds like you made a great buy, congratulations.

Chris

twilight said:

I just purchased a Scruggs sneaky pete that is in mint, unplayed condition. It has been test hit but no dings and no blueing of the shaft. The person I bought it from said it was straight. When I got it, it wasn't. Not that I am unhappy with a 99% mint condition scruggs, but he stated that it was straight in his collection for years. I would have purchased this cue even if there was a small amount of roll in it. But the thing is, it took a week to ship and it's been very cold this last week. Could this cue have been straight this whole time and transit during the cold warp it?

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IMO, it could have gotten warped during the shipping, I shipped out a cue during the worst cold spell last year to a cue maker and my cue came back warped and that was an old palmer cue full splice! I wasn't very happy about that.

Steven

I agree with Chris it was probably warped when it was shipped, however a small amout of warpege is exceptable. To much is put into having a perfictly straight shaft. Hardly any of them stay that way in a couple of years. Yea you will have those who have had a perfictly straight shaft for years, but that is a rare shaft. I think you got a good deal either way. Butterflycues