Famous Cue Makers

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was told that at one time, most of the famous cue makers bought their spliced butts from the same guy. Then they bought a chunk of wood and turned it down and made a shaft, or just bought one premade from another guy who did it better than them , and stuck some diamonds or dots or rings that were mass produced by someone else and sold to everyone, into the mix.
Those were added to the carcass and turned to whatever specs wanted ,or as close as they could get with their hand me down equipment, they barely knew how to operate, a finish was added and the cue was sold as a Balabushka or Zsamboti or whatever their name was .
Did these guys say, hey I didn't make that butt, I got it from Richard or hey I didn't make those inlays or rings ,Johnny the apprentice at Henrys shop makes those all day long, better and cheaper than I can.
I'm a historian of the players, not equipment, but I'm so mad about this I wanted to alert all of you that you don't want to be suckers and buy any of these Frankencues, I couldn't sleep at night and my crystal clear ,never did anything questionable in my life conscience, just couldn't stand it.
In my opinion ,anyone who spends over 200 dollars for a pool cue is a showoff or a sucker.
I paid 400 for one because I was a showoff. It doesn't play any better than the 20 dollar McDermott I played with for a couple of years.
If you approve of this message , please add your own expertise by all means to it, so that we can end this nonsense about cuemakers and their lies and thieving
Or, we could have our own place to discuss this stuff like the aiming channel , so it isn't all over the Main page and the first thing everyone sees and shows just what a pathetic bunch we are.
addendumb Being an almost perfectionist, I couldn't stand it, and went and did 5 minutes of research .
It seems Balabushka bought Titleist full piece blanks from Brunswick, {so did Frank Paradise Ernie Guiterez Gina and {Eugene Balner Palmer Cues , seems he misspelled his own name} among others, all following in Rambows footsteps. Then they went to Richard Black for blanks and then to Gus Zsamboti.
Am I to believe that if I cut a 1 piece cue in half , add a joint and some inlays and rings at the joints I am a custom cue maker?
What are we going to do bout this? It makes me so sick I can barely eat or sleep.
Are you all just going to sit by, and let these misconceptions perpetuate? The horror , oh the horror. and shame ,as Gomer Pyle used to say "Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame"
 
Last edited:

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was told that at one time, most of the famous cue makers bought their spliced butts from the same guy. Then they bought a chunk of wood and turned it down and made a shaft, or just bought one premade from another guy who did it better than them , and stuck some diamonds or dots or rings that were mass produced by someone else and sold to everyone, into the mix.
Those were added to the carcass and turned to whatever specs wanted ,or as close as they could get with their hand me down equipment, they barely knew how to operate, a finish was added and the cue was sold as a Balabushka or Zsamboti or whatever their name was .
Did these guys say, hey I didn't make that butt, I got it from Richard or hey I didn't make those inlays or rings ,Johnny the apprentice at Henrys shop makes those all day long, better and cheaper than I can.
I'm a historian of the players, not equipment, but I'm so mad about this I wanted to alert all of you that you don't want to be suckers and buy any of these Frankencues, I couldn't sleep at night and my crystal clear ,never did anything questionable in my life conscience, just couldn't stand it.
In my opinion ,anyone who spends over 200 dollars for a pool cue is a showoff or a sucker.
I paid 400 for one because I was a showoff. It doesn't play any better than the 20 dollar McDermott I played with for a couple of years.
If you approve of this message , please add your own expertise by all means to it, so that we can end this nonsense about cuemakers and their lies and thieving
Or, we could have our own place to discuss this stuff like the aiming channel , so it isn't all over the Main page and the first thing everyone sees and shows just what a pathetic bunch we are.
Balabushka bought spliced prongs from Spain and Szamboti. Also used Titleist butts early on. Also, some people just like owning nice cues. That doesn't make them a "show off" or a "sucker". I've owned everything from $100 sneakies to JossWest, Scruggs, Black,etc. Believe me, there is a difference in quality. Will they make more balls? No but the quality is obvious if you've ever had one.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Could you elaborate as to where I am wrong? I went back and revised a bit after looking at Wikidpedia, are they telling lies also?
Just curious, have you ever been in a custom cuemaker's shop? There's FAR more to building one than most people think. There is an art to getting the balance point, tapers,inlays, ringwork etc. to all come together to make a fine cue. If you don't want one don't buy one but don't knock those that enjoy owning finely crafted cues. BTW, i've read more than a few studies that put Wiki's overall accuracy rate at around 85%. Its open-source and anyone can put stuff on there. Not a bad free reference but not always super accurate.
 

Type79

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Could you elaborate as to where I am wrong? I went back and revised a bit after looking at Wikidpedia, are they telling lies also?

I could but you are either woefully uninformed or trolling. I suggest that at a minimum, you do some basic research, from billiards sources as opposed to Wikipedia, and preferably outside of the internet. Your statements that respected vintage cuemakers were buying premade butts is completely false. That you include Szamboti in that statement is evidence enough to support the first sentence of this paragraph.

" was told that at one time, most of the famous cue makers bought their spliced butts from the same guy. Then they bought a chunk of wood and turned it down and made a shaft, or just bought one premade from another guy who did it better than them , and stuck some diamonds or dots or rings that were mass produced by someone else and sold to everyone, into the mix.
Those were added to the carcass and turned to whatever specs wanted ,or as close as they could get with their hand me down equipment, they barely knew how to operate, a finish was added and the cue was sold as a Balabushka or Zsamboti or whatever their name was .
Did these guys say, hey I didn't make that butt, I got it from Richard or hey I didn't make those inlays or rings ,Johnny the apprentice at Henrys shop makes those all day long, better and cheaper than"
 

poolhustler

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was told that at one time, most of the famous cue makers bought their spliced butts from the same guy. Then they bought a chunk of wood and turned it down and made a shaft, or just bought one premade from another guy who did it better than them , and stuck some diamonds or dots or rings that were mass produced by someone else and sold to everyone, into the mix.
Those were added to the carcass and turned to whatever specs wanted ,or as close as they could get with their hand me down equipment, they barely knew how to operate, a finish was added and the cue was sold as a Balabushka or Zsamboti or whatever their name was .
Did these guys say, hey I didn't make that butt, I got it from Richard or hey I didn't make those inlays or rings ,Johnny the apprentice at Henrys shop makes those all day long, better and cheaper than I can.
I'm a historian of the players, not equipment, but I'm so mad about this I wanted to alert all of you that you don't want to be suckers and buy any of these Frankencues, I couldn't sleep at night and my crystal clear ,never did anything questionable in my life conscience, just couldn't stand it.
In my opinion ,anyone who spends over 200 dollars for a pool cue is a showoff or a sucker.
I paid 400 for one because I was a showoff. It doesn't play any better than the 20 dollar McDermott I played with for a couple of years.
If you approve of this message , please add your own expertise by all means to it, so that we can end this nonsense about cuemakers and their lies and thieving
Or, we could have our own place to discuss this stuff like the aiming channel , so it isn't all over the Main page and the first thing everyone sees and shows just what a pathetic bunch we are.
addendumb Being an almost perfectionist, I couldn't stand it, and went and did 5 minutes of research .
It seems Balabushka bought Titleist full piece blanks from Brunswick, {so did Frank Paradise Ernie Guiterez Gina and {Eugene Balner Palmer Cues , seems he misspelled his own name} among others, all following in Rambows footsteps. Then they went to Richard Black for blanks and then to Gus Zsamboti.
Am I to believe that if I cut a 1 piece cue in half , add a joint and some inlays and rings at the joints I am a custom cue maker?
What are we going to do bout this? It makes me so sick I can barely eat or sleep.
Are you all just going to sit by, and let these misconceptions perpetuate? The horror , oh the horror. and shame ,as Gomer Pyle used to say "Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame"

Fret not .. this quarantine will be over soon enough and you can get back to researching frogs on the internet.....
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Fret not .. this quarantine will be over soon enough and you can get back to researching frogs on the internet.....
Got it covered....

Scan20200413_0001.jpg

... but who made the butts?
 

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just curious, have you ever been in a custom cuemaker's shop? There's FAR more to building one than most people think. There is an art to getting the balance point, tapers,inlays, ringwork etc. to all come together to make a fine cue. If you don't want one don't buy one but don't knock those that enjoy owning finely crafted cues. BTW, i've read more than a few studies that put Wiki's overall accuracy rate at around 85%. Its open-source and anyone can put stuff on there. Not a bad free reference but not always super accurate.

References
Bachmen, Martyne S. (April 2004). "Balabushka: One of a Kind". Billiards Digest: 60–63. ISSN 0164-761X.
Stein, Victor; Rubino, Paul (1996) [1st ed. 1994]. The Billiard Encyclopedia: An Illustrated History of the Sport (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: Blue Book Publications. pp. 315, 321–31, 333–35. ISBN 1-886768-06-4.
J.W. Alicoate; Joseph Darmenberg; M.D. Kann, eds. (1927). The Film daily year book of motion pictures. J. W. Alicoate. p. 791. OCLC 1569196.
Kowalick, Vince (November 26, 1994). "No Matter How You Cue Up, It's Tough to Beat a Legend". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
Simpson, Brad (1996). Paul Rubino & Victor Stein (eds.). Blue Book of Pool Cues (first ed.). Blue Book Publications. pp. 103–4, 412, 422. ISBN 1-886768-02-1.
U.S. Patent 2,553,887, May 22, 1951. Retrieved on May 2, 2009.
Shamos, Michael Ian (1993). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. New York, NY: Lyons & Burford. pp. 14, 29, 71–2. ISBN 1-55821-219-1.
"ACA Awards, ACA Hall of Fame". American Cuemakers Association. 2003. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
"BCA Hall of Fame Inductees: 2002 – 2006". Billiard Congress of America. 2006. Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
Staff writers (January 29, 2004). "Laurance, Balabushka Picked for Hall of Fame". Billiards Digest. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
Zibart, Eve (February 25, 1990). "The Cadillac Of Cue Sticks". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
Commercial information about the Joss N7 model pool cue
"Syracuse man will show his sticks in New York City" (fee required). Syracuse Herald-Journal. January 12, 1998. p. D7. Retrieved February 7, 2010. Some of these are irrelevant but are they all?

To answer your questions ,yes I have been in 2 custom cue makers shops ,both friends and great guys,
2. I will knock anything I care to, just like other people in here do.
3. I have nothing against you, and don't really want to , but I have played with a couple of Balabushkas and a Zsamboti and a Rambow , and they all felt like baseball bats. that is where my opinion comes from.
If you like them , that's great, I'm afraid you are missing the tree for the forest.
 
Last edited:

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
References
Bachmen, Martyne S. (April 2004). "Balabushka: One of a Kind". Billiards Digest: 60–63. ISSN 0164-761X.
Stein, Victor; Rubino, Paul (1996) [1st ed. 1994]. The Billiard Encyclopedia: An Illustrated History of the Sport (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: Blue Book Publications. pp. 315, 321–31, 333–35. ISBN 1-886768-06-4.
J.W. Alicoate; Joseph Darmenberg; M.D. Kann, eds. (1927). The Film daily year book of motion pictures. J. W. Alicoate. p. 791. OCLC 1569196.
Kowalick, Vince (November 26, 1994). "No Matter How You Cue Up, It's Tough to Beat a Legend". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
Simpson, Brad (1996). Paul Rubino & Victor Stein (eds.). Blue Book of Pool Cues (first ed.). Blue Book Publications. pp. 103–4, 412, 422. ISBN 1-886768-02-1.
U.S. Patent 2,553,887, May 22, 1951. Retrieved on May 2, 2009.
Shamos, Michael Ian (1993). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. New York, NY: Lyons & Burford. pp. 14, 29, 71–2. ISBN 1-55821-219-1.
"ACA Awards, ACA Hall of Fame". American Cuemakers Association. 2003. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
"BCA Hall of Fame Inductees: 2002 – 2006". Billiard Congress of America. 2006. Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
Staff writers (January 29, 2004). "Laurance, Balabushka Picked for Hall of Fame". Billiards Digest. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
Zibart, Eve (February 25, 1990). "The Cadillac Of Cue Sticks". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
Commercial information about the Joss N7 model pool cue
"Syracuse man will show his sticks in New York City" (fee required). Syracuse Herald-Journal. January 12, 1998. p. D7. Retrieved February 7, 2010. Some of these are irrelevant but are they all?
What are you trying to prove other than you don't want to buy a hi-end cue? Believe me, we got it. You are NOT going to change people love for fine cues. Don't buy one.
 
Top