Do most cue makers (even the most respected ones) not build cues for a living?

J

justinb386

Banned
I am curious if most cue makers (even the most respected ones) not build cues for a living (meaning that it is only a part time job for them, like maybe 4 hours a day and maybe more hours on the weekends, for example)?

I wonder how hard it is to make a living building cues full time without a 2nd job (I wonder if trying to be a full time cue maker, even if you have already made a great name for yourself, is like trying to play pool for a living, even if you are the speed of Earl Strickland for example), and if many cue makers that have not been doing if for that long actually try to make a living at it?

I imagine that some are just retired (after working like 20 or 30 years), and do it as a hobby with extra income, but I wonder about the the younger cue makers that do it full time, and became very successful at it (like maybe Andy Gilbert for example, but I am not sure if cue making is something that he does full time, and that was just a guess).

Like Searing for example, how many cues does he make per year (maybe 1 or 2 I am guessing?)

I am sure that cue making is just a hobby (and a love for art of cue making) for him, and he does not make a living doing it (even though I am sure he could if he wanted to do it full time).

Sorry, I might be making my thread out to be confusing, because I know the way that I word things is not always very good.

Just saying a few things that are on my mind.

Thanks for reading my post.
 
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J

justinb386

Banned
I imagine it must be very difficult though, for a new cue maker to try to do it full time. Like a cue maker that has not made a good name for himself yet. I guess if he is a great craftsman, then he could just start out building sneaky pete cues, and make a good profit on those, but is it really enough to make a living at? I just wonder if cue makers struggle in the same way that pro pool players do.

HQueen said:
Some are full time, some are part time. Depends on the maker.
Click to expand...
 
slide13

slide13

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have no idea really, buts it's gotta be tough to make a real living off of. Figure a cue maker selling a $1000 cue. After expenses in materials, shop space, etc, I'm guessing he'd need to sell 80 of those to make even a reasonable living (say a salary of $40,000-50,000). That's a lost of cues.

I admire those who can make it work, and don't envy those that are trying.
 
H

HQueen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Repair work is usually a large part of a cuemakers business. Good money can be made doing repairs if you are skilled at it.
 
Shooter08

Shooter08

Runde Aficianado
Silver Member
Shaft sales

HQueen said:
Repair work is usually a large part of a cuemakers business. Good money can be made doing repairs if you are skilled at it.
Click to expand...

I would imagine making shafts would be profitable also and refinishes.
 
trob

trob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
That's why it takes south west 10 years to make a cue. They work 60 hours a week in a factory and make cues on the weekend :thumbup::p
 
linds

linds

proudly Philippine made!
Silver Member
started fulltime...now part time, since the other part is dedicated to building pool tables :wink:
 
A

Ak Guy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hard way to go

I don't know how a young cue maker could support a family and save for retirement. if your nor clearing a net 5 grand or more a month it would not be worth it.
 
K

KJ Cues

Pro Cue Builder & Repair
Silver Member
Where did you people get the idea that there is any money to be made in building cues???
There's not. You throw numbers around like you know what you're talking about but you don't.
"young up and coming cue-makers supporting a family and saving for retirement??? You must be mad.
If you think there's money in cues then try it. Put your money where your mouth is.
There are start-up costs that you spend the rest of your life trying to recover.
There are many $1,000 of wood purchases that you don't touch for years so they can dry properly.
You won't see that money again for a very long time.

Now let's look at the hard economics of Pool. Pool is dying a slow death.
Pool is dying because there is no money in it. No money in, no money out.
Anyone thinking there is money to be made is only fooling themselves.
With the number of players declining and the number of 'cue-makers' increasing,
whose left to purchase these fabulous cues?
Competition gets tighter and CMs have to cut prices to make a sale.
It's like your boss telling you that you have to work for less money or face a lay-off.
Where is all this life sustaining and retirement providing money to come from???

"if your not clearing a net 5 grand or more a month it would not be worth it."

Clearing??? Parting puzzle; how many tips installed = 5K/month in profit. You did say 'clear/net'.

All I can conclude is that you people have no clue.

KJ
 
linds

linds

proudly Philippine made!
Silver Member
you nailed it right KJ... doing cues nowdays its like donating to charity "hope someone will thank you" soon enough...
 
J

justinb386

Banned
Well, Dale Perry seems to be doing pretty well in his cue making business, and is selling a lot of cues. Not sure how he profits much from an average sale of only around $150 per cue though. I heard that he is a Banker though (heard this about him years ago), so I assume that cue making might not be his full time job. I do not know if any cue makers out there actually do really well. Maybe not even Dan Janes (Joss cues), or Evan Clarke (Schon cues), but I am guessing they do better then most at making a living in the cue making business. I assume that Production cue makers are the most successful, because most of the pool world are league players, and most League players buy production cues like Joss and Schon. I really hope that pool makes a come back though, and more people start playing the game. Pool (for me anyways) seemed much bigger back in the 90's and early 2000's. Now I hear about all these great big pool rooms that I have been to in the past are now closed, and there are not many left (like in the St. Louis MO area for example). Very sad.

KJ Cues said:
Where did you people get the idea that there is any money to be made in building cues???
There's not. You throw numbers around like you know what you're talking about but you don't.
"young up and coming cue-makers supporting a family and saving for retirement??? You must be mad.
If you think there's money in cues then try it. Put your money where your mouth is.
There are start-up costs that you spend the rest of your life trying to recover.
There are many $1,000 of wood purchases that you don't touch for years so they can dry properly.
You won't see that money again for a very long time.

Now let's look at the hard economics of Pool. Pool is dying a slow death.
Pool is dying because there is no money in it. No money in, no money out.
Anyone thinking there is money to be made is only fooling themselves.
With the number of players declining and the number of 'cue-makers' increasing,
whose left to purchase these fabulous cues?
Competition gets tighter and CMs have to cut prices to make a sale.
It's like your boss telling you that you have to work for less money or face a lay-off.
Where is all this life sustaining and retirement providing money to come from???

"if your not clearing a net 5 grand or more a month it would not be worth it."

Clearing??? Parting puzzle; how many tips installed = 5K/month in profit. You did say 'clear/net'.

All I can conclude is that you people have no clue.

KJ
Click to expand...
 
macguy

macguy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
KJ Cues said:
Where did you people get the idea that there is any money to be made in building cues???
There's not. You throw numbers around like you know what you're talking about but you don't.
"young up and coming cue-makers supporting a family and saving for retirement??? You must be mad.
If you think there's money in cues then try it. Put your money where your mouth is.
There are start-up costs that you spend the rest of your life trying to recover.
There are many $1,000 of wood purchases that you don't touch for years so they can dry properly.
You won't see that money again for a very long time.

Now let's look at the hard economics of Pool. Pool is dying a slow death.
Pool is dying because there is no money in it. No money in, no money out.
Anyone thinking there is money to be made is only fooling themselves.
With the number of players declining and the number of 'cue-makers' increasing,
whose left to purchase these fabulous cues?
Competition gets tighter and CMs have to cut prices to make a sale.
It's like your boss telling you that you have to work for less money or face a lay-off.
Where is all this life sustaining and retirement providing money to come from???

"if your not clearing a net 5 grand or more a month it would not be worth it."

Clearing??? Parting puzzle; how many tips installed = 5K/month in profit. You did say 'clear/net'.

All I can conclude is that you people have no clue.

KJ
Click to expand...

That is why someone started the thread. You seem to have the answers so use yourself as an example. How many cues did you build last year? What was the average sale price and profit. How about repairs. It is tax time and I am doing my taxes so what were your numbers for 2014?

Me I think if one is a one man shop and selling cues for a normal price not like say Searing. It would seem that there are not enough hours in the day or weeks in the year to really make any real money. This could depend on what ones needs are and where you live, cost of living and so on.

I think building cues like playing pool in general can not really be more then a hobby for most. Making an actual living would be a pipe dream.
 
DawgAndy

DawgAndy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
lol, I would guess the list of cuemakers netting 60k a year is pretty damn small, real damn small actually. I think it's like building hot rods, those guys do it for the love of them and like to spend time in their shops.

Andy
can't build cues or hot rods but is always going to try
 
DAVE_M

DAVE_M

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
DawgAndy said:
lol, I would guess the list of cuemakers netting 60k a year is pretty damn small, real damn small actually. I think it's like building hot rods, those guys do it for the love of them and like to spend time in their shops.

Andy
can't build cues or hot rods but is always going to try
Click to expand...

I would be willing to bet there are more hot rodders/classic car builders that build for a living making well over $60,000 a year, than there are cuemakers making the same.

Of the four Louisiana cue makers actively building, I can think of four hot rodders, that each make more than all four cue makers combined.

Dave - Son of a hot rodder/classic car builder with 30+ years in the hobby and active member in the NSRA.
 
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