Ah yes, I was wondering when John 'Waste-of-Skin' Collins/Barton/Whatever was going to chime in with one of his scumbag cheap shots.
And, just like the "all TW cues warp" bullshit, it's particularly insidious because it's impossible to disprove. For as many decades as I've been in cuemaking I've heard both those claims, at one time or another, used to discredit almost every top cuemaker alive. Anytime someone wants to "get" a particular cuemaker they'll shoot some similar accusation out of their asses.
You can't disprove a negative claim - there's no way any cuemaker can follow all his cues around to know what is (or is NOT) being said about them. But there are a few things I can note in response:
1) Every customer who has bought one of my cues directly from me plays pool - which, by definition, makes them pool players - and most are repeat customers. So it would appear that first hand opinion runs counter to Barton/Collins/Whatever's bullshit.
2) I first met Jerry McWorter at a California tournament where, in a side match up, Kim Davenport was playing Morro (Ismael Perez?) for a $25k freeze-up. Mooro was using one of Jerry's cues, while Davenport was using one of mine (I've never given any player a cue, so he must have bought it himself). So there's at least one world class pool player who thought my cues play okay.
3) I've read several posts over the years (on various forums) written by players who say they like how my cues play, and I've received many letters (early on) and, more recently emails, from pool players who say they like how their TW cues hit. I guess Barton/Collins/Whatever must not talk to those guys much...
Still, no one can disprove a negative cheap shot, and if you build cues long enough I can guarantee someone who wants to "dis" you will be laying that kind of shit on you too. So I'll just have to fall back on one indisputable ( and comforting) fact - I still sell every cue I can possibly make.
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And while I'm at it I'll make one other point. I'm an American citizen - have been all my life - and I firmly believe one of the major causes of the dismal American economy is all the low-cost goods flooding the U.S. from cheap-labor countries like China. American manufacturing is all but dead because we've allowed cheap knock-offs of American products past our borders with no import tax and little concern for their quality.
In Xiamen, China - where JB Cases are made - the average monthly income is just over $300 (usd). By contrast the average American family spends over $500 per month on groceries alone. There is no way an American factory worker can survive on the same income as a Chinese worker. That means - indisputably - any American citizen who intentionally buys Chinese-made goods (when they have readily available American-made choices) is contributing to the decline of American manufacturing.
Now, I realize with WalMart being the largest retail chain in the U.S. (and many others following suit) there is no way to completely avoid Chinese made products. As a country we've clearly come to accept cheap prices over good quality. But now this compromise is starting to bite us in the ass. Why, just the other day I bought a ~ $10 bag of zip-ties at Home Depot, only to have them snap like dry twigs the minute I tried to use them. Obviously, the Chinese zip-tie manufacturer had substituted inferior plastic for the pure Nylon they should have used. Home Depot refunded my money, and it's only U.S.-made zip-ties for me from now on (Thomas & Betts, to be exact)
So I would urge every patriotic American citizen to buy only American made products whenever possible. If you're not part of the solution, then you're unarguably part of the problem - and a good first step might just be to NOT spend your discretionary income on a cue case made in China, especially when there are plenty of world-class case makers right here in the good ol' USA.
TW
Ah yes the old wave the flag to deflect from the real point tactic.
Well as long as we are there I will tell you a story I find particularly amusing and which ironically fits the discussion perfectly.
In 1998 I was in Taiwan. I was taken on a tour of three cue factories. At the second one I saw some decal cues with your designs on them and I mentioned it to the owner that it was a copy. He thinks I am refering to the quality and says but ours is better.
He then takes me into his office where he has a rack filled with brand name cues. He proudly pulls a Thomas Wayne cue off the rack and rolls if on the table to show me the warp.
I really had nothing more to say to him about it at that moment. I can only imagine that he had done the same demonstration for many visitors. Shame that your cue was one of the ones in that rack.
Later at a pool room I pulled out my Ted Harris and told my friend that I had taken it around the world twice and it stayed dead straight.
As for your comment about some player using your cue so what? More world titles have been won by players using meuccis and cuetecs than yours so by your logic those must then be better.
You don't want to go up against searing on the hit. You will get robbed when 10 of 10 players pick his cue in a blind test.
Sorry but that is how it is. You build nice ornate cues that have a so so hit.
No amount of deflection will change that.
Edit: To add to this I mentioned YOUR name specifically upon seeing the copies because I knew that you were litigious about your designs and I wanted to tell the factory owner that it would be better for his customers if they did not copy known designs. It was just funny that he happened to have a genuine (and warped in the butt and shaft) Thomas Wayne in his office. Those sneaky Asians with their let's buy and study the competition's stuff mentality.
Furthermore Thomas you might sell everything you can make but that doesn't mean what you make is great. As grandaddy used to say there is an ass for every seat. Meucci outsold everyone for years and Cuetec might be the number one selling cue in the world. The other night a guy ran out on me with a Cuetec so I have to think he could have done it with a Thomas Wayne cue as well. Fact is that you build closet queens and by reports on this and many other message boards over the years you do NOT stand behind your work and you keep cues sent back to you for years. There have been many reports of your cues developing problems or having workmanship issues and often you come over the top with a million insults to your customers if I remember it right.
Funny thing is that I looked up to you for many years as the guru of design in cues. I have fondly told the story of having a conversation with you when a player came up to you and asked for sponsorship asking you if you knew how many cues you could sell if you sponsored him and you replied, "could it be more than I can make which is what I sell now?" I have talked about how much I respect your innovations in cue making. But the fact is that while you are a great decorator you are not a great cue maker.
If you want to prove that you are and that your cues have and hold value then build a plain cue like Dennis Searing's and put it up for sale. I will bet that your cue does not go for even half the money that Dennis' brings.
Lastly, while you are busy encouraging everyone to "buy American" as your only tiny overdone shot at me I have to ask if you happily accepted all that Asian money for your cues? Here you are relegated to the "others" category on Lucky's site
http://www.ilovecues.com/cuemakers/others/p1.html I don't suppose you ever stopped to consider where the money came from to buy your cues do you? Are you an expert economist as well? When you charge $20,000 or $100,000 for a cue then where do you think the money comes from? It comes from industry and commerce and trading worldwide. So you particularly benefit from a global economy when the money that wealthy people make gets spent on the cues you make. Which makes your hypocrisy even more repugnant.
Did you take Lucky's money or tell him to buy Japanese and support his own economy? I didn't think so. I am positive that if someone shows up at the ICCS who looks Chinese and has a fistful of cash you will welcome him like a long time friend and not question him where his money comes from.