There is always the possibility that the apprentice surpasses the master, and that you end up pleasantly surprised in the event you do pull the trigger.
Name Cues Not Made By Person With The Name
- Thread starter HawaiianEye
- Start date
I fall in with the guys who posted here that are not cuemakers, but as from my standpoint, if the cuemaker (named) sanctioned/puts his name behind and on it, it is good as long has he does not profess to have completed all of the work himself. Apprentice/helper/paid employee.....doesn't really matter to me. Scruggs/Frey/Cochran, Schick/Wheeler, Mottey/White, the Szambotis, Tascarellas, Tads, all in the same boat. What we call production, in most cases started out as custom makers who generated a following and demand grew to the point where they simply needed more apprentices/helpers, whatever you want to call them. Then there are the ones that started out the gate as production companies (Predator, Mezz, OB, etc.).
I’m not a cuemaker, so I can’t speak from their point of view.
As a customer, it doesn’t make any difference to me. What does matter, is the maker puts his name on it, meaning it is up to his standards. The maker telling you what is going on up front, speaks volumes. I’m 99% sure I know who you are talking about, and it’s laid out on his website what is going on.
Far as pricing goes, the brand has been around for a long time and long as the original maker has giving his blessing for the guy to make stuff under his name, the prices should reflect that.
Like many have said, this is not a new thing. Many makers have helpers/apprentice make stuff under their name.
JCM
As a customer, it doesn’t make any difference to me. What does matter, is the maker puts his name on it, meaning it is up to his standards. The maker telling you what is going on up front, speaks volumes. I’m 99% sure I know who you are talking about, and it’s laid out on his website what is going on.
Far as pricing goes, the brand has been around for a long time and long as the original maker has giving his blessing for the guy to make stuff under his name, the prices should reflect that.
Like many have said, this is not a new thing. Many makers have helpers/apprentice make stuff under their name.
JCM
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South West cues are just as desirable now than they werte when Jerry Franklin and David Kersenbrock were making them.
Without naming names, there are some wildly famous cuemakers who weren't even in their shop when some of their cues were made.
I've seen cuemakers refer to cues they didn't do 100% of the work on as "shop cues"
For the guys who worry bout that kind of stuff the "shop cue" reference is probably the best way to do it.
A friend of mine is a Cory Barnhart collector and he has some Barnhart "shop cues" with a different pin than Cory uses and no signature.
Still great cues, and Cory actually did most of the work.
Mike Lambros did something similar with his Master or Master Class cues, can't remember what they were called exactly, but they were not considered Mike Lambros cues.
Without naming names, there are some wildly famous cuemakers who weren't even in their shop when some of their cues were made.
I've seen cuemakers refer to cues they didn't do 100% of the work on as "shop cues"
For the guys who worry bout that kind of stuff the "shop cue" reference is probably the best way to do it.
A friend of mine is a Cory Barnhart collector and he has some Barnhart "shop cues" with a different pin than Cory uses and no signature.
Still great cues, and Cory actually did most of the work.
Mike Lambros did something similar with his Master or Master Class cues, can't remember what they were called exactly, but they were not considered Mike Lambros cues.