According to Richard Black, the design has nothing to do with the cue being custom. He could make two Bushka cues.......one is in his stock and
has 13mm shafts (ivory ferrules) and the cue weight is already determined.....cue could be shipped in a couple of days.......just specify what type
of wrap......he'll sign the cue Richard Black......that's not a custom made cue. However, change the joint to ivory, add a Bushka ring below the wrap,
well, that's a custom made cue and Richard Black will sign the cue & date the cue signifying it was made to the customer's provided specifications.
Now if you also design the cue like I did with my cue underway with a cue-maker, well, it's obvious that's a custom made cue. But you could also modify
the design of a standard catalog cue, like a Richard Black Bushka cue, say by adding rings or changing the inlays from MOP to ivory, etc., and that
would qualify as a custom made cue. But if you order a Bushka cue from Richard Black and just tell him what shaft sizes you'd like, that cue won't come
with his date and signature because Mr. Black doesn't consider that to be one of his custom made cues, despite the price being over $2k.
Anyway, after hearing Mr. Black's reasoning, and seeing how he signs his cues, I subscribe to his position that making the cue to the customer's exact
specifications determines when the cue is custom made, and that can be either the design or the weights and sizes of the cue's components. Obviously,
I'm not an expert on this by any means but there are going to be obvious cases when a cue was a custom made cue. And there will be some when a cue
is imagined to be custom made but actually was one the cue-maker made on his own that was a model advertised in their catalog or website. Every
RB Pendelton cue, Split Diamond cue or Bushka cue looks identical and unless the customer changes something, Mr. Black won't add the date to his
signature.....the inclusion of the date signifies that the cue was a custom ordered cue. Richard's early period cues were an exception to this authentication.
Now I appreciate the fact that Mr. Black isn't the final word when it comes to pool cues....I just respected his position on this aspect of cue-making and concur.
Matt B.
