Which Cue Plays Better...Balabushka or Szamboti?

Hunter

The King of Memes
Silver Member
Hi all,

I recently acquired my second Szamboti, which is a Barry. I play against a guy every week whose family owns some of the finest Bushkas and Szams in existence. Last Saturday, I was playing with my Barry and he was playing with a Gus.

We started a conversation about which cues hit better. Now, I know that Bushkas tend to get better prices and are the Stradivarius' of cues, but we both think that the Szams play better.

There is was no question about George's early cues. They had Titlist forearms and George hadn't started using some of the adhesives we see in today's cues. They buzzed before he came up with his famous buzz rings. They had fat butts and neither of us thought they hit nearly as well as some of his later cues.

His later cues had much nicer fronts (especially the Gus fore ends) and definitely played better than his early cues, but neither of us think that George's cues hit better than the Gus he uses or my Barry.

What say you all that have been fortunate enough to try both?
 

PoolBum

Ace in the side.
Silver Member
Depends on who's holding the cue!

I've hit with a few of each, though I've never owned either. Of the ones that I hit with, I preferred the Szambotis.
 

PRED

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Out of the 3, Gus made the best I've experienced. Papa Pete had one with him he picked up before he came to town, during one his many road trips, I can still feel the excellence Gus built into the cue.
 

deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
it is almost impossible to answer a question like this

sometime one or the other seems the best

both Guys or rather all 3 guys,barry,gus and george made great cues

seldom have i heard of one that played bad
 

WildWing

Super Gun Mod
Silver Member
Rodney Morris and Kim Davenport played with Gus when I saw them at their best.

Davenport? Well, if we're going back a ways, Willie Mosconi, Irving Crane, Babe Cranfield, and Jimmy Moore played with Bushkas, as well as some others.

The answer to the question of course, is neither plays better. It's in the hands of the player.

All the best,
WW
 

Dognit

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I play against a guy every week whose family owns some of the finest Bushkas and Szams in existence.

lol Tell Del hi. :smile:

Gus cues, I think, generally play better than George's. Not enough data for me to speak about Barry.
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi all,

I recently acquired my second Szamboti, which is a Barry. I play against a guy every week whose family owns some of the finest Bushkas and Szams in existence. Last Saturday, I was playing with my Barry and he was playing with a Gus.

We started a conversation about which cues hit better. Now, I know that Bushkas tend to get better prices and are the Stradivarius' of cues, but we both think that the Szams play better.

There is was no question about George's early cues. They had Titlist forearms and George hadn't started using some of the adhesives we see in today's cues. They buzzed before he came up with his famous buzz rings. They had fat butts and neither of us thought they hit nearly as well as some of his later cues.

His later cues had much nicer fronts (especially the Gus fore ends) and definitely played better than his early cues, but neither of us think that George's cues hit better than the Gus he uses or my Barry.

What say you all that have been fortunate enough to try both?
I'm guessing that will be very limited sample size that has been lucky enough to play with both. I have a Gus, but haven't played with it in 30 years, as I got addicted to low deflection shafts years ago when Predator first came out.
 

jackpot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For me GB

I had a half a dozen or so of each one and I liked the Balabushkas much
more.The GS's seemed to hit stiffer and harder. I remember when Deano
got a new Balabushka and it was so loud you could tell he was playing
when you pulled in the parking lot. None of mine were ever like that. He let
George make whatever he wanted and he got one with a checker board
butt sleeve. It would probably be worth a million now but I thought it was
ugly as a mud fence.
jack
 
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