I have been playing with a BB(Bebot Bautista) Jump Cue for a couple of months now.
Here are pics.
Let me start with the process. First, I was really interested in finally breaking through in my jumping game. We have a house jump cue, but it is a house cue with a hard leather tip. So, here I am in Japan, thinking. . .I want a jump cue with a phenolic tip which looks nice and jumps well. I'm surfing AZ and I see this amazing BB BEM Jump Cue.
Now, I'm an experienced Phillippine pool cue buyer, I guess. . .I bought my player from dgem which was made by Dindo Perez and Al Bautista did some repair/tuning work to it before it shipped to me in America. Great cue.
So, I asked Les about 8 million questions including could he give me a nice guy discount. . .I guess I'm not that nice! Les was very accomodating and polite. We traded about 10 emails about this cue. I think I even bickered about Western Union. Not BB or Les's fault, but Western Union can be a pain in the butt in Japan in the countryside and as an American, I'm sorry, but generally we associate Western Union with scams like the Nigerian banker who wants you to send him $10,000 so he knows where to send his $50 million, and so on. So, honestly, Les did everything perfect and as a crazy American, I still thought there was a 10% chance it might not show up. I know, I'm nuts.
So, the cue arrives as I was told it would. . . .but, hey wait. . .The cue is way better than advertised. The BEM was better than expected. The joint rings were better aligned than I expected based on our discussion. Everything was good. The phenolic tip/ferrule looks good and holds chalk. The quick release joint was tight without binding. Very good choice for a jumper.
So, I rush out and jump with it. I was able to quickly jump short, long and in between. Actually, I was quickly able to learn to make balls which were mid length jumps. I'm still fine tuning the skills, but the cue makes it easy. So it works.
A review isn't a review without negatives, so here they are. First, the ringwork doesn't quite line up shaft to butt. There was some story behind this and I was sold the cue knowing clearly they would not align. I have bought other cues which were supposed to be aligned and weren't. So, I guess this is better than the other way. Also, I looked through the box twice, but it didn't come with a stroke! So, I'm left to develop a stroke on my own.
If you can cut through the humor and details, this was a great deal, good cue and I would like to do business with Bebot Bautista and Les again.
If it matters as it did to one poster in another thread, I am an American, living in Japan for a short term stay and I have about 8 - 10 years of relatively serious pool under my belt. I did take a haiatus in the middle.
Thanks Les and Bebot.
Here are pics.
Let me start with the process. First, I was really interested in finally breaking through in my jumping game. We have a house jump cue, but it is a house cue with a hard leather tip. So, here I am in Japan, thinking. . .I want a jump cue with a phenolic tip which looks nice and jumps well. I'm surfing AZ and I see this amazing BB BEM Jump Cue.
Now, I'm an experienced Phillippine pool cue buyer, I guess. . .I bought my player from dgem which was made by Dindo Perez and Al Bautista did some repair/tuning work to it before it shipped to me in America. Great cue.
So, I asked Les about 8 million questions including could he give me a nice guy discount. . .I guess I'm not that nice! Les was very accomodating and polite. We traded about 10 emails about this cue. I think I even bickered about Western Union. Not BB or Les's fault, but Western Union can be a pain in the butt in Japan in the countryside and as an American, I'm sorry, but generally we associate Western Union with scams like the Nigerian banker who wants you to send him $10,000 so he knows where to send his $50 million, and so on. So, honestly, Les did everything perfect and as a crazy American, I still thought there was a 10% chance it might not show up. I know, I'm nuts.
So, the cue arrives as I was told it would. . . .but, hey wait. . .The cue is way better than advertised. The BEM was better than expected. The joint rings were better aligned than I expected based on our discussion. Everything was good. The phenolic tip/ferrule looks good and holds chalk. The quick release joint was tight without binding. Very good choice for a jumper.
So, I rush out and jump with it. I was able to quickly jump short, long and in between. Actually, I was quickly able to learn to make balls which were mid length jumps. I'm still fine tuning the skills, but the cue makes it easy. So it works.
A review isn't a review without negatives, so here they are. First, the ringwork doesn't quite line up shaft to butt. There was some story behind this and I was sold the cue knowing clearly they would not align. I have bought other cues which were supposed to be aligned and weren't. So, I guess this is better than the other way. Also, I looked through the box twice, but it didn't come with a stroke! So, I'm left to develop a stroke on my own.
If you can cut through the humor and details, this was a great deal, good cue and I would like to do business with Bebot Bautista and Les again.
If it matters as it did to one poster in another thread, I am an American, living in Japan for a short term stay and I have about 8 - 10 years of relatively serious pool under my belt. I did take a haiatus in the middle.
Thanks Les and Bebot.
