$4,000 New RC3 or Tonkin

SBC said:
I'd guess with the old guys passing daily and the young shooting with plastic/carbon fiber, you'd better buy a cue you keep for life...maybe take with you when you go.

That said Tonkin make a beautiful cue.
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The beauty of carbon fiber shafts is that you can put them on any cue butt. :D
 
Dwalk70 said:
And why is that?
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Because he’s a man of his word, because his cue making is meticulously executed regardless of the design complexity, because he delivers on time, because he is available to answer your questions before and after he starts building you a cue and he is honest and trustworthy. I found him to be the nicest cue maker I’ve ever dealt with and he treats his customers with respect and charges a fair price……seems like he is a rare breed among cue makers in my experience.
 
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Nyquil said:
What's the lead time and round about cost?
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Lead time is about a year. As for costs and deposits, it would be best for you to reach out to him about what you had in mind yourself. The cost will be vary greatly depending on how much you want to load up the cue and the deposit depends on the total cost of making the cue. I went for somewhat custom inlays, so my cost was naturally higher.
 
Bavafongoul said:
Because he is a man of his word, because his cue making is meticulously executed regardless of the design’s complexity, because he delivers on time, because he is available to answer your questions before, during and after he starts building you a cue and he is honest and trustworthy. I found him to be the nicest cue maker I’ve ever dealt with and he treats his customers with respect and charges a fair price……seems like he is a rare breed among cue makers in my experience.
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I live in the area(well, Tulsa) and know them pretty well. Bob, and now Gabe, do great work and are super to deal with.
 
SmoothStroke said:
With 4K I could buy 8 cues that play well and still have ice cream money.
Monster Players, Hits A Ton, Real Stunner cues are always for sale. (Cough)
If you want a museum piece that supposedly plays well, have one built, and play Russian Roulette.
As far as resale, there are many cues people can't give away.
Find a cue to hit with before purchasing. The SBE is a good start, spend wisely.

If you don't know the type of hit you like, figure it out. You can put a quality shaft and tip on a tree branch and have a good hitter. A pig in a tuxedo is still a pig.
I have hit with some of the most beautiful pieces of crap on the planet. We call them casket cues, they look pretty laying on the table but have no life, they play dead, a dead hit.

I don't care if I'm involved in the design, or flew myself to brazil for a chunk of Rosewood.
If I can't play with it I am not buying it, the price is irrelevant.
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Having a custom cue made is NOT Russian roulette if you know what you want in terms of specs and the maker is willing to tailor it to your preferences. Finding exactly what you want can be challenging but once you get that dialed in pretty much every cue you get hits like a dream. And that is not to say they all hit the same, but not different enough that its is wrong. Sort of like shoes that fit exactly the same but have different appearances.

Also, if your only interest in a cue is how it plays than yes you should not be spending $4K. You can still go to a custom cuemaker and get a simple sneaky or merry widow and they will hit lights out.

But there is just something awesome (at least to me) about the artistic side of a pool cue, and they don't need to be "museum pieces". I love that I have cues that are 1 of 1 in the world and literally unique. It can be joyful just to look at them, and some of my cues play better than any production cue as well.

In addition, most custom manufacturers will make Revo Ready joints (where there are rings on bottom and top of joint so it looks like the Revo shaft has a ring) so if you want the technology too you can have it.

I find it enjoyable waiting for a cue especially if I see progress along the way. And opening them up is sort of as close to Christmas as you can get for an adult.

Just because you do no see the value does not in any way mean there isn't value in custom cues. You are not wrong for you, but your opinion, nor mine is right for others either.
 
Dwalk70 said:
It’s really none of your business but I use too play with early 90’s Meuccis and I still like them.
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They were the ones that warped the fastest and had inlays that popped fast. I know a supply house that used to order them and often had to return half the order they were so bad. QC at time was almost non-existent. Hope you find one worth buying. I've got a perfect Original Rempe. Made in about 82-83. Still dead straight. Had a '92 that both shafts warped on in 6mos.
 
7stud said:
I bought a new cue from them for $475. The cue they shipped me had lathe marks visible under the finish (a sanding issue?), and the shaft had some taper roll. When I tried to return the cue under their "100% Satisfaction Guarantee" policy, they said the poor quality was a known trait of the maker (not by me!), and they would not take the cue back unless I paid a restocking fee. I will never buy a cue from them again.
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I have bought 6 cues from JJcue. I got a Schon years ago and the rings were different than the web site picture. Brian took it back and sent me another cue with the rings I wanted. I have found them easy to deal with.
 
jj has website , i was just there looking at tonkins for sale . i emailed them late last bout in stock cues i liked , got up this morning
had email ,,they have what i call the red dracula in stock . other 2 they said would take 2 years to build
 
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