After 11 years, 7 months, and 21 days of waiting!

Love the forearm and point wood.Great combo.You have a 'treasure' there.Congrats and enjoy that beauty.
Marc
 
Southwest

Anyone wanna Bet me It doesn't play as Good as it Looks....:wink:

But the Black King Tips are AWESOME...!!!!!


Thanks........Paul


For Those of you that Don't know...Pat is a Good Friend Of Mine and I am Just
Breaking His Balls.........:eek:
 
Congrats, beautiful cue!

Do you pay anything when placing the order or do you just pay in full when the cue is done?

Assuming the latter...then who really cares how long the wait is? It's not like you have any money tied up in it that is preventing you from doing anything else. I once waited 7+ years for a custom made pocket knife. Didn't put any money down or anything, forgot about it for a few years, but did eventually remember I had it on order. It was worth the wait since the waiting really didn't have any negative effect on me. In the end the knife ended up not being for me (too big for easy pocket carry) so I sold it and made a nice little profit in the process. I'm back on that makers list for one that is a little smaller...his list is only 5 years now...so 2019 I have that to look forward to.
 
I Guess My Point is Life Is Too Short

My point is if I had to wait that long for a cue, and I assume good faith money is required when I place an order of at least 25% or so I'm presuming. And since cue-makers that have a wait that long usually have higher priced cue prices .....I mean I'm not going to wait 11 years for a Merry Widow......and so even if it was a fancy cue, I'm still not going to put a grand or two down for a cue I won't see for more than a decade.

Screw that....life is too short, at least at my age, and that could apply to each and every one of us. None of us knows how much more time we have left and I'm not going to wait 10 years for a cue to enjoy.....screw that, I'll just go buy one that I like and maybe pay less too. For example, I heard that Joel Hercek has reached a waiting period of 11 years for a new cue order. I'm not going to wait that long for one of his cues, even though I rank him the King of Cue-Makers in my book. So I'll just go and buy one of his beautiful cues on the market and have it in days or weeks, not years.

The trilogy of cue-makers for me is Hercek, Prewitt & Tibbits.......the waiting period for each is incredibly long and it's not worth it for me to wait that long when there's options. I'm been searching and seen a few candidates that would not involve having to wait 600 weeks. Heck, there's nothing wrong with someone that 's willing to indulge that excessively long of a waiting period. Cudos to them for having the patience of Jobe and I simply don't. I'm impatient when an inordinate wait is involved for anything.

Heck, after all, at my there's only a limited number of remaining days or years above ground. I'm not going to piss them away waiting for what I can have right now and enjoy for the next 5 or 10 years instead of waiting for the darn cue to get finished. That's my philosophy and it obviously doesn't apply to anyone else except for myself but that's my outlook. Like I said, I'd rather go for instant gratification and buy a great cue in the secondary resale market.....and hopefully get a very good deal at the same time.

Matt B.
 
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See, I don't know that you do have to pay anything down at the time of order, certainly not 25% I don't think. I honestly don't think it costs anything to get on the list, that is how it usually works in the custom knife world, I know. It's not like you have to use some crappy cue in the meantime, you can still get any cue you want and then when your names comes up you'd get the one you ordered.

Everyone who claims it's too long to wait seems to think there is some downside to placing the order, I don't see what it is. You say life is too short as if placing an order like this precludes you from doing something else. That isn't the case. It doesn't prevent you from doing anything you would do if you didn't place the order...when the wait is that long you just sort of forget about it until your turn is up.

That being said, I don't know much about Southwest and I'm not sure I think they are worth the price...would need to handle one first to judge, but I don't see the wait as a good reason not to order one since it doesn't really have any negative impact on the orderer.
 
slide 13

Let's see what the others on the Forum report back. I can't imagine a great cue-maker agreeing to make my cue for a specified agreed upon price and cue design without asking for a good faith deposit. You want on the list, then they have every right to ask for a deposit to guarantee your position and cover any initial out of pocket expenses when they start your cue build. They're entitled to progress payments and 100% payment in full before they ship your cue........every cue-maker can of course be different but that's just common sense business in my opinion.

Matt B.

p.s. Update..........just got a PM from Doug who's on the SW waiting list for awhile and it costs nothing to get on the list. I was in left field thinking a down payment was needed......money only changes hands when you get a call that they're ready to build you a cue........so I guess someone could always sign up for as many different top cue-makers as you can and when you get the call, you either order a cue, sell you spot via ordering the cue for someone else or just decline the spot. You can't lose and I see spots for sale all the time and I was thinking it was to get their deposit back. Apparently not and it's a way of making money too......why else sell the spot?
 
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South West Cue

Thanks again for the positive feedback on the cue except for Samsarakid's comment (just kidding Paul). As a clarification, I ordered and speced out the cue in person at Laurie's shop. She does not require any deposit until your cue is close to being started. In my case I sent her a deposit in February of this year when we finalized the specs. In reality you have no risk or money to lose until you are within a year of receiving the cue. I hope this info helps everyone.
 
Let's see what the others on the Forum report back. I can't imagine a great cue-maker agreeing to make my cue for a specified agreed upon price and cue design without asking for a good faith deposit. You want on the list, then they have every right to ask for a deposit to guarantee your position and cover any initial out of pocket expenses when they start your cue build. They're entitled to progress payments and 100% payment in full before they ship your cue........every cue-maker can of course be different but that's just common sense business in my opinion. 25% might be too high but at least $500 down on a cue costing $2500 or more.

Matt B.

Agreed, hopefully someone will chime in with the details so we know what the actual policy is.

I think, with Southwest, they just don't have to. They don't do crazy designs, they basically just riff on a few standard Southwest looks with different woods and veneers....you don't go to them for crazy custom inlays, you go to them for a Southwest. So, if a buyer flakes they just sell the cue anyway, there is no shortage of buyers who would jump on a brand new Southwest at maker prices.

Same reason the knifemaker I bought from didn't require a deposit. Had I bailed he could have sold it in minutes at his standard prices. The demand is consistently there for anything they produce, they'll never get stuck with something unsold so for them, why even bother with taking down payments. Plus, when people have no money tied up they are significantly more patient I'm guessing.


Edit: thanks for filling us in cuesterpat! I thought that was the case. Hmm...now time to decide if I want to be on the list...would be a nice treat in a little over a decade :). Plenty of time to save my nickels.
 
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Last ones I bought (3), I put NOTHING down, and paid 100% when I was told they were starting, which was like 8-12 months from delivery. That was a few years ago though. My wait was 4 years from when I got listed.

SW is obviously doing something right. You can condemn how simple they are in looks, or how they play bad, or whatever your insecure beef is..till you are blue in the face.

They were the first makers to my knowledge to eclipse a 2 year wait...

When SW started NOBODY made a cue like that in terms of looks, or playability. NOBODY.

So...ask yourself why. They are unwilling to compromise on quality by cheaping out on sub par materials or taking mass production shortcuts. Same people (read as 3) have been there forever..

Again, ask yourself why. Its tried and true, and when you have something that aint broke, DONT try to fix it.

Ive played SW for over 25 years. Ive got other makers and they play good as well, but I keep going back to my SWs. If you love that hit, you gotta have it. Nothing hits the ball like an ebony or purpleheart SW.

Now look at the market, clones everywhere. So again, ask yourself why.

/rant
 
This thread convinced me to finally contact them and get my name on the list. So it's in...in 10-12 years I'm guessing I'll be very happy I did so.
 
Gorgeous SW :) ..................I"m really digging those veneer colors against the cocobolo.

JimmyK
 
Ungodly long wait times

Well this is why I decided to get on Dennis Searing's list
some time ago. By my estimations and math, probably
more than 50% of the guys that are currently on his list
will be dead by the time their name gets called :p :thumbup:

As far as SW, well I never really cared for the style, but I
could not say anything bad about them! Their cues hold
high value and that is all that needs to be said. I am
certain that some people wait three years and others
wait 10+ that is called favoritism. It happens :o

It would be nice to get a cuemaker perspective on this.
I know one of the most frustrating things that can lead
to long wait times is when customers constantly change
their minds about the design of their cue.
 
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