American cuemakers asso?

[macguy]

What are the actual benefits of being a member of the American cuemakers asso? Other then a small discount on stuff from Atlas, is there a reason a guy building a limited number of cues that sells everything he can possibly produce already and is back ordered should consider joining? Also I notice the lis changing with some noted cuemakers no longer on the list.

 

[((VH))]

Check out what Blud has to say on the International Cuemakes Assoc. thread or better yet PM him. He founded the ACA but is not with them anymore

 

[Canadian cue]

cuemakers assoc.

I could be totally off base here but I think it has something to do with not just selling cue's but selling cues for as much as possible IE: foreign markets and exclusive collectors.It is an attempt at making a distinction between the so called real cue makers and the rest. I don't know the stats but the number of people making cues is defintely on the increase wich isn't the best thing for the price of cues.The days of there only being a dozen or so custom cuemakers out there have long been over.There probably are alot of possitive things that came out of this organisation but I still think there is an underlying motive to try and controle a market.

 

[cueman]

I could be totally off base here but I think it has something to do with not just selling cue's but selling cues for as much as possible IE: foreign markets and exclusive collectors.It,s an attempt at making a distinction between the real cue makers and the rest.I don't know the stats but the number of people making cues is defintely on the increase wich isn't the best thing for the price of cues.The days of there only being a dozen or so custom cuemakers out there have long bin over.There are probably are alot of possitive things that came out of this organisation but I still think there is an underlying motive of trying to controle a market.

You are totally right. I was at a trade show once in Vegas and was talking to the ACA president and other ACA members. I asked them why they chose to make it so hard to join their organization. They said they wanted to create the impression they were the elite among cuemakers. It has pretty much worked for them as I have watched the buyers from Japan flock to their booths to buy up a lot of cues the first day of the trade shows, before visiting the other booths year after year. That may change somewhat with the forming of the International Cuemakers Association.

 

[bandido]

You are totally right. I was at a trade show once in Vegas and was talking to the ACA president and other ACA members. I asked them why they chose to make it so hard to join their organization. They said they wanted to create the impression they were the elite among cuemakers. It has pretty much worked for them as I have watched the buyers from Japan flock to their booths to buy up a lot of cues the first day of the trade shows, before visiting the other booths year after year. That may change somewhat with the forming of the International Cuemakers Association.

True but marketing is part of doing business and name recognition is part of marketing. It has served its purpose of drawing in prospective buyers/dealers and then the rest of the buying decision-making is up to the buyer/dealer. Consumers are smart enough to recognize or eventually recognize quality products. Specially in Japan and Taiwan, both of which are the largest custom cue buyers in Asia, consumers there are now aware of cue brands worth taking notice of. They are very traditional deep down and don't get easily swayed now by aggresive marketing tactics. They prefer to check out the reputation of the cuemaker from feedback in their locale. Hacks are out and being associated with them is not good either. That's why a lot of the primo CMs don't actively associate themselves to a group that has some "bad apples".

I really wish you the best of luck and hope that your association will bring positive things to the art.