Another Pawn Shop Find...hope I did okay on it..

[Duane Remick]

I really hadnt given it any thought before but now that you mention it, I have been.

What I have read or heard, is that he was buying bundles of titlists, but what that means 10-20? I think I read somewhere that he was disappointed in the quality of a lot of them.

I see some great cues today with birds eye maple but George was determined to only use straight grain. Was he right or wrong?

Ken

Mark K and Joe V HAVE A LOT OF SZAM / BUSHKA EXPERIENCE....
Mark has had MANY VERSIONS from both Cue Makers.
" About 5 years ago the cueaddicts site had a Titlist with MACASSAR EBONY POINTS + SLEEVE,
Built by Andy Gilbert.
I talked to a collector at a tourney/ cue show here in Tulsa about that particular cue.
He stated,
" Andy cut the hardwood points out of the forearm and replaced them with the MACASSAR EBONY .
'Was a really sharp looking , unique titlist for sure.
" I read some where that George preferred the straight grain maple ,
As He felt is was a more stable wood and increased playability of His cues"

 

[Bigb'scues]

I really hadnt given it any thought before but now that you mention it, I have been.

What I have read or heard, is that he was buying bundles of titlists, but what that means 10-20? I think I read somewhere that he was disappointed in the quality of a lot of them.

I see some great cues today with birds eye maple but George was determined to only use straight grain. Was he right or wrong?

Ken

George was absolutely right in preferring straight grain maple. Birdseye maple
Is diseased wood often there are many voids and pockets in the interior grain.
Particularly where the "birdeyes" are. I've seen cues with Birdseye forearms just crack wide open on their own.

 

[thepavlos]

Spalted maple is caused by a fungus (disease) birdseye is caused by a growing pattern

 

[Chopdoc]

Was he right or wrong?

Ken

IMHO: GB determined how a GB cue was made and what it was made of, so by definition he was right.


Does that mean that somebody else is wrong for choosing some other method or material? I don't believe so.


Indeed, figured and spalted woods are less consistent in their density etc, but that need not negate their usefulness as a cue material necessarily. I just don't think it is that simple.

The easiest (smartest?) way out of the question of additional variables in materials is of course to avoid those materials with more variables.

Because of that I would say GB was smart...not necessarily right. I guess that it should be theoretically easier to reliably produce cues with more consistent playing characteristics if one uses more consistent materials.

Of course, an experienced cue maker could comment a lot better, these are just my thoughts on the matter as an observer.



.

 

[classiccues]

IMHO the reason there aren't a lot of George Ebony titlists, is that they were normally 20-23 oz from Brunswick. Add a joint and a metal weight bolt and you have a cue for Mr. Olympia.

Not to say that there were none...

JV

Mark K and Joe V HAVE A LOT OF SZAM / BUSHKA EXPERIENCE....
Mark has had MANY VERSIONS from both Cue Makers.
" About 5 years ago the cueaddicts site had a Titlist with MACASSAR EBONY POINTS + SLEEVE,
Built by Andy Gilbert.
I talked to a collector at a tourney/ cue show here in Tulsa about that particular cue.
He stated,
" Andy cut the hardwood points out of the forearm and replaced them with the MACASSAR EBONY .
'Was a really sharp looking , unique titlist for sure.
" I read some where that George preferred the straight grain maple ,
As He felt is was a more stable wood and increased playability of His cues"

 

[PhilosopherKing]

George was absolutely right in preferring straight grain maple. Birdseye maple
Is diseased wood often there are many voids and pockets in the interior grain.
Particularly where the "birdeyes" are. I've seen cues with Birdseye forearms just crack wide open on their own.

Not for nothing, but what choice did he have if he wasn't building his own blanks, especially when he was using mostly Titlists?

 

[classiccues]

Not for nothing, but what choice did he have if he wasn't building his own blanks, especially when he was using mostly Titlists?

Because Spain started selling to him in the mid 60's.. and Spain had a dozen or so blanks and a price sheet / catalog. Spains catalog is pretty cool it shows he was using cocobolo/ebony etc... back in the day..

JV

 

[PhilosopherKing]

Because Spain started selling to him in the mid 60's.. and Spain had a dozen or so blanks and a price sheet / catalog. Spains catalog is pretty cool it shows he was using cocobolo/ebony etc... back in the day..

JV

Above, Nick suggested that he knew for a fact GB wouldn't pay an extra cent for an ebony Titlist. Were Spain's birdseye blanks more expensive than straight grain?

 

[classiccues]

Well I disagree, no one, unless you were friends with George, knew what he would do. Because on Spains sheet the difference between a rosewood prong maple forearm and an ebony prong is 10 dollars, and he used both. (Full length) and 4 dollars on a short splice.

Spains sheet also indicates birdseye being slightly more expensive, but according to those who knew George, and its well documented, he did feel there was something wrong with birdseye. But that doesn't mean he NEVER used it. We know there are BE examples.

Spains most expensive blank on the sheet is coco nose/eb prongs with veneers at 25 full length and 17 shortie.

JV

Above, Nick suggested that he knew for a fact GB wouldn't pay an extra cent for an ebony Titlist. Were Spain's birdseye blanks more expensive than straight grain?

 

[Ken_4fun]

The posted document specifies a "new dark brown bumper". The bumper in the pics looks black to me.

I didn't want to guess as I am obviously not very qualified to ID a genuine GB.

I did notice the black bumper so I looked for that when the document was posted.

Was it changed? Or is it just that the color is off in the pic? Maybe it's my monitor?

It actually is DARK Brown. I took a picture and the towel is BLACK, and the bumper is VERY DARK BROWN.

Attached is the picture, in person it is dark brown.

Ken