Are you sure you want to enter into a transaction with me? I have a 100% dissatisfaction rate and will be making a post about how I have been duped again.
Anyone have experience getting a cue that wasn't what you wanted from a cuemaker?
- Thread starter billiardthought
- Start date
Are you sure you want to enter into a transaction with me? I have a 100% dissatisfaction rate and will be making a post about how I have been duped again.
I had a cuemaker once make a cue that he changed the design in the butt. I was very surprised as this was not what I ordered. I don't know if he couldn't (at the time) make the design I requested or not, but I ended up reselling it and losing money. It was still a nice cue, just not what I had ordered. I've seen some of his stuff in the last couple of years and I am thinking he is able to do it now, but maybe at the time he wasn't able to (but should have told me he couldn't make the diamonds small enough to fit with my design).
* Should "of" known better.
That's not correct
I hope he was joking.
Most Cuemakers are artists, artists are difficult people to work with.
To answer the original question....
Actually, I had two "didn't want it like that" experiences.
The first was a custom cue with rosewood and inlays and a leather wrap. It took over a year to get it and when it came it was lighter than I had asked for. I sold the damn thing and ordered another and told the guy to make it right and make it quick and put some more inlays in the points. He did. Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on the guy -- he was just an old machinist in Brooklyn who had taken up cue making in his later years. He died a few months after I got my second cue from him -- in December of 1975.
The second was when I asked a well-known cue maker if he could build me a low-squirt shaft. He said that would be easy. I waited a long time and when I got the shaft it was the usual ball-and-a-half squirt in a table length. I chopped off the ivory ferrule, put a backed tip on the bare end, and it played fine. A few decades later the guy finally figured out this squirt thing.
It's hard to find good help.
And in this case I'm not kidding, more or less.
Actually, I had two "didn't want it like that" experiences.
The first was a custom cue with rosewood and inlays and a leather wrap. It took over a year to get it and when it came it was lighter than I had asked for. I sold the damn thing and ordered another and told the guy to make it right and make it quick and put some more inlays in the points. He did. Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on the guy -- he was just an old machinist in Brooklyn who had taken up cue making in his later years. He died a few months after I got my second cue from him -- in December of 1975.
The second was when I asked a well-known cue maker if he could build me a low-squirt shaft. He said that would be easy. I waited a long time and when I got the shaft it was the usual ball-and-a-half squirt in a table length. I chopped off the ivory ferrule, put a backed tip on the bare end, and it played fine. A few decades later the guy finally figured out this squirt thing.
It's hard to find good help.
And in this case I'm not kidding, more or less.
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Back when I was 18 I ordered a cue from at the time I thought was a very good cue maker. I ordered a 6 point cue and was very specific about the design when I got the cue it was a four pointer not what I wanted also I noticed that the finish was starting to crack and peel so he told me to send it back and offered to remake it and I reminded him it was a 6 pointer and he told me everything would be alright. So I wait for the new cue and he sends me back another 4 pointer and when I told him about he stop taking my calls so I ended up selling it for way less then I payed for it .
It's late. I'm laughing. Thank you
I have never purchased a cue without first holding it in my hands, and hitting some balls with it before money changed hands. I don't care who the cue maker is.
I did have a cue made with a design I came with, but we had an understanding that if I didn't like the way it came out, I would not be obligated to buy it. He said it would sell on the open market easily, so no worries, that if I didn't like it, we would get our heads together and try again.
I have known several folks that have purchased some high end cues, that just didn't hit as well, as the one they currently owned from the same cue maker. In my view, being obligated to purchase something before I see it, or try it out, is just not something I would consider, no matter who made the cue.
I did have a cue made with a design I came with, but we had an understanding that if I didn't like the way it came out, I would not be obligated to buy it. He said it would sell on the open market easily, so no worries, that if I didn't like it, we would get our heads together and try again.
I have known several folks that have purchased some high end cues, that just didn't hit as well, as the one they currently owned from the same cue maker. In my view, being obligated to purchase something before I see it, or try it out, is just not something I would consider, no matter who made the cue.
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I own 2 customs made by Bob Owen and 2 customs made by Jerry Rauenzahn.
The first two customs were completed mid-year 2015, 1 from Bob & 1 from Jerry
Both did such amazing workmanship on the cues that I ordered two more customs.
Once again, 1 new custom from Bob Owen & 1 new custom from Jerry Rauenzahn.
Those cues just arrived Memorial Day and both are just flawless & couldn't be better.
That's 4 custom cues within < 30 months from the same two cue-makers.
You do not repeat bad experiences, or at least I make it a point not to do it.
However, great experiences deserve being enjoyed more than once & I try.
That's why I ordered more custom cues from the same cue-makers quickly.
I was fortunate because Bob & Jerry advanced the completion dates of my
last 2 customs to avoid finishing the cues after July 1st which is CA's ivory ban.
Were it not for that dumb ban, I'd have Bob making me this great Celtic theme
cue I designed & with Jerry about to retire, I'd definitely want him to make me
one more classic design.........that would be as good as finding my Hercek cue.
Before ordering a cue, ask the cue-maker to provide you with the names & tel
numbers of his last 1/2 dozen customers and call them to see how happy they
are with the cue they ordered. Personally, I went with the recommendation of
someone I hold in high regard and he was right about the cue-makers.........
Bob & Jerry are men of their word, fantastic prices, incredible workmanship &
they keep their customers informed about the progress of their cues....A+++++.
Matt B.
The first two customs were completed mid-year 2015, 1 from Bob & 1 from Jerry
Both did such amazing workmanship on the cues that I ordered two more customs.
Once again, 1 new custom from Bob Owen & 1 new custom from Jerry Rauenzahn.
Those cues just arrived Memorial Day and both are just flawless & couldn't be better.
That's 4 custom cues within < 30 months from the same two cue-makers.
You do not repeat bad experiences, or at least I make it a point not to do it.
However, great experiences deserve being enjoyed more than once & I try.
That's why I ordered more custom cues from the same cue-makers quickly.
I was fortunate because Bob & Jerry advanced the completion dates of my
last 2 customs to avoid finishing the cues after July 1st which is CA's ivory ban.
Were it not for that dumb ban, I'd have Bob making me this great Celtic theme
cue I designed & with Jerry about to retire, I'd definitely want him to make me
one more classic design.........that would be as good as finding my Hercek cue.
Before ordering a cue, ask the cue-maker to provide you with the names & tel
numbers of his last 1/2 dozen customers and call them to see how happy they
are with the cue they ordered. Personally, I went with the recommendation of
someone I hold in high regard and he was right about the cue-makers.........
Bob & Jerry are men of their word, fantastic prices, incredible workmanship &
they keep their customers informed about the progress of their cues....A+++++.
Matt B.