Are there cues that have fallen out of favor with players?

I believe ivory jointed cues are either going to fall out of favor with cue makers
and their pricing on the secondary market will drop drastically therefore screwing
financial "return on investment" wizards

OR

ivory jointed cue values will sky rocket on the black market.

ain't gambling fun ?
 
Last edited:
Hmmm... Viking makes a fine cue that most people are impressed with when playing, but I do not hear much from them in the community. Same thing with Schmelke, good solid playing cues for beginners and mid-level league players... really schmelke is a smart choice because you can have a factory custom cue for around $250.00 with any joint you want in it and pretty near any length too. Good sticks. But I do not see many of them out and about... pity. Joss could do more for themselves if they would get some fresh eyes on their designs. They make good quality cues though.

McDermott will always be the cue I shoot with, or something designed almost exactly like one. I have a custom player that uses a 3/8x10 wood-to-wood, but with a piloted big-pin joint. It sounds like a broom stick when it hits. Hehehee, love it. PING! NOT ping all subtle and semi-annoying, but PING!!! Loved McDermott ever since I bought the first one (D-19).... still own it.

Regards,

Lesh
 
McDermott

McDermott cues went with the trend of cheap(er) production cues a few years ago.
Viking did the same with the "Valhalla" (sp) line of cues, although I believe Valhalla is made in Mexico. What is disturbing is neither company openly told the public WHERE these cues were made. these are totally automated made cues with marginal grade materials. You get what you pay for....

Back to McDermott. (Justin386 is right) , The "Star" line of cues are imports and the easiest way to tell them apart from the originals (quality issues aside), is the Shamrock was put up near the joint of the cue rather than at the base of the butt section like the older McDermotts.
 
DJSTEVEZ said:
It appears to me that the technology advances in Cue making has done 2 really important things.

1) The consumer can get a pretty darn good cue (compared to 20 years ago) at almost all of the lower price points.

2) The overall cost of a cue for the consumer has come down as has the price of producing it when you factor in the quality.

This has allowed cue companies to both raise & standardize the quality in mass production
It has also allowed them to make more for less which appears to allowed them to spend more money in the R&D area as well as the marketing area.

It appears to me that some cue manufacturers have pioneered this new model and done very well. Others have since gotten on the gravy train and adapted to it.
There's a 3rd group who seem to be on life support as they've failed to change with the times and the marketplace.

Just my 2 cents worth, which is probably an inflated price, lol. YMMV.
Click to expand...

Those are very broad statements. It would be helpful if you would include examples.

When adjusted for inflation, the cost of a quality entry level cue when I started playing has not changed.
 
Last edited:
Lesh said:
Hmmm... Viking makes a fine cue that most people are impressed with when playing, but I do not hear much from them in the community. Same thing with Schmelke, good solid playing cues for beginners and mid-level league players... really schmelke is a smart choice because you can have a factory custom cue for around $250.00 with any joint you want in it and pretty near any length too. Good sticks. But I do not see many of them out and about... pity. Joss could do more for themselves if they would get some fresh eyes on their designs. They make good quality cues though.

McDermott will always be the cue I shoot with, or something designed almost exactly like one. I have a custom player that uses a 3/8x10 wood-to-wood, but with a piloted big-pin joint. It sounds like a broom stick when it hits. Hehehee, love it. PING! NOT ping all subtle and semi-annoying, but PING!!! Loved McDermott ever since I bought the first one (D-19).... still own it.

Regards,

Lesh
Click to expand...

Yeah, I love Viking cues. They are very nice players. They are expensive though, and maybe a lot of players do not like their designs. They have an import line I think, and maybe those sell well.

Joss cues are wonderful cues (my favorite as a kid was a Joss sneaky). Super nice hitting cues. McDermott's are great players too. I love the hit of a wood to wood joint. Diveney cues come to mind as the best hitting wood to wood joint players (using the radial pin joint, I think). If you have $500, then get a diveney sneaky directly from diveney . You will not regret it.
 
Nonsense! I had one of the first Wilson T-2000 racquets, and it was phenominal. I had a 120 mph serve that was deadly with that racquet. BTW, I was a 4 yr conference singles and doubles champion in HS, and was ranked 20th in IL. So certainly not all amateur players couldn't play with the round head Wilson T-2000.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

bdorman said:
Bingo!

Tennis player Jimmy Conners used the first metal racket (the Jimmy Conners Model by Wilson). Amateurs bought it like crazy and then found out that it was absolutely uncontrollable; the tennis ball went anywhere and everywhere, except where you wanted it to go.

In an interview Conners was asked how he could play with such an uncontrollable racket. He replied that tour pros could play with 2x4s and it wouldn't make any difference.
Click to expand...
 
Dunnn51 said:
McDermott cues went with the trend of cheap(er) production cues a few years ago.
Viking did the same with the "Valhalla" (sp) line of cues, although I believe Valhalla is made in Mexico. What is disturbing is neither company openly told the public WHERE these cues were made. these are totally automated made cues with marginal grade materials. You get what you pay for....

Back to McDermott. (Justin386 is right) , The "Star" line of cues are imports and the easiest way to tell them apart from the originals (quality issues aside), is the Shamrock was put up near the joint of the cue rather than at the base of the butt section like the older McDermotts.
Click to expand...

The difference in logos is not the only way to tell the difference. Any player that knows how a quality cue would look and feel would know the difference between the star line that McDermott has made in Asia, or the quality line of cues that they make here in the USA . The quality of the shaft wood is the 1st thing that I would notice, to know that it is a cheaply made import (made using poor quality wood). The only really cheap cues that I could ever play good with were made by Players. Lucas always made a decent playing cue too, but they have always been more expebsive then a Players. These are cues that are popular with beginner players I think. My 1st cue was a Players.
 
justinb386 said:
Oh yeah, I remember the days when McDermott was a really popular cue (and I am sure that it still is, but probably not as much as it was in the 90's). Most of the production cues are being made in China these days, and I bet that a large % of the league players are playing with a Chinese import. Most of McDermotts cues are being made in China now (like the Star line for example, http://www.mcdermottcue.com/star_pool_cues.php), but they do still have a standard line of cues (that are much higher in price) that are being made here in the US. I do not know, but I bet that most of the league players are playing with either a Mcdermott, Meucci, or a Viking. The players that can afford to spend more money (much more money) are probably mostly using a Predator, or a Schon. Oh, I can't believe that I forgot about Joss. Joss cues have always been a big name among pool players, and they have always been made right here in the USA (and have always been top of the line, right under Schon cues, in my opinion). So, a lot of league players that can't afford a Schon, are probably using a Joss. To be honest, I really do not know what I am talking about. I have not played league since the early 2000's (and I only played for 2 seasons), but I assume that it is still about the same as it was back then (McDermott, Meucci, Viking, Joss, and Schon are all popular cues among league players, which make up probably 95% of the pool scene in the US I am guessing). The best player in the US (maybe even the world), Shane Van Boening, uses a Cuetec, but I imagine that Cuetec cues are not all that popular just because he uses their cues. Any really serious player is going to buy something like a Joss or a Schon, I think. I do not know, I might be wrong, but I am not going to buy a Cuetec R-360, just because SVB is using one (but I imagine many of the newbie players probably do).
Click to expand...

Up here in WI were many cue manufacturers are based Viking, McDermott, Jacoby, Schon, are probably the most popular cues used. I don't see many people buying the Chinese Stars and Lucky's. Predator is popular but really only in a break cues, not players.
 
Around here you rarely see a Meucci anymore. The long ferrule and whippy shafts have definitely fallen out of favour, with only the veterans who are too old to get used to anything new holding on to their old Meuccis. Joss, McDermotts and even Huebler still have a limited following, with the McDermott by far being the most popular of those. Mezz has taken over for Predator the last 5 or so years, as the premium production cue, allthough Predator still is very common. They dominated the market here completely for a while.

For the last 8-10 years the trend has been ever stiffer cues, smaller ferrules and longer cues as well. Cues that do not conform to this, usually gets retrofitted with ld-shafts of various types. Even expensive customs get ld-shafts put on them, which I think is nuts.

.
 
Last edited:
One of best playing cues I've ever used is my McDermott C-14 that I bought new and still have. I've turned down plenty of offers from people wanting to buy it. I've been offered ten times what I paid for it new.
 
Cues with Malachite and Turquoise seem to be out of favor, as are cues with linen wraps. Seems everyone wants either wrapless or leather these days. Also, purpleheart forearms seem to kill most sales, and I hardly ever see snakewood used in a cue these days like I used to back in the '90s.
 
I have a couple of Schon's that I would be happy to sell. My McDermott, M 11B (hustler) will stay. Some McDermott models have a very loyal following.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top