Ashtrays On GC1 - Yep, Changed My Mind Again . . .

Kickin' Chicken

Kickin' Chicken

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about a month ago I had my GC1 reclothed and l was very much on the fence over whether to install corner ashtrays that I've had for a while.

These were an option on early GC's and are quite nostalgic for me. Played on plenty of tables with them as a young fella and seen lots of nastiness of all kinds shoved into them. Cigs, too. :grin:

Yes, very nostalgic.

So, as luck would have it (you can decide whether good or bad), when Mr Jay Spielberg, the very talented table mechanic from New Hampshire came to do the job, there was an unfortunate problem with the cloth (def not Jay's fault). .

so he said he would come back to change the cloth when he was in the area again and today was that day.

This was no doubt a pain in the ass for Jay but he insisted on taking care of it and I'm very appreciative that he did. He's a gentleman and a total pro. :thumbup:

I made the decision that since the table was getting disassembled once again, this time I'm putting those ashtray corners on. :cool:

I'll let you all know if they get in the way. In the side pic below you can see that the ashtray is right about the same height as the rubber pocket top so I think that should make these not so bad. And the ashtray inserts do pop right out if bridging is bad on any particular shot. So, we'll see.

Thanks Jay! It was a very enjoyable visit.

best,
brian kc
 

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Kickin' Chicken said:
about a month ago I had my GC1 reclothed and l was very much on the fence over whether to install corner ashtrays that I've had for a while.

These were an option on early GC's and are quite nostalgic for me. Played on plenty of tables with them as a young fella and seen lots of nastiness of all kinds shoved into them. Cigs, too. :grin:

Yep, very nostalgic.

So, as luck would have it (you can decide whether good or bad), when Mr Jay Spielberg, the very talented table mechanic from New Hampshire came to do the job, there was an unfortunate problem with the cloth (def not Jay's fault). .

so he said he would come back to change the cloth when he was in the area again and today was that day.

This was no doubt a pain in the ass for Jay but he insisted on taking care of this and I'm very appreciative that he did. He's a gentleman and a total pro. :thumbup:

So I made the decision that since the table was getting disassembled once again, this time I'm putting those ashtray corners on and I did. :cool:

I'll let you all know if they get in the way at all. In the side pic below you will see that the ashtray is right about the same height as the rubber pocket top so I think that makes it not so bad.

Thanks Jay! It was a very enjoyable visit.

best,
brian kc
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Looks nice! Those ashtrays are a great place to stash the chalk too!
 
It was my pleasure!

Hey Brian,

Just arrived home, thanks for the compliments and kind words they are much appreciated! What I want the rest of the AZ community to understand and realize is the problem with the cloth was 100% my fault and responsibility. My assistant one the first recovery, a Chinese college student, and very nice fellow, flipped the cloth over onto my red sharpie marker that I was using to index the cloth. This caused a permanent red mark on the playing surface directly in front of the foot end corner pocket. Since I didn't have a spare Simonis 860 HR tour blue cloth with me we had to finish putting the table together and reschedule a new appointment for it to be replaced.

Now to the character of the Brian Kickin Chicken, he not only graciously excused my rookie assistants mistake, he also insisted on paying me for the job IN FULL even though the table still needed a new bed cloth put on to replace the stained one. I did try to refuse the payment until the job was done correctly, but Brian insisted we take the full payment and get this, he even tipped both of us...... WOW what a guy, I just screwed up your recovery and you pay me and give us a tip.... I've been working on pool tables for over forty years, this is a first! However, the story of Brian's decency does not end there. I had planed to go back to correct the table within a couple of weeks, trying to tie it in with other work in the area to reduce some of the travel expense, (180 miles one way from my shop) In speaking with Brian, I knew he was anxious to get the table corrected, as anyone would be. We scheduled an appointment in early October. Just before I was going to head down to do the cloth replacement, I got a call from Florida, that my Mom had fallen and broken a hip.As much as I hated to reschedule Brian's re-felt, I really had no choice. When I explained the situation to him, he's was not only cool with it, he was completely supportive and even encouraging, telling me "hope your Mom is better".

I returned home from Florida two weeks latter, to an avalanche of backed up work. Twelve new Diamonds being installed for a new pool room, numerous other recovery jobs, antique restorations that were due to be completed, along with our regular busy schedule at this time of the year. My guy's worked six days a week while I was away, but we were still very backed up. I explained the situation to Brian, and once again he was very patient and understanding. So we wound up scheduling Brian's re-felt along with a Brunswick Centennial installation I was doing in Stamford CT at Chelsea Piers sports club. This at least got me into his area.

When I arrived at Brian's house (an hour late due to a GPS foul up) he greeted me like an old friend, no anger, no frustration, no hostility.... just genuinely glad to see me. I can't begin to tell you how nice it is when a customer has every right to be pissed off and instead has complete grace and understanding, that, sometimes in life shit happens. After breaking down his table top and rails and removing the stained cloth, I realized I had no 3M 10 cement left. OMG another screw up.... Brian calmly got on the phone called Grainger in Southington CT, ordered the glue on his account, then drove me there to pick it up via all the back roads so we could make it there before they closed. ( which we did ) You know what this guy does next??? He buy's me dinner at a fabulous Thai restaurant and then insist on paying for it. On the drive back to the house we had a very nice conversation about the recent elections and rarely have I heard such a reasonable and informed perspective concerning the issues and motivations of our current political climate. Brian is definitely a very intelligent and informed guy!

I finally get the table completed, and things did come out very well. The Kickin Chicken was once again hitting balls and all was right in the world again. I'll mark this one up as one of the tougher jobs but well worth every bit of effort because I got to meet and get to know one hell of a nice guy.....

Thanks again
Jay Spielberg
A-1 Billiards
 
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i remember them well. were always in the way and a pain. and lousy to shoot over.
 
Good move Brian. I will need someplace to put my cigars while I am down playing you.

Gator boat against my Lund.

I will bring my truck with the hitch as I will need a vehicle to bring Gator boat to Saskatchewan.

Oh, and Prime Rib also.

I better get a hold of Danny and take a months worth of lessons first. Haha. Otherwise, I may be shore casting for a bit.
 
I was in the minority who wanted to see these installed on the last thread. I'm glad you went this route, it is very old school cool.

The table looks sharp.
 
kiddcutty said:
Very cool!! Would love to have someone my table!
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I imagine if you didn't, you'd be one pissed off.

Jay and the chicken, 2 awesome fellers...pretty cool.

Jay- I been home all summer. You shoulda stopped thought and had a beer.

Oh- I dig the ashtrays too. You can put your weeeeeed in it.
 

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Kickin' Chicken said:
yes sir. :wink:

best,
brian kc
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Tan chalk on tournament blue cloth? The chalk marks on the cloth will look like skid marks from tighty-whities! :p

All funnin' aside, what a wonderful read this fine morning, Brian! Jay seems like quite a character, and a hard worker that does quality work.

I have a friend in Monroe, CT, with a heritage restored Brunswick table from the 1920s, looking for a good table mechanic. Can you PM or email me Jay's contact information that I can pass along to my friend? (My friend doesn't read AZB.)

Again, thanks for sharing this wonderful story and the pics,
-Sean
 
ideologist said:
I was in the minority who wanted to see these installed on the last thread. I'm glad you went this route, it is very old school cool.

The table looks sharp.
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I was of the same opinion in the 1st thread. Those babies are cool as could be.
Brunswick was unaware at the time that they had designed perfect chalk holders.
 
Table looks great Mr. Kicken!!! Kudos to Jay too on the nice work and for taking care of the problem, we are all human, accidents happen. You sound like a very understanding person and just a plain old good all around dude. :smile:
 
Nice!!!

I was also in favor of the ashtrays on the original post.
I think they look great! Old school kool!!!! :cool:
 
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