ATTN: Cue Makers. Cue Build Off starting for Charity

[Lazerrus]

*******BUILD OFF IS NOW FULL! THANKS TO ALL BUILDERS & JUDGES WHO SIGNED UP*******


I am looking for 6 to 8 cue makers who would be willing to participate in a new cue build off. I have been contacted with interest in putting this together so after careful thought and design I have decided to get it started. I have outlined below the Cue Build Off for Charity. Please read through all details. I am looking for 6 to 8 participants. If you would like to participate please PM me and if enough builders show interest then it will be off and running. This is for a great cause and a lot of fun for the AZ community. Thank you in advance for all interest. I will post updates in this thread as to how many builders have signed on. But not who

Cue build off:

1. Plain Jane cue with one shaft no points or inlay work.
2. Woods of choice from BEM or Curly Maple or Cocoblo or any combination of the three.
3. Butt cap of choice.
4. Joint of choice.
5. Wrapped or wrapless. If wrapped then wrap of choice.
6. Pin of choice.
7. Bumper or bumperless.
8. Ferrule and tip of choice.
9. As close to 19oz as possible.
10. Cue must contain forearm, handle, butt sleeve, butt cap.
11. No Low Deflection shafts from another company.
12. No custom Joint Protectors.
13. Shaft taper of choice.
14. Ringwork is allowed at any or all joint positions on the cue and this is where each cue maker can ad their own imagination and personal touch. Any materials may be used for ring work.
15. No logos or signature to keep cues anonymous.


Grading scale of 1 to 5 stars:

Graded upon:

1. Feel of hit.
2. Cue ball action and deflection.
3. Balance and weight.
4. Appearance before inspection
5. Fit and Finish
6. Overall impression

The operation:

1. Cue build deadline is Jan 31 2011.
2. Cues will be collected by me and they will tour in a 10x10 hard shell case.
3. 10 to 12 selected respectable AZ members will be cast as judges and will be responsible for shipping fed ex to the next judge with tracking and insurance submitted to next judge and to myself.
4. 12 judgment forms will be submitted to be filled out and signed. Each form will be mailed to me standard mail for collection after each judgment so the next judge will not see how the cues have already been judged.
5. Each Judge will have a two week time frame once they receive the cues to examine and try and judge and then ship to next judge.
6. After all judges have completed their judging the cues will then return to me and winner will be announced with the photo posting of all judgment forms on AZ.
7. Cues will then be raffled together as a lot for charity in the AZ raffle section.
8. Winning Cue Maker gets to choose the charity of his choice for the funds to go to.
9. Receipt of funds (minus cost of shipping to raffle winner) delivered to chosen charity will be provided and posted on AZ.
10. I WILL NOT BE PARTICIPATING IN THE JUDGING.
11. All participating cue makers will be kept anonymous from the AZ community and fellow participants until after the build off is complete.
12. A video and photos of the cues will be posted on AZ at the beginning of the build off for all to see.
13. All participating cue makers will be AZ members.
14. All judges will be USA AZ members due to shipping.
15. I will be supplying the case.

 

[Lazerrus]

Looks like we have 3 builders already signed on. Stay tuned.:thumbup:

 

[Lazerrus]

I was asked how I will determine the judges. This my reply.

Good question. There a few that I have already chosen and will pm them to see if they are interested. These are long time members. If you would like to be a judge you must have at least 5 itrader with 0 negative itrader. Also like it says in the post a judge must be willing to accept the condition of the shipping fees to the next judge.

 

[cueman]

What is the charity the money will go to?

 

[Lazerrus]

What is the charity the money will go to?

Hi Chris. The charity is the choice of the winning builder.

 

[Lazerrus]

UPDATE! We have 6 builders confirmed so far. Thanks to all of them! Keep em coming want to get to 8

 

[Lazerrus]

UPDATE TO BUILDERS: I have been asked by a builder about the three woods listed if that is what the ring work has to be made of. The answer is No. The three woods are for the primary pieces. Forearm, handle if wrapless, and butt sleeve. The ring work,joint,butt cap,collars etc can be any material the builder chooses. Any combination of those three woods can be used. All the same or a mixture is up to the builder. The ring work can be as fancy or as plain as he chooses.

 

[Lazerrus]

7 Builders confirmed! Need 1 more. If any builder not already in wants to be an alternate let me know just in case some can't complete. Although that would mean as an alternate you may want to still build a cue just in case to be ready:grin-square:

 

[Buster8001]

Hi Chris. The charity is the choice of the winning builder.

That is pretty bad ass.:thumbup:

Josh

 

[BlowFish]

This will be well received just like the original build-off. Wish you all the success in this endeavor. Sent you a PM.

 

[Lazerrus]

BUILD OFF IS NOW FULL. THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL PARTICIPATING BUILDERS. GOOD LUCK GENTLEMEN AND HAPPY BUILDING.

JUDGES. TO THOSE THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN SELECTED AND TO THOSE THAT WILL BE SELECTED YOUR PARTICIPATION IS APPRECIATED. PLEASE KEEP YOUR STATUS AS A JUDGE A SECRET TILL THE CUES ARE IN.

THANK YOU EVERYONE THIS SHOULD BE GREAT AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE BUILDS!:thumbup:

 

[sliprock]

As a participant in the first build-off, I'd suggest that you read through the build-off thread and from there you can automatically disqualify some potential judges. There was a lot of work done by the builders,Shawn and Eric to make the first buildoff a success and IMO, the "judges" tarnished the whole process. For some reason, many either chose not to post reviews or their reviews were very weak and gave little feedback to the builders involved. Had all the judges taken the build-off as seriously as someone like John Biddle, and a few others, it would have been a success in my eyes. As it turned out, I wasn't impressed.

Choose your judges wisely, and this can be alot of fun. If the judges can't commit to taking the process seriously, then they should stay out of the way. Your choice of judges, IMO, will determine whether the build-off is a success or not. Good Luck.

 

[Graciocues]

I suggest you let the builders build the cues they want. Picking the woods didn't go over last time. I didn't like when testers thought the cues looked like cheap productions. The simple cues made testers loose interest before they started.

Picking the design limits some builders. Let the builders do their thing.

 

[knifemaker]

judging cues

I agree totally with sliprock. If the judges don't have the time to judge the cues then it is a waist of the cuemakers time and talent. Just because you want to be a judge doesn't mean you will take the proper amount of time or you even have the proper amount of time to spend.
The judging process has to be specific and done right.Each cuemaker needs to have the chance to have their work judged properly. This will be a time consuming process, it isn't just hitting a couple of balls with each cue and being done. I hope this works out for the cuemakers and the charity as well. I think it is a great thing for the cuemakers to spend their time for a charity. All said the judges need to spend time and do it properly as well.
Just my 2 cents.
Knifemaker

 

[Lazerrus]

Ok it has been brought to my attention a couple of times that two weeks for judging would be better so that is what we will. Yes this is a lot of work. It's just getting under way I have been incredibly busy putting it together. It took a long time to work out the details of this event. I did reference the past build off. The cues will not all look alike that I can asure you just from what I have already heard from a few builders. If you look at the criteria for the cues you will see how I gave specific guidelines but left a little room for creativity. I can't ask cue makers to give themselves to building expensive collector cues. Keep in mind everybody that I am doing this for fun, a good cause, the cuemaker's, for us as a community and for free. So please go easy on the critiquing. There is no book on how to do this and with each one, if there are others, will get better and smoother each time. So let's enjoy seeing what our AZ builders come up with. I have a nice group of judges at the ready and I'm certain they will give good quality feedback and fair judgement. Cheers! Laz......:thumbup:

 

[Lazerrus]

I have seen a couple of under construction preliminary pics from a couple of the participating cue makers and all I can say is the judges are going to have a tough time on this one. A real nice group of different looking cue designs. :thumbup:

 

[LosOsosCues]

I think you should give yourself and the other judges at least a month the test out the cues. I dont know exactly how many judges but lets say you have 5. Judge one gets the 8 cues uses each cue for 30 mins 4 hours to total play by the judge. ships the cues the next day, day 2. two day delivery so now your on day 4 and only judge 2. judge two does exactly like judge one and now when judge 3 gets the cue its day 7. now judge three gets the cues but has family bussiness and cant spend the 4 hours needed that day and has to wait untill day 8 to judge the cues. Now when judge 4 gets the cues its day 11. Of course im assuming that all the cues will need to be shipped to every judge. Just food for thought. Best of luck and I hope it goes as well as you are hoping.

 

[Lazerrus]

So we are now into December. Holidays upon us. January 31st will be here soon enough and the cues should be rolling in soon. Stay tuned for an update.