He started around 70' but wasn't very well known till after George's passing in 75'.
Balabushka?... uhhh, Judges?
- Thread starter Runner
- Start date
He started around 70' but wasn't very well known till after George's passing in 75'.
Well, I wasn't too far off then. My main aim is hoarding Bushkas and Szambotis at @ 100.00 apiece and then dumping them back in the here-n-now on grateful collectors at @ 3,000.00 ( and up ) each! Financial planning!
This must be one of the ugliest cues I've ever seen.
If you looke closely, the joint to shaft is not even flush.
The linnen wrap is a desaster, color-wise. It really needs black.
The tips are probably also 30 years old, from how they look.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/b64AAOSwxfdat~Tw/s-l1600.jpg
And one of my best sentences for buying used (from "collectors"):
Don't mistake rareness for greatness.
But cheerio for you - I'd be rather careful.
M
If you looke closely, the joint to shaft is not even flush.
The linnen wrap is a desaster, color-wise. It really needs black.
The tips are probably also 30 years old, from how they look.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/b64AAOSwxfdat~Tw/s-l1600.jpg
And one of my best sentences for buying used (from "collectors"):
Don't mistake rareness for greatness.
But cheerio for you - I'd be rather careful.
M
Yeah, and don't forget Gibson and Fender electric guitars from 1954 to, say 1964.
Forget the cues, you could retire on just selling vintage '58-'60 Gibson Les Pauls:thumbup:
https://www.fool.com/investing/gene...rdinary-story-of-americas-most-successfu.aspx
One dollar invested in this company in 1968 was worth $6,638 in 2015.
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Check... I'm off the cues, then. I'll pick up some Bushka and a few Szambotis just for me and a few friends and I'll hit the music stores big-time for Les Pauls, Les Paul Juniors and Les Paul Melody Makers!
I am definitely going to need a bigger boat.
Welll, at this point I want to address a few comments from this site. If you don’t know who commissioned the Golden Balabushka, you might want to reconsider the mocking.
Harvey Mason, father of professional player Joann Mason Parker, commisied and worked with George for a year on the Gold Cue cue. I’m happy to say that as far as I know, I’m the only cue writer he’s given the full story. I will publish that story in the next few months, giving the details of how that cue, what is now known as the Golden Balabushka, came to be.
Harvey and Irene Mason are very much alive, retired in Deerfield Beach, FL. That area isn’t some kind of catch-all eBay scam county, as was implied on this site.
Joann Mason (‘94 US Open Champion), who is about my age, still clearly remembers going to George’s shop over that year during the build of the Gold Cue. She still seemed genuinely excited when telling me abou the cue, the journey with George, and her father in general. Her mom, Irene, actually told me her side of the story about the Gold Cue before Harvey did. I talked to Harvey later, and he filled in many more details, all the while with Irene in the background trying to correct him. Wonderful story from a wonderful NYC couple. What a pleasure talking to them.
In other words, Harvey Mason isn’t just some guy. He’s one of two NYC professional caliber players that were close to George and his work throughout his career (Gene Nagy, with whom I also spent hours on the phone talking about George, is the other), and is the man that commissioned the most unique Balabushka cue ever known.
That’s who is auctioning the eBay cue in the original post.
Freddie <~~~ amazed
Check
Yep, don't forget dot inlay ES-335's, Flying V's and Explorers! Oh, and '52-'53 Telecasters and custom color Strats! Hah!
If you're taking Time Machine orders, I'll take a plain four point 'Bushka, a '57 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, and a '63 Split Window Corvette... fuel injected 4-speed, of course!
I'll pay the finder's fee...:thumbup:
Yep, don't forget dot inlay ES-335's, Flying V's and Explorers! Oh, and '52-'53 Telecasters and custom color Strats! Hah!
If you're taking Time Machine orders, I'll take a plain four point 'Bushka, a '57 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, and a '63 Split Window Corvette... fuel injected 4-speed, of course!
I'll pay the finder's fee...:thumbup:
Forget a bigger boat and a time machine, I'm gonna opt for leasing Dr. Who's Tardis. It looks small from outside but you ever been in it??? It's GIGANTIC! Yeah, I'm in.
Check and, check... But I'm getting a 67, solid back window, 427, DOHC, for myself. Black. Wire wheels. Foe on the floe with a pistol-grip shifter. Ohhhh yeah. :grin-square:
That’s why out of sheer boredom I bid up to $3500...shouldn’t have taken that last bite of a chocolate rabbit :thud:
Excellent. I look forward to seeing the full story.
The question is whether or not the cue presented is a genuine GB.
There are some unusual features. Personally, I am not qualified to say. Few are. If it is a GB we could at least suspect at least one shaft is not original as the pilots are different.
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The eBay “Balabushka” that Harvey Mason is auctioning has its own story. I definitely am looking forward to finding out more of it.
As you said earlier, we’ll see it pop up sometime down the road.
Freddie <~~~ sharpening the pencil
so, just how rare of a bird is that cue.
i wish he had been able to get every penny out of it.
i wish he had been able to get every penny out of it.
When you wrote
“but spending thousands on a GB requires more than the seller's word unless the seller is one of a handful of people...”
I couldn’t help but think that Harvey Mason would qualify as one of two or three people on my handful list.
My unqualified suspicion: It’s a Brunswick Hoppe that someone broke. Twice. The first fix was done by George, the only cuesmith in the area at the time, putting a bumper on and making a shaft. The word on the street is that George did do that (a bumper here, a shaft there on a Hoppe) and a partial ‘bushka is born. Whether that’s collectible to someone is up to the collector.
Freddie <~~~ can write some serious fanfic based on a photo
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One of the things I did wonder is if it might have been a repair done by GB. That would perhaps fit what we see.
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How about one more for comparison?
Attachments
..and the wannabe cue detectives get schooled...again... I love these threads when these cues come up...
JV
JV
Sorry, but a Hoppe that was repaired by George does not make it a Bushka. And as for wannabe's, as was opined earlier, I certainly wouldn't put some members in that category, who gave an opinion on this cue. The flaws were obvious.
All the best,
WW
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A repaired Hoppe isn't a GB regardless of who did the repair and while it's good to know the possible backstory behind it and the seller's background, the seller could have shown a little more customer service relative to the cue and those interested in it - just my .02. I was sincerely interested in purchasing it - just wanted some authentication and was fairly quickly dismissed. No harm, no foul at the end of the day.
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Exactly why I said it’s up to the collector to determine whether it’s collectible. Whether you want to poo poo someone else’s desire for this particular cue has no bearing on that guy who bought it and why he wanted it. I’m guessing the guy who bought it knows way more about Balabushkas and this particular cue.
I think everyone got the obvious flaws. Does that mean everyone is a true expert, or just experts on the obvious?
What made this cue unique and intriguing was the not obvious, apparently. I would have thought any expert on Balabushka would have had more to say on the very special seller, Harvey Mason.
Freddie <~~~ not an expert on Balabushka Cues