Balabushka's Technique

Matt_24

Matt_24

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm just curious what Balabushka's technique was for doing inlay? I don't think he had a pantograph, did he?

Did Bushka ever make his own points, or did he always contract those? (Not that there was anything wrong w/ Spain or Szamboti...or whatever other points he happened to use)

It was pretty cool that he thought to add guitar inlays to cues. Was he the first to do this and others took his innovation and ran with it?

I'm just thinking of this because I saw another thread with a Balabushka cue and the inlays weren't...perfect....but man, what fantastic old cues.
 
Matt_24 said:
I'm just curious what Balabushka's technique was for doing inlay? I don't think he had a pantograph, did he?

Did Bushka ever make his own points, or did he always contract those? (Not that there was anything wrong w/ Spain or Szamboti...or whatever other points he happened to use)

It was pretty cool that he thought to add guitar inlays to cues. Was he the first to do this and others took his innovation and ran with it?

I'm just thinking of this because I saw another thread with a Balabushka cue and the inlays weren't...perfect....but man, what fantastic old cues.
Click to expand...

To the best of my knowledge from people who knew him well, his inlaying came from making accordions and concertinas. They are traditionally adorned with a ton of MOP. I have a feeling building a pool cue did not represent much of a challenge to him.
http://www.concertinamusic.com/sbox/data/images/Star1834.jpg
 
Matt_24 said:
I'm just curious what Balabushka's technique was for doing inlay? I don't think he had a pantograph, did he?

Did Bushka ever make his own points, or did he always contract those? (Not that there was anything wrong w/ Spain or Szamboti...or whatever other points he happened to use)

It was pretty cool that he thought to add guitar inlays to cues. Was he the first to do this and others took his innovation and ran with it?

I'm just thinking of this because I saw another thread with a Balabushka cue and the inlays weren't...perfect....but man, what fantastic old cues.
Click to expand...

It was Frank Paradise who was first to inlay cues in the modern era.
He started with the readily available ones used by guitar makers.

George and Palmer both "borrowed" the idea from Frank.

Dale
 
cueaddicts said:
I suspect Bushka's technique was the same as Palmer's or Paradise's.....drill and chisel out the pockets for the inlays to fit into.

Fyi...in case people haven't seen Chris' info page on inlays. http://www.palmercollector.com/InlayPage.html
Click to expand...

There are a number of ways to do inlay. The fact that the cue is round has it's own challenges. I have several Banjos with hand done inlay that can be examined with a loupe it is so flawless. Pantographs have been around for a century or more so I am sure many instrument makers used them but the traditional way of inlaying is an incredible art.
http://www.banjomaker.net/Inlay.htm
 
macguy said:
There are a number of ways to do inlay. The fact that the cue is round has it's own challenges. I have several Banjos with hand done inlay that can be examined with a loupe it is so flawless. Pantographs have been around for a century or more so I am sure many instrument makers used them but the traditional way of inlaying is an incredible art.
http://www.banjomaker.net/Inlay.htm
Click to expand...

That is just awesome. Thanks for posting.
 
pdcue said:
It was Frank Paradise who was first to inlay cues in the modern era.
He started with the readily available ones used by guitar makers.

George and Palmer both "borrowed" the idea from Frank.

Dale
Click to expand...

Actually, Rambow made quite a few inlaid cues. In fact there is one posted on the site that is a monster. MOP inlays and was from the 30's..

I think Frank created many patterns, and styles of cues early on that were very influencial to quite a few people.

I have seen some inlays were Bushka just used a round hole for a square inlay and filled it. I am sure he didn't have just one technique and I am confident that his technique was constantly refining.

JV
 
macguy said:
There are a number of ways to do inlay. The fact that the cue is round has it's own challenges. I have several Banjos with hand done inlay that can be examined with a loupe it is so flawless. Pantographs have been around for a century or more so I am sure many instrument makers used them but the traditional way of inlaying is an incredible art.
http://www.banjomaker.net/Inlay.htm
Click to expand...

Luthier artists are ridiculous. Google Harvey Leach, I think he is the Balabushka of guitar inlay artists.

JV
 
classiccues said:
Luthier artists are ridiculous. Google Harvey Leach, I think he is the Balabushka of guitar inlay artists.

JV
Click to expand...
Cues are a much different format because of the limited area to work with and being round. Most of the type of inlay done on Guitars would be pretty much imposable on a cue stick. I think the closest you can come is maybe with scrimshaw. With scrimshaw there are no limits.

I always wondered why the cue maker seems to restrict themselves to a cue having to be round. The creation of flat areas would provide some added areas of interest for the maker trying to do something really different. Perhaps a hexagon butt sleeve.

An example of some over the top Guitar work. I am sure there are ideas to be gotten for the cue maker from this kind of work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVY_njdIXiU&feature=related
 
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