Bludworth Cues

D

Dawgie

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was reading through some threads and a guy asked about the value of custom cue makers. A few guys gave their opinions on the top 10 cue makers and also made the comment that a lot of guys don't care for the Bludworth Cues.

My question is - what's not to like? I think he makes a good cue with good design.
 
He does make a damm good cue with good designs.
He also backs them up 100%
Blud is a straight up guy to deal with and has been around for a long time.
 
I own a Bludworth custom sneaky and I like it. The finish is awesome and the hit to me I feel is medium hard and plays fairly stiff. It's light and keeps your stroke in tune. Leonard Bludworth also is a good communicator when you want to do business he'll promptly return your emails. I posted it for sale here and only got a half dozen or tire kickers. I think I'll keep it, but still looking for the right Jensen to try.

Larry
 
I have had a ton of Bludworth cues. All of them were extremely great players...a firm, consistent hit, and they are well made. I have had good luck moving them...usually, I pick some up from Joe Salazar at every event. They are especially popular down south when I go home (Alabama) once or twice a year.
Joe
 
I am playing pool now for about 15 years and once was a league player in germany. I now play with a bem bluegrass and everbody knows how good they play. The cue i used before for about 8 years is a Bludworth custom and i still love to play with it. In my opinion a bludworth plays better than most other cues (but indeed not all) on the market, the only thing i don`t like about them is the cnc made points and inlays. I prefer my cues strictly handmade.
David.
 
Integrale said:
the only thing i don`t like about them is the cnc made points and inlays. I prefer my cues strictly handmade.
David.
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all custom cues are "hand made" in the same manner. the use of CNC controlled machines to do the pocketing/part cutting, shaft turning ect.... has nothing to due with it. if any maker is pocketing, inlaying, turning ect.. they're most likely doing so with the same cutters and tools as all makers no matter what machine is holding them be it a pantomill, dremel or vertical/horizontal milling machines that are hand cranked or electric motor, computer controlled or not. what separates the elite makers is their construction method, design, detail and finishing work put into their cues not the tools they use to create them.
 
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skins said:
all custom cues are "hand made" in the same manner. the use of CNC controlled machines to do the pocketing/part cutting, shaft turning ect.... has nothing to due with it. if any maker is pocketing, inlaying, turning ect.. they're most likely doing so with the same cutters and tools as all makers no matter what machine is holding them be it a pantomill, dremel or vertical/horizontal milling machines that are hand cranked or electric motor, computer controlled or not. what separates the elite makers is their construction method, design, detail and finishing work put into their cues not the tools they use to create them.
Click to expand...
tap, tap, tap.
 
skins said:
all custom cues are "hand made" in the same manner. the use of CNC controlled machines to do the pocketing/part cutting, shaft turning ect.... has nothing to due with it. if any maker is pocketing, inlaying, turning ect.. they're most likely doing so with the same cutters and tools as all makers no matter what machine is holding them be it a pantomill, dremel or vertical/horizontal milling machines that are hand cranked or electric motor, computer controlled or not. what separates the elite makers is their construction method, design, detail and finishing work put into their cues not the tools they use to create them.
Click to expand...
Sorry for the misunderstanding, what i meant, is that i like my cues not made with cnc equipment, especialy the points, i prefer them short or full spliced, maybe it was my bad english.
Regards, David
 
Blud

I have played briefly with his cues and I think they are well made, and play well.

My problem was when I called and talked to him he was a complete a$$hole and proceded to tell me he was the best cuemaker and if i wanted a "pretty" cue I should go somewhere else as their cues played terrible...and on and on and on and on.

For a while there he seemed like Earl Stricklins long lost cousin as he went on some kind of tirate.

Frankly, there are too many great cuemakers out there to make me deal with blud.

Ken
 
I Have Bluds and I love Em!

My wife will only play with a Blud! I have 3 of them and they all play well.
Leonard is quite a character and unique in that not only does he make fine cues, he made the machinery they are made on himself, by scratch! He buys aluminum stock, mills it, drills it, adds the motors and sets it up.The shaft/ butt machine and the three axis CNC machine that cuts the pockets and inlays! All made by da Blud. There are a lot of cue makers that use his machines. He trained a lot of these guys. Love him or hate him, he has contributed more to cue building than most.
Purdman

MY BLUDS
 
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Not the same

skins said:
all custom cues are "hand made" in the same manner. the use of CNC controlled machines to do the pocketing/part cutting, shaft turning ect.... has nothing to due with it.
Click to expand...

That is certainly not the case. The forearm construction of a cue with CNC'd points is entirely different from one that has been hand spliced with veneers. Take a look at the cross section and you'll see an entirely different wood composition. A CNC'd forearm consists almost entirely of the forearm material (maple, ebony, etc.) However, a hand spliced forearm when viewed where it attaches to the handle, is only about 50% of the forearm material, and 50% of the veneer and point material. Also, a CNC'd cue isn't actually spliced at all, it's inlayed, which means that no stiffness is added to the forearm by the glued splice. A CNC'd (inlayed) forearm is actually more flexible. Anyway, not even close to the same...
 
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Mr Hoppe said:
That is certainly not the case. The forearm construction of a cue with CNC'd points is entirely different from one that has been hand spliced with veneers. Take a look at the cross section and you'll see an entirely different wood composition. A CNC'd forearm consists almost entirely of the forearm material (maple, ebony, etc.) However, a hand spliced forearm when viewed where it attaches to the handle, is only about 50% of the forearm material, and 50% of the veneer and point material. Also, a CNC'd cue isn't actually spliced at all, it's inlayed, which means that no stiffness is added to the forearm by the glued splice. A CNC'd (inlayed) forearm is actually more flexible. Anyway, not even close to the same...
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More demonstation of not knowing a thing about machinery, and on top of that, telling a guy that works on the machines what is what! You are abysmally confused, and I guarantee you that their are many cue makers using CNC that you would not think are, making cues with it that you think can only be made in other ways.

The FACT of the matter is that you can make anything you have ever seen in a cue with CNC, but it would be very difficult to make some of things things more easily made with CNC without it.
 
Mr Hoppe said:
That is certainly not the case. The forearm construction of a cue with CNC'd points is entirely different from one that has been hand spliced with veneers. Take a look at the cross section and you'll see an entirely different wood composition. A CNC'd forearm consists almost entirely of the forearm material (maple, ebony, etc.) However, a hand spliced forearm when viewed where it attaches to the handle, is only about 50% of the forearm material, and 50% of the veneer and point material. Also, a CNC'd cue isn't actually spliced at all, it's inlayed, which means that no stiffness is added to the forearm by the glued splice. A CNC'd (inlayed) forearm is actually more flexible. Anyway, not even close to the same...
Click to expand...
That would be true for flat-bottom points but v-points can be cnc'd too as shown here at DZ's site.
http://dzcues.com/images/videos/V-cut 6point.wmv
 
http://www.arnotq.com/pages/630/630.html

This is by far and away the best article describing the CNC/"Handmade" discussions.

As far as I'm concerned you can't judge a cue simply by the construction of the points. Look at cuemakers such as Joe Gold and Keith Josey. Not many people are going to argue that their cues play fantastic yet most of their cues are CNC inlays. Another huge factor in cues is the fact that many of the cues who use spliced points are coring the forearms anyways. On top of that the joint pin, joint collar, shaft insert, coring material, shaft taper, tip, ferrule etc all play a MAJOR role in how the cue will play. I think both technology and technique have reached the point where you can't say one style is better than another all the time. Put the cue in your hands and try it out.

Thats my view
Dave
 
JoeyInCali said:
That would be true for flat-bottom points but v-points can be cnc'd too as shown here at DZ's site.
http://dzcues.com/images/videos/V-cut 6point.wmv
Click to expand...

Joey your right. once again another one comes out of the wood work and it's obvious to most cue makers this person doesn't have a clue. CNC has nothing to do with it. just for those who don't get it and "Mr Hoppe" seems to be one of them, CNC is NOT a machine. it is a protocol computer language to CONTROL an electric motor driven machine. any machine built that has the ability to use this protocol uses the SAME cutting, threading and milling TOOLS as ANY other non computer controlled machines. it's not, that you use a machine that is controlled by CNC but what you do with it that matters. some makers who use machines that are fitted with CNC controllers do so because allot of the work they do is too intricate to do in any other way without massive headaches, time and money or they just desire more accuracy. heres a short list of those who would fall into that category:

Joel Herceck
Dennis Searing
Bob Manzino
Tony Sciannella (Black Boar)
Jerry McWorter
Richard Black
Mike Bender
Richard Chudy
Paul Mottey
Jim White
Tim Scruggs
Paul Drexler
Leonard Bludworth
Joe Gold (Cognoscenti)
of course Keith Josey.....among many others and some that most would not even believe use the CNC protocol for some of their work ( i'm sworn to secrecy :) ).

some may still use older machinery not fitted with CNC to make the parts for their splices and do a great job but it doesn't matter as the results would be similar either way. just to make another point perfectly clear ALL "short spliced" forearms are hand inlaid, veneers/prongs whether or not the cutting was done using CNC controlled machines or not. oh and by the way if you think that a "full splice" of "short splice" forearm adds to the betterment of playability, call up Ernie Gutierrez and Bill Stroud and have them give their opinion.
 
YEA!!!! "Mr Hoppe" saw to giving my post #10 a negative rep....my first EVER on this site. WOW i lasted that long, all those positive reps and now this. well it was bound to happen i guess. it must be because i don't know what i'm talking about :rolleyes:
 
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