Copying customers previous shafts?

[Tommy-D]

> What your collective opinions about taking measurements of a shaft or 2 brought in by a customer,and copying the size and taper of them so the cue doesn't feel foreign to them,even though the construction of your cue and their old one might be totally different? A cue collector/broker in Memphis told me that when you buy a new cue that is totally different than your old one,that you'll get the best results if you either have the old shafts copied by the cuemaker,or try and make them as close as possible yourself. By different style cues,I mean going from a cue with a 5/16-14 piloted joint to a flat faced,big pin style,or vice versa. If a customer brought you a shaft that was measured out inch by inch,or handed you a shaft and said "here,make it just like this",how close is it possible to get,and how close should the customer reasonably expect? So far,I've heard varying opinions from the cuemakers I've talked to. Evan Clarke said forget it,even if you were able to duplicate it exactly,it would be off by the time you get it sanded out. Jerry Pechauer said it can be done all day long. Paul Drexler said that he has a range of standard tapers,but can accomodate a more discriminating customer. I tend to believe that with something like a laser scanner that is set up to provide input to a CNC,it could be possible,but what Evan said about the sanding makes sense too. What do all of you think? Tommy D.

 

[TellsItLikeItIs]

> What your collective opinions about taking measurements of a shaft or 2 brought in by a customer,and copying the size and taper of them so the cue doesn't feel foreign to them,even though the construction of your cue and their old one might be totally different? A cue collector/broker in Memphis told me that when you buy a new cue that is totally different than your old one,that you'll get the best results if you either have the old shafts copied by the cuemaker,or try and make them as close as possible yourself. By different style cues,I mean going from a cue with a 5/16-14 piloted joint to a flat faced,big pin style,or vice versa. If a customer brought you a shaft that was measured out inch by inch,or handed you a shaft and said "here,make it just like this",how close is it possible to get,and how close should the customer reasonably expect? So far,I've heard varying opinions from the cuemakers I've talked to. Evan Clarke said forget it,even if you were able to duplicate it exactly,it would be off by the time you get it sanded out. Jerry Pechauer said it can be done all day long. Paul Drexler said that he has a range of standard tapers,but can accomodate a more discriminating customer. I tend to believe that with something like a laser scanner that is set up to provide input to a CNC,it could be possible,but what Evan said about the sanding makes sense too. What do all of you think? Tommy D.

I agree with Jerry, that it can be done all day long. It can be done manually (provided one has an adjustable taper bar) or CNC. I've not had a request for it, but if I did, there would certainly be a price tag associated with it for the extra labor.

I have to wonder over Evans comment about sanding. Why would a maker ever want to sand more than a couple thousandths? Not only is sanding not a fun thing, it's difficult, if not impossible, to maintain accuracy.

Irregardless, "a new cue that is totally different than your old one" may feel close to the old one, but is not going to hit exactly the same. I believe it will still feel somewhat foreign (or at least different) to the customer.

 

[BLACKHEARTCUES]

> What your collective opinions about taking measurements of a shaft or 2 brought in by a customer,and copying the size and taper of them so the cue doesn't feel foreign to them,even though the construction of your cue and their old one might be totally different? A cue collector/broker in Memphis told me that when you buy a new cue that is totally different than your old one,that you'll get the best results if you either have the old shafts copied by the cuemaker,or try and make them as close as possible yourself. By different style cues,I mean going from a cue with a 5/16-14 piloted joint to a flat faced,big pin style,or vice versa. If a customer brought you a shaft that was measured out inch by inch,or handed you a shaft and said "here,make it just like this",how close is it possible to get,and how close should the customer reasonably expect? So far,I've heard varying opinions from the cuemakers I've talked to. Evan Clarke said forget it,even if you were able to duplicate it exactly,it would be off by the time you get it sanded out. Jerry Pechauer said it can be done all day long. Paul Drexler said that he has a range of standard tapers,but can accomodate a more discriminating customer. I tend to believe that with something like a laser scanner that is set up to provide input to a CNC,it could be possible,but what Evan said about the sanding makes sense too. What do all of you think? Tommy D.

I can take measurements every inch & get it very close by sanding...JER

 

[skins]

custom taper

Keith had a customer come in that wanted a shaft with a custom taper to match his others and Keith said ok and gave him a price. when the guy came in he didn't bring the shaft but a piece of paper with all the measurments written down by the mm along every inch of the shaft lenghth that he wanted. Keith agreed to do it and ended up doing it all by hand. it ended up exact like the cutomer wanted but it was a nightmare. i guess these things happen sometimes but the good thing is it made the guy happy so i guess it was worth it.