Cue case dilemma what leather case would you purchase if

If I was going to order a leather pool cue case tomorrow it would be from

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Fugit,,,buy what you want... After all, isn't a case just something to carry your sticks in? For myself? Well...Justis!
 
OnQ Cases

Having the case of my choice I chose OnQ cases. I have a 3 x 6 all black leather and all I get are compliments when I carry this case. Garth's work is top notch and although there are many quality cases available I would choose this one over and over. www.onqcases.com
 
fdambi said:
Check out the website OnQ Cases has up. Garth makes an exceptional case. I have a custom made ON case, and it's pretty incredible. The stitching can even be customized. He's a cool guy too, and was even willing to help me get my other case fixed, which was an instroke case. He's considerate to do business with, offers an amazing case, and probably isn't as expensive as some of the other guys out there. He can do all the different designs, but I think his are a little more modern and not as out of style as most of the stuff out there right now. I get tons of compliments on the case, and would never consider any other brand, and I have tried many.
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I also have a OnQ case. It is my favorite. Next is my tooled leather Instroke that was German Made. I won a $200 shopping spree from the Inside Pool forum. Since there was nothing that I wanted I added some money to it and bought another Instroke that was also tooled leather. No where near the quality of the one that was made in Germany. The leather looked as if it was recycled and the hardware looks cheaper. Really disappointed. Instrokes don't cost as much as the OnQ and is still one of the best cases on the market, too bad that they had to cheapen them up.

I have seen the Whitten cases they are nice but for the money I will buy another OnQ.
 
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back when i was a hippie bum i had my mom crochet one for me. it was a winner that unfortunately went up in smoke.
 
TheBook said:
I also have a OnQ case. It is my favorite. Next is my tooled leather Instroke that was German Made. I won a $200 shopping spree from the Inside Pool forum. Since there was nothing that I wanted I added some money to it and bought another Instroke that was also tooled leather. No where near the quality of the one that was made in Germany. The leather looked as if it was recycled and the hardware looks cheaper. Really disappointed. Instrokes don't cost as much as the OnQ and is still one of the best cases on the market, too bad that they had to cheapen them up.

I have seen the Whitten cases they are nice but for the money I will buy another OnQ.
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A little history. I want to clear up a misconception that floats around. The Instroke production cases were never made in Germany. Never.

They were made in the Czech Republic in a factory called Kozak Leather Goods.

I designed them and worked with the factory to build cases to my standards.

The Instroke cases that were tooled during that time and probably still are done by a Czech workshop that specializes in tooling. They do nice work.

When I split with the Germans to form Instroke USA I had no one to tool the cases. So in a similar fashion to Jack Justis I bought all the books and videos on tooling and had the Taiwanese learn to tool.

The first efforts were credible but less than spectacular. Over the years however they have become pretty good in my opinion and I have seen some incredible work come out of the shop in Taiwan.

The Instroke (or Stroke cases in the USA) do feature nice tooling if they are still being done by the same shop in the Czech Republic.

There was no intention by me or Taiwan to cheapen the cases at all. The only intention was to learn to do world class tooling and apply it to the cases. Now there are differences of opinion as to whether the Instroke cases from Europe are better than the ones from Taiwan.

My opinion is this: Technically the ones from Taiwan are the better case. Aesthetically the ones from Europe have the edge. Why? Because the Europeans have a 100 year history of leather goods production behind them. If the Europeans were to come to Taiwan then they would be able to produce the same quality in look and feel. I am sure of that. But all in all the Taiwanese under my direction have done a pretty good job as well and the cases are world class.

In the world of case making various things have been "outsourced" to others at various times. Often we work with others to achieve that which we cannot do in-house. Jack works with Ron Ross to get Sheridan carving for his cases, he has some designs lasered by an outside shop. We have various toolers, each with their own style, who do work for us. This is a practice that extends to every producer of goods big or small on Earth. Only the smallest minority truly can and do everything completely in-house. And their prices generally reflect that investment.

A fine cue case is a collaboration of much input from many hands. Whether it is the idea or pattern that another casemaker came up with or the decorative work that adorns the case to the imagination of the customer who orders it, there are many folks involved in the creation.

We all have different ways to make them - Jack does fantastic work in a laundry room. My first shop was a small basement store room that was only 5 feet wide. (well actually, the first "shop" was a sewing machine in the attic powered by an extension cord and about a foot of extra space.)

I don't know what kind of studio Jim Murnak has but whether he himself does the work or not the results are beautiful cases.

I guess I got off track a little. The point being that we all follow different but similar paths. My intent was never to make a cheaper product and I have always strove to make them better with each production cycle. And I want to sincerely apologize for any Instroke cases that were purchased while I was there that have given anyone the feeling that we were cutting corners.

John
 
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John Barton!!!!!!!!!

When your cases were made in Europe they were fine. I bought one of the first ones I ever saw. Great case! The Asian cases pretty weak. Get out the wood-chipper!!!!!!!!
Pinocchio
 
Pinocchio said:
When your cases were made in Europe they were fine. I bought one of the first ones I ever saw. Great case! The Asian cases pretty weak. Get out the wood-chipper!!!!!!!!
Pinocchio
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Well, hopefully that will change now that I am at the source and overseeing everything.

I think the best way to say it would be to say that the cases were best when "I" was there to control the production.

I am on top of it now and I think anyone who gets my current work will be quite pleased.
 
?????John Barton

Let me help you get a little plug in John. What would a case like the one you pictured in this post with the tooling on the back sell for in American dollars? Thanks
Pinocchio
 
Pinocchio said:
Let me help you get a little plug in John. What would a case like the one you pictured in this post with the tooling on the back sell for in American dollars? Thanks
Pinocchio
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$750 including shipping.
 
!!!!!!John Barton

With Swifts at $300, Murnaks at $400 an Justis at under $450 an your Asian case at $750 that looks like a tough sell to me. You must be shooting at the elite market. I just couldn't justify putting my $200 Muchie in a $750 house. Good luck with sales
Pinocchio
 
Pinocchio said:
With Swifts at $300, Murnaks at $400 an Justis at under $450 an your Asian case at $750 that looks like a tough sell to me. You must be shooting at the elite market. I just couldn't justify putting my $200 Muchie in a $750 house. Good luck with sales
Pinocchio
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:-) Yeah I sort of figured that you were going to do something like this. But hey it's cool. Thanks for the chance to respond and tell everyone what a JB Case is about.

My John Barton Cue Cases are each one of a kind masterpieces. And since each one I have made so far has sold within one day of listing it - including this one which was sold before I listed it, I have to conclude that there are plenty of folks who appreciate fine things.

The first time I showed up in the USA with my Instroke cases, the one of a kinds, not the mass produced ones, I was getting $4-500 for my VINYL cases and this was in 1993.

I am not shooting at any market - I am just building cases and putting them up for sale. If they sell, great, if they don't great.

There are hundreds of styles of cases in the lower price range for folks who have less expensive cues and don't want to spend much on a case. My cases are about expression, my artistic expression, my customer's, and my team's.

But since you want to make price comparisons, my cases do start at $400. And believe me there is an awful lot of "CUSTOM" that one gets for $400. The only time the price starts going up is when I have to start doing a lot more work, such as full length tooling, hand stitching, and so on. Want your pockets a certain length? No extra charge. Want your name tooled on the case? No extra charge. Want your name tooled with flowers and dragons around it? That will cost extra.

When you get into the realm of custom cases it isn't really a cost comparison anymore anyway. It's a matter of getting what you want at a price that you feel comfortable with. Sometimes people have to make compromises and go with a casemaker's particular style even if they aren't fully comfortable with it. For JB Cases I will do anything that I possibly can do and have no line of cases, no set patterns, no restrictions other than imagination.

And we all know that for those who have unlimited imagination they often find a way to procure what they want. If that happens to be a JB Case then I know that there will be one more happy pool player on earth when they get it.
 
I guess my feeling is, you should get what you really want the first time. When ever I buy something because it is cheaper, I end up wishing I had gone first class and bought the item I REALLY wanted and be done with it. A case will last you a life time, so buy what you want and can afford.
I bought several cases, good cases, but always wanted a Justis, so finally I bought one, it would have been a lot cheaper if I had just bought the one I really wanted 10 years ago and be done with it.

John, I got the impression you are running Instroke now, as well as your other businesses, is that true.
 
I think what John meant when he said something like .... now that I'm running things... was that he is now running things at JB Cases. He's there and in charge and able to keep a close eye on things.
 
poolandpokerman said:
I guess my feeling is, you should get what you really want the first time. When ever I buy something because it is cheaper, I end up wishing I had gone first class and bought the item I REALLY wanted and be done with it. A case will last you a life time, so buy what you want and can afford.
I bought several cases, good cases, but always wanted a Justis, so finally I bought one, it would have been a lot cheaper if I had just bought the one I really wanted 10 years ago and be done with it.

John, I got the impression you are running Instroke now, as well as your other businesses, is that true.
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No I am not running Instroke. I guess it can read that way. I am only doing my thing and doing product design, development and quality control for Sterling Gaming.

Both Instrokes - The German one and the Taiwan one are dong their own thing. Both make great cases in my opinion with a lot of value.

I don't think that anyone can really go wrong these days with a case. I have seen cases go from only half good to great in the last decade and a half.

When I came on the scene cases were mostly an afterthought. Flowers and Justis were tubes covered in felt and sealed with masking tape. If you hit them too hard on the side they would change shape.

I honestly believe that my constant harping about protection, construction, and quality has pushed a lot of casemakers to make a better case. I believe that the copies have been forced to get better just to keep up. So that now as with cues, it's hard to buy a "bad" one and there are lots of good choices.

Basically in the last ten years there have been a lot of great strides in pool and pool equipment - here I go off track again - and cases are no exception. There are now more casemakers, more brands, and a generally good level of quality. There are plenty of decent cues and lots of GREAT ones. Instructors roam the country, there is more instruction archived online than one can absorb in a lifetime, we have PPV matches streamed on the net. Other than the absence of a coherent American Pro Tour - it's great in pool right now.

So yeah, the consumer has a great array of choices for a custom case and can either shop til they drop and get exactly what they want or they can find plenty of less expensive and exhaustive choices that suit their needs.

I feel you on the buying low quality and regretting it. When I take the time to compare and analyze I am almost always happy with my choice and never regret it. But when I buy on impulse or compromise then it almost always costs me more money and frustration.
 
I do enjoy you posts John, and just wanted to clarify and not give the people the wrong info on Instroke. You have done a lot for pool and the case business as well. Thanks for all the info you supply this forum.
 
I am personally very impressed with the new cue cases that Mr. Barton is building after looking at the (3) examples of his recent work on his new line of cue cases on his web-site.

I also have a friend who has on of the early (made in europe) Instroke with zippers, and no spin locks. That case has withstood years of use, and still looks good, and the zippers work fine after 15 years plus of use.

Last I will say that I think Mr. Barton is being candid and honest to those who have hit him with honest questions about his current line of cases, and Instroke when he owned it, and Instroke today.

Personally I see zero reason that several members have chose to attach Mr. Barton or his product.

I like the fact that Mr. Barton like several like other cue makers, case makers, and small dealers who come to this sit to offer their product for sale, or show their latest creations to this site members.

That fact is the reason I stop by and check out what is new, and what is for sale by the site members, and member who are also cue makers, case makers, and small dealers.
 
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