Cues you see in your area

[cueman]

What's funny is that Danny Tibbits and Chris Hightower live just a stones throw away from me, but very little of their cues are found in the rooms near hear. Recently, i went to South Carolina to play and stopped in clemson and talked to a guy with 3 Danny T's. and 1 Hightower. And he lives in PENN. It's just a little bizzare the way things work out.

Danny hardly builds any cues and only builds high dollar ones when he does, so that is why you don't see many of his. I have been back in GA for two years and have sold maybe a dozen or so cues around Atlanta in that time. The rest went out of State. I keep hearing my cues are too expensive from some of the locals. But then I see them spend $1000 on a production Schon with about the same amount of Inlays I put in for a $1000. Pool players are funny sometimes. I remember hearing from a guy when Danny had been building cues for about a year and was selling an simple ivory inlaid cue for $400 say, "you can buy a Schon for that." Well a similar Schon would now bring about the same $400 used and Danny's used cue would bring $2500 or more. Most do not understand the value of something that is truly custom. Some of the better players around our area now use my cues, as they appreciate something that hits well and is custom made.
Chris
www.hightowercues.com

 

[SCCues]

Just out of curiosity:What custom cues do you see frequently in your area?This forum obviosly has members from a very broad geographic area and i think to a certain extent custom cuemakers enjoy more popularity in their home area so i just wondered who makes it to the hands of players where you live?ThanksM.S.

In my area (Charleston, SC) the most common cues are Tim Scruggs, Josey, Schon, Meucci, South West, Josswest, Joss East, McDermitt, Hurricane, Capone, Runde, Hunter, & Paul Mottey. There may be a couple that i've missed, but that's all i can think of right now.

SCCues

 

[GeraldG]

Danny hardly builds any cues and only builds high dollar ones when he does, so that is why you don't see many of his. I have been back in GA for two years and have sold maybe a dozen or so cues around Atlanta in that time. The rest went out of State. I keep hearing my cues are too expensive from some of the locals. But then I see them spend $1000 on a production Schon with about the same amount of Inlays I put in for a $1000. Pool players are funny sometimes. I remember hearing from a guy when Danny had been building cues for about a year and was selling an simple ivory inlaid cue for $400 say, "you can buy a Schon for that." Well a similar Schon would now bring about the same $400 used and Danny's used cue would bring $2500 or more. Most do not understand the value of something that is truly custom. Some of the better players around our area now use my cues, as they appreciate something that hits well and is custom made.
Chris
www.hightowercues.com

That's very true, Chris. I know Danny well...we've been friends for years and he lives right around the corner from me. I play with one of the very first cues he built...the 4-pointer with Ivory windows in the butt sleeve, Ivory butt plate. It was built around 1990. I don't know the exact numbers, but I don't think he's built more than 40 or so. Most of his cues are in collections and aren't really played with from what I gather from other owners. He's building another one for me now, and I'll play with it, too. They are hard to find cues...and I don't know if he'll even build any more when he finishes the 5 or 6 he's working on now. He's not taking any more orders, and hasn't for a couple of years now. It takes him a couple of years to build one.

I've seen a couple of your cues, too....very nice. I would like to eventually add one of yours to my collection, too. I haven't had an opportunity to play with one of yours, but maybe one day when you're around the Pool Room you can let me hit a couple of balls with one? It seems like I remember you trouncing me pretty good with one of them in a tournament there a couple of years ago.

 

[stolz2]

the hamster

Up here in the frozen north, the majority are Dufferins, Falcons, and Meuccis. But Layani's pop up here and there as well as a few Predator (mostly break) cues. I have a couple of Layanis, a Sheldon Lebow, J. Pechauer, WilleeCue, a Falcon, and a Barry Cameron.

Where in the north do you live? Just asking because i owned a sheldon labow cue.

Mack

 

[The Hamster]

Where in the north do you live? Just asking because i owned a sheldon labow cue.

Mack

Scarborough (suburb of Toronto) Ontario. I actually won a Lebow jump cue at a tournament in CT and asked Sheldon to build me an Sneaky Pete matching playing cue. The ivory, ebony and green malachite rings are beautiful and the quality of the curly maple is superb.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/ortelia_dave_malone/images.html

 

[ScottR]

That's very true, Chris. I know Danny well...we've been friends for years and he lives right around the corner from me. I play with one of the very first cues he built...the 4-pointer with Ivory windows in the butt sleeve, Ivory butt plate. It was built around 1990. I don't know the exact numbers, but I don't think he's built more than 40 or so. Most of his cues are in collections and aren't really played with from what I gather from other owners. He's building another one for me now, and I'll play with it, too. They are hard to find cues...and I don't know if he'll even build any more when he finishes the 5 or 6 he's working on now. He's not taking any more orders, and hasn't for a couple of years now. It takes him a couple of years to build one.

Gerald, you and I have PM'd and we still need to get together for you to give me a lesson - As I told you, I also live around the corner from you and Danny. He told me that he "thinks" he's made about 60 or 70 cues over the years. Reckon he'll let all that equipment go cheap if he's not going to make any more cues??? He sure does nice work.

 

[pharaoh68]

I live in New Jersey but right on the NY border so I play in Rockland County, New York and in the rooms I play in, I see a lot of different stuff.
Two of the owners in one room are dealers so I see a lot of cues ranging from Ken Murrell, Mike Webb, Judd Fuller, to Kirsenbrock, Szamboti, Southwest, and Ariel Carmeli just on those two guys alone. Throughout the room there is a Fanelli or two, some Tim Scruggs cues, a few more Webbs, a Judd or two, some Richard Blacks, Phillippis, Mottey, Drexler, and a lot of TNS (Tommy Migliore) cues.

 

[Hal]

I personally play with an Espiritu and break with a Sledgehammer.

 

[GeraldG]

That's very true, Chris. I know Danny well...we've been friends for years and he lives right around the corner from me. I play with one of the very first cues he built...the 4-pointer with Ivory windows in the butt sleeve, Ivory butt plate. It was built around 1990. I don't know the exact numbers, but I don't think he's built more than 40 or so. Most of his cues are in collections and aren't really played with from what I gather from other owners. He's building another one for me now, and I'll play with it, too. They are hard to find cues...and I don't know if he'll even build any more when he finishes the 5 or 6 he's working on now. He's not taking any more orders, and hasn't for a couple of years now. It takes him a couple of years to build one.

Gerald, you and I have PM'd and we still need to get together for you to give me a lesson - As I told you, I also live around the corner from you and Danny. He told me that he "thinks" he's made about 60 or 70 cues over the years. Reckon he'll let all that equipment go cheap if he's not going to make any more cues??? He sure does nice work.

Hi Scott,
Yeah, we do need to get together...I'm not sure who will be giving lesson and who'll be getting them, though. Shoot me a PM when you get ready...I'll be in North Carolina this weekend.

I'm not real sure how many cues Danny has made over the years...just doing the math based on the number he usually turns out every year, it could be anywhere from 40 to 70. Sometimes he makes more in a year than others...usually not more than about 6, though. He plans to continue building cues, but at an even more reduced rate. He's just not taking any more orders right now until he gets his backlog caught up. He still does a lot of repair work...that's where he makes most of his money. I'll probably stop by his shop for a while this afternoon...it's raining so he'll probably be in his shop working instead of on the lake fishing.

Did you make it to the Viking Tour at The Pool Room this weekend? I made it for Saturday but couldn't get back yesterday....too much other stuff to do. I got to see a bunch of folks that I haven't seen in a while, though...it was fun. I saw Cueman (Chris Hightower) while I was there...he was playing pretty well on Saturday. He had some really nice cues with him. I don't see why people think his cues are too expensive...they are much less expensive than other comparable cues. You can get one of his custom cues for the same price you can get a production Schon...seems like a pretty damned good deal to me. I've heard his cues hit really well, but I still haven't had the opportunity to play one yet. I think I'm going to make a trip out to his shop in the next few days and put a deposit on one.