cuewood.com - cue wood for cue builders
- Thread starter szym9341
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masonh said:
I agree, but when it's sold to you AS BI ALL 4 SIDES & it's not, then I quit buying from them...JER
BLACKHEARTCUES said:
Me also. I started buying well before that tournament in St.Charles. I bought my first Maples from Boones dad for 7.00 a piece before they had done any shows. I remember I went to order some and they said they could let me have a little but they needed to hold onto the best as they were getting ready to do their first show, a wood show or cue makers show or some such thing in California and they wanted it for display. At the time their wood was very reasonably priced for what you received and truthfully, I feel that is the same today. Times have changed. Many more users competing for the same materials. Everyone wants the best but the 2nd and 3rd best must be sold also or at least paid for or they can't stay in business.
I'm at an age now that I can no longer wait for many woods to air dry. I've got plenty of wood to make cues but, of coarse, I'm still always on the hunt for extraordinary pieces of wood but it can't be to wet. Arnott likes to say " a shop can't have to much highly figured wood but one piece of mediocre is to much" and no truer words were ever spoken. Maple can be bought for as little as 4.00 a bd.ft. but the Museum grade may cost a hundred times that price and it is still a bargain in my opinion. Unless gold, platinum or jewels are in a cue, the materials are a very small cost in the construction of a cue. An extra 40 or 50.00 spent in the cost of the woods usually turns a mundane, slow selling cue into a highly prized cue with greatly increased value and demand.
I now only by woods that I can see, be it in my hand or with good pictures. My shop is cluttered enough now with woods I don't want to waste my time in building a cue with. I've not purchased woods from many suppliers that I used to deal with because they don't have pictures.
Dick
I didn't think they brought their best quality to the show in the past, and whatever ELSE LEFT ME UNHAPPY, Having said that, I just put in an A SMALL order with them. I'm to the point I rather over pay for a great piece than bargain hunt for crappy stuff.. Geee whiz i sound like the ex governor of NY.
Mario
Mario
Dick is right you can spend $20 on wood in a cue and it will look plain and sit there for sale forever or you can spend $80 or even more maybe on wood in a cue and it will be something special,and will sell quickly.it is alos very easy to bump the price of the cue $25 or $50 for the special wood and nobody will ever mind.
masonh said:
At that tournament and cue show in St. Charles MI. it was a slow market and very few cues were sold. Of all the custom cue makers there I believe Jim Buss sold two, AE sold two and Josey sold one. The one that Josey sold was a plain cue with a very simple turquoise ring in front of the butt cap. His asking price was 1150.00 if I remember correctly and he got it. What made this very simple cue stand out was the wood that he used. It was Big leaf quilted Maple. Normally, this is not a good wood for cues as it is very light and not solid in the least but I'm sure that he cored it with a better hitting wood, although I never asked him. If I live to be a hundred I'll never forget that cue even though I've seen thousands of cues much more elaborate. The wood turned a 4 to 500.00 cue into one worth well over a thousand.
Dick
I got an order 2 or 3 weeks ago. I think I ordered 15 pieces and I was pretty happy with most of them. The order before that though was definitely not the exceptional grade that I had paid for in fact I don't think it would pass for their #2 grade. I tried to use birds eye creations instead and gave up after two email orders went unanswered I went back to Bell Forest. Since I was pretty happy with the order, I'll order again from them.