All of those are nice, but I really like the blue and purple points on the middle cue. How long did it take for you to find your favorite shooters?
Custom and High End Cues on the Decline?
- Thread starter Logandgriff
- Start date
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
I'd also suggest Rackaday to try a 13.25 mm shaft or even a 13.50 it may surprise you ,for many year's that was all I played with was a 13.50 mm shaft and could do anything english wise that anyone else could do with a smaller diameter shaft .
I also have non marker rheumatoid arthritis that tries to make my life a living hell at times .
If we lived closer I'd let you take a few shots with my cue so that just maybe you would discover what I have when playing with a Gulyassy cue ha ha
I also have non marker rheumatoid arthritis that tries to make my life a living hell at times .
If we lived closer I'd let you take a few shots with my cue so that just maybe you would discover what I have when playing with a Gulyassy cue ha ha
I played with a 14mm for decades.
I still prefer fatter shafts than most people.
I can put as much spin on the cue ball with a fat shaft as I can with a thinner one.
Here is a 60" Gulyassy White Ebony Merry Widow if he wants to see one. I even have a 14mm Earl shaft with a black ferrule that Gulyassy made me for this cue (not pictured)
Very cool. Thanks for the share…full transparency, I have a kielwood on the way from Mr. Gulyassy for use with my Joss and hopefully before March, the custom cue I helped design with help from Mike will be on it’s way.
Tadaimarlon
Well-known member
I'm 34 and I love custom cues. I currently have 8 custom cues. Here's a pic of my favorite ones 
It is a tale of evolution…….it took me 45 years to finally figure out what I wanted in a cue. Then I spent the next 20 searching and ordering custom cues built around my specs. The cues I carry have the same specs, re: butt diameter & weight, joint type, shaft weight and size, tips. The wraps are Cortland Linen except for two that are elephant leather.
4 of the 6 cues in my case are my own designs. Only 1 of the 3 cues in the photo is my design. It was a handful for Bob
to tackle but he did a fantastic job, IMO. The TS I bought from the orig. owner and it was a cue for his wife but she did
not care for the veneers and the Prewitt was just a rare find that had been incorrectly described on Cornerstone Cues.
I called Bill Grassley about the cue and that’s when the listing mistake was discovered. Didn’t matter because it had all the specs I was looking for. The other cues were just impulse purchases because I designed something I wanted to see come to life. I’d still be doing it but CA adopted an ivory ban in July 2016 so it curtailed adding cues to my collection.
I can remove any cue from my case eyes closed and be pleased with it. A 18.5 -18.75oz. cue with a big pin flat ivory joint, 14.5 oz. butt and 4 oz. 12.75mm & 13 mm shafts should play real close if it’s a competent, talented cue maker. That’s what I have in my case and only one of my cues is 18.75 ozs…….the other five cues weigh 18.5 ozs. Changing cues is easy and also lots of fun. As long as I don’t keep having grandkids, I have a cue for every child and grandchild to inherit.
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Paul_#_
Well-known member
The point goes something like this.
Previous posts argue that the number of custom cue makers in the U.S. is in decline because i) pool is in decline here; ii) production cues now have as good or better quality and performance as do custom cues; and iii) production cue companies now sponsor professional pool players to use their cues.
On the other hand, Benelli and Rackaday post about a custom cuemaker that is like Mezz — its' and Mezz’s website post many cues but all have been sold. How can there be such demand for some custom cues when custom cues generally are in decline?
The answer is in photos in my post #113. Some custom cues are unique and beautiful unlike production cues. Custom cues will always attract some.
I get it now, you have no clue what you're talking about, let's break it down.
You make some stunning leaps in logic because you don't know what you're talking about. The first massive one is when you compare Eddie's business model to Mezz, which could not be further apart. You made this assumption based not on dealing directly with Eddie or with any custom cue maker that I can tell.
You did this... by... wait for it.
Looking at his fucking website...
Wow, just wow.. So, because Eddie shows lots of cues that are currently sold out, your lizard brain said BAM just like Mezz. But what you don't realize is that those pictures represent about five years' worth of cues and are all one-offs's not production models. Several of the cues on his site, I would say well over half of those photos are custom commissions that he has posted the pics just for people to see his range of design and build quality. But you can't buy one, and there NEVER GOING TO BE IN STOCK again...
So nothing like Mezz at all. Mezz are NOT CUSTOM CUE's anymore than Joss, Schon, or McDermott are custom cues.
Eddie's true custom cue's will cost you between 4K and 6K, the ones he post on the website for sale, roughly five to six a YEAR cost between 2k and 4K. So yes, there is an audience for Eddie's cues, he has generated it himself via his content, but that audience numbers under 100 people that would actually buy one of his cues, not the TENS OF THOUSANDS that are trying to purchase a Mezz production cue that numbers in the high hundreds to low thousands made...
Your entire wish-washy supposition that custom cues will always attract some has nothing to do with the original point of this post, which was that the custom cue market is not doing well and custom cues as a whole do not really hold their value, much less appreciating. This is happening because the number of buyers that are looking for, much less choosing a custom cue over a production cue, is rapidly diminishing.
Yes some custom cues, Gina's, BB, Szam's are doing well but are still well off their highs of a few years ago. But unless there is a large injection of moneyed, young, collectors actively acquiring these and other makers' cues at a high enough clip to drive buying pressure and increase price via buying competition. The prices of used cues will continue to fall, while the number of new cues being created will decrease, as the number of people commissioning them also declines due to... death.
All of this is underpinned by the fact that many of the high-tech production cues like Mezz and Predator are of high enough quality in both hit and feel that there is no reason to chase a custom cue any longer.
I don't know I agree with this statement, but as a C-level marketer, I can tell you that these companies spend millions of dollars a year to convince entry-level players of this and are very, very successful at it.
Which is why I can take a 15K Balabushka to APA league night and NO ONE GIVES A SHIT, but if it were the latest Shane Van Gorst, Mosconi Cup Choke on the Nine Limited Edition, everyone would be falling over themselves to fondle it, hit a ball with it and then line up on eBay to pay $300 TO $600 over MSRP to have one...
Yes, custom-made cues are in trouble...
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I'm seeing a beginning of a reversal from low deflection carbon fiber back to maple shafts. Watching the Mosconi Cup and International Open had many players using maple shafts. That lends well to the custom cue resurgence if there's going to be one. Carbon Fiber shafts hurts custom cue sales as it cheapens the cue design and marketability. Get SVB, Filler, Gorst and a few other top notchers playing with custom cues and watch the sales boom.
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
Point well made Baby Huey , and how many people went and jumped on the band wagon of carbon shafts or even full carbon cues then felt the same as I did that it shot very well but it just wasn't the right choice for me .
Will things change for me I don't know but I can't speak for others as to what they may do .
If I were to win the lottery yes I'd order a cue from Pete T or Pete Jr with at least 4 shafts if not 6 similar to the cue Frank McGowan loved so much and shot with !
Will things change for me I don't know but I can't speak for others as to what they may do .
If I were to win the lottery yes I'd order a cue from Pete T or Pete Jr with at least 4 shafts if not 6 similar to the cue Frank McGowan loved so much and shot with !
Tasc's are amazing cues, full stop. Right this very minute I'm trying to convince a co-worker to buy the four-pointer in the For Sale section as their first high-end cue and would be replacing some Cuetech thing they shoot with now...
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
I feel he would be wise to go that route or as another choice a Mike Gulyassy cue ! One can not go wrong with either one !
That won't happen unless there was a lot more prize money in pool. Probably still wouldn't happen even if there was as why would you turn down a cue sponsor? In SVB's and Gorst's case, they have their names/logos on cues and might even get a cut off of them.
I agree there will never be enough money from a custom maker to disintermediate a sponsorship deal from a production maker.
I would settle on SVB or Gorst just being collectors and talking about it in a podcast or even their own social streams about some of the cues they have collected and why.
I don't need them to actually play with one, I need them to raise the profile of the hobby and the art form...
Or rather than the Gulyassy, I suggested a Bender (Mike, not John), since he uses the same funky pin as the Cuetech he's currently playing with
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
Ok that could be true , I've not seen either of those cues or held one in my hands or played with one .
I feel any cue from Mike deserves a second look .
When I got to meet Shane and Earl I did get to see the cues they played with then for whatever reason I was very impressed with Earl's cue from Mike .
As for Shane's cue I'd bet he has a bit different tapper on the shaft that may not be noticeable without close inspection .
I feel any cue from Mike deserves a second look .
When I got to meet Shane and Earl I did get to see the cues they played with then for whatever reason I was very impressed with Earl's cue from Mike .
As for Shane's cue I'd bet he has a bit different tapper on the shaft that may not be noticeable without close inspection .
It's hard to justify a custom cue when the industry tells players they also need a $1000 break cue and a $810 jump cue, both of which are plainly painted and covered in decals under a clear coat.
I suppose you could knock off $50 on each if you skimp on the rubber grips, but that wouldn't be very sporty...
I suppose you could knock off $50 on each if you skimp on the rubber grips, but that wouldn't be very sporty...
Point of order:: it is not a custom cue if the cue starts to get built before the owner specifies the parameters.
If you, the owner-to-be cannot specify the colors, rings, inlays, veneers, wrap; it is NOT custom
For example, the Remington custom shop does not start your gun build before you specify what is it to be.
So, 'factory custom' is just a 'factory' cue and nothing more.
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
You can specify all of these things, but they likely already are prepared somewhere.
I mean, you can ask Zen (仁杆) for just about anything you want, but most of what they are going to push to you is going to be selecting from parts they already have partially prepared. I would describe this as 'factory custom' - you can build from what's available (and have anything truly custom at an elevated price tag, and extended wait - it's 3 years already when selecting from basic items they already have prepared...). They recently opened a new 'showroom' // factory location, and it is interesting looking at the inside of such a place. Quite different I imagine from the handmade custom cues coming out of the US.
People buy what the market tells them to, very few have the brains to figure out what they actually like.
you hit it oh the head right there, good jobs and money running out the door in usa. very sad to see not to mention small business. thanks to govt regulations, taxes become impossible make good money in USA anymore. Its a mess.