Custom Cue Designs

[zeeder]

With all of the design discussions in various threads I thought I would pose some questions to those of you who have ordered cues from cue makers. When you ordered your cue(s) did you come up with the design, did the cue maker come up with the design or did you design it with the cue maker? What is the process you go through when ordering cues? What made you decide to order the cue(s) from the cue maker(s) you ordered from?

When I decided I wanted to custom order a cue I started doing some research on different cue makers. The best cues I had previously owned were a Huebler, DP, Gilbert J/B and a Gilbert player. In looking at various cue makers in my price range I decided on getting a Skip Weston due to his awesome point work. Excellent points are very important to me in a cue!

When ordering this cue I had seen some 6-point cues on classiccues.com and cueaddicts.com that I really liked so I used that idea and chose my two of my favorite woods (amboyna and ebony) and decided on the veneers after discussions with Skip and a couple of friends.

The second cue that I decided to order was the ER I just got. When I finally read the thread in the Wanted/For Sale section the idea just blew me away and it was too much cue for the money from an excellent cue maker to pass up...lol. I had no idea at first what pictures I wanted to send in. After much deliberation I got the idea to make them pool related, which was spurred by the Hustler stills posted. At this point I contacted Jennifer Barretta, Jeanette Lee and Allison Fisher to see if they minded me using their likeness on a cue. The only one who responded was Jenn but I decided after a couple of months to go ahead with it. The tiffany ivory diamonds were my other contribution to the cue. Edwin did all the other design work, which came out beautifully!

The next cue that I ordered was the cue from Skip that I should be receiving shortly. The design from this cue was inspired from a fancy Schon cue that I had fallen in love with a long time ago. I put my own spin on the cue and came up with the design for my "Dream Cue" that I sent to Skip and worked with Skip on getting the right rings for the cue. We ended up going with a tri-colored ring that Skip had come up with.

Being somewhat susceptible to peer-pressure, I ordered a Fanelli when several people started posting progress pics of their Fanelli's in progress...lol. I decided to go with another wood that I love and featured snake wood in this cue with ebony.

By this time I had decided to only own cues that I had personally ordered from the cue maker so I contacted Andy Gilbert and gave him the design I had come up with for my custom J/B.

Finally, I’m currently thinking about the designs for the cues that I will get from the lists that I am on. I have a while to come op with these though…lol.

 

[zeeder]

Skip Cue Design Stages

Here's the Schon cue that inspired the design. This is where I got the overlapping windows:

Here is the first design I drew for my "dream cue":

Here is the final design that I sent to Skip that we "tweaked" to get the final design for the cue:

Current state of the cue:

 

[Bamacues]

Nice cue, Zeeder.....looks like you really thought it through. How does it play?

I have only had about 5 cues commissioned to be made, 1-Bludworth, 1-Phillippi, 1-Gilbert, and 2-Southwests. For the most part, the cuemaker's had a great deal of input after I provided them with a basic concept, ie, classic 4 pointer, ebony into birdseye, veneeres, ivory in points/butt, etc...things like that. Zeeder had a much clearer idea of what he wanted than I did.

On the Gilbert, I saw an old Verl Horn star pattern that I wanted, and Andy was able to use it for me...rings, etc remained classic Gilbert. The Phillippi, Rick and I sat down and he "drew" up at the Super Billiards Expo a couple of years ago...44 ivory inlays..real nice. The Southwests are pretty simple as they were "classic" SW, just talked with Laurie about the woods, rings, handles, etc. The Blud was more something Leonard had more input into than I did, except for things like ivory joint, butt, ferrules, etc. He wanted to use a particular design and I said OK.

I really wonder just how many designs are left out there that have not been used, at least in some capacity (in part) before.

 

[Rich R.]

Zeeder, I am fortunate, in that I am located within a short drive to several excellent cue makers.

A number of years ago, when I started playing pool again after a long lay off, I decided to get a new cue. I drove the 20 minutes to the shop of Tim Scruggs.
I didn't want to wait a real long time and Tim had about a dozen butts under construction, that had not been ordered special. One was right in line with my taste and I chose it; reddish cocobolo butt, with birdseye maple forearm, four points with veneers. Then Tim and I discussed all of the other details, like weight, taper, and a few ivory inlays. I came up with a cue that I am very happy with.

Of course, we are never permanently happy with just one cue, so a couple of years ago, I took another 20 minute ride to the shop of Mike Lambros. I had a good idea of what I wanted and together with Mike, we refined the design and the specs. This one was brown a cocobolo butt, into a birdseye maple forearm, four points with veneers. The inlays in this cue were ivory and abalone.

There are a couple of other cue makers, more than 20 minutes away but still a reasonably short drive, who I may visit some day. They are Mike Capone and Black Boar cues.

Unless you find a completed cue, that really fits your taste, I believe the best way to get a cue is to meet with the cue maker and hammer out a design.
JMHO

 

[Koop]

My Viattorre started out as completely my design and then morphed.
I love bocote and knew that was what I wanted. I went with bocote points into curly maple but at first there were no veneers and there were ivory inlays.
Like I always do, I was looking at cuemakers websites and came across a beautiful cue from Tim Scruggs which had bocote points into curly maple but also had awesome looking veneers. His had Black/White/ and Turquoise and right then and there I knew I wanted the Black and Turquoise. I think a part of me would have felt bad if I used all 3.
After adding the veneers I decided to drop the inlays. Just didn't want to take away from the wood.
Next was the butt which was originally standard but quickly changed to Hoppe style after seeing several of them.

My next cue, which is on order from Dennis Searing, is a combination of both of us. I wanted a nice plain players cue and asked for quite a bit of feedback which he provided in detail.
I'm going with gabon ebony and birdseye maple.
Ebony buttsleeve, 4 ebony points (no veneers) into BEM.
1/2 collar stainless steel joint with 2 shafts.

This cue buying thing is a lot of fun

Koop

 

[deadstroke32]

My Viattorre started out as completely my design and then morphed.
I love bocote and knew that was what I wanted. I went with bocote points into curly maple but at first there were no veneers and there were ivory inlays.
Like I always do, I was looking at cuemakers websites and came across a beautiful cue from Tim Scruggs which had bocote points into curly maple but also had awesome looking veneers. His had Black/White/ and Turquoise and right then and there I knew I wanted the Black and Turquoise. I think a part of me would have felt bad if I used all 3.
After adding the veneers I decided to drop the inlays. Just didn't want to take away from the wood.
Next was the butt which was originally standard but quickly changed to Hoppe style after seeing several of them.

My next cue, which is on order from Dennis Searing, is a combination of both of us. I wanted a nice plain players cue and asked for quite a bit of feedback which he provided in detail.
I'm going with gabon ebony and birdseye maple.
Ebony buttsleeve, 4 ebony points (no veneers) into BEM.
1/2 collar stainless steel joint with 2 shafts.

This cue buying thing is a lot of fun

Koop

Dear sir iwill get with u to help me dzine a cue for me if thats if it's ok by u ????

 

[ScottR]

Zack, Like you I am on a couple of lists - Hercek and Searing. And, I plan to come up with 80-90% of the design myself and then collaborate with the cue makers on the final 10-20%. Of course, if they have good reasons not to do some part of my design, I will listen to their expertise.

Here are the only 3 cues that I have personally designed and worked with the cuemakers on. As you can see, all three are fairly different and you don't seen any like them. I realize their design may not be for everyone either, but I like them. When I came up with them, I was not so aware of the different classic styles and themes. As a result, I just kinda made them up. I don't think anyone has copied them!! lol

I have also purchased "pre-built" cues that I like the looks of. But, I'm still looking forward to creating something new and different that is for ME!!

 

[matthew staton]

Zack, Like you I am on a couple of lists - Hercek and Searing. And, I plan to come up with 80-90% of the design myself and then collaborate with the cue makers on the final 10-20%. Of course, if they have good reasons not to do some part of my design, I will listen to their expertise.

Here are the only 3 cues that I have personally designed and worked with the cuemakers on. As you can see, all three are fairly different and you don't seen any like them. I realize their design may not be for everyone either, but I like them. When I came up with them, I was not so aware of the different classic styles and themes. As a result, I just kinda made them up. I don't think anyone has copied them!! lol

I have also purchased "pre-built" cues that I like the looks of. But, I'm still looking forward to creating something new and different that is for ME!!

here is the only cue I have ever desighned the whole thing I lost it in a trade to some guy in mariland the first time i join the boad I was soposed to get a dave hodges parott cue instead I got a cue that was shaddered under the wrap and a bent joint pin that some one peiced back to gether I have learned now to use a escrow or people i no to trade with I also lost a bludworth cue in the deal to as I wanted a parrot cue bad I lost all my cues and got a broken peice of shit I spent 90 more bucks gettin gthe pin and the hairline crack fixed in the forarm then The cue maker that fixed it pointed out the crack the cue was a night mare a budie bought it from me there were 3 shaft next time i get good pictures lol i lost 2200 dollars in cues to this ass hole mastercueartist on this board he don't post any more oh well it's done and over ya win some ya loose some.

 

[ironchef.]

Zack,

I couldn't help but smile when I saw your hand drawn pics. I do EXACTLY the same thing when I have a cue idea. I sketch first, then draw it out fully. Its nice to see that smart minds think alike, lol.

 

[JimBo]

I really wonder just how many designs are left out there that have not been used, at least in some capacity (in part) before.

I know you're somewhat new to cues, but you really can't be serious.
Have you ever seen some of the cues that Thomas Wayne makes? As well as McWorter, Chudy,Samsara, or Cognoscenti. All of who's cues can be spotted from across the room. With todays CNC technology the limits are endless, if you can imagine it someone can build it, trust me.

Jim

 

[LC3]

I designed three of the cues I've had made and learned that I'm not much of a cue designer. The cuemaker gave me input on the first cue, but I decided I wanted to stick with my concept. When I got the cue, I saw right away that I should have incorporated his ideas. The second cue was better (I was more open to the cuemakers ideas), but it took only a day or so before I started nitpicking a couple things on the cue and wishing I'd done something different with those things. I eventually sold those cues. The third cue was a bullseye and is still in my closet.

I'll design any cues I have made in the future, but I'll stick to classic designs and will defer more to the cuemaker's cue design experience.

 

[Bamacues]

I know you're somewhat new to cues, but you really can't be serious.
Have you ever seen some of the cues that Thomas Wayne makes? As well as McWorter, Chudy,Samsara, or Cognoscenti. All of who's cues can be spotted from across the room. With todays CNC technology the limits are endless, if you can imagine it someone can build it, trust me.

Jim

I have owned a couple of Thomas Wayne cues (not the real fancy ones), Samsara's, Richard Harris and a few other cues of that nature. Certainly, the cues that are absolute works of art are awesomeand totally unique.

Perhaps I am a bit naive, also, but when I see what I call the "traditional" cues, which are the ones that appeal to me (spliced points, rings, inlays), I see a lot of similarities in many cues....perhaps that is based upon the comments relative to "cue design theft", but there a lot of similarities in too many cues.

Right or wrong, I think many people who work with a cue maker to design a cue take pieces from other cues that they like, and discard the pieces they don't like in the hope of coming up with their "dream" cue. I don't think that is wrong. I do feel, however, that an entire cue should not be completely copied by another cuemaker in the hopes of re-creating the cue.

 

[TheBook]

I like my points to be razor shape at the tip. Skip does great point work and I think it would be a shame to put spears heads at the tip of them.

 

[Koop]

Dear sir iwill get with u to help me dzine a cue for me if thats if it's ok by u ????

Not sure how much I could really help but I'd be happy to try.

Koop

 

[classiccues]

With all of the design discussions in various threads I thought I would pose some questions to those of you who have ordered cues from cue makers. When you ordered your cue(s) did you come up with the design, did the cue maker come up with the design or did you design it with the cue maker? What is the process you go through when ordering cues? What made you decide to order the cue(s) from the cue maker(s) you ordered from?

I design what I like, always classical and traditional. Most times I will do the design myself, but if I say make me a Hoppe cue, its pretty self explanatory. I designed 3 cues in the last 8 years that were less traditional than I normally do. Any drawings I do, I do in autocad and sometimes I will color them using corel or some other package.

Joe

 

[zeeder]

I like my points to be razor shape at the tip. Skip does great point work and I think it would be a shame to put spears heads at the tip of them.

I feel the same, which is why I changed the design to no spears. I, however, do like the way that Andy does it where he floats the tip above the point so you can still see the sharp points.

 

[zeeder]

I design what I like, always classical and traditional. Most times I will do the design myself, but if I say make me a Hoppe cue, its pretty self explanatory. I designed 3 cues in the last 8 years that were less traditional than I normally do. Any drawings I do, I do in autocad and sometimes I will color them using corel or some other package.

Joe

I need to bite the bullet and get a good CAD program and learn how to use it! What CAD programs does everyone, who designs their cues with them, use?

 

[Jon]

Try This One...
The above link is a good program.
I can run it on a 200 mhz Dell here at work.
Try that with AutoCAD (which i have on this computer.)
The IntelliCAD is a little easier to use than AutoCAD IMO.
And you can keep downloading the evaluation with a new "Cadopia.dat" file and can use it for free for a long time (i heard...)
The only thing is you will have jagged lines for points (or any angled line) but if anything has an Arc, you can zoom in and use the "REGEN" command to smooth it out and zoom back out and it would look like it is supposed to.


Jon

 

[LC3]

...but if I say make me a Hoppe cue, its pretty self explanatory.

Just to be sure I understand, do you basically ask, for example, for a rosewood four-pointer Hoppe and leave it at that?

 

[classiccues]

Just to be sure I understand, do you basically ask, for example, for a rosewood four-pointer Hoppe and leave it at that?

Pretty much... the only other real option is the ring (ivory or non) and the wrap, weight, shaft size, tip, ferrule.. but those are basic questions for every cue.

Joe