I can't reply to each and everyone of you, so I'll condense it into one post - which will hopefully clarify things and put the thread back on track. I'll also keep it anonymous - personally directed posts lead to shitstorms rather than discussion of the topic. I haven't flamed a single person in this thread, but I can't say the same about a couple of people.
A number of people in this thread have been misrepresenting what I've said, others are arguing different topics etcetera. All sorts of logical fallacies as well as off-topic arguments.
1. I do not bash, nor hate custom cues. In fact, I like them very much. I own a few, and have owned many more in the past. I have no agenda against custom cues nor custom cue makers.
2. I never stated custom cues are INFERIOR. Only that they don't play better than a decent quality production cue. I never stated they play worse.
3. I never stated that a player should be able to run the same amount of balls using a ramin wood K-mart 3-piece cue with screw on tip VS. a Tim Scruggs.
...such a cue would fail the basic requirements for being decent or good. Which I stated, means consistent. There is a base level of quality to achieve consistency.
4. This thread isn't a criticism of people who buy custom cues or why they buy them. It challenges a claim, implied or otherwise, that the mere fact that a cue is custom means it plays better.
I'm arguing that custom made cues do not have any special quality about them that makes them play better than say, a good quality production cue. Each will hit balls straight and consistently.
You're not going to miss a shot because you hit that ball with a Schon, Joss, Viking or Meucci. Whereas, you would have made it if you used a custom made cue.
As in my opening post, the custom cue maker is not doing anything special in the construction or design of his shafts (or butt) to make his cue perform better than a production cue. That is, a production cue that isn't defective.
5. This thread isn't about quality control. That is irrelevant. However, if you want to talk about quality control - without question the customs have higher quality control on average. Despite that fact, there are plenty of customs that still don't roll straight or have other issues. And it goes according to a cue by cue basis.
Therefore, no matter what you get - you must inspect it and qualify it for it to be considered for optimal play. If you have to do that with customs (which you do), then there's no reason you can't do that for a production cue also. There are production cues that roll straight and are not defective.
6. There are some people that mention that only with a custom can you get custom balance, weight etcetera. That's a pretty good reason to go with a custom. However, this has nothing to do with how good or bad the cue plays. It still plays the same. Those factors are personal preference and are irrelevant to the topic. That's because those people are talking about how THEY play better with certain weight, balance characteristics because of familiarity and comfort with those preferences in balance and weight. Balance and weight does not equate to better/worse play for the cue because there are other players who are world beaters with the opposite balance or different weight. The cue is striking the ball the same way. There are people who like the balance, feel and weight of their production cues and they play great with them. Those cues are not inferior to the customs, nor superior.
7. Some have used a car analogy to compare the difference between custom cues and production cues. Perhaps in finish, detail of inlay, and other aesthetic qualities. But not in performance terms. That comparison (Yugo vs. Mercedes) is invalid completely.
The difference between a Schon/Joss/Meucci vs. some custom is not extreme - in fact, there's no difference. Other than personal preference in weight, balance, wrap or no wrap. Things that don't alter the consistency or performance of the CUE.
In other words, a pro won't miss a ball switching from his custom to a Schon because there is something inherently wrong or inferior with the Schon. He might miss because he is not used to the weight or balance, that's different. That's not the cue. That's an issue of familiarity with the weight/balance. If he was familiar with that weight or balance, he would be equally as good with the Schon.
8. No one has provided not a shred of evidence as to why custom cues allegedly play better, are allegedly more consistent, allegedly make you more balls etcetera over say, a quality, non-defective production cue.
No one shred of evidence. Not one single substantial argument. Nothing.
Just a lot of angry and upset people. That was NOT the intention of this thread. This thread was not flame-bait nor an attempt to troll. I was hoping someone would come along and make a scientifically or at least, a logically sound argument as to why the custom is superior in performance over a production.
...... 
