Custom cue VS Production cue

[wilson_gau]

I just wondering, why is all (most) of the custom cue has a better feeling (for the but) compared to production cue ?
Aren't they suppose to have the same (similar) material ? They also made the same way, right ?
Moreover, why the production cue can't copy the way people make the custom cue so they can produce it in a large qty ?

Thanks

 

[bnkunderme]

I just wondering, why is all (most) of the custom cue has a better feeling (for the but) compared to production cue ?
Aren't they suppose to have the same (similar) material ? They also made the same way, right ?
Moreover, why the production cue can't copy the way people make the custom cue so they can produce it in a large qty ?

Thanks

Ther are hundreds of threads on this....id suggest doing a search, but here is the down and dirty version.

1. Customs generally use a higher quality of materials, woods that have been aged correctly, cut correctly.

2. They are not made the same way.

3. source of materials, many productions use inferior woods from overseas that do not stand the test of time.

They cannot reproduce the quality because the amount of time and money it would take to do the process that a custom maker does. Very few mass producation companies have been able to do this ie mcdermott, schon.

Its hard to go through it all but in reality its comparing apples to oranges.

 

[cueman]

I just wondering, why is all (most) of the custom cue has a better feeling (for the but) compared to production cue ?
Aren't they suppose to have the same (similar) material ? They also made the same way, right ?
Moreover, why the production cue can't copy the way people make the custom cue so they can produce it in a large qty ?

Thanks

Some production cues will play better than many custom cues. The issue is consistancy. The large production cuemaker will use great wood and so so wood. Where as the smaller custom guy might pay much more and only use great wood. Only 2 or 3% of the shaft wood that comes through my shop winds up in my cues. I try to mainly use the really tight grain stuff. Also my shafts that I put in this years cues were out of shaft wood that is several years old. And has been turned down to size over those years. A production cue maker can't normally afford to do that.
The smaller cuemaker normally really has his heart in his work and most guys who work factory jobs are there for the paycheck. The factory guys probably won't go through stacks of handles weighing them to find the best one to put with a particular forearm in order to achieve the best balance without a weight bolt system.
They may not reject half the tips in a box to find the ones that play the best. If I was a production guy putting out dozens of cues a day my quality control would come down to this. Does it look good? Does it roll straight? Is the fit and finish good? If so it gets approved and goes out the door. That is pretty much all that can be expected and that is good enough for most. But from the custom guys you can expect it to have been given extra attention to minor and major details as well as passing the other three quality control items.

 

[macguy]

I just wondering, why is all (most) of the custom cue has a better feeling (for the but) compared to production cue ?
Aren't they suppose to have the same (similar) material ? They also made the same way, right ?
Moreover, why the production cue can't copy the way people make the custom cue so they can produce it in a large qty ?

Thanks

How do you know you are right? I have played and owned many production cues that played fine. What do you consider a production cue? Joss and Schon cues are production. In fact most of the cue makers make runs of cues, maybe a dozen or more at a time. Is this production? I don't know about now, but years ago you could take any Helmstetter from the rack and play with it and be happy and the workmanship exceeded most custom cues.

 

[the_general]

they are not made the same way. custom cues are made out of passion, production cues made for fast profit. but in any case, the cue's value to the player still depends on the player's preferences, whether it's a custom or production cue.

 

[Sheldon]

The main advantage of a production cue, is that you will probably be able to see and try it before you buy.

The main advantage of a custom cue, is that you can SPECIFY what you want before it's made.