I purchased a Dale Perry cue about 30 days ago, and was very pleased when it arrived.THe cue is very nice looking and hits great. One of the shafts was really tight, and I posted on here with suggestions about how to loosen it up. Somehow with having to leave the cue together because I was unable to get it apart the shaft developed a warp near the tip. I do not know where to place the blame because the shaft was straight when I got it. When I contacted Dale he said to send it back and he would take a look. I got the cue back yesterday with a new shaft at no charge. There has been some less than positive talk about this cuemaker on this forum, and I just thought that some good news would be welcome.All my emails were answered in a quick manner, and my cue was sent and returned in less than 10 days. Good service and professionalism still exists in at least one cuemaker that I know of.
Dale Perry Cue and service
- Thread starter dontscratch
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Dale Perry
I too have had only good experiences in dealing with Dale and I like the DP cue that I have very much as far as the hit and the workmanship go. It is really beautiful and when I take it out at the poolroom it gets a lot of positive comments. It has great balance and Dale went out of his way to get it to me as I wanted it. Whenever I call he picks up the phone himself and is extremely helpful and friendly. I ordered a DP-R shaft with it and got a 314 Predator as a backup and they play pretty much exactly the same as Dale said they would. When the Predator arrived from Hawley's it was so tight that I thought I would never get it off and I called Hawley's to let them know that I was returning it and the guy told me to put some silicone spray on the screw and that it would be fine. I did that and the shaft fits perfectly now. I assume that your cue has a radial pin like mine does.
I too have had only good experiences in dealing with Dale and I like the DP cue that I have very much as far as the hit and the workmanship go. It is really beautiful and when I take it out at the poolroom it gets a lot of positive comments. It has great balance and Dale went out of his way to get it to me as I wanted it. Whenever I call he picks up the phone himself and is extremely helpful and friendly. I ordered a DP-R shaft with it and got a 314 Predator as a backup and they play pretty much exactly the same as Dale said they would. When the Predator arrived from Hawley's it was so tight that I thought I would never get it off and I called Hawley's to let them know that I was returning it and the guy told me to put some silicone spray on the screw and that it would be fine. I did that and the shaft fits perfectly now. I assume that your cue has a radial pin like mine does.
He ruined his rep as a custom cuemaker by mass producing his stuff and selling on ebay like crazy,nice work but i would like to go to someone who produces less cues and puts more time into each and every one.
DP service
I am a dealer out of Iowa. I had sold one of the Uni Lock cues of his and about a year latter the stainless collor became loose. I called him and sent the cue to him. About one week latter the cue came back fixed with a note that if there was any more problems with the cue he would take care of it. To this day the cue is still in action. As a dealer this is what I am looking for in any product I sell.Fast Lenny said:
Ruined his rep?
With whom? It sounds to me like the folks on this thread are impressed with his level of service and the cues they've gotten from him. I have one of his cues and like it as well. Based on the info on ebay he's sold over 800 cues to people in the last few years. How terribly unsuccessful! It appears to me that the number of people making a decent living as a "custom cuemaker" is pretty darn small. If DP comes up with a way to make a good living, provide quality cues and a high level of service, that's sounds like a good thing to me. Based on my dealings with him, if I wanted to get a high end cue, he'd be glad to do it. And I'd bet that the quality would be excellent and the price would be higher, understandably, too. Would that make it inferior and he, as the cuemaker, inferior as well? Your comment strikes me as a strange way of looking at business and the world. Just my opinion, of course.
Brian in VA
Fast Lenny said:
With whom? It sounds to me like the folks on this thread are impressed with his level of service and the cues they've gotten from him. I have one of his cues and like it as well. Based on the info on ebay he's sold over 800 cues to people in the last few years. How terribly unsuccessful! It appears to me that the number of people making a decent living as a "custom cuemaker" is pretty darn small. If DP comes up with a way to make a good living, provide quality cues and a high level of service, that's sounds like a good thing to me. Based on my dealings with him, if I wanted to get a high end cue, he'd be glad to do it. And I'd bet that the quality would be excellent and the price would be higher, understandably, too. Would that make it inferior and he, as the cuemaker, inferior as well? Your comment strikes me as a strange way of looking at business and the world. Just my opinion, of course.
Brian in VA
I can see both sides.
I too, have a DP cue that I had Dale make for me. It is an Oak Titlist with ivory joint, ferrelles, and ivory hoppy ring. It plays great, and I have played with 314 shaft on it as well. The workmanship was outstanding.
That being said, Dale sold alot of cues for $1-2K, that were of the same or lesser detail than the ones he is selling on ebay currently. So if you paid $2K for one of those, and want to trade or sell it, and they can buy a new one verses a older one for alot less money, it has significantly lowered the value.
I dont blame Dale for doing what he wants to do with his business. There wasnt a gun held to anyone's head forcing us to buy his cues, but understand resell of these older higher priced cues are gone.
I consider his ebay cues to a real value for a players cue. But understand if you want to trade or sell one of his cues,,,,,,good luck.
SO IF YOU STILL DONT UNDERSTAND,,,,LOL,,,,,PM ME.
Your friend in pool,
Ken
I too, have a DP cue that I had Dale make for me. It is an Oak Titlist with ivory joint, ferrelles, and ivory hoppy ring. It plays great, and I have played with 314 shaft on it as well. The workmanship was outstanding.
That being said, Dale sold alot of cues for $1-2K, that were of the same or lesser detail than the ones he is selling on ebay currently. So if you paid $2K for one of those, and want to trade or sell it, and they can buy a new one verses a older one for alot less money, it has significantly lowered the value.
I dont blame Dale for doing what he wants to do with his business. There wasnt a gun held to anyone's head forcing us to buy his cues, but understand resell of these older higher priced cues are gone.
I consider his ebay cues to a real value for a players cue. But understand if you want to trade or sell one of his cues,,,,,,good luck.
SO IF YOU STILL DONT UNDERSTAND,,,,LOL,,,,,PM ME.
Your friend in pool,
Ken
Ken_4fun said:
EXACTLY!
Even more...
I also thought of this, along these same lines.
I bought a JF era Southwest. Frankly, it is the best looking SW, I have ever seen, (not for sale and I know everyone says that). It is ebony with tiger maple points.
IMO, Southwest cues are cookie cutter, not particularly interesting cues. They are as near a production cue as any cuemaker out there. The play pretty good, but not near other top cuemakers cues I own.
My point? The DP cue plays BETTER than the Southwest. The price paid for Southwests are truely premimum (very similar to DP cues a long time ago). What would happen if Laura started selling them at $500 a pop on ebay.
Dont kid yourselves, the same thing that DP.
LOL
Ken
I also thought of this, along these same lines.
I bought a JF era Southwest. Frankly, it is the best looking SW, I have ever seen, (not for sale and I know everyone says that). It is ebony with tiger maple points.
IMO, Southwest cues are cookie cutter, not particularly interesting cues. They are as near a production cue as any cuemaker out there. The play pretty good, but not near other top cuemakers cues I own.
My point? The DP cue plays BETTER than the Southwest. The price paid for Southwests are truely premimum (very similar to DP cues a long time ago). What would happen if Laura started selling them at $500 a pop on ebay.
Dont kid yourselves, the same thing that DP.
LOL
Ken
I got real lucky and had Dale custom build me a cue that I designed. Pool & Billiard magazine was doing an article on Dale at the time and a picture of the cue ended up on the cover and the inside of the magazine. I get a ton of compliments on the cue everytime I break it out.
My point? The DP cue plays BETTER than the Southwest. The price paid for Southwests are truely premimum (very similar to DP cues a long time ago). What would happen if Laura started selling them at $500 a pop on ebay.
DP play better than SW?
For SW to do what DP does, they will have to core all their cues, cut the curing time for their woods to a fifth of the time ( at least ), cnc all points and inlays and hire more help.
I dont blame Dale for doing what he wants to do with his business. There wasnt a gun held to anyone's head forcing us to buy his cues, but understand resell of these older higher priced cues are gone.
What he's doing doesn't make sense to me at all. First, he alienated himself from the people who invested in his cues. Sure, it's his business but was it ethical?
He's making probably 5 times more cues than he did before but they are selling for a fifth of the price.
DP play better than SW?
For SW to do what DP does, they will have to core all their cues, cut the curing time for their woods to a fifth of the time ( at least ), cnc all points and inlays and hire more help.
I dont blame Dale for doing what he wants to do with his business. There wasnt a gun held to anyone's head forcing us to buy his cues, but understand resell of these older higher priced cues are gone.
What he's doing doesn't make sense to me at all. First, he alienated himself from the people who invested in his cues. Sure, it's his business but was it ethical?
He's making probably 5 times more cues than he did before but they are selling for a fifth of the price.
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If I Understand you...
What you're saying is that by going to his new method of doing business he has ruined any chance at being able to get top dollar for his cues anymore because the ones he currently makes and ebays at ~$400 and above are as good as the ones he sold for $1000 - $2000 in the past. And in doing so, he's cheated anyone that purchased one of those, a group of which I assume you are a member, from reselling and either getting their money back or making a profit.
I can see how one might be upset if they purchased one of those cues with the expectation that they were going to resell it somewhere down the line, especially if the expectation included a profit. I have to wonder about the sense of "investing" in pool cues, particularly since these seem fairly pedestrian compared to the extremely high end cues I've seen in various publications. ( I'm assuming of course that your hypothesis about DP cues of today being the same or slightly better than those of an earlier, higher priced time is correct.) I guess it's like any investment in that you pay your money and take your chances. For example, if you purchase a stock and the price goes down, does that mean the company has ruined its reputation?
I don't purchase any consumer goods with the expectation that there is a profit to be made if / when I sell it. And while some cues are works of art, the huge majority are simply implements to be used in playing a game. Expecting more than that from them is setting oneself up for disappointment. A friend of mine is a fine art dealer and he advises that you only purchase art that you like because the chances are better than even that you'll sell it for a loss if you wish to get rid of it in the future. Excellent advice when considering the purchase of a cue, too.
Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
What you're saying is that by going to his new method of doing business he has ruined any chance at being able to get top dollar for his cues anymore because the ones he currently makes and ebays at ~$400 and above are as good as the ones he sold for $1000 - $2000 in the past. And in doing so, he's cheated anyone that purchased one of those, a group of which I assume you are a member, from reselling and either getting their money back or making a profit.
I can see how one might be upset if they purchased one of those cues with the expectation that they were going to resell it somewhere down the line, especially if the expectation included a profit. I have to wonder about the sense of "investing" in pool cues, particularly since these seem fairly pedestrian compared to the extremely high end cues I've seen in various publications. ( I'm assuming of course that your hypothesis about DP cues of today being the same or slightly better than those of an earlier, higher priced time is correct.) I guess it's like any investment in that you pay your money and take your chances. For example, if you purchase a stock and the price goes down, does that mean the company has ruined its reputation?
I don't purchase any consumer goods with the expectation that there is a profit to be made if / when I sell it. And while some cues are works of art, the huge majority are simply implements to be used in playing a game. Expecting more than that from them is setting oneself up for disappointment. A friend of mine is a fine art dealer and he advises that you only purchase art that you like because the chances are better than even that you'll sell it for a loss if you wish to get rid of it in the future. Excellent advice when considering the purchase of a cue, too.
Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
Ethical?
Ethical, lowering his price? I can't understand what you can't understand. It is sure alot easier to sell a $500 cue than an $2000. I have done both and it is about 4 x harder.
I am guessing he is making about 5-10 times the number of cues. But at maybe a 1/3 of the price. Do the math. It makes financial sense. CNC are wonderful things. Balabuska would have had one, if he was still around.
That should stir the poop!
Ken
JoeyInCali said:My point? The DP cue plays BETTER than the Southwest. The price paid for Southwests are truely premimum (very similar to DP cues a long time ago). What would happen if Laura started selling them at $500 a pop on ebay.
DP play better than SW?
For SW to do what DP does, they will have to core all their cues, cut the curing time for their woods to a fifth of the time ( at least ), cnc all points and inlays and hire more help.
I dont blame Dale for doing what he wants to do with his business. There wasnt a gun held to anyone's head forcing us to buy his cues, but understand resell of these older higher priced cues are gone.
What he's doing doesn't make sense to me at all. First, he alienated himself from the people who invested in his cues. Sure, it's his business but was it ethical?
He's making probably 5 times more cues than he did before but they are selling for a fifth of the price.
Ethical, lowering his price? I can't understand what you can't understand. It is sure alot easier to sell a $500 cue than an $2000. I have done both and it is about 4 x harder.
I am guessing he is making about 5-10 times the number of cues. But at maybe a 1/3 of the price. Do the math. It makes financial sense. CNC are wonderful things. Balabuska would have had one, if he was still around.
That should stir the poop!
Ken
Fast Lenny said:
I am sorry but you don't have a clue to what you are talking about.
He doesn't make one more cue now then he did a few years ago when he was supplying dealers. He has just cut out the middle man and passed to savings on to the buyer. You get the cue right from him, not off the shelf from a dealer where it has been sitting for who knows how long and subjected to what ever environment the dealer has, finished the way you want it and backed by a guaranteed direct from the cue maker. You don't find that a positive thing?
You don't buy cues because you think you are making an investment, you buy a cue to play with and from him you will get a good cue at a good price. I have known Dale for many many years and there is not a straighter guy to deal with out there.
macguy said:
Positive to who/whom? There are many different people on this forum with many different relationships to Dale, one decision can't be good for everyone therefore it HAS to hurt someone right?
JoeyInCali said:
Can you substantiate this statement? I would say he is not making one more cue then he did in the past when he was going to trade shows and wholesaling to dealers.
What he is doing is a smart business decision for him, maybe not for others. He sells cues on ebay as well as networks through ebay and picks up custom orders and repair work. You are assuming people read boards like these. No one reads these boards but a small group. The rest of the world and I mean the whole world are his market.
So a few guys come on here and knock him for what even reason, maybe jealously because they wish they could sell the volume of cues he sells who knows. Take Joss for example. When Billy and Danny split they went in different directions as to their company and I don't think either made a mistake, they just had different business ideas and are both successful. You can't fault Dale for what he wants to do.
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Fart sniffer said:
In business you really can't be everything to everybody, in fact it is a BIG mistake to try. He has decided to take his business in a different direction and you can't fault him for that.
I'll tell you something funny, I used to go to all the shows and after a while you begin to recognize the merchandise. I used to see guys bringing back some of the same cues for several years. Those high end cues have a really small market. The real market world wide is more in the mid to lower range price cues and if someone like him can produce good quality cues for a reasonable price what's wrong with that?
I think this board takes itself a little too seriously. As I said in another post it doesn't matter what people on here say, no one reads this board but a tiny tiny percent of pool fanatics, the rest of the world doesn't even know it exists. I doubt I would be making business decisions based on what people on here think. Few on here are his customers anyway he deals world wide and ebay has opened that up to him.
In fact I will go as far as to say, every cue maker wanting to increase their business should put maybe one cue a month on ebay. It can be a high end cue that doesn't even get a bid it doesn't matter. It will put their name in front of people who never knew they even existed and they will make contacts for custom cue orders through the networking the ebay will afford them.
I have mentioned in the past that my nephew sells high end cars on ebay. For every car he sell on there he sells at least one or more as a result of the contacts he makes. He has one guy in LA who procures cars for big dollar customers and as a result of meeting through one sale from ebay, my nephew has sold this guy like 20 cars for his customers. My nephew and the LA buyer would have never known the other even existed without ebay. There is more to ebay then you think.
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You are right about taking the board with a grain of salt, but you also have to admit some good ideas/feedback is shared here.
You know I have to aggree and say as far as character He is a good guy, altough I do understand how people felt when he changed selling practices.
I have 2 of his cues from when he still worked out of what most people basically called a shed, so he's come along way. I have one that has a 5/16x18 joint and is a very early cue with 4 points and veneers, I paid $200 with 2 shafts a double case with some stuff still in the pouch, found that one in a pawn shop. the cue plays excellent, and Is still together after years of abuse & play. The other was a PH sneaky that was built when he started using the uni. Paid $75 with case for it in a pawn shop also.
When I first became interested in building, he had already moved Into his new place and had the cnc setup. I emailed and talked to him, found that he was a very nice fella. He did'nt know Me from adam, but still invited me By to see his operation in detail. I did'nt ever impose Myself on him, but To Me that showed character, because I don't live far from Him, and for all he knew could have ended up being comp.
I also knew many people that took their work to him back in the day, and he always did them right. Greg C
I have 2 of his cues from when he still worked out of what most people basically called a shed, so he's come along way. I have one that has a 5/16x18 joint and is a very early cue with 4 points and veneers, I paid $200 with 2 shafts a double case with some stuff still in the pouch, found that one in a pawn shop. the cue plays excellent, and Is still together after years of abuse & play. The other was a PH sneaky that was built when he started using the uni. Paid $75 with case for it in a pawn shop also.
When I first became interested in building, he had already moved Into his new place and had the cnc setup. I emailed and talked to him, found that he was a very nice fella. He did'nt know Me from adam, but still invited me By to see his operation in detail. I did'nt ever impose Myself on him, but To Me that showed character, because I don't live far from Him, and for all he knew could have ended up being comp.
I also knew many people that took their work to him back in the day, and he always did them right. Greg C
JoeyInCali said:Now what if these makers did the same;
Mike Webb, Judd Fuller, Coker, Arnot, AC, Petree, Varney and Sherm?
Just to name a few.
Now, what would happen if they made their cues DP's way then Fleabay all of them?
Just asking questions.
Well If It were me, It's probably not the way I would go, but it was a bussiness decision I Guess. He was a bussinessman before getting into building cues, so I guess it was the path he decided to take.
It does however impress me to hear that the service is still good with all the cues he sells now days.
Its real simple. He decreased the value of his older cues on a collectors standpoint by selling newer ones cheaper. If you want a cue for playing then no big deal if your buying a new one.
Its like this....I love GTO's! Lets say I buy a 2006 GTO for 32,000. In 2009 Pontiac makes a GTO identical to the 2006 in pretty much every way but they sell them for 10,000. Now I still have my 2006 which I love and I'm never going to sell but...shit man.
It was worth 25,000 last year and now its only worth 10,000. Even though I'm not going to sell my 06 that just flat out sucks. It would kind of make me put on this face> or this face or maybe even this face> but I can assure you I wouldn't have on this face>
Its like this....I love GTO's! Lets say I buy a 2006 GTO for 32,000. In 2009 Pontiac makes a GTO identical to the 2006 in pretty much every way but they sell them for 10,000. Now I still have my 2006 which I love and I'm never going to sell but...shit man.
It was worth 25,000 last year and now its only worth 10,000. Even though I'm not going to sell my 06 that just flat out sucks. It would kind of make me put on this face> or this face or maybe even this face> but I can assure you I wouldn't have on this face>
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