Did Adam ever build Karella cues?

V

vintagecollectibles831

Well-known member
I have been trying my best to research Karella cues, and it appears that they have been made in at least several different places, or factories.

I am thinking that maybe they might have been made by Adam at one time though, because those look good quality to me, and used the same rubber bumper that Adam cues, if that means anything.

Anyways, I mistakenly purchased one, thinking that it might be a Schon, lol. I feel like such an idiot, lol, but it really has a very Schon like design to it, and also a 5/16x14 SS joint.

The pictures were pretty lousy though, but I thought it looked like a really good quality cue, with a fairly nicely figured BEM forearm.

I am also thinking that maybe these were made in the same factory that built Lucasi cues. The same factory also made cues for Adam, for a long time, I believe, but those Adam cues had the Roman Numeral numbers on them, just like Lucasi cues did, so that is why I made that connection. Also, similar ring work..

Anyways, getting back on topic. Does anyone here think that those Karella cues were very good quality?

I just can't find any info about them.

The one that I purchased is identical to the one in the pictures below.

I am thinking that the cue might be of similar quality to a 90's era Lucasi cue. Like those Buddy Hall Lucasi cues, for example. But, I do not know.

Thanks a lot for any thoughts.
 

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mikeyd88 said:
The cue is a k=11. Completion sports of new york owned them at that time. First time use of the name was in june of 1995. Pretty sure the cue is from around 2003 or so when Donald spetkar was the president of competition sports.
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Thanks for the info. Do you know who made it, and specifically where it was built? Japan, China, or anywhere in particular? Was it made by Adam? Adam made cues in Japan, and in China. Someone mentioned Thailand too, but I never knew there was a cue factory in Thailand. Thanks a lot.
 
mikeyd88 said:
I have no idea. There is a way to check shipping logs but its been awhile since i have looked that deep into a company and cant remember exactly how to do so. I will look into it for you.
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Okay, how about an opinion on the quality of these cues? This one in particular? I believe that they were not all made to the same standards. Some just look very different to others. Different style rubber bumpers, for one thing. Do you recall what price range these retailed for? Thanks a lot for any other thoughts. I just hope the cue is at least maybe 90's era Lucasi quality, for example. Thanks.
 
mikeyd88 said:
I have no idea. There is a way to check shipping logs but its been awhile since i have looked that deep into a company and cant remember exactly how to do so. I will look into it for you.
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Okay, I guess they may have been made in Thailand, if that is what the 3rd Edition Blue Book noted.

T-Dawg

Thread 'Karella Cue'

Karella

Designed by Tascarella, manufactured by Adams,straight and solid hitting,leather wrap and refinnished. 350.00 shipped and insured.

I wonder if the quality was any better then others.
 
According to the Blue Book of Pool Cues, Karella cues were made since 1993 till 2005 in Thailand for Competition Sports.
So I don't think that they were made by Adam that operated from Japan.
 
vintagecollectibles831 said:
Okay, I guess they may have been made in Thailand, if that is what the 3rd Edition Blue Book noted.

T-Dawg

Thread 'Karella Cue'

Karella

Designed by Tascarella, manufactured by Adams,straight and solid hitting,leather wrap and refinnished. 350.00 shipped and insured.

I wonder if the quality was any better than others.
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Wipe this from your memory banks. Aside from part of Pete Tascarella’s name makes up Karelia, Pete walked away from that business concept at the very beginning. Don Spektar, owner of Competition Sport, continued the business, working with various mass production builders. Spektar liked the name and kept it.
 
Cornerman said:
Wipe this from your memory banks. Aside from part of Pete Tascarella’s name makes up Karelia, Pete walked away from that business concept at the very beginning. Don Spektar, owner of Competition Sport, continued the business, working with various mass production builders. Spektar liked the name and kept it.
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Thanks bro. The amount of guessing can get brutal. We all do it to some extent but some live by it. I know some about this stuff but you are in another league sir.
 
Cornerman said:
Wipe this from your memory banks. Aside from part of Pete Tascarella’s name makes up Karelia, Pete walked away from that business concept at the very beginning. Don Spektar, owner of Competition Sport, continued the business, working with various mass production builders. Spektar liked the name and kept it.
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There’s a bit of timeline to this, Both Pete and Don walked away from this venture when the first batch of cues came. Several years later, Spektar restarted Karella alone. Pete gave permission to continue using the name. The Karella Cue Company were not part of Adam or Competition sports at the onset.
 
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skor said:
According to the Blue Book of Pool Cues, Karella cues were made since 1993 till 2005 in Thailand for Competition Sports.
So I don't think that they were made by Adam that operated from Japan.
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Some of them looked very different then others though. Very different styles, and different style rubber bumpers, if that even says anything about them. Just seems that the brand was made by different factories, and in very different styles, but I do not know. Some were even made for three cushion billiards, with the long wooden joint pin, coming out of the shaft.

I guess that none of that means anything though. They may have still all been made in the same factory.

Some (with just a K logo) were even said to have been made by Joss, lol. I found that one hard to believe though.
 

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mikeyd88 said:
The cue is a k=11. Completion sports of new york owned them at that time. First time use of the name was in june of 1995. Pretty sure the cue is from around 2003 or so when Donald spetkar was the president of competition sports.
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Hi, have you ever seen, and held one of these in person? Do you think they were very good quality? Comparable to any other production cues of that time period? Thanks again for the info. I see that the K-6, for example, retailed for $680. I can't find the retail value of the K-11 though. Do these retail prices seem fit for the quality that they were? Thanks.
 

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garczar said:
Thanks bro. The amount of guessing can get brutal. We all do it to some extent but some live by it. I know some about this stuff but you are in another league sir.
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Obviously I have to give credit to the people I know that were part of the businesses in question whether it's a worker from Adam back in the 80s/90's or the people involved at the beginning of Karella. I think I said this before, but one of my biggest regrets is that I lived a few miles from Richard Helmstetter in his later years (Carlsbad, CA), and I dragged my feet on interviewing him. There's a lot of missing information that if he still had the mental capacity, I could have filled those gaps so that all of the guessing based on rumors could just stop (yeah, right). But by the time I got my ass in gear, his assistants said he was mentally not capable of having any discussions and interview.
 
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