> It's funny that someone mentioned guitars and George Lynch. If you read his early bios,there are 3-4 of those early Bengal striped ESP's that are actually Charvel's,they just had a ESP logo slapped on them after they became his bread and butter,he also had a couple Kramer Barrettas done the same way. As far as pro players playing with Meucci cues,I saw a tv match between Jimmy Wetch and Kim Davenport that just reeked. Both were under contract with Meucci,but Kim had been playing with the same Szamboti for close to 20 years,and Jimmy had been a dedicated Schon user for years as well. They both missed an average of one ball per rack for an entire race to 11,there are players here on this board that would have dusted both of them playing like that. The cue might not matter to some,but it matters to everyone if you are being paid to play with a cue you don't like. Earl's shafts are indeed modified,he has Joe Blackburn or one of the other really well known repair guys cut ALL the fiberglass off,and retaper them so they stay at 12.75mm for the first 20 inches. He also has ferrules and tips changed like most of us change socks. Tommy D.