Does anyone here have any experience, or opinions about Early Adam Custom Shop Musashi cues?

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vintagecollectibles831

Active member
Does anyone here have any experience, or opinions about Early Adam Custom Shop Musashi cues?

I found a pool cue that I believe to be an early Adam Musashi, custom shop cue, but it does not say Musashi anywhere on it.

It is a "Nagaya Special", and this cue was limited to only 5 made.

Kenji Nagaya is / was a Japanese Pro pool player, who is / was sponsored by Adam, who won some Pro Championships back in the 80's, and was an Artistic Pool Champion too.

I found a very similar Musashi, that has almost the same exact design on it, but different materials were used in the cue. The only other difference is the added ringwork.

アダム　ムサシ／ADAM MUSASHI　＃119 - ノダブロ｜ビリヤード 通販 キューショップジャパン

www.csjblog.com www.csjblog.com

That one is a Musashi, that has the usual "CUSTOM MADE OF MUSASHI" in the forearm, but this one does not, and it is not marked Musashi, and the shafts are not marked either.

I still believe that it is probably an early Musashi though, but I do not know.

Anyways, I just find the cue to be very interesting.

Thanks for any thoughts.
 

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That looks like a older Mugen-line cue. Not a Musashi imo. They all are marked 'Musashi' and are usually way fancier. NewArt in Japan is a big ADAM seller and every M cue is clearly marked as 'Musashi'. Might send them a pic and ask. info@newart.co.jp
 
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Japan makes some of the best cues especially the older cues which is superior than the American counterpart of the time. I compare it to the vehicles of the time too.

How old is that cue? I be it hits with the precision of a Mezz.
 
garczar said:
ADAM has made some nice cues but they've never been superior to any top US custom builders. EVER.
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Well its pretty subjective but in my opinion they are. Even certain models of the Balabushka versions were pretty good. I judge them by how they hit compared to a modern cue. If they hit like a modern cue, for their time, then its a pretty good cue. I've shot with some old cues and they hit like shit. I always give credit to past players for being able to play with the cues of the past. LOL

Just like today's modern cues are so good and you can spin effortlessly spin the rock.
 
billiards_watch said:
Well its pretty subjective but in my opinion they are. Even certain models of the Balabushka versions were pretty good. I judge them by how they hit compared to a modern cue. If they hit like a modern cue, for their time, then its a pretty good cue. I've shot with some old cues and they hit like shit. I always give credit to past players for being able to play with the cues of the past. LOL

Just like today's modern cues are so good and you can spin effortlessly spin the rock.
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WTF??? You really have no clue. Newer cues DO NOT put more spin on a ball. A bad cue is a bad cue regardless of when it was made. For the last time: there has never been a time when Japanese cues were/are better than top US custom cues. Musashi's and Exceed's would be the only Japanese cues to come close to what top US makers produce.
 
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billiards_watch said:
It's ok and just an opinion. Pool cues are inanimate objects. It's ok we're not hurting its feelings.
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You really don't know much about cues and how they're made apparently. ADAM-Japan 'bushkas WERE nice cues but they were never as good as what top US builders were making at the time. Not ever. Yeah you can have an opinion but in this case you are way off. I could easily name close to ten builders that were active when those were made and ALL made superior cues. ALL of them. Bye troll.
 
billiards_watch said:
I did ask when the cue was made. As soon as I get the date then I will tell you the cues they were superior over.
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There wasn’t any time in Japan’s cuemaking timeline that they could have been called superior to the American cuemakers unless you’re being very selective on which cuemakers. You’d literally be comparing any Japan-made cue to Ernie Gutierrez, Gus Szamboti, Bill Stroud, Bill Schick, etc.

Not reality.
 
garczar said:
You really don't know much about cues and how they're made apparently. ADAM-Japan 'bushkas WERE nice cues but they were never as good as what top US builders were making at the time. Not ever. Yeah you can have an opinion but in this case you are way off. I could easily name close to ten builders that were active when those were made and ALL made superior cues. ALL of them. Bye troll.
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Would a fairer comparison be with other mass-produced cues of the time?

I consider Japan era Adam's on par with Green Mali's but under window Vikings and B series McDermott's.

Accurate?
 
Cornerman said:
There wasn’t any time in Japan’s cuemaking timeline that they could have been called superior to the American cuemakers unless you’re being very selective on which cuemakers. You’d literally be comparing any Japan-made cue to Ernie Gutierrez, Gus Szamboti, Bill Stroud, Bill Schick, etc.

Not reality.
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They are not better than those names you listed. I said they were superior than their counterparts during that period. It could be a myriad of cues from the production level. I mean we are comparing apples to apples here.
 
Benelli said:
Would a fairer comparison be with other mass-produced cues of the time?

I consider Japan era Adam's on par with Green Mali's but under window Vikings and B series McDermott's.

Accurate?
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I'd say they( i'm talking the CompSeries stuff) would have been equal to most production cues of the time, maybe a tad under a Vike-McD. The one's i've seen/hit were nicer than Mali's. Good cues for sure but not on par with US custom stuff.
 
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billiards_watch said:
Well its pretty subjective but in my opinion they are. Even certain models of the Balabushka versions were pretty good. I judge them by how they hit compared to a modern cue. If they hit like a modern cue, for their time, then its a pretty good cue. I've shot with some old cues and they hit like shit. I always give credit to past players for being able to play with the cues of the past. LOL

Just like today's modern cues are so good and you can spin effortlessly spin the rock.
Click to expand...

The 90's era Balabushka cues were very high quality. I agree. Adam made a really great cue back in the 80's and early to mid 90's, before they moved most of their production to Japan. The 70's Era Adam cues were really cool too, but not nearly as good (of players) as some of those Helmstetter cues from the 80's. Like the 86, and 87 lines, for example. The early 90's had the Helmstetter VIP line too. Very high quality cues.
 
garczar said:
You really don't know much about cues and how they're made apparently. ADAM-Japan 'bushkas WERE nice cues but they were never as good as what top US builders were making at the time. Not ever. Yeah you can have an opinion but in this case you are way off. I could easily name close to ten builders that were active when those were made and ALL made superior cues. ALL of them. Bye troll.
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They were just as good as most US Production cues though, with the exception of Schon. They were just as good as a Joss for example. I am talking about the Helmstetter cues from the 80's and early 90's. Like the VIP line, and the 86, and 87 Series, for example. They were very high quality. The Balabushka line too, from the 80's and 90's.
 
Cornerman said:
There wasn’t any time in Japan’s cuemaking timeline that they could have been called superior to the American cuemakers unless you’re being very selective on which cuemakers. You’d literally be comparing any Japan-made cue to Ernie Gutierrez, Gus Szamboti, Bill Stroud, Bill Schick, etc.

Not reality.
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You are speaking about some of the best cue makers who ever lived. Can't compare a Production cue to any of those Legends, but the 80's and 90's era Helmstetter was every bit as high quality as a Joss, for example, in my opinion. Edit: I would actually say better than the average run of the mill Joss. Helmstetter cues were super nice. The ones made back in the 80's, and early 90's And, they play really great.
 
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