Don't understand the DP issues

Just to chime in here.
When I was a neophyte cue collector I bought a DP off ebay for about $300. When I got it I was playing with a somewhat fancy Lucasi so the difference was nominal and I didn't think anything.

Soon after I bought a Meucci Gambler and never played with the DP again. There was that much difference.

Since then, I've sold the Meucci and the DP, both overseas for more than I paid for.
Why? Because I bought a Phillipi. Once you get into the world of real custom cues builders and are playing enough to notice the difference you will see it.

There is a difference between a cue maker and a craftsman. And the difference is notable in the finished product.
 
ajohnson13 said:
My only personal experience with DP cues is this:

A league teammate purchased one of DP's ebay one off cues. We had a great discussion about his business practices, and cuemaking techniques, and on and on. I hit some balls with it, and overall it hit pretty good, but was a little softer than what I like. The cue looked good, and had lots of inlays and such, but I am not a fan of rounded corners and other side effects of his CNC work. All personal opinions aside, DP does make a nice cue, especially for the money.

Last week at league, my teammate lost his temper over a loss and snapped that DP cue in half at the top of the wrap. Not a very classy move, I agree, but let's save that for another thread. Upon examining the broken cue, I learned that the handle underneath the wrap was a maple core inside of what looked to me like cork, but the maple core was not even close to centered in the handle. The core in the forearm of the cue was also off center, and the most surprising detail is that there was at least a 1/2" gap between the cores with no pins, dowells, tenons, or any other hardware securing the handle to the forearm. I am no cuemaker, and my knowledge of a cue's construction is limitied, but it is obvious to me why the cue broke where it did. Very shoddy construction IMO.

I will never buy a DP cue, but I can also see where you are coming from.
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Your description of DP cues makes sense because of the prices he charges for his cues on ebay.
 
steveL75121 said:
Meucci's hit with the best of them!:) :) and that's from alot of opinions!!!(World Champions)!
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That was sthe opinion of a lot of pro players until they started getting stiffed by him.
 
Shipping for each custom cue is $50 for UPS Air service to Canada. Regular UPS to Canada is $29.50. And paypal to Canada wow that is a change.

When I was looking into his cue's 2 years ago he wanted $100 to ship to Canada and wire transfer only. That is why I don't play with one is the cost to ship one heck it clost more then the cue itself !?!
 
I will say this. The 29.00 + shipping ups could have been 8.95 USPS priority. I hear what you all are saying about the business practices also. I am just saying that for a 200.00 cue I can't complain but then again I ask myself hmmmm 200.00 towards a another R.Black or a Nitti which I have recently been dreaming of. Well ok maybe I am just confused. However I know this. I bought this cue for my mother who just beat cancer for the 2nd time! Age 57 I am 39. She loves 9 ball and used to be a usppa member. She loves turquise and there aren't many crafters using that medium and this will surely put a smile on her face. Sometimes that also has a price. However as cues go, 2 bills are still worth it. HANDS DOWN! LOL speaking of that NITTI. Anyone got one they will take payments on?:grin-square:
 
I had a 700$ Dp cue. It hit great and i loved the cue. I never would of sold it, but if i had and realized it was worth alot less now because of dp's business practices i wouldve been really pissed. Its not cool to do your cutomers wrong like that.


dont have it no more i shattered it on my table during a fight with my fiance. man i miss that cue. :(
 
His business practices have definitely devalued his top shelf cues. In my opinion those top shelf cues should still be worth what was paid because they look great.

Business practice aside his cues have a great feel to them. By looking at em I certainly wouldn't say they are worth $1800 as he claims on eBay, but they certainly have the look and feel of a cue that is worth much more than what is being paid for them.
 
I own two of his cues and I love the feel, hit and balance of em. The only thing I didn't like was the feel of his shafts. Well not the feel, but the finish he has which feels like bare wood. I am very very picky on how slick a shaft feels so I can really put the blame on me for that.
 
DP has gone all wrong

I have a DP cue that I got from the Rifleman. It is a DP-411 and it hits just fine. Because it does, I decided to buy an Ebay DP about 3 months ago and even upgraded to a DP-R laminated shaft and a Talisman tip. I must say that when I first called him, he acted like he wanted nothing to do with me. He almost hung up the phone until I mentioned something about commissioning him to build me a 'tuxedo cue'. We talked about ivory and other materials, and I concluded with an agreement to upgrade the shaft and tip on my current ebay purchase. When the cue came, the tip was glued on sloppily and the hit of the cue felt like a cushion! It had a good amount of deflection especially for a laminated shaft. I noticed one other thing too, the area looking down at the pin appeared to be uncentered. I asked my cuemaker about this and he said it probably won't affect the playing conditions, but I read somewhere about this imperfection and how cuemakers try and hide this error made from haste. Long story short, I called him and told him what I thought, and his exact words were, "You're the first person who's ever told me this. That's how it goes. You gotta buy 'em and ya just gotta play with it for about three or four weeks and get used to it." I said, "So that's it?" "He said, "Yep!" and hung up the phone. I spent $270 on that cue and sold it for around half that a month later on ebay. I noticed indentations in the buttsleeve and poor coating done around the joint. I'll never do business with him again.:angry:
 
deadgearplyr said:
...I must say that when I first called him, he acted like he wanted nothing to do with me. He almost hung up the phone until I mentioned something about commissioning him to build me a 'tuxedo cue'....
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I wrote him a few years back when his cues were pretty high dollar and considered quality stuff. I asked a few questions about his cues and his eBay experiences as a seller. I never heard back from him. I believe I wrote him a 2nd time a few months later, but again, no response. Everyone else on eBay was quite friendly, but he was the only one who, I guess, thought he was too good to even acknowledge some people. He was the only one I ever ran across, anyway.

Met him in person, once. Same attitude. Surprised me, but I don't guess it should have.

DP is the only different cuemaker (other than Dieckmann) that has come up with a design I really like and I considered buying from him, but the attitude thing caused me to re-think.

There are two other cuemakers who I won't buy from, due to attitude issues, but I won't mention any names. I guess it's a good thing they don't really impress me with their work.
 
JesPiddlin said:
I wrote him a few years back when his cues were pretty high dollar and considered quality stuff. I asked a few questions about his cues and his eBay experiences as a seller. I never heard back from him. I believe I wrote him a 2nd time a few months later, but again, no response. Everyone else on eBay was quite friendly, but he was the only one who, I guess, thought he was too good to even acknowledge some people. He was the only one I ever ran across, anyway.

Met him in person, once. Same attitude. Surprised me, but I don't guess it should have.

DP is the only different cuemaker (other than Dieckmann) that has come up with a design I really like and I considered buying from him, but the attitude thing caused me to re-think.

There are two other cuemakers who I won't buy from, due to attitude issues, but I won't mention any names. I guess it's a good thing they don't really impress me with their work.
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The attitude thing could be attributed to him being so hyper-active, which I know he is. He's like me as far as business is concerned. I am a spit it out already type of person. I am like that shopping where I know exactly what I want when I go. I get it and get out without wasted time.

I am the type where you walk in and you better know exactly what you want when you speak. If you don't know what you want then come back when you do.

Next time I am down there I wanna go meet up with him and give him some ideas on inlays.
 
I've said it once and I'll say it again DP makes great cues.

From a collector standpoint I will say he make awful cues.

I am not a collector or investor. I bought his cues on a whim. I liked the look of them and decided to buy. When I played with them I was very impressed as far as how they fit the feel I want. I didn't like the shaft, but I am very picky and I blame myself for that.

I will say that the shaft plays very well. I just didn't like the feel of it. I feel for any custom cue maker who meets me because I am a serious pain in the ass.

Sadly for you cue makers who will read this I have some new innovative ideas that I want made and you will not like it.
 
I had a thriving cue business during the cue craze of the 90's towards the latter part of the 90's we let it fizzle out and pursued other things. During this period Dale Perry was in the same category as Scruggs, Gina, Stroud and so on and his cues brought a good price. Recently I started back into the cue scene and when I initially seen a DP on Ebay I was shocked. I'm sure he still makes a decent cue but as I read in many of the post you get what you pay for and for them to be sold as cheap as they are something is being sacrificed. I would guess that after this many years cues like McDermott, mucci and so on have pretty streamlined production expenses and they are more then a DP. I haven't played with a new DP so I am hesitant to criticize but I have built cues and sold many cues and something seems suspect.
 
Bamacues said:
Dale Perry makes a decent production cue. The designs are somewhat repetitious. A few years ago, he made some of the most sought out custom cues. The 1 of 1 thing that he does today is a joke. Still, for $200, they are hard to beat. Try out the warranty repair service and let us all know how it goes.

Joe
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I have bought quite a few DP cues.....all off EBAY.....received one and the ebony point had a chip in the wood (it was chipped before it was sprayed) so I emailed him and he said ship it back....in 3 weeks I had a fully repaired cue that I had spent $292.00 on with 2 shafts

I also bought one of the "1 of 10" Ebony & Ivory cues for $700...it is one of the best playing cues I own....I matched it with an OB1 shaft and it has been my player for a few years now

My buddy Chuck has one that he went to Dale's shop and designed with him and had him build, I think he paid around $1800 back in early 2000's for it....and it is worth every penny...the craftsmanship of that cue is incredible!

DP cues I give a thumbs up...especially for the price
 
JesPiddlin said:
I wrote him a few years back when his cues were pretty high dollar and considered quality stuff. I asked a few questions about his cues and his eBay experiences as a seller. I never heard back from him. I believe I wrote him a 2nd time a few months later, but again, no response.
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This resembles my experience: When I was looking for a higher-end cue to replace my production-Kruger, I found two designs on his website which I liked a lot, however with a different wood in the inlays. I wrote two mails in which I asked for a price for the shown cue with a different wood in the inlays, but never got a response.

Regards,

Detlev
 
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