There’s no guile in you, you call a spade a spade. It’s like a breath of fresh air
DP cues old vs new?
- Thread starter TheJackal
- Start date
i've owned a couple and a friend has bought/sold about six. No 'popping' inlays or bad finish on any of them. shafts were near perfect on mine. for under 200bux they're tuff to beat.
There are a lot of Dales Cues in my area.
No haters here, people are happy with them.
Gosh, I recall how DP and Jacoby cues were quite popular in the late 80’s - early 90’s.
I ordered my Runde Schon in ‘84 and there some interesting provenance to my cue I’ve
previously posted about. That’s neither here nor there for purposes of this thread.
I paid a little over $800 for my Schon that was a custom design. Regardless of whether
you like, or don’t, my cue’s design, It was a hands on built cue by Bob since I dealt with
him at the trade show where I ordered my cue. And Schon was still relatively unknown.
So folks I ran into at the different pool halls would view and examine my cue. It was not
uncommon to hear someone remark that I should have bought a different brand or cue
maker. And lots of times a DP and Jacoby cue owners would tell me I overpaid for my
cue and I should have gotten a cue like they were playing with and I’d have saved $ too.
It’s ironic to observe in hindsight that my cue is actually worth more than I paid, from a
highly desirable period in Schon’s cue making history, and it has three original shafts
all of which are still laser straight. I took the cue out the other day to show some pals
how a cue that’s almost 40 years old hasn’t warped one iota. It still rolls totally flat on a
pool table without any light under the shafts and butt. On a lathe, all the shafts spins true.
I used to think DP made a nice cue but I never played much with one. On the other hand,
I have played with a friend’s Jacoby cue and I was pleased by how it played, despite being
an ounce heavier than my cues? Just a bit of my grip reposition eliminated that observation.
Meucci, Mali, and Helmstetter cues were used by a lot of players in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
To this day, I enjoy browsing and reading the Billiards Encyclopedia and a copy of a 1923-1924
BRUNSWICK - BALKE - COLLENDER CO. Billiard Table Catalogue. The history of the company
is absolutely startling how extensive its operation was involving elaborate materials procurement.
They didn’t just buy wood at the local lumberyards. This was furniture craftsmanship in billiards.
There’s lots of nostalgia in pool. It troubles and saddens me today’s younger players just don’t
exhibit much interest, let along passion like myself and other older players still display, about the
history of the game. Folklore tales of road players, the great players from the golden period of pool
don’t interest them but talk about the Americans abysmal performances in the Mosconi event does.
We all relate to the game of pool different. All I know is there are times I play as great as one of the
best players could do. Unfortunately, it may only be for a rack where the balls were spread open on
a dry break by my opponent with no OBs on a rail or clusters. I run the table playing most center ball,
stop and easy follow shots taking advantage of easy cut angles. Okay, it’s only for one rack but doing
it once is more than sufficient motivation to make you want to do it again and again as often as possible.
I play pool for my satisfaction and my standards are high but unfortunately, I can’t meet them any longer.
My disabilities have gotten the best of me. My eyesight is 20/20 after cataract surgery and my back is fine
with the weight I’ve dropped over the years. But both my arms are broken and the surgery needed to repair
my right shoulder is just scary and it’s already had four surgeries that obviously failed. And my left shoulder
needs just a second rotator cuff surgery but I can live with the pain since the 3 tears are not full thickness.
My connection to pool remains as active as I can make it. I play pool as much as I can but make no mistake,
it’s never without pain and sometimes it’s debilitating so I have to stop until I can resume playing again. It is
never the same day but maybe the next day or two. Sometimes it means no pool for a week but I always
keep coming back. And those days I am not playing, you often still find me at the pool halls chatting & drinking
with friends and watching others play. I sometimes daydream imagining myself to know as much about playing
pool but at the younger age of the folks I am watching….like Brando said in OTWF….I coulda been a contender.
I ordered my Runde Schon in ‘84 and there some interesting provenance to my cue I’ve
previously posted about. That’s neither here nor there for purposes of this thread.
I paid a little over $800 for my Schon that was a custom design. Regardless of whether
you like, or don’t, my cue’s design, It was a hands on built cue by Bob since I dealt with
him at the trade show where I ordered my cue. And Schon was still relatively unknown.
So folks I ran into at the different pool halls would view and examine my cue. It was not
uncommon to hear someone remark that I should have bought a different brand or cue
maker. And lots of times a DP and Jacoby cue owners would tell me I overpaid for my
cue and I should have gotten a cue like they were playing with and I’d have saved $ too.
It’s ironic to observe in hindsight that my cue is actually worth more than I paid, from a
highly desirable period in Schon’s cue making history, and it has three original shafts
all of which are still laser straight. I took the cue out the other day to show some pals
how a cue that’s almost 40 years old hasn’t warped one iota. It still rolls totally flat on a
pool table without any light under the shafts and butt. On a lathe, all the shafts spins true.
I used to think DP made a nice cue but I never played much with one. On the other hand,
I have played with a friend’s Jacoby cue and I was pleased by how it played, despite being
an ounce heavier than my cues? Just a bit of my grip reposition eliminated that observation.
Meucci, Mali, and Helmstetter cues were used by a lot of players in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
To this day, I enjoy browsing and reading the Billiards Encyclopedia and a copy of a 1923-1924
BRUNSWICK - BALKE - COLLENDER CO. Billiard Table Catalogue. The history of the company
is absolutely startling how extensive its operation was involving elaborate materials procurement.
They didn’t just buy wood at the local lumberyards. This was furniture craftsmanship in billiards.
There’s lots of nostalgia in pool. It troubles and saddens me today’s younger players just don’t
exhibit much interest, let along passion like myself and other older players still display, about the
history of the game. Folklore tales of road players, the great players from the golden period of pool
don’t interest them but talk about the Americans abysmal performances in the Mosconi event does.
We all relate to the game of pool different. All I know is there are times I play as great as one of the
best players could do. Unfortunately, it may only be for a rack where the balls were spread open on
a dry break by my opponent with no OBs on a rail or clusters. I run the table playing most center ball,
stop and easy follow shots taking advantage of easy cut angles. Okay, it’s only for one rack but doing
it once is more than sufficient motivation to make you want to do it again and again as often as possible.
I play pool for my satisfaction and my standards are high but unfortunately, I can’t meet them any longer.
My disabilities have gotten the best of me. My eyesight is 20/20 after cataract surgery and my back is fine
with the weight I’ve dropped over the years. But both my arms are broken and the surgery needed to repair
my right shoulder is just scary and it’s already had four surgeries that obviously failed. And my left shoulder
needs just a second rotator cuff surgery but I can live with the pain since the 3 tears are not full thickness.
My connection to pool remains as active as I can make it. I play pool as much as I can but make no mistake,
it’s never without pain and sometimes it’s debilitating so I have to stop until I can resume playing again. It is
never the same day but maybe the next day or two. Sometimes it means no pool for a week but I always
keep coming back. And those days I am not playing, you often still find me at the pool halls chatting & drinking
with friends and watching others play. I sometimes daydream imagining myself to know as much about playing
pool but at the younger age of the folks I am watching….like Brando said in OTWF….I coulda been a contender.
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