DPK, SW, BS

breakandrun

3 Stars and a Sun
Silver Member
Happy Holidays everyone...
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In 2005 I acquired my 1st flat ivory joint cue. Up until then, I had always played with stainless steel piloted cue joints.
Now keep in mind I started playing pool in 1960 so making a change after 45 years of the same thing was pretty big.

The difference was so amazing, and the improvement in my game so noticeable, I immediately knew this was it for me.
So I started experimenting and I tried cues by different cue makers and also other joint versions like piloted ivory joints.

The closest I came to being pleased with a piloted ivory joint cue was a Paul Mottey cue I had that was just a beauty.
I sold that so I could get my Ed Prewitt cue with a flat ivory joint. Paul makes a great cue but I preferred flat ivory joints.

So at this point, I wanted another flat ivory cue but I wanted it to match the specs on my other cues. I searched all over
and couldn’t locate cues that had matching specs. The cues were always too heavy or had the wrong size cue shafts.

It became very frustrating and Dean C suggested ordering a custom cue with the same specs as my other two
cues. So I decided that if I was going to do that, I’d design the cue & just select a cue maker so I started interviewing.

Two cue makers were recommended by Dean and I had another 1/2 dozen I had picked to consider so I started calling.
Every cue maker was interested, maybe because my cue designs were more elaborate than just a simple player’s cue.

There were two cue makers that stood out. They distinguished themselves with their demeanor and were gracious with
their time discussing my design and talking about the different facets of building a cue. They were very knowledgeable.

So I had one design in mind but two cue makers really impressed me. What to do? Whom should I choose to build my
design? Well, there was only one apparent choice. I just had to design a 2nd cue & order a cue from both cue makers.

Well, I did that and the cues turned out exactly how I designed them. And the cue specs were dead on accurate, plus
the cues were delivered on time as forecast. After playing with these cues, I knew I wanted more but which cue maker?

It was such a tough decision that I couldn’t decide which cue maker so what to do. So I ordered another cue from both
cue makers again and the designs I came up with were even more challenging. Again, both cue makers hit home runs.

In fact, referring to their workmanship as home runs is an understatement. The cues Bob Owen and Jerry Rauenzahn
produced fir me are grand slam home runs. I’d still be collecting more cues but CA adopted an ivory ban so it ended.

My biggest regret is never finding a Joel Hercek cue that had matching specs with my other cues. Sure,I found cues
but they were always heavier than I wanted or the shafts were the wrong size or else the cue joint was piloted ivory.

So that’s the story of the cue’s in my signature. The Palmer cue was my first cue (1971). My Schon cue was built by
Bob Runde in 1985 and has 5 shafts. Those cues are retired and sit in storage cases. The rest are my playing cues.

I had Gil Castillo make me a 6x12 red lizard cue case for my flat ivory joint cues. All of these cues have really close
matching specs, especially the ones built by Bob & Jerry that have identical specs. It makes switching cues easier.


Matt B.
 
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