Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
Or pull a Earl Strickland , wrap it with tennis racket wrap .
Expensive Cue Shooter
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The Old Jaybird
Well-known member
back in my slot car racing days, I did this with my DiFalco and Third Eye controllers.
You fancy
I'm sure this mysterious high end cue of yours has a makers name attached to it..?Quite possibly, it's a Bullabushka..?
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Sir, may inquire who made the first two from the left..?I like the simple design on them...
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I know that with current circumstances, everything seems absurdly priced from eggs & bread to insurance & housing.
Since we are paying so much more for common, everyday things as well, pool cue prices have escalated with this too.
Since when all is said and done, a pool cue is really a very simple design and thereafter, all else becomes more of a artistic change in the design itself. A really nice SP with a KW shaft could run you $500-600. Anything more is sizzle.
Functionally speaking, the SP cue fulfills all of your needs but sometimes it’s not what you want, especially if you have
been playing with that SP cue for awhile. You could always add, or originally ordered, a CF shaft if that’s what you like.
So what is an expensive cue in terms of is there some price tier that says this qualifies as a expensive cue? Remember
that expensive is relative to how affordable is that cue to you. So even the aforementioned SP can be a expensive cue.
IMO, I think if you had to pick a price range to qualify, which is an absurd idea to start with since everyone has differing
levels of discretionary income, I’d say anything over a grand. The more thousands you add to the value, then the cue becomes very expensive. And at some point, there is probably a better reference to use but I don’t know what that would be. What do you call a cue over $5,000, $7500 or $10,000? Some would say very, very expensive whereas others would describe it as ridiculously or absurdly expensive and some others would see it as overpriced & overrated.
My cues required obtaining a rider because most of the individual values exceed the policy’s individual limit coverage.
So what do I refer to them as? Expensive seems more than adequate. Any cue you own can be expensive. There’s no
definition or rating system like with pool cue designs, ex., LEVEL I, II, III, IV, V, etc. I’ll tell you what is really expensive.
Meat…….OMG, earlier this week I was in Costco and checked out the meat prices. Ribeye steak was S23.95/lb.
That is uncooked sitting in the meat display case. Imagine trying to feed a family of 5-6 on a weekday school night that’s not a big special occasion. Now include all the other parts of your dinner meal and after tabulating the cost, you know why franks and hamburgers make up more of the menu for a lotta families than ribeye. What seems expensive to the rib-eye family’s purchase of a pool cue is dramatically different than the franks and hamburger family. So Nuf Ced!
Since we are paying so much more for common, everyday things as well, pool cue prices have escalated with this too.
Since when all is said and done, a pool cue is really a very simple design and thereafter, all else becomes more of a artistic change in the design itself. A really nice SP with a KW shaft could run you $500-600. Anything more is sizzle.
Functionally speaking, the SP cue fulfills all of your needs but sometimes it’s not what you want, especially if you have
been playing with that SP cue for awhile. You could always add, or originally ordered, a CF shaft if that’s what you like.
So what is an expensive cue in terms of is there some price tier that says this qualifies as a expensive cue? Remember
that expensive is relative to how affordable is that cue to you. So even the aforementioned SP can be a expensive cue.
IMO, I think if you had to pick a price range to qualify, which is an absurd idea to start with since everyone has differing
levels of discretionary income, I’d say anything over a grand. The more thousands you add to the value, then the cue becomes very expensive. And at some point, there is probably a better reference to use but I don’t know what that would be. What do you call a cue over $5,000, $7500 or $10,000? Some would say very, very expensive whereas others would describe it as ridiculously or absurdly expensive and some others would see it as overpriced & overrated.
My cues required obtaining a rider because most of the individual values exceed the policy’s individual limit coverage.
So what do I refer to them as? Expensive seems more than adequate. Any cue you own can be expensive. There’s no
definition or rating system like with pool cue designs, ex., LEVEL I, II, III, IV, V, etc. I’ll tell you what is really expensive.
Meat…….OMG, earlier this week I was in Costco and checked out the meat prices. Ribeye steak was S23.95/lb.
That is uncooked sitting in the meat display case. Imagine trying to feed a family of 5-6 on a weekday school night that’s not a big special occasion. Now include all the other parts of your dinner meal and after tabulating the cost, you know why franks and hamburgers make up more of the menu for a lotta families than ribeye. What seems expensive to the rib-eye family’s purchase of a pool cue is dramatically different than the franks and hamburger family. So Nuf Ced!
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Always loved that movie...gave great advice on life such as to pack enough ammo for self defense or coat yourself with mud, when encountering a deadly alien...
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Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
The next time you visit Costco take a look at the price of a pound of Buffalo burger .
Back to expensive cue prices it's all relative a cue over $ 1,000.00 for the cue butt is getting up there then add a couple extra shafts and a few mother of pearl accents and dots and a elephant ear wrapped grip or Irish linen , not to mention the " natural " goodies at the joint bumper and ferrels .
I'm sure there's quite a few laughing at this post from a guy who hasn't strayed very far from Montana which is true , but I've seen a few people play lights out off the wall rack or with a real sneaky Pete cue that was wrapped up in a old towel with a couple extra shafts .
Lance Saunders had a stroke that many could only dream of myself included .
George was another great player who probably had a custom cue but I never seen it but he played off the rack for any amount you wanted .
As for me I'm happy with my main cues and I'll try to sell a couple of them to pay off some bills .
Back to expensive cue prices it's all relative a cue over $ 1,000.00 for the cue butt is getting up there then add a couple extra shafts and a few mother of pearl accents and dots and a elephant ear wrapped grip or Irish linen , not to mention the " natural " goodies at the joint bumper and ferrels .
I'm sure there's quite a few laughing at this post from a guy who hasn't strayed very far from Montana which is true , but I've seen a few people play lights out off the wall rack or with a real sneaky Pete cue that was wrapped up in a old towel with a couple extra shafts .
Lance Saunders had a stroke that many could only dream of myself included .
George was another great player who probably had a custom cue but I never seen it but he played off the rack for any amount you wanted .
As for me I'm happy with my main cues and I'll try to sell a couple of them to pay off some bills .
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Earl won U.S.Opens and world championships with a 90$ cuetec..so...
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
Lance played with a Dufferin bar cue his brother turned into a two piece cue then turned down the shaft to I believe a12 mm if not smaller ?
My cue that his brother made for me is a 13 mm shaft as are the two extra shafts for it , I snapped the original shaft at the joint breaking with it , I took it home , got out the Elmer's wood glue and some rubber bands and fixed it better than ever .
I use a piece of 2" PVC pipe with a cap and a clean out adapter on the ends for a case talk about bullet proof !
The above mentioned cues both were 6" longer than normal which is great in a pool hall where you have a lot of room but problematic in some bars at times when the table is close to a wall .
My cue that his brother made for me is a 13 mm shaft as are the two extra shafts for it , I snapped the original shaft at the joint breaking with it , I took it home , got out the Elmer's wood glue and some rubber bands and fixed it better than ever .
I use a piece of 2" PVC pipe with a cap and a clean out adapter on the ends for a case talk about bullet proof !
The above mentioned cues both were 6" longer than normal which is great in a pool hall where you have a lot of room but problematic in some bars at times when the table is close to a wall .
Thanks for the info!
L'epine
Active member
Although these cues go once in a while outside to play, they rarely go to a crowded place anymore where people don't care who's cue it is and start playing with them. The third from the right is Larry Lisciotti's George Balabushka purchased from Pete Tascarella family.
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After a long time looking, I finally found a Schon R12 in like new condition. It wasn’t cheap. Couple that with a Jacoby low deflection shaft and it’s a sizable investment (for me). Throw in a leather Instroke 2x4 case and Predator break cue and I’m carrying almost $4k into the pool hall. It’s going there because it is exactly what I’ve always wanted as far as balance and feel. I shoot better with it than any other cue I have owned. The strange part, is I worry more about carrying it than I did my JossWest (or other equally expensive cues). Fortunately, I always have friends where I shoot, who are willing to help keep an eye on it if I take a break from the tables. I guess the fact that it is THE cue I have always looked for, it seems less replaceable than other more expensive cues I have owned.
How well does the Balabushka play in comparison with the other cues of your fine collection..?
I have a Schon Runde R Series…….Something?
Bob and I discussed building a pool cue at the BCA Inaugural Trade Show.
Back at that time, there was only the R Series. Schon was in business a
couple of years. I told Bob I wanted something different with large inlays,
larger than anything he had on display or was in the Schon cue literature.
This is the notorious cue that made Bob swear off building a cue to the customer’s
design specs. I really pissed him off when I criticized the cue he built as not being
what we had discussed and I rejected it. We went back and forth and he offered me
a refund. I told him I had waited a long time with nothing to show for it and I could
have ordered a Joss West, Richard Black, TAD, Scruggs cue. Pool cues hadn’t yet
commanded thousands in 1984. And I was paying almost $900 for a Schon cue.
So I reacted like a jerk and we never got to the point of being nasty or anything like
that. Bob asked me what I wanted to do. My reaction was just build the cue like we
discussed at the Trade Show. I explained what to change like darker red veneers,
jumbo ivory points and really large ivory bars in the sleeve. He agreed to build it again
but said come hell or high water, this would be his last attempt to build what I wanted.
Mr. Runde built exactly what we discussed and I was very pleased. He was gracious the
entire time whilst I was being picayune in my criticism and my behavior was inappropriate.
Years later we came to laugh about this but I knew I had upset him. Somewhere there is a
clone of this cue, assuming the cue hasn’t been lost or destroyed, with brighter red veneers,
typical size spears & much thinner ivory bars in the sleeve. It’s the Corsican Brother to my cue.
Bob and I discussed building a pool cue at the BCA Inaugural Trade Show.
Back at that time, there was only the R Series. Schon was in business a
couple of years. I told Bob I wanted something different with large inlays,
larger than anything he had on display or was in the Schon cue literature.
This is the notorious cue that made Bob swear off building a cue to the customer’s
design specs. I really pissed him off when I criticized the cue he built as not being
what we had discussed and I rejected it. We went back and forth and he offered me
a refund. I told him I had waited a long time with nothing to show for it and I could
have ordered a Joss West, Richard Black, TAD, Scruggs cue. Pool cues hadn’t yet
commanded thousands in 1984. And I was paying almost $900 for a Schon cue.
So I reacted like a jerk and we never got to the point of being nasty or anything like
that. Bob asked me what I wanted to do. My reaction was just build the cue like we
discussed at the Trade Show. I explained what to change like darker red veneers,
jumbo ivory points and really large ivory bars in the sleeve. He agreed to build it again
but said come hell or high water, this would be his last attempt to build what I wanted.
Mr. Runde built exactly what we discussed and I was very pleased. He was gracious the
entire time whilst I was being picayune in my criticism and my behavior was inappropriate.
Years later we came to laugh about this but I knew I had upset him. Somewhere there is a
clone of this cue, assuming the cue hasn’t been lost or destroyed, with brighter red veneers,
typical size spears & much thinner ivory bars in the sleeve. It’s the Corsican Brother to my cue.
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George the Greek
Well-known member
Ive got a dust collector ( slotcar box) sitting in my garage. Those were fun times and I was the king on a King setting multiple track records in 16D, balanced 16D, grp 12 wing, GTP 12. We had some pretty serious guys racing Grp 27 and Eurosport
L'epine
Active member
There are two in the collection. I can't really say how well they play. I have shot only a few games each on them. From those limited number of about a dozen games, I would say the Balabushkas a little better than my Tascarellas especially the Lisciotti Balabushka vs the Green Ebony Tascarella. I prefer my TADs over the Balabushkas and Tascarellas for the hit. I prefer my Gus Szamboti blank Willie Mosconi "Balabushka" copy to all of them.
Here is my Gus Szamboti blank Mosconi "Balabushka" homage. Right cue. It feels like a TAD but plays like a Tascarella next to it. Very crisp. The Balabushkas butts play exactly the same with the same shafts shared with the "Gus" but the "Gus" slams the balls into the pockets. The Burton Spain blank Balabushkas feel just as stiff and gives the same amount of feel, but the hit removes quarter of the shock of the contact with the cueball or is it the ping? I can feel how hard I made contact with the cue and the weight of the cueball and generally how fast the cueball left the cue tip. It just feels like something is removed/refined from the hit. Ferrari vs Lamborghini? Or Rolls Royce vs Bentley?
This is the real Balabushka
Tads on left, Burton Spain Balabushkas on right.
The Gus/Mosconi is the cue I play all my serious games with. It's heavy 21Oz. Very thick handle like a Willie Hoppi. Balanced far back by at least 1.5 inches to other cues I have. Paired with 30 inch 12.8mm Tascarella shaft, it's the best player. Easy to move balls, power to breakout, lots of feel, clear crisp hit and pings.
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Very interesting, thanks for the detailed descriptions.I always liked a ping sounding cue...what tips do you use mostly and how much do you think they contribute to the sound of a cue..?
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L'epine
Active member
I use Kamui Clear Hard layered tips. The ping is completely gone if I switch to Kamui Medium with no clear backing. The second important item is the ferule material.
On the otherside, the butt is maybe at most 20% of the feel? But for me 20% of the accuracy comes from the butt, if the joint is not completely straight or if the balance and weight don't suit me, it's harder for me to get shape. The same shaft plays completely differently with a very heavy rear balanced butt verses a very light forward balanced butt. I like old school cues. Heavy, metal joint, rear balanced. I let inertia in my downward swing be my stroke. I let the weight more than speed provide the force. I find that I grip the cue less, my stroke is smoother, my angle accuracy is higher, my distance accuracy is higher, the balls drop cleaner since I'm not rattling the pockets with unintended spin.
I just don't play the same with modern carbon cues and synthetic joints or wood to wood.
The Balabushkas have French Champions on them. They don't ping.
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Benelli
Well-known member
Are all your balabushka's refinished, or is the condition just that good?
I have an all-original 72, and the wrap is hands down my favorite across all of my cues. So tightly wound, and I think impregnated with a little beeswax, the grip is magical...