Fedor Gorst and the Viking Sponsorship
- Thread starter staticfire98
- Start date
Holy crap.. really... Does he know how much money he is leaving on the table not using a Szamboti, a Searing, a Southwest or many of the other high end custom cuemakers, these are the best playing cues on the planet. Doesn't he read these threads? Someone needs to tell him right away about all the money he is losing not using a super cue. I mean look at everyone who buys these and become an instant world champion... wait? That hasn't happened? But I read all the threads... these are the greatest best player ever... WTF... I am in disbelief... who would have thought...
JV
JV
off the top of my head, big ko in 2015 and lil ko in 2019, southwest cues
tomatoshooter
Well-known member
Yes for all the cue companies there are, the ones I see represented most are predator and cue tech. Peri little bit. I wish some more American companies would be more aggressive about sponsoring players. I'm speaking of the pro game, I know some cue companies are involved in sponsoring regional events.
Pechauer sponsors a lot of juniors, with pro aspirations, and a few pros.
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
I bet it sure helped him rack a few points for the citizenship tests
I met an Asian player at SB, he won a big tourney with a SW... at the SBE he told me he was getting a Meucci deal. This was about 3-4 years ago. Some of my post was sarcasm...
JV
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
Curious about Meucci shafts. Mostly because I can select joint diameter and ringwork options. Thinking of grabbing one as a spare shipped to my parents when I go home for a visit (they don't ship to China even though their site will display in RMB or HKD which is annoying).
Who was the player? Al-Shaheen?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...to me beautiful is four needle sharp points evenly spaced with 2 or 3 inlays. But I'm old... I'm sure Fedor must think the Viking plays okay. But the reality is, the pros are as fickle as a high school girl...they'll play with whoever offers the best sponsorship. Any player even semi serious about his game should find a cue that feels good to him...custom or production. Then, find good instruction and practice-practice-practice. "It's not the arrow, it's the Indian" is only semi true...the top Indians use straight arrows. There are a lot of straight arrows out there. Find the arrow that fits your bow...
kevin cheng won the US open with a southwest and got a meucci deal later. played with their cf shaft iirc.
yea, i got the sarcasm. i suspect SW became a thing in east asia in the 80's or 90's onwards not because what it was, but because what it wasn't (i.e. half decent taiwan production cue). it was synonym with the highest possible quality.
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
I mean, attach a high price to it and the asian market will hoover it up... It's like that in literally all leisure/collectible pursuits in my experience. From cameras, to pens and just about anything else. It all ends up getting money chucked at it and re-sold in the asian market as a prestigious 'collectible' - prices are artificially inflated by the scarcity produced by mass purchase.
Look at JP snooker cues as an example, multiple year waiting list for a reason... they are purchased in bulk, then sold on their consumer platforms like Taobao and Xianyu stores. It essentially removes any custom element in my opinion... Pool cues are no exception to this. Right now I can see bucket loads of SW (as well as multiple other 'prestigious' cue makers cues) for sale on these platforms.
As a cue maker and Viking, Tiger and Mezz dealer I think some of the comments in this thread are missing the mark. Firstly I think it's awesome that Fedor is sponsored by an American company wich actually makes their product in USA, not overseas.
Secondly a comparable Viking cue is easily 20-25 cheaper than a similar Mezz or Tiger cue, so it's definently a value for money product.
Thirdly. Viking cues does hold up well, better than some other products I won't mention by name, most cue makers or repairmen knows which 3 companies I'm talking about..
Triple-60 IS working on a dedicated jump cue and possibly a break cue. The Triple-60 shafts are high quality and belong in the same price bracet as Revo and Ignite.
Viking cues are working with both Paul Drexler and Ariel Carmeli for limited edition cues, maybe some of their design ideas inspires other Viking cue designs?
I agree that Viking does have a huge selection of cues and some of the designs are a bit strange for my taste, but it's always difficult discussing personal taste, what looks good to one person might not look so good for another person. Personally I love purpleheart cues, both the hit and looks, but quite a few people simply hates purpleheart due to the colour.
Secondly a comparable Viking cue is easily 20-25 cheaper than a similar Mezz or Tiger cue, so it's definently a value for money product.
Thirdly. Viking cues does hold up well, better than some other products I won't mention by name, most cue makers or repairmen knows which 3 companies I'm talking about..
Triple-60 IS working on a dedicated jump cue and possibly a break cue. The Triple-60 shafts are high quality and belong in the same price bracet as Revo and Ignite.
Viking cues are working with both Paul Drexler and Ariel Carmeli for limited edition cues, maybe some of their design ideas inspires other Viking cue designs?
I agree that Viking does have a huge selection of cues and some of the designs are a bit strange for my taste, but it's always difficult discussing personal taste, what looks good to one person might not look so good for another person. Personally I love purpleheart cues, both the hit and looks, but quite a few people simply hates purpleheart due to the colour.
Badpenguin
Well-known member
I can't really comprehend why someone would go from a sponsorship by Cuetec to Viking, or Triple-60, or Whyte Carbon, whatever you call them. I would think Cuetec would be far more lucrative to a player and have a far better product. The move didn't made sense to me, but obviously I am not privy to any details.
Looking completely from the outside, it is like ditching a Nike sponsorship for a Crocs sponsorship.
Looking completely from the outside, it is like ditching a Nike sponsorship for a Crocs sponsorship.
Asians in general are nuts about any low-volume, hi-quality products from cues to golf clubs to hand-made tube stereo equip. Its a status thing as much as anything else. They buy hi-end Scotch just to have on the shelf to impress people. Fk that, i'm drinking the single-malt.
same, couldn't care less about that stuff, if it tastes good it's good. i will say they have some good whiskey themselves, more specifically the japanese nikka whiskey.
yea might be the case with SW, but i'm thinking SW took root there for whatever reason and became the "must have" cue in that pool hot bed, which is why we have seen world champions welding SWs.
So far I have not noticed the cue silk getting on my glove or getting my table dirty.
My Whyte shaft, remember, has a coating on it. The carbon fiber is underneath. Perhaps the coating absorbs some of the Cue Silk. In any case, I am only using a drop or two at a time and not leaving it all on the shaft. I wipe most of it off.
Mind you, I don't do this often since I usually play with a glove. I tend to apply it if I want to shoot without a glove.
Only reason I didn't buy that cue. Liked everything about it - except the signature.