I picked up my first custom cue this weekend at SBE and I could not be happier with the quality of the build and the experience of working with the builder over the past year. The cue has a little back story though that I think is worth sharing. I first met the cue builder (Curtis Robertson) at last year's expo. I walked by his booth with my girlfriend and we both immediately stopped and stared at a beautiful black and white ebony cue he had on display. After speaking with Curtis and Bubba (co-worker of Curtis'), I really wanted to pull the trigger and buy the cue. However, I always like to do some research first especially before a big purchase. I went home without the cue and for the next couple of weeks thought about the cue constantly. I woke up one morning and decided I was going to find his card and give him a call. The only problem was I had a bag full of cue builders cards from the show and couldn't remember his name. What I could remember though is that he had an end-cap booth. I went online and found a map of the exhibitors at the expo and narrowed down the possibilities. I eventually called Curtis and he confirmed that he was in fact the builder of that cue, however the cue had recently sold. I then thought no problem lets just build another, that is until Curtis told me how hard it has become recently to source black and white ebony. I gave Curtis my number and asked him to call me when he sourced some wood. To my surprise I got a call within a week or so that he found a few pieces mixed in with other wood in his shop. He immediately sent me pictures and a few phone calls later the project had started. This wood was far darker then the previous cue's black and white ebony that interested me, but it also got me thinking more and more about how great of an opportunity this was to make this really unique to me. I had a distinct color I wanted to use in my veneers which is a very bright yellow-green. Something I had never really seen before in a cue. I knew I had a pair of Nike shoe laces in the color so I sent the pic over. It then took Curtis months of sourcing and buying different veneers, emailing me pictures, and sending samples to my house. In the end he NAILED it. I mean this color is dead on. The whole experience of designing this cue with Curtis was nothing short of awesome. It was a constant adventure receiving surprise pictures and video clips of every step in the building process. I cant tell you how many phone calls he placed to me just to talk for great lengths of time about the most minute details. I have built a friendship with Curtis that goes beyond the cue, but this cue is just plain awesome. Let me know what you guys think..
