Florida Mystery Cue - Whodunnit?

jaetee

jaetee

rack master ;)
Silver Member
I recently picked this cue up from someone in Tampa, who says the cue was made locally by a custom cue maker around 20 years ago. The original owner has passed away, so there's no more info to come from the source...

Cue weighs in at 18.4 oz, (Butt = 14.6 oz. & shaft = 3.8 oz.) and is almost 59" long including the rubber butt cap. Tip is 12mm.

I'm not sure if the white joint ring is ivory, but up close I can see a little bit of what looks like natural texturing under the finish.

The quality of the "stitches" in the joint rings and around the window inlays in the butt is very well done, and the wood used for the forearm is nice enough to where I don't mind it not having any points. The Irish linen wrap is very tight and in outstanding condition, despite being a bit dirty.

I really like the very understated elegance this cue has to it... And it hits FANTASTIC! I'd have to describe the feel as a cross between the firmness of an old D-series McDermott, but with the action of an early Meucci Original (but it's not as whippy as those old Meucci's).

It became my player cue after the first hit and it's definitely going to be a keeper cue to be handed down. I'm not looking to find out what it's worth as I have no intention of selling it, but I'd really like to know who made this cue just to satisfy my curiosity...

Any responses greatly appreciated...
 
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I'll have to check my 20 year old crystal ball and see. Nice cue, it looks like Humble Texas to me.
 
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Cue

Tampa area,probaly Rocky Tillis off cardinal drive in tampa florida. John showman might know and buy the cue. He made one hell of a cue .Rich
 
poolrod said:
I'll have to check my 20 year old crystal ball and see. Nice cue, it looks like Humble Texas to me.
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Thanks for the hint... I have sent pics to Richard Black, as the 6-window design sure does resemble his early work. But it's the 3/8 x 10 joint that is throwing me off. I haven't seen a single R.B. cue yet with a McDermott style joint. We'll see if I get a response.

know it all said:
Tampa area,probaly Rocky Tillis off cardinal drive in tampa florida. John showman might know and buy the cue. He made one hell of a cue .Rich
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I recently learned from Terry McEniry (Tillis' apprentice) that Rocky would not use the 3/8 x 10 joint, but he and Wayne Gunn did. I've sent him pics, but based on some little details Terry told me to look for, I don't think it's one of theirs. Unfortunately.

One of my biggest regrets ever is selling my micarta-ferrule Wayne Gunn sneaky pete :(

Thanks.
 
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Starting to think the stitching and few design elements are looking a lot like Joe Pechauer's work. Could this be an early one of his?
 
Both the joint pin and bumper sure look like an old McDermott. Strongly resembles C and D series.
 
WildWing said:
Both the joint pin and bumper sure look like an old McDermott. Strongly resembles C and D series.
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At fist glance I thought the same, but I also own a D-26 and there are several fundamental differences that are easy to see up close with both in hand...

1) The bottom edge of the McDermott butt cap has an angled bevel, this one is simply rounded,
2) The McDermott weight bolt head is narrower.
3) This cue's bumper has a cover plug to hide the screw, McD's does not, and has a deeper and narrower center post.
4) The lacquer finish on the McDermott feels a bit more industrial
 
I to think it looks like a pechauer, and I've been told they used the 3/8 10 pin in the beginning
 
Terry got back to me after seeing the pics... says he did not have a hand in making this cue, but that Wayne Gunn might have. Only way to really tell is to look under the wrap, which I'm not going to have removed any time soon.

Terry did suggest it might also be an early Jerry Olivier or Dennis Searing cue, but both of those gentlemen have now seen the pics and confirmed it's not their work, either...

Quite the mystery I've got going on here...
 
If this cue is a McDermott, it'd have to be a very, very early one. As in pre-catalog era. The finish job is not as polished and "perfect" as any McDermott I've ever seen (and I've seen lots). While it's made in the style of McDermott, I'm 99.99% sure it's not one.

John Costello's name came back as a guess from an email inquiry to a current Tampa Bay cue maker, but I can't seem to find much info on him.

I'm not ready to give up on this yet! This cue looks and hits really good, and the maker deserves his credit!
 
Another former FL cue maker was mentioned to me as the possible maker of this cue... Anyone ever heard of Wayne McDaniel or McDaniels?
 
There is always the possibility that the joint pin and buttcap were added later, not a high possibility but not out of the question. The cue could have originally been a 5/16x18 or 14 and had a makers mark on the buttcap...etc. I have switched out many pins on cues and once converted a steel joint Joss to a wood to wood with a 3/8x11 pin. It had no logo so without knowing it, it was hard to tell what it was. Like other people said, it does look like a McDermott and especially the C and D series ringwork. You might count the dashes and compare them to a McDermott which might rule it out one way or another.
 
the butt sleeve looks exactly like an old brunswick cue i used to have, but it had points, and i think it had different joint (not postive on that last part)
 
jaetee said:
Starting to think the stitching and few design elements are looking a lot like Joe Pechauer's work. Could this be an early one of his?
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i dont think it is a Pechauer...... does it has 3x8/10?
 
Thanks for the feedback, I looked closely at the stitched rings on this cue compared to the McDermott "retired-cue" web pages. The stitch work on this cue has smaller white lines, and they're closer together. Although I can only see half of the shaft rings in the McDermott photos, these look noticeably "finer" than the McD stitches and I can see at least two more full stitch on half the shaft..

The butt cap of my McDermott D26 has similar stitches to this cue as well, but they are also a tad larger and further apart. I measured the joint and butt diameter and the McDermott is also a bit wider at both areas. Also, the forearm, wrap and butt length dimensions are all just a bit different than the McDermott when laid side by side.

An item of interest that I just learned is that the weight bolt in the butt is interchangeable with the one in my Schon, except that the smaller bumper screws are different.

I got the shaft for this cue back from Terry today, with a new ivorene ferrule and LePro tip put on... I had been using one of my D26 shafts with it for the last couple of weeks. Joint screw is 3/8 x 10.

Can't wait to see how it feels when I play with it later on...

Here's a pic of my McDermott D26 showing the stitch work differences in the butts.
 
Guys -

There is a guy in my pool hall here in Memphis with this exact same cue. It is a McDermutt.

His has a broken buttcap glued all back together.

Ken
 
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