Group Buy: 2x4 Whitten-looking case

[DJEnD]

Update:

I have, for the first time since I've heard about it, seen and felt the inferior cases that some on this topic were talking about. Von said that you could squeeze the opening of the case together and the sides will meet. I have to confirm that that is true, the inner linings are made of soft material. However, it is not the case that I have presented to you guys here, so be assured that it is not that cheap 125 dollar case on eBay that I'm trying to sell you guys.

 

[John Barton]

I once had a 1x2 leather Whitten knock off which you can still find for about $60 new. Great case just like the Giuseppe's where the bottom falls out after a few months of use. Picture framing nails and rubber cement doesn't go far in a cue case. I never understood the use of rubber cement to hold these things together. Is that because they can't get Elmer's glue over there? I simply Elmer's to glue them back together and they never fell apart again. Maybe they should copy Elmer's Glue first before getting into the cue case business. Can't hold it against the AZer for trying to make a buck or three. We all gotta eat.

yeah me too. I got of bunch of those in a trade deal and figured that they were ok for the money. WRONG.

I made the mistake of putting my precious custom - and I mean REALLY custom - Joss in it for a quick trip to the pool room.

Watched in horror as the cue hit the bottom of the tube and the bottom of the case came out and my cue slid out through the exposed nail points getting scratched along it's length.

I love all the people who think that a cue case, especially, a tube case is "just a holder". You all don't know what is below the visible area.

I have seen plenty of BAD CONSTRUCTION in the last 15 years. Hard glue and foam beads, jagged edges of tubes, nails poking into the cavity, sandpaper-like synthetic liners (would you slide your cue butt on 2000 grit sandpaper?), and much more.

Simply put - most cases that are NOT built by people who know cues are suspect. They just don't know or care about protecting the cue. They don't know what a cue case has to endure, they don't give a shit about your $1500 custom cue.

I doubt that there is another human being alive who has dissected more cue cases than I have. These days most cases are much much better than when I started making cue cases 16 years ago. But there are still some that would shock you if you were to bandsaw them in half.

Not to say that THESE cases are bad or good. You will each need to make up your own minds on that. I have seen them and the quality is not bad in my opinon. I don't know how well they will hold up over time and I am sure that you will see a lot of little things on the cases that don't measure up to true Whitten quality.

The thing to remember, as another poster mentioned, is support. Even if you spend $240 on this case, what happens if something goes wrong? Do you ship it back to Singapore? Who takes care of it? Maybe Whitten could fix it for $450

So, you're gambling. And that is the bottom line. You might get well more than $240 worth of case and then again you might get $240 worth of aggravation.

Remember what Fast Eddie said to Carmen in their first exchange.

 

[John Barton]

Picasso said, "bad artists copy, great artists steal". It takes much more than to have a good case in your hands to be able to make one yourself. Much more.

 

[DJEnD]

yeah me too. I got of bunch of those in a trade deal and figured that they were ok for the money. WRONG.

I made the mistake of putting my precious custom - and I mean REALLY custom - Joss in it for a quick trip to the pool room.

Watched in horror as the cue hit the bottom of the tube and the bottom of the case came out and my cue slid out through the exposed nail points getting scratched along it's length.

I love all the people who think that a cue case, especially, a tube case is "just a holder". You all don't know what is below the visible area.

I have seen plenty of BAD CONSTRUCTION in the last 15 years. Hard glue and foam beads, jagged edges of tubes, nails poking into the cavity, sandpaper-like synthetic liners (would you slide your cue butt on 2000 grit sandpaper?), and much more.

Simply put - most cases that are NOT built by people who know cues are suspect. They just don't know or care about protecting the cue. They don't know what a cue case has to endure, they don't give a shit about your $1500 custom cue.

I doubt that there is another human being alive who has dissected more cue cases than I have. These days most cases are much much better than when I started making cue cases 16 years ago. But there are still some that would shock you if you were to bandsaw them in half.

Not to say that THESE cases are bad or good. You will each need to make up your own minds on that. I have seen them and the quality is not bad in my opinon. I don't know how well they will hold up over time and I am sure that you will see a lot of little things on the cases that don't measure up to true Whitten quality.

The thing to remember, as another poster mentioned, is support. Even if you spend $240 on this case, what happens if something goes wrong? Do you ship it back to Singapore? Who takes care of it? Maybe Whitten could fix it for $450

So, you're gambling. And that is the bottom line. You might get well more than $240 worth of case and then again you might get $240 worth of aggravation.

Remember what Fast Eddie said to Carmen in their first exchange.

Nothing much to say really, cause I don't really have an opinion on what you're saying, except that I know the point you're trying to bring across. But one thing is for sure, is that I'm not gaining anything from this. Quality-wise, you can go on and on about how bad your experience was, but I am not truly sure whether it was the same case that you and I had.

I am currently using this case and the only qualm i have with it is it being too heavy. I have seen the "other" case which the guys here were talking about, and I have taken a picture to do the comparison. I'll still be in Taiwan until Tuesday so I'll not be able to up the pics till then.

I respect you John, hope you just understand where I'm coming from.

Zhenjie

 

[John Barton]

Nothing much to say really, cause I don't really have an opinion on what you're saying, except that I know the point you're trying to bring across. But one thing is for sure, is that I'm not gaining anything from this. Quality-wise, you can go on and on about how bad your experience was, but I am not truly sure whether it was the same case that you and I had.

I am currently using this case and the only qualm i have with it is it being too heavy. I have seen the "other" case which the guys here were talking about, and I have taken a picture to do the comparison. I'll still be in Taiwan until Tuesday so I'll not be able to up the pics till then.

I respect you John, hope you just understand where I'm coming from.

Zhenjie

I do understand where you are coming from. Anything that is popular or expensive is going to be a target.

What I don't understand is the need to push them into the market this way. If the cases are good then they should make their way into the market through normal distribution channels with appropriate support.

I understand that you just want to help out your fellow pool players but ask yourself if you will be responsible if the cases don't hold up or worse if a cue should get damaged by one. Will you take on the responsibility? Will the manaufacturer?

As far as the copying goes, well I consider that to be pretty tacky, possibly illegal, definitely immoral. I understand that you aren't the one doing it but you are facilitating it. But that's Whitten's problem. I have no doubt that these cases will make their way to the USA by next year's round of big events. I guess the Whittens had a pretty long run without any serious challengers to their style so now they will need to fade it.

I know that the cases you have are NOT the same as the ones in my story NOR are they the same ones that Von Rhett had a bad experience with. As I said, in my opinion, the ones you have are pretty good. Could be better but then the price would probably need to be higher if they were.

My experience however is completely valid and illustrates the point that exists no matter how pleased you are with the cases. When my Joss was damaged who was I supposed to turn to for the cost of the repair? The person I got the cases from? The factory in Thailand (where they came from)?? I could have gone to the person I got the cases from and he would have been mortified but I doubt very much that I would have seen any compensation from him so in essence I was screwed. The irony of it is that I had a full warehouse of Instroke cases to choose from at the time and I was just lazy and grabbed one of these cases because it was handy. Luckily though it happened to me and not someone I sold the case to or I would have been paying for a repair/replacement on their cue.

So my advice would be not to get into things like this. If you like the case then just post up a link to where people can get them from a dealer who will stand behind them.

I just wouldn't put myself or my reputation at risk by putting something on the market that I couldn't personally support.