manwon said:
In my opinion if you are looking for collect-ability Barry's cues will never reach the level that his fathers have attained. Today there are too many
great cue makers to choose from, where a collector can put their money for future appreciation. While Barry certainly qualifies as a great Cue maker he is really no different than many other's. To name a few, Paul Mottey, Bill Schick, Pete Tascarella, Dennis Searing, Tad Kohara, Ernie G, and many many others.
i respectfully disagree with this thought, I believe that in 30 years from now Barrys cues will be as collectable as his dads, Barry dosent make as many cues and I personally believe he does stand head and shouders above the list of other cue makers for alot of reasons in this post, his cues play better(for me, sugartree is close), no CnC, he builds them with the same tools his father did, Barry built alot of the parts on the Gus cues, for his dad who put the pieces together and since Gus started the business they were Gus cues but some of the later cues were Gus cues made by father and son, becaue Barry worked with his dad.
Barry isnt a start-up cue maker he is perpetuating(To cause to continue indefinitely; make perpetual) his fathers legacy, nobody else is filling those shoes in the business right now. The list of cue makers you named build great cues no doubt about that but they dont have the legacy that Barrys cues do.
I have been lucky enough to have a GSB cue, I play with all my Szams some more than others, I only have one that that is a dud coincedentially it was the least expensive one I ever bought, and one other that is just ok, but thats judgeing them against other Szams(a high standard), and because of their age perhaps they changed over time as the wood aged. And thats 2 cues out od alot of Szams.
I dont buy them because of the investment perspective, but as it was stated before in this thread that if you buy them right or almost right you wont get hurt, I'll never get hurt cause I will never sell mine, I buy them for personal reasons and the respect I have for Barry and Gus, I heard about Gus when I was young and his ethics and charcter were told to me by a mutial friend, it made a strong impression on me as did his work, the first gus I played with is sadly in japan now and worth over $120,000 probably $150,000, Right then and there I had admiration for Gus, I never spoke to him, I couldnt afford a cue he made, moving foward 22 years I was in the position to afford a Gus, I got to know Barry a little-I was amazed everything I was told 22 years prior was 100% true. I was in awe the first time I spoke to Barry, I wanted to be a small part of that legacy so I have put together a small collection of the Szamboti's familys work and that to me cant be done with any other cue maker in the world.
Fatboy
it was a fun afternoon ..........
