***Gus Szamboti***
- Thread starter ToomnyQs
- Start date
Sweet!
It seems like fewer and fewer Szamboti especially Gus cues become available as time goes by. What an amazing cue and a piece of history. GLWS!
It seems like fewer and fewer Szamboti especially Gus cues become available as time goes by. What an amazing cue and a piece of history. GLWS!
It really is an incredible cue.. I personally have not seen another one like it..If I don't get much interest I will just keep it and play with it..
I knew Gus. I saw him hand deliver a cue just like this one with 2 shafts just before he died to Neptune Joe Frady for $425.00. Who knew his cues would be worth so much one day.
I sure wish I could have met him.. If he was anything like Barry he was a jewel..
In all honesty at the time I knew Gus he was a little bit of a grump. And I attribute this to his health problems. But all in all he was a nice person.
At that time there was no internet and the making of cues was a closely guarded secret at least by Gus.
He did let out a little info from time to time. He did say that Balabuska taught him a lot about making cues but not everything and he had to figure some things out on his own. Keep in mind that Gus was a machinist for RCA before his cue making days and was used to working with very tight tolerances that carried over to his cue making days.
He also said that the more rings and inlays he had to put in a cue the harder it was to make the cue play good. I bought a Schon and he took some hits with it and asked for some very fine sand paper and proceeded to lightly sand my brand new shafts. When asked why he was doing this he replied"They use wood filler on the shafts" Then when asked why they did this he replied"They have to". That was Gus, you got a little info but not the whole story. At that time the owner of the pool room asked Gus what cues should he sell as low and high end. Gus recommended Schon and Helmsetter.
Gus liked to play one pocket and was pretty good at the game.
Just as a side note. A while after Gus passed Barry brought the first cue he built completely by him self to the pool room. At that time it was not known if Barry would build cues full time. I had no clue that I was holding a piece of cue making history.
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Price adjustment..
Thanks for all of the kind words.. After talking to a few people I am adjusting the price of this cue to $7850.. I think without any inlays in the points it is a more accurate value.. I may consider a cue/cash offer.. I am certainly willing to listen to what you have..
Thanks for all of the kind words.. After talking to a few people I am adjusting the price of this cue to $7850.. I think without any inlays in the points it is a more accurate value.. I may consider a cue/cash offer.. I am certainly willing to listen to what you have..
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