Let me begin by saying that I love a good story and am infatuated with history and lore. This particular section of the biography of Gus Szamboti written in the 3rd edition blue book of pool cues has always fascinated me. The story of the broken cue is legendary as it's one that gives us a bit of insight into the integrity and expectations of the Greatest cuemaker of all time. I've always wondered what in the world could've been done in the construction of this cue that would've prompted him to destroy it?
The latter portion of the text discusses Gus using WICO of Chicago forearms for his first 10 to 12 cues with points and that in this time he also converted several Titlist cues which were the only full splice cues that he made. From the text one can conclude that if indeed the information is accurate that the cue that got destroyed would more than likely be either a WICO forearm cue or a Titlist conversion. When pondering the possibility of necessity to destroy a cue the likelihood of it being a Titlist is extremely low as any aspect of the construction could likely be amended with minor work, wheras the construction of the first WICO cue could've been entirely plausible as it was his first attempt at making an entire butt from a shortsplice mated to a maple handle with an ebony or rosewood butt sleeve. In favor of the latter, the WICO era of forearm was very short lived due to concerns with lamination issues as well as longevity, but the WICO rabbit hole is a story all its own. In concern to this topic, Gus knew something that nobody else in the world did, and that is "how he put that cue together" and he did not approve.
I purchased a broken cue years ago from a woman who had inherited it from her uncle in the Philadelphia area and ended up storing it for years as I didn't have money at the time to fix it. I wanted to get it done right as it appeared to be a very well made cue prior to it's destruction. From close inspection, it appeared that someone slammed the cue on their knee just at the wrap where it meets the forearm, breaking the glue seam to the tennon and separating the laminates on the WICO points. The wrap unwound a tiny bit and slipped into the gap making it impossible to get it back in position but a crude repair was attempted by someone unfamiliar with woodworking which may actually have been a good thing (basically putting wood glue in the gap and on the wrap) however as you could expect it did nothing to improve the status of the cue. I recently pulled the cue out and did some more thorough research to try and figure out what I was holding in my hands.
The cue: First off it's a bumperless ebony into rosewood 4 point WICO forearm with a maple handle and an ebony butt sleeve with synthetic mother of pearl rings. It had a Cortland #9 Irish linen wrap that was wrapped backwards and a collar that was offset with a white ring between phenolic. From what I've been able to find, some of these characteristics are found only on Gus' early WICO cues.
Fancy ebony Wico 4 point
Here is an interesting cue: 4 ebony points, wico veneer, butt is ebony with mother of pearl and ebony rings(yes the thin rings are indeed ebony). Extremely well crafted cue with a very unique feel. I have my thoughts about who made the cue, what are your thoughts?
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A member here Tikkler (I think) has a very similar cue that has inlays in the points and butt sleeve and if I'm not mistaken classic cues here had one that he sold at some point(could very well be the same cue). The only other example I've seen of this style cue was in the 3rd edition blue book of pool cues, and to be quite honest all 3 of these cues could be the same cue.
This is where the story gets interesting. I began to further investigate the cue and decided that no matter what the cue was going to need a new wrap as the glue had ruined the front 2 inches. There was a gap of about 3mm between the forearm and the butt which due to the wrap being the only thing holding the cue together, several threads of the wrap found themselves tightly bound in the gap which is fortunately where most of the glue stopped, thus not getting into the tenon gap. Considering the state of affairs, and knowing due to the damage incurred a refinish was unavoidable, I removed the wrap hoping to find a signature or something to help me further identify the cue. I only found a strand of neatly wrapped simonis under the wrap placed as though intentionally which I found very interesting.
Removed the wrap on a vintage cue and found...
Not a signature but a piece of green thread intentionally tied to the butt under the wrap. What could it possibly signify?
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After carefully removing the glue from the separated area I was able to freely slide the forearm off of the tenon. To my surprise and shock, the maple tenon came out of the forearm!!!
This is the part where the beginning of this story comes back around. Gus obviously knew something was not acceptable in that particular cue and was determined to find it and destroy it, could this be the reason why? I do realize that nobody can truly answer this question and that much of this is merely speculation, however the plausibility of the subject based on the facts does merit some consideration.
I realize that some people may have chosen to leave the cue as it was to preserve the history and that oddly enough it may have actually diminished the financial value to fix it, but the cue is not and will never be for sale and I will pass on to my son. I have documented all of the details of the cue prior to repair for historical purposes and recently got the cue back in proper form. Here are some updated pics of this beautiful cue ready to hit some balls after a long broken slumber
what do you guys think?
