Hall of Fame Cues - were they made in Japan ? Just found this

PoolFan101

PoolFan101

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know we have discussed this several times about the Hall of Fame Cues which has the thick nickel rings and the classic Balabushka designs and so fourth. These Cues are the Balabushka without the Signature, and also the other classic Cue maker designs. We have discussed this many times here and we agreed that these Cues were made by Adam in Japan. But I somehow stumbled onto a Competition Sports catalog from 2007 that states that the Vintage and Hall of Fame Cues were all USA produced and made in a Factory in North Carolina. That is the 1st I have ever heard of this and the Cues were made for Competition Sports that is why the CS is in front of the number of the cue. Such as CS-436. I spoke to the guy from New York who owned Competition Sports and he told me Himself that those Cues were indeed made in Japan at Adam. They sure have all the tell tell Adam signs. But this catalog saying that they were produced for n North Carolina is new to me. Hawaiian Eye and myself have had multiple discussions about these , He has a Beautiful one CS-436. Has anyone heard this before. Here is a link to that Catalog I found.
 
Never heard this before. I seriously doubt ANY of those cues were made in the US. The bumper or tip may have been installed here. That's what Brunswick does. They install one or two US sourced parts and put 'Made in USA' on a import table. Those are all import cues. BTW, that pdf file is HUGE. Took forever to download.
 
Last edited:
garczar said:
Never heard this before. I seriously doubt ANY of those cues were made in the US. The bumper or tip may have been installed here. That's what Brunswick does. They install one or two US sourced parts and put 'Made in USA' on a import table. Those are all import cues. BTW, that pdf file is HUGE. Took forever to download.
Click to expand...
Sorry about the size Garczar , it just took me about half a second to download it. But we have 400 mg High speed internet. Somehow I just stumbled upon this catalog. I researched this Cues pretty intensely and I Spoke to the Owner of Competition Sports probably 3-4 times while researching. He said for sure they were made in Japan and sent back to them to sell. Upon ready the forward letter in that catalog it says the info about a manufacturing facility in North Carolina. In 30 years that is new to me. I just thought maybe someone from around that area may know about said facility. 2007 is a while back but not to far.
 
There is a lot on info out there on Karella cues. Pete Tascarella helped do some design work on them but they were made overseas. The plan was to make them in some deal with CCC. AFAIK that deal never was finalized and Karella's(and all the other low/mid end cues) were made in Thailand and China. ALL the hi-end stuff was made at ADAM plant in Japan.
 
Last edited:
I dealt with Don at Competition back in the early 90s regarding Helmstetter cues. He seemed like a stand up guy. He had a relationship with Pete Tascarella back then because when I asked Don to get me two new shafts for a Helmstetter that I bought from him at his Long Island location; he told me that Pete Tascarella made the shafts and did his repair work.
When I read the letter- Don is only saying that they planned to make only the Karella and Hercules cues in the U.S.A - he is not saying that the other lines will be made in the U.S.A.-
I don't know if that in fact was true for THOSE two cue lines - but even from this letter, reading it verbatim- to me Don himself is NOT saying that the other lines were made in the U.S.A.
 
mikemosconi said:
I dealt with Don at Competition back in the early 90s regarding Helmstetter cues. He seemed like a stand up guy. He had a relationship with Pete Tascarella back then because when I asked Don to get me two new shafts for a Helmstetter that I bought from him at his Long Island location; he told me that Pete Tascarella made the shafts and did his repair work.
When I read the letter- Don is only saying that they planned to make only the Karella and Hercules cues in the U.S.A - he is not saying that the other lines will be made in the U.S.A.-
I don't know if that in fact was true for THOSE two cue lines - but even from this letter, reading it verbatim- to me Don himself is NOT saying that the other lines were made in the U.S.A.
Click to expand...
3rd paragraph down say’s that they will be able to Manufacture true spliced butts for the Vintage and hall of fame line and do so cheaper than anyone in the USA.
 
PoolFan101 said:
3rd paragraph down say’s that they will be able to Manufacture true spliced butts for the Vintage and hall of fame line and do so cheaper than anyone in the USA.
Click to expand...
Problem is they never actually started doing it. That was the plan but it didn't pan out. Manuf. ended up going to Thailand and China instead. ADAM-Japan always made the nice cues.
 
Last edited:
PoolFan101 said:
3rd paragraph down say’s that they will be able to Manufacture true spliced butts for the Vintage and hall of fame line and do so cheaper than anyone in the USA.
Click to expand...
Right- read the words carefully- he says they are expecting to manufacture true spliced cue butts "AS IN" the Vintage and Hall of Fame cues - for less than U.S. cue makers. "As IN" to me, in this instance, since we already know he never moved those lines from Japan- means LIKE- so he is saying that the Hercules and Karella cues with spliced butts will be "like" those of the Vintage and Hall of Fame lines- only done in the U.S. cheaper than existing U.S. cue makers.

It is a very astute play on words for sure- and I would agree one could take your interpretation on that sentence as well as mine. However, it is worded such that, to me, he is Not saying that the Hall of Fame or Vintage lines would be moved to U.S. manufacturing - just that they will make spliced cues "LIKE those" (AS IN)------ here in the U.S. cheaper than U.S. cue makers.
 
Page 6 says they are made in the USA.

Mine is made in Japan.

Fast Larry was buying these same cues from Japan and reselling them before ADAM quit making them and the production was restarted in China by a different business owner.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top