Wow it was the first time since I started playing that I ever payed with one, when it rains it pours, someone was in town and had 2 of them, the first one I hit a few balls with and it felt great like a Szam in that league, i fired in, rolled, stuned a few shots and it did what I wanted it to. I was very impressed.
Cue number two was so used the finish was completely wore off, and the shafts wereorigonal and 13 mm who ever owned the cue used the hell out of it but didnt have a "Pad" to make their shaft feel good after a nights playing(they were still about 13mm and had a perfect taper), it was owned by someone who knew how to take care of a cue not wear one out, this cue may have been used to play more pool than 95% of the people here including myself. I picked it up and wow I knew I had something special in my hands I looked at the balls I wanted to run the table, i wasnt gonna run the 6 balls in rotation i had a pattern I saw and thats what I wanted to do, the first shot, I had to fire 1000 miles an hour and hopped the english grabbed up and back table-high english. I fired the ball Jay Helfert saw the shot, the english grabbed and it looked like a big bannana 9'long 3 rails back into the pack-first shot I shot with the cue stopped where i would have set it by hand , it was one hell of a TV shot. I ran my pattern soft shots etc. never a millimeter from where I wanted to stop the CB. First time I ever played on this table as well. Whenr I took apart the cue it was so hard to take apart i was suprised, Jay said watch this before I unscrewed it, i figured it to be sloppy considering the extreme wear on the cue, it was super hard to unscrew, man it was tight.
Now I understand the legend of Bushkas, The 2 were different but both GREAT hitting cues, the one I loved-the old worn one-I coudnt use it as a daily player because God forbid something happened, I'm sticking with my Barry Szam and a Gus to play with, but those guys 30-40 years ago knew something, Gus and Bushka, that still hasnt been done again today except by Barry, they have the "Secret Sauce" recipie, all these new cues wirth perfect CNC tolarances etc, just arnt the same.
Tad and SW have honerable mention, and for a new cue maker Sugartree. but the old guys and barry know something and they aint giving it up. Wow. old wood not kiln dryed in my opinion has alot to do with it, I donr know what Sugartree is using but its high quality. and Mr. Tad well what can be said he has been around for ever and his cues play great too but not at the Barry, Gus, or Bushka level, but close-I like Tads designs.
Cue number two was so used the finish was completely wore off, and the shafts wereorigonal and 13 mm who ever owned the cue used the hell out of it but didnt have a "Pad" to make their shaft feel good after a nights playing(they were still about 13mm and had a perfect taper), it was owned by someone who knew how to take care of a cue not wear one out, this cue may have been used to play more pool than 95% of the people here including myself. I picked it up and wow I knew I had something special in my hands I looked at the balls I wanted to run the table, i wasnt gonna run the 6 balls in rotation i had a pattern I saw and thats what I wanted to do, the first shot, I had to fire 1000 miles an hour and hopped the english grabbed up and back table-high english. I fired the ball Jay Helfert saw the shot, the english grabbed and it looked like a big bannana 9'long 3 rails back into the pack-first shot I shot with the cue stopped where i would have set it by hand , it was one hell of a TV shot. I ran my pattern soft shots etc. never a millimeter from where I wanted to stop the CB. First time I ever played on this table as well. Whenr I took apart the cue it was so hard to take apart i was suprised, Jay said watch this before I unscrewed it, i figured it to be sloppy considering the extreme wear on the cue, it was super hard to unscrew, man it was tight.
Now I understand the legend of Bushkas, The 2 were different but both GREAT hitting cues, the one I loved-the old worn one-I coudnt use it as a daily player because God forbid something happened, I'm sticking with my Barry Szam and a Gus to play with, but those guys 30-40 years ago knew something, Gus and Bushka, that still hasnt been done again today except by Barry, they have the "Secret Sauce" recipie, all these new cues wirth perfect CNC tolarances etc, just arnt the same.
Tad and SW have honerable mention, and for a new cue maker Sugartree. but the old guys and barry know something and they aint giving it up. Wow. old wood not kiln dryed in my opinion has alot to do with it, I donr know what Sugartree is using but its high quality. and Mr. Tad well what can be said he has been around for ever and his cues play great too but not at the Barry, Gus, or Bushka level, but close-I like Tads designs.
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there has to be, why hasnt it been duplicated in years?, i'm not knocking other cues, there are some amazing cue makers out there who do incredible work, and a hit of a cue is subjective like wine tasting, but man those Szams and Bushkas are something special, I'm not saying this because its some romantic idea of the past, I like old Palmers, Martins etc but I cant stand how they play. 