How did you get your first custom?

twilight

twilight

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Since this forum is filled with guys who have tons of custom cues, I was wondering if anyone would like to tell me their stories about how they came to decide whom they should go to to build thier first cue. I there are several I'd like to get my hands on, I was wondering how you guys did it.
 
i have been playing pool over 40 years.....i have seen thousands of cues in magazines and in person........well this internet sure has alot of information..i looked thru site upon sites of cues the past few years ..then one day last year while surfing i came to www.hightowercues.com ... there it was a picture of a cue that can best describe me .........i never thought i would buy a one of a kind cue and spend money like that BUT i did......it definately has helped my game and it is a cue i will keep till the day i die......i have read many posts here about people dreaming of their one of a kind cue....i say you work hard in life treat yourself and buy that exotic cue for yourself..you won't regret it...:)
 
I worked my way there. Started with a couple of manufactured cues, then got into my first custom I purchased off the internet. It was a nice cue, just not quite right for me. Got into a couple of semi-customs from there, and then found a cue on the net I just HAD to have. Once I got it, I was in love! It just felt soooo natural in the hand.

Now, I am having the same cuemaker build me one that I had a hand in designing...it's been a wonderful experience so far, but I have to admit, the wait is just killing me!!! Lol...but that is just all part of it.

I cannot stress highly enough trying before you buy. When you go to order that custom, then you have an idea of what your getting.

Lisa
 
I played with a Meucci for a couple years, then I finagled a job at the best pool room around, and from there it was like a kid in a candy store. I got Black Boars at cost, and did'nt know what I had cause I turned them over and bought Phillippe's, Scruggs, Richard Black's, an endless beautiful line of great cues....all gone now....and I have no clue where any of them are?

I really would like to fin 1 of them. Nothing special, a 4 point plain Rosewood Black Boar. I sold it to a guy from the Philly area. I think he played at South Philly, or Feasterville?....anyway, my girlfriend at the time, now my wife gave it to me for my birthday, and like an idiot I traded it for a Black night, which pissed her off......Anyone out there in Philly seen my cue?:)

Gerry
 
Around 10 years ago, i went over to Bakers in Tampa to have a new Tip put on and there was a new guy running the pro-Shop there. His name was Larry "Larue" Haymes. He had been a student of the great Cuban Cue maker "Ricco". He showed me some of his custom Cues and his workmanship was fantastic. I fell in love with a rich colored wood called Cocobolo. He also had Real Ivory he had imported with all the paperwork. I wound up getting a Cue made out of those materials with 2 shafts. Everyone around here just loves that Cue, i get complements whenever i take it out to shoot. Not only is it a good looking Cue, but it has the perfect balance for me and has just the Hit & Feel i have always wanted.
I will take some pic's this weekend and post them.:) And that is how i wound up with a "Custom".:D
 
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Cue is valued at more than $1,500, IMO, but that is now irreverent, since I am keeping the cue now and forever and ever.

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And the case is tad bit under $200.
 
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I bought a used Phillippi SP from a friend of mine. About a year later i decided to upgrade and went to his shop (15 minutes away). Pretty convenient when you can just drive there whenever you want.
 
I always liked Scruggs work and I liked the Look of Sneaky Pete's. I found out Scruggs doenst make them anymore and he refered me to Bob Frey, who worked under Scruggs.

After seeing a few other Bob Frey customs and Sneaky Pete's I decided to go with him, and because he is local too.
 
I first went to Kikel, who built me a piece of *****. Then to Ernie Martinez who built me my playing cue which I still use to this day. I've since bought and sold over two dozen customs, some hit better than others. Bought a Tim Scruggs which hit terrible (in retrospect, it might not been one of his, since I've hit with others that are great). Had Skip Weston make some extra shafts for my Southwest....they were total garbage (warped, tips flew off and ferruls cracked. Shafts weighed under 3 ounces....must have been made of Balsa wood. Skip ignored all my emails to him....gee, nice guy.)

My Ernie and Jensen have been my best playing cues.

I would suggest as a previous poster did, that you should try out a cue before you dump a bunch of money. Just because it came from a recognized maker, doesn't mean it's a good cue.

Regards,

Doug
 
twilight said:
Since this forum is filled with guys who have tons of custom cues, I was wondering if anyone would like to tell me their stories about how they came to decide whom they should go to to build thier first cue. I there are several I'd like to get my hands on, I was wondering how you guys did it.
Click to expand...

When I decided to get a Custom Cue I met Mike Webb at Snookers in Providence, RI. He was playing that night in a 14.1 league match and rolled his case over to another table, put several cues together, and went back to his match. I hit for at least a 1/2 hour with his cues and, though none of the ones he had with him appealed to me ascetically, decided I'd be buying a Webb. Within a month he had one that appealed to me, I hit with that one to make sure the hit was the same as the others (which of course it was, it's a Webb) and bought it. Still have that cue and suspect I always will.
 
I walked into Bill Stroud's shop (about 30 miles from where I lived at the time), where he spent about an hour showing me around and talking about cues and his thoughts on their construction. We looked as his (then) current designs and came up with a variation on one of them. He started building my cue the next week and about 8 months later, it was in my hot little hands. :cool:

I hear his wait time is a little longer these days. :p
 
Lisa (ridewiththewind) wrote:
> it's been a wonderful experience so far, but I
> have to admit, the wait is just killing me!!!
> Lol...but that is just all part of it.


Yea, I have to second Lisa here -- I guess the wait is all part of it, as also I am waiting for my Longoni from Europe... (and being giddy as a schoolgirl all along ;^)

-- peer
 
I was in the market for a new cue. I was looking into getting a Coker from Billiards 'n' Bagels in Gresham, OR. I got off work early one day and decided to go hit a few cues, when I got there at 10AM they were closed and I did not want to wait until 1Pm when they opened. I drove home and then went to the local bar to play some pool. I ran into a good player that I have known for a few years and always had nice equipment and was always trading up (had Southwest, Schick, Scruggs). He was shooting with a new cue and I asked him who made it and he said "I did". he started making cues and so I told him what I wanted and if he couls do it. Se said he could and the cue turned out great. I had to have a new shaft made to hit the way I wanted but still is a nice looking cue.
 
I got my first custom cue a few years ago. :confused:

Ok, it was in the late '60's. I was about 18 years old and working in a pool room. One of the regulars was getting a new cue, from a local part-time cue maker, and he was selling his old cue, by the same maker.
I bought it for a whopping $40. :D

I played with that cue for almost a year, when another one of the regulars got himself a brand new cue, from the same cue maker. I thought it was a great cue and I loved the way it hit.
A week later, this guy and his girlfriend decided to get married, quickly. :o
He sold me the cue for $80, and I still own that cue.

This was in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The cue maker only made cues part-time, as a hobby, but a lot of the local players used his cues. He made some really nice cues and his name is Leo Galli (sp).

BTW, I sold the first one for the same $40 that I paid for it.
After not playing for almost 30 years, I got back to the game, had a new shaft made for the second cue and played with it for a while. It never did hit the same, with the new shaft, but I also had to have some work done on the joint, so the original shaft no longer fits.
Then I got a new cue, and another new cue, and another new cue.......:D
 
Think is was 1972 I was living in So Cal., and was playing a lot of THREE CUSHION. there was a Cuemaker selling out of this Pool Room in the SF Valley. I went over to his Shop, and asked he build me a Cue for Three Cushion. Love the Cue, but hated the 12.5 Shaft, so I asked him to build me another shaft a tad bigger. Total cost for the Cue with two shafts was 85 BUCKS. That was the only Cue I owned for almost 30 years. Sold it to a Collector in MASS. about 1.5 Years ago. Would have made MORE MONEY had I Sold the Cue when the Color of Money was First Out. Would have made more on my 85 Bucks had I put it in a BANK CD for all them years. But it was a Very nice Playing Cue.
 
I worked my way up to my first custom cue. I started out with a Dufferin then progressed to a Mali then to a Huebler. I sold my Huelber and when I couldn't stay away from the game I bought a DP spec cue. I later found out that I actually prefered a more traditional type cue, and when DP started flooding eBay with cues, I bought a Gilbert spec cue from www.cueaddicts.com and sold the DP.

I then decided I wanted to get a custom cue so I did some research and found out about this guy named Skip Weston who does razor sharp, ultra-even, points, which is one of the things that I value, so I placed my order for an ebony and burl 6-point Southwest style cue. By this time I was bitten by the cue bug two or three times and I've been out of my mind since!
 
twilight said:
Since this forum is filled with guys who have tons of custom cues, I was wondering if anyone would like to tell me their stories about how they came to decide whom they should go to to build thier first cue. I there are several I'd like to get my hands on, I was wondering how you guys did it.
Click to expand...

My first custom cues were given to me by my sponcer.I had a 1 year contract that i get 1500 dollars cue money and they pay for 4 big tounament a a year in full and motels.The contact was all i had to do is wear there shirt and play with there cues.They also payed 100% of my entry back to me iF I won the tounamnet.75 % of my entry for second or third. And 50% of the entry for any tounament win or lose.I after the year was up I sold the cues and bought a custom cue that I liked and it played great.Then they renewed my contract for a nother year and I got a few cues and after a year I owned the cues so I sold them and traded them again.
 
I was living in Dallas, and would shoot regularly with a guy who had a decent Joss production cue. One weekend, he came in with a new cue, and when asked, he stated that it was a Richard Black and that it was worth about $2800. If I remember correctly, it was a double oval model. Anyway, he then proceed to tell me that he had only paid about $250 for it and I was shocked. He picked it up at a pawn shop. I travelled freuqently at the time, so needless to say I started to hit the pawn shops, and haven't quit since. My first buy was a 6 point padauk into rosewood with veneers Hunter Classic when he used to hand sign and number them. I got it for $130 with two shafts and a nice luggage style case. I've never stopped pawn shopping for cues, but have to say that the cues are harder to come by these days. I'm sure alot of other guys do the same.
 
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