how many custom cue makers
- Thread starter the kidd
- Start date
That is a question that is impossible to answer. There are so many cue makers that are only known locally to those close by in the same state. Then there are the makers that are in countries other than the US that are well know in all or part of their home country, but unheard of outside of their location. Even if you were to make a list of "Well known" custom cue makers, you would have huge disagreements as to who qualifies as well known. With that out of the way, was their a particular reason for asking, or were you just curious as to the number?
Chris
Chris
Now THAT was funny =) And, you're probably not off by very much if you consider worldwide cue makers. As for the prize, I can offer up a gold star AND a brownie point!! Sound good? =)
Chris
How many cuemakers
Are we talking cue makers or cueless makers. Seriously I think the number is in flux. 4 start up and 3 quit everyweek atleast. Alot throw
money at a dream and end up with a nightmare. Hobby, full time, partime,
honest, syhster,shill, true believers and a few rare masters.
We are an interesting group!
Are we talking cue makers or cueless makers. Seriously I think the number is in flux. 4 start up and 3 quit everyweek atleast. Alot throw
money at a dream and end up with a nightmare. Hobby, full time, partime,
honest, syhster,shill, true believers and a few rare masters.
We are an interesting group!
I already hid it in my secret hiding place....you can't have it. :grin::grin::grin:
Even if you found it you wouldn't want it back...it smells funny now.
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I would swag it at about 50 cuemakers and alot more hobbyists. I have no specific cryteria for what makes a cuemaker vs hobbyist.
Kinda reminds me of my favorite golf quote " I hate this game... you wanna play tomorrow"
I built my first cue in late 05 am I a cue maker ? These days there are so many paths to being a cue maker each person has to figure their way out for them self
Are you a cue maker when your customers say you are ? or when your fellow tradesmen say it ?
Almost as bad as trying to figure out what constitutes a pro pool player
I think Chris would have the best estimate though
Am I a cue maker?
Not yet, but I am working on it. I have made a total of ONE cue, and I am making #2 right now. I knew I wanted to make cues a little over 20 years ago, I Just didn't understand it yet. I would go to a local billiard supply store where I was a regular, and watch the owner clean/sand/re-tip shafts for customers. I would just prop my elbows up on the counter and watch him do that for 2-3 hours at a time, talking cues and billiards the whole time. A little over a year ago, I met a local cue-maker while playing pool. We started talking, I told him I wanted to make cues. After a couple of months, he asked me how serious I was. My answer - "It's GOING to happen, sooner or later!" . I don't truly qualify myself as a cue-maker right now, but as soon as I get my own equipment and start producing more cues, maybe a year or two down the road, I will FEEL like I am a cue-maker. I don't think anyone ELSE can tell you what you are or aren't, YOU have to decide.
Not yet, but I am working on it. I have made a total of ONE cue, and I am making #2 right now. I knew I wanted to make cues a little over 20 years ago, I Just didn't understand it yet. I would go to a local billiard supply store where I was a regular, and watch the owner clean/sand/re-tip shafts for customers. I would just prop my elbows up on the counter and watch him do that for 2-3 hours at a time, talking cues and billiards the whole time. A little over a year ago, I met a local cue-maker while playing pool. We started talking, I told him I wanted to make cues. After a couple of months, he asked me how serious I was. My answer - "It's GOING to happen, sooner or later!" . I don't truly qualify myself as a cue-maker right now, but as soon as I get my own equipment and start producing more cues, maybe a year or two down the road, I will FEEL like I am a cue-maker. I don't think anyone ELSE can tell you what you are or aren't, YOU have to decide.
Which category would you put yourself in?
The reason I ask, is I know you are listed as a Cuemaker Member in both Cuemakers Associations. Yet like myself you make the majority of your income from other sources. So I have always considered myself a Cuemaker yet considered cuemaking a profitable hobby. So I think of myself as cuemaker and a hobbyist! If full time making 99% of your income from cuemaking takes one from Hobbyist to Cuemaker then 50 to 100 would be about right.
The ICA qualification to go from Cue-Repairman to Cuemaker means you have to build more than occasional low end cues. Those only building lower end cues are considered Cue-Repairman.
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I should have emphasized the "Occasional" word a little more.
One reason we did this is because we felt most cuemakers needed to demonstrate they could do points and inlays before being included as cuemakers. Here is why. One could make clean cues that are very simple, because anyone who can do repairs like tips, ferrules, wraps and refinishing could build a simple cue if they are set up to taper. Then if we gave them the "Cuemaker" title and allowed them to display with us at a show and they decide to come show their early point and inlay work that is very substandard, it would not lend to the prestigue that carrying the ICA Cuemaker title should carry. So we know most cuemakers are going to advance into points and inlays and we want them to have that part of their work down before applying for cuemaker membership. We have made a few exceptions for those who have made a name for themselves with simple cues (like Abe Rich), or butterflies (we would welcome Brent Hartman for instance), or other cues that do not have inlays.
Speaking of Abe, he slammed George Balabushka when I visited him. He said George was not even a wood turner. George was not alone. Many cuemakers now could not build cues with wood chisles and hand turn them on a lathe like Abe did and like I did when I started. But I rarely get one of my wood chisles out for anything anymore, and certainly not for tapering butts and shafts. Maybe for rounding something off, but that is just about it. Routers and taper bars made them just about obsolete.
To be honest with you, several Hall of Fame cuemakers that are in the Hall of Fame would not have made it in today's market with the level or quality of cues they made. But having said that, I also think they would have done better work if they had the same market demands, tools, glues and knowledge that today's makers have.
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