watchez said:
No Dave - you need to work on your argument. Obviously a Master Chef doesn't have a garden out back, til the dirt, plant tomatoes from seed, water them, and then make his sauce. But he does not use Ragu out of a jar simply because he doesn't have the space to store a bunch of tomatoes or the time to make the sauce like a good italian mother does. No matter how good Ragu might taste. He wouldn't dare serve Ragu to his customers and charge them $25 a plate. Just like a cuemaker using a full splice and premade rings, butt caps, joints, etc. should not be charging the people the same.
I must say, I don't have an 'aurgument', my post was just my opinion, the aurgument seems to be on your side. There's no need for an aurgument or to be rude to someone like Willee, or anyone else for that matter. For someone that admits knowing nothing about cues, you do a great job of sounding like a self taught expert. If you honestly came in here to get an answer, it has been answered by some of the best people here, (myself
not included in that statement), and you have my apologies, and can disregard the rest of this post. It seems though, you really came just to start a BS aurgument.
My father started making high end wood caskets at 18yr old, back around 1950, and has been involved with every aspect of wood craftsmanship his whole life. In woodworking, they measure tolerances in 1/32-1/16 of an inch and he is Baffled at how we can make cues like we do. In this field it's measured by the .0005 - .001 of an inch. So if you think your 8th grade experience and knowledge qualifies you, then spend some money, make some cues, then post pics for us 'Ragu' sellers, to admire. Your analogy to spagetti sauce and a master chef doesn't seem appropriate to compare with cuebuilding. For one, a "Master" Chef, 98% of the time works for someone else, that pays him an obscene amount of money, with a
fully staffed, and
equiped kitchen. where he is free to do as he pleases,
at no expense to himself. Most Cue builders work a full daytime job, raise families, pay bills, cut the lawn, and build cues in their spare time, working out of their basement, or garage, and in some cases even their apartment. Most barely break even as it is, and have such a small space, they can barely fit the machines they do have, let alone have 2 machines tied up just to make fullsplice blanks. The prices that most of these builders charge are fair, sometimes even too low, considering the labor, materials, etc. even with using a blank. I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but this is pretty much the way it is. Qbuilder put it very well, I don't think it can't be explained any better than that. I apologize for this post coming across a little harsh, but I don't usually care for someone that admits he has no idea, but comes in throwing around a half-baked opinion and insults, and expects us to swallow it as truth.
Question was answered by many, no real need to drag it on....
Dave
