Well, it all started for me around 1962 1963 a couple of friends and I decided to go to the local pool room called the Q club run by a world class pool player by the name of Toby sweet, in Spring Valley, New York I’ve still never seen anybody stroke as smooth as Toby. He used a slip stroke This was the first time I’ve ever played pool and of course I was terrible, but I was watching some of the other players and saw what could be done on the table. well, I became pretty addicted to playing pool, at the time more fun than going to school. I hung out at the pool room constantly was always in awe watching Toby play. Sometimes Toby would pull out this special pool cue . It was beautiful. thinking back I don’t know if it was a balabushka or a Paradise or a Martin. It was beautiful with Ebony points. He also had the only ebony shaftI I’ve ever hit with, as an extra shaft.
One day Toby let me take a few shots with his pool cue. I couldn’t believe the difference between his cue and the house cues. Of course I’m sure you had a lot better tip on it in the house keys we were using which certainly would contribute to its feel. It was just so satisfying. Without going into detail later in 1964 I had won quite a bit of money and wanted to buy a nice pool cue.Toby steered me over to Paradise that’s Frank Paradise Q in New Jersey and I ended up buying my first cue which at that time was terribly expensive. I think about $150, and also got a Fellini ostrich pool case and that’s the cue that I still have and enjoy shooting with and still have the additional shaft with unique screw on Ferrells. That started me on a lifetime quest of trying to find pool cues that I thought had a special feel to them not so much that they were most beautiful cues, though they were definitely nice but the way they hit trying cues from all of the great Pool Q makers I ended up putting together a pretty nice collection of eclectic cues some from very famous Pool Q makers some from small independent guys who made one or 2 Pool cues a year. My collection grew into a collection of Approximately 15 of what I feel are the nicest hitting cues in their own way that I had ever felt. Now I have to decide what to do with my Pool cue collection. Any suggestions?
My cues are an interesting
Experiment in how much of a difference each Q has with its different characteristics. We all know that most of what affects a cue is the tip then the shaft type and grain, density as well as the shaft taper either a pro or straight or anything in between. The weight and grain giving you either stiff or more flexible/lively.Then you go into how the shaft attaches to the forarm. This is another area that I feel can contribute to the overall feel of the cue. Like most of the high-end pool cue makers back in the 50s and 60s were either using Willie Hoppy, Spain or Szamboti. To me those all hit very similar. Most of my cues have some type of metal construction, but several of my cues are all wood from the tip to the forearm. I personally like the of all wood joint meaning that Q has no metal in it and it’s very touch sensitive.
