Is it time for a new Blue Book of pool cues?

Mr. Bass Man said:
a subscription with tiers would be necessary to maintain the site.
Click to expand...

Your clientele just dropped from the dozens to a select few.

Paying for images of pool cues? Paying more for higher quality images of pool cues?

Magazines are all but dead, even Netflix is losing subscribers, and people think there's a viable subscription model to look at digital pictures of and see the sale history ("value") of cues?

I could be out of touch, but I don't think so.
 
arnaldo said:
Three excellent, well-expressed and reasoned paragraphs, Hu, and I'm stimulated to offer a practical route to the wonderful desired result (a fourth edition with the same overall quality and look as the third edition):

There are a substantial amount of very wealthy collectors of all manner of beautiful, pinnacle-ot-the art objects -- gorgeous exemplars of given crafts. Many of these -- delightfully compulsive -- collectors have extensive and priceless cue collections despite the fact that they do no more than occasionally dabble at the game, or once played regularly but no longer have the time (or health) to do so.

Point is, the great majority already prudently own one or several of the previous editions -- which in fact is what drew them, and guided them as they began collecting in the first place.

It should be easy for high end cue-knowledgeable experts to draw up a list of who the wealthy (or once-wealthy) collectors are. They could then be individually and proactively corresponded with, and be provided with, all relevant and itemized details of a speculative plan to enable realization of the sufficiently funded top-quality fourth edition . . . with even a moderate ROI for them -- as well as the pleasure of admirably playing a part in the sustenance of an important part of pool history, far into many coming decades.

The regularly posting cue experts among AZB-ers all know -- or know of -- each other and many of them will know the names of the wealthy collectors here and all over the world. Why not simply get the ball rolling in my above-described manner by starting a productive chain of PM-like group Conversations between each other. Then firm up the plan and present the plan to all possible collector targets.

Arnaldo ~ And please if you will, include me (totally average cue owner) in the PM conversation, given my long lifetime interest in our beloved sport's history.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Click to expand...

Arnaldo,

Thanks for the kind words! Always a pleasure to read your posts. Unfortunately I would be totally unqualified to lead such a project. I love quality craftsmanship, be it a musical instrument, a gun, some things I have absolutely no interest in other than admiring the craftsmanship, or a cue.
timothysoong said:
Sounds like a good idea, but honestly I prefer hard copies blue book though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...


The bluebook is one of those books that you can spend several hours just looking through. Cue builders own the bluebooks and use them for inspiration sometimes. Not to copy somebody else's work but sometimes you need a new taking off point and something you see can break the logjam in your head.

Looking at a computer screen just isn't the same!

Hu
 
mikemosconi said:
My wife does not even know of 80% of the cues that I ever owned- much less what I paid for them:). Every cue box that arrived here the past ten years was a "repair" job- they " break" a lot:):)
Click to expand...
Friend of mine figured out the plan with rifles. He bought all Remington 700's, stainless barrel and action, composite stock. A dozen or so rifles all looked the same.

He occasionally slipped a new one into the gun safe. When he brought it out a few months later, "Aw, I have been having this thing." First trip I made to his home I had a new barrel for my rifle that was going to be very close to my departure date showing up if I had it shipped to my house so I had it shipped to his. His wife said she gave up, not only was he sneaking in new stuff now I was too!

Hu
 
iusedtoberich said:
It won't happen in a million years. It would be a labor of love at this point. Very few are buying physical books anymore.
Click to expand...

That is why an online editable WiKi would be ideal. Anyone can add pictures of their cues and the maker info to it. 1,000 people putting in one cue is a lot easier than one person trying to get info on a 1,000. Just need to put up some guidelines of what the pictures should of, then the template page can be done. Even sale prices can be put in by whoever purchased the cue if they want.
 
hang-the-9 said:
That is why an online editable WiKi would be ideal. Anyone can add pictures of their cues and the maker info to it. 1,000 people putting in one cue is a lot easier than one person trying to get info on a 1,000. Just need to put up some guidelines of what the pictures should have, then the template page can be done. Even sale prices can be put in by whoever purchased the cue if they want.
Click to expand...
A good idea. But I think in practice community projects fall apart, without someone really being in charge and keeping things organized and going.

I also think most people want to keep prices private, whether they are the buyer or the seller. It’s a pride thing I believe.
 
Mr. Bass Man said:
It's been almost 20 years since the last edition and there are countless new makers that were either up and coming or relatively unknown at the time of the 3rd edition printing. I'm aware that often times the investment of energy hasn't always turned out to be lucrative however for the sake of history and documentation I believe these books are worth the effort. In the time that I've been on AZ we've lost some great and knowledgeable people and I feel as though if these things aren't documented periodically they have a tendency to get lost forever. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Best to be done on line
 
If it were to happen, I may be able to help with the publishing side.

I could see how a companion book and a free/open online resource could work - but it would need long-term work and probably wouldn't bring in enough money to justify itself commercially. As a labor of love, however...
 
r9ball said:
I see Brad about every week. I'll mention it to him. I know he's very busy with the gun business, a wife and a 4 yr old running around the house.
Click to expand...
I would be surprised if Brad had any interest after how the third edition came out. IIRC it was a difficult release with delay after delay..

But you never know!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top