it's hard to become a cue maker ? i want to know some experiense from cuemaker
- Thread starter hypnauticz
- Start date
No such thing/person.Jazz said:What if the cue maker is gay?
Jazz <-- I know it won't work for me 'cause I played in bank for three years (lead guitar!) and only got two out of three right in Sex, Drugs and R&R
Gays don't like dust.
Maybe its due to my personal values as to why I didn't think it would be disrespectful to ask. I love his work and would not try to "pawn it off" as my own, but rather to learn the craft by absorbtion by promoting HIS work as an extension, not to build MY cues. My sense of value says that I couldn't do that until I was not with my mentor anymore when HE decided I could be considering a contemporary and not feel badly about saying he TAUGHT me. Someone taught him. I'm really ok with the whole thing and I still love his work and recommend him everyday to people. As far as knowing , we are not friends but have only spoken a few times so I do understand. I do appreciate your comments thoughTank138 said:Besides your own personal desire to learn .You do know there has to be some logical purpose to work in an cue makers shop.I do not know too many cue makers that would open their shop & knowledge for strangers.
Just out of curiosity is this maker a friend of yours or even know you?If the answer to both of these is no ,then why would he be willing to teach you?
On the flip side I am very good friends with a cue maker.And by no means try to interfere in his little world,of what I consider to be total insanity .
To Tank138:
Excellent statement,
To Rigere
Good answer.
Tap, Tap to both of you.
Excellent statement,
To Rigere
Good answer.
Tap, Tap to both of you.
hypnauticz said:i was thinking it's hard to become a cue maker or no?
i mean..i want to make a cue my self like custom it and design it the way i want...so i was wonder will those or not..i do understand it take times and money on stuff but nothing's wrong with knowin more =)
life is about learning =) and try new things
It would really depend on how far you want to go with it and the time you would actually want to invest. It can get very frustrating, But if you live at home with Mom, or have a spouse with a good job, It could work. Forums are okay but they also leave a lot to be desired when it comes to knowledge and it's origin. If your really serious you'll learn something on everything you do, If you just want to get right into building without first learning how to repair, your cutting yourself short along with your attempts to create anything. On cues and cue repair, instead of trying to judge why something was done, Try first, understanding why it was done. People who just provide answers are horrible teachers, You think your learning but your not, because you have missed all of the options that make up the WHY. My greatest teachers were the ones who answered my question with another question. Made me think til I was totally confused and then provided a couple of options to help me think of the answer but No one gave the actual answer up front especially that same day. I don't know if any of this helps but if I have you thinking a little, Then it has helped.
JoeyInCali said:My wife gives her the 7-out in the beauty dept.
Don't you just love the tatoo, on the girl in your avitar?...JER
WheatCues
Banned
hypnauticz said:i was thinking it's hard to become a cue maker or no?
i mean..i want to make a cue my self like custom it and design it the way i want...so i was wonder will those or not..i do understand it take times and money on stuff but nothing's wrong with knowin more =)
Well, I couldn't resist putting my 2 cents in too ! so here it goes....
I do not discourage you in becoming a cuemaker but you need to find an original niche in the business if you plan on becoming successful and solidified in this highly competitive market !
Ryan "ratcues" made an excellent analogy regarding the "field" and unless you have something unique to offer, it makes it hard to get your foot in the national door and this has been proven with many cuemakers who only saturate a local level and never push themselves out nationally due to advertising costs, lack of incentive or just simply content building cues as a hobby...
Marketing is everything regarding saturation, however, the billiard world is quite small and close-knit and most of us know each other directly or indirectly in one way or another so it's important that quality and honesty are basic tools in your cuebuilding venture... because all it takes it the right person get ahold of one "flawed" cue of yours and it's all over the front page ! there's not much room for error in this business due to the "tough unforgiving crowd"
I have been very patient and careful with my approach to the market and wanted to make sure I don't get myself upside down with orders and not enjoy what I do anymore by being too eager and hasty... so before I go with media coverage due to my involvement with Blair Thein's "pool, poker, and pain". I'm taking the time to feel out the competition, the players and potential customers and are taking the predicted heat and fire as well as the interests I have piqued regarding my unique contibution to the cuemaking world !
No matter how you decide to market yourself just try to offer something that isn't being or hasn't already been done... and by all means, Get you cues in the right hands and that will do incredible adverstising for you all on its own !
It takes years to learn the "tricks of the trade" and most of us learn through our trials and tribulations, and incorporate unique characteristics that we accidently stumbled on or through experimentation that give each of us our own style and selling aspects and customer base.
But most importantly... enjoy yourself and take extreme pride in your work and your customers will never be disappointed, because the moment you get greedy and all you see is $$$ your quality of work will be compromised !
Goodluck to you !
If you if any questions you want answered please call anytime !
Sincerely, Eddie Wheat 321-631-1827
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WheatCues said:
i do agree with your points .the reason i'm asking to become a cue maker is hard or not it just that..sometime i think about stuff such as..since i'm paying so much for a tip work and shave down my shaft..when i can learn it and do it my self.. but also at the mean time. i want to have a CUe tat i made for my self.i do know time and money will be spend on the lethe and stuff but again when you made your own cue that you love that will show you the money you spend and the time you spend is will worth. i'm not saying anything bad about cuemaker's i recent asked few guys over the az they told me.if i want a cue tat custom will cosh me btw 1000-5000$ when i just want a plain simple cue no style or anything it just a plain wood style..so i was like..why dont i try to spend that kind of money on the stuff so i can try to make my own cue and i'm sure i would be much happier since i did everything on my own..this is my point of view.
but then again with out those hardworkin cuemaker we wont have some nice awsome cue to play with =) this is just my 2cent of story's why i want to become a cue maker
hypnauticz said:
Those prices are a little stiff (1000 - 5000) for a plain cue. I'm sure 250 up is more in line. There also is a large learning curve before you can build a cue as good as most Chinese cues. You need equipment that can run from as little as 500.00 for a basic lathe up 10 well over 100,000.00 for a halfway decent shop. You need materials to build with so you can figure on investing in wood, plastics and phenolics and such and then age your wood for a year or two at the least.
You can become a Gentleman cue builder who does it more for a hobby then as a vocation without a very large out lay of cash but still expect to spend a minimum of 10,000 to get started and expect to waste a lot of wood in the learning curve.
Dick
advice
I hope this will be the most valuable advice you could get. A book is no substitute for your fingers! Books are great as reference sources and valuable, but spend time with another cue maker to save yourself the grief of getting hurt. I worked (and still work) as a carpenter/ custom cabinet maker for 20 years before I started to make cues. I worked with another cue maker for about 1 year to reduce the learning curve and there was no substitute for my training. Where your buisness goes is up to the market, one day you are considered a cue maker (I'm still waiting for that day). I would be very hesitant to place my entire livelyhood on my income from cuemaking. To be a cue maker you have to like long hours, low pay, and exceptionally slow advancment! A free gift from some one who can count to 9 7/8 on both hands.
I hope this will be the most valuable advice you could get. A book is no substitute for your fingers! Books are great as reference sources and valuable, but spend time with another cue maker to save yourself the grief of getting hurt. I worked (and still work) as a carpenter/ custom cabinet maker for 20 years before I started to make cues. I worked with another cue maker for about 1 year to reduce the learning curve and there was no substitute for my training. Where your buisness goes is up to the market, one day you are considered a cue maker (I'm still waiting for that day). I would be very hesitant to place my entire livelyhood on my income from cuemaking. To be a cue maker you have to like long hours, low pay, and exceptionally slow advancment! A free gift from some one who can count to 9 7/8 on both hands.
EmeraldCoastHW
Registered
Much Gratitude
I have much gratitude to those of you who have shared your knowledge and experience in cue building.
I am kind of interesting in trying to build cues but I think I would need to find a strong support group or check myself in for therapy before I finished the first one .
I am definitely impressed with learning about the time and effort involved in making and learning to make a functional good looking cue by hand from learning about the wood to the finished product. This was an awesome web site http://www.cuemaker.com/
I ran across a discovery channel video on cue building. It is about 5 minutes long and has a bunch of automated machinery. I would guess that it is much more of a factory mass production line kind of set up. Well there really is not any guessing to it.
I am impressed with any one that does this as a hobby. I do not feel worthy enough to be posting in the same thread as you cue builders.
If I am lucky I can learn to use my cue well enough to afford a custom cue.
Here is that link:
[How It's Made] Billiard Cues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe0NiSiCuWA
I have much gratitude to those of you who have shared your knowledge and experience in cue building.
I am kind of interesting in trying to build cues but I think I would need to find a strong support group or check myself in for therapy before I finished the first one
.I am definitely impressed with learning about the time and effort involved in making and learning to make a functional good looking cue by hand from learning about the wood to the finished product. This was an awesome web site http://www.cuemaker.com/
I ran across a discovery channel video on cue building. It is about 5 minutes long and has a bunch of automated machinery. I would guess that it is much more of a factory mass production line kind of set up. Well there really is not any guessing to it.
I am impressed with any one that does this as a hobby. I do not feel worthy enough to be posting in the same thread as you cue builders.
If I am lucky I can learn to use my cue well enough to afford a custom cue.
Here is that link:
[How It's Made] Billiard Cues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe0NiSiCuWA
