Josey Cues: Good, Bad AND Ugly Please!!!

I am also considering a Josey... but living in Spain makes trying one rather difficult.

Currently playing with a steel jointed Joss and fiddling with the balance/weight and alternating an OB-1 / Kamui Black S and the original joss shaft / Triangle. :eek:

I guess I will have to settle on specs and decide if I will be playing with a maple or an OB shaft before I order. Maybe I should ask Keith to make a shaft for my cue (or even my Dominiak with radial pin) to see if I prefer his shaft to the OB-1.
Another issue is that a Josey is probably too nice/fancy for my playing level and the places I play in... but... you know :embarrassed2:
 
I've played with too many cues for me to count. Keith would be in my top 3 of the custom cuemaking world. The guy's phone works, and he answers it. His calendar and clock are on people time, not cuemaker's time. And, he still charges fair market prices for his cues, even though he could build nothing but high end and sell his cues in Asia for 2-3 times their prices here.

One of the most solid cues I owned was a Josey. I had a Blade 2, a PJ Birdseye maple, and my favourite was my sneaky pete by Keith. Awesome customer service. GOOD LUCK finding the guy that will give you the horror story about Keith. I am very demanding on a custom cuemaker (I expect perfection), and Keith has never let me down.
 
Keith gets it.

Great playability, solid construction, beauty and top customer service. He and his wife make an extraordinary product and offer value for the price.

Everybody wins.
 
Dakota Cues said:
Dean,

First of all, let me assure you I have nothing but respect for Keith Josey and his cues. The whole reason I started this thread is because I am thinking of getting one for myself based on what I've heard here. While I have never played with one, I have heard stories like those shared in this thread about how great they are. The thing is regardless of how good you think Keith is, I can promise you this: He will NEVER make a cue that everyone likes... And neither will ANY other cue maker.

The reason I said what I did in my thread is that, in all my time here, I have only seen 1 or 2 bad comments about a cue, with the exception of the "Who's cues play like Sh*t" thread from a while back. It seems like most of us are willing to talk about something we like, but very few are willing to share things they don't like. That's just human nature - We don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. It's like your mom told you, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all", and a lot of people live by that.

Like you, I don't want some half baked idiot telling me some third hand story about a friends, friend's Josey cue that he heard some years ago. I'm asking for ACTUAL experience. I even went so far as to say if you don't want to share your opinion publicly, just PM me and it will go no further than me.

I then went on to say that what somebody might not have liked about a Josey cue is EXACTLY what somebody else is looking for. For example, imagine somebody going from a flexible production cue like a Meucci, to one of Keith's cues? The new cue plays so much different that what he was use to that he sells the Josey to get something more down the line of what he had. Is that player an idiot because he doesn't like the Josey? Does that mean Keith makes a crappy cue? OF COURSE NOT. neither of those statements are true. I just means that no one cue pleases everybody!

That's all I meant by what I asked.

Finally, I thought I made it clear that I don't want anyone to bash or flame ANYBODY. All I was looking for was honesty, even if it was brutal honesty.

Make sense now?
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Great post Mike. I think you got your point across nicely.

James
 
Shawn Armstrong said:
I've played with too many cues for me to count. Keith would be in my top 3 of the custom cuemaking world. The guy's phone works, and he answers it. His calendar and clock are on people time, not cuemaker's time. And, he still charges fair market prices for his cues, even though he could build nothing but high end and sell his cues in Asia for 2-3 times their prices here.

One of the most solid cues I owned was a Josey. I had a Blade 2, a PJ Birdseye maple, and my favourite was my sneaky pete by Keith. Awesome customer service. GOOD LUCK finding the guy that will give you the horror story about Keith. I am very demanding on a custom cuemaker (I expect perfection), and Keith has never let me down.
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I remember buying a very nice Josey cue from you and it was one of the nicest cues i've ever owned. I sold it like a dummy and i've regretted it ever since.

James
 
Capone is another great cuemaker

Dakota Cues said:
G man,

Have you ever tried a Capone cue? I know he is a radial pin master, too, and I've played with a Capone in the past. Any similarities or differences in the hit between those two?
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Nothing but good things to say about Capone as well. I have not owned one but I have hit with them and been exposed to them.
 
JB Cases said:
Here is an idea for all you cue makers. Prepare a few cues as testers. Tell folks that if they give you a deposit and split the shipping you will send them a cue with a preprinted return label. Let them try the cue for a week and send it back. If it doesn't arrive back in a week they bought it. It's a super easy thing to do.
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I think that's an interesting idea, and it's worth starting up a new thread to discuss.
 
JB Cases said:
You can hear 100 positive stories about Josey on here and still hate the cue. You said the same thing yourself. So why the need to go into all the detail about wanting to hear people's negative experiences?
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Because I haven't heard any negative experiences! That tells me that either Keith makes one of the best cues around (Obviously), or nobody wants to talk about what they didn't like about one(s) they had.


JB Cases said:
The best thing to do would be for you to ask the people on the forum who is closest to you that has a Josey and if they don't mind if you come down and hit some balls with theirs.
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Believe me, if I were able to get my hands on a Josey cue, you would never have read this thread, as my own experience would be far more valuable then anything I would ever read about them. There is nobody where I live, or anybody I'm close enough to on this forum, that has one of his cues and is willing to give it up for a few days.


Look guys, I believe that Keith makes a great cue or I would not be hearing what I'm hearing. It's just that a lot of the posts I have read were from newer owners, and I discounted their opinions as a little bit of "New Cue Syndrome". That's all. I wanted to hear opinions (good and bad) from ACTUAL, Long-Time owners of his cues.

Thankfully that's what I've been getting from a lot of you, and I really appreciate the honest input.

I am finalizing the design of my new Josey cue even as we speak...!!!:D
 
Josey Cues: Good, Bad AND Ugly Please!!!

> The only Josey I've ever hit a ball with was one that belonged to Tony Watson,and was sold recently by Cornerstone,the ivory/turquoise cue. It's one of the best cues I've ever hit a ball with,at least in the flat-faced,big pin style. It made me forget there wasn't a steel collar in the middle,and still had a nice "ping" to it.

I've never heard anyone complain about his cues,or his service. That's worth a LOT in my book.
 
Shawn Armstrong said:
The guy's phone works, and he answers it. His calendar and clock are on people time, not cuemaker's time. And, he still charges fair market prices for his cues, even though he could build nothing but high end and sell his cues in Asia for 2-3 times their prices here.
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Very true. Keith and Sherri are awesome to work with. I just have one of Keith's basic sneaky pete cues, nothing fancy. Super solid construction and feel with very high quality wood, especially for a basic SP. I like Keith's shafts too, but have found that the OB-2 shafts fit my game/needs better. Not a knock on Keith's shafts at all, just a personal preference for my game. I wouldn't hesitate for a second buying another Josey. :thumbup:
 
shawn putnam, tony watson, matt krah, b.j. ussery, jay helfert, troy frank,scott lewis etc... all play with or have played with keiths cues and keith and sherri DO NOT pay any entry fees or sponsor players(maybe a break on the price of the cue) these players and many others im forgetting to mention play keiths cues because they play good period. pm shawn putnam and simply ask him dakota.
 
Jay,
I took your advice and sent Shawn an email. I hope he responds. I'm always interested in the opinions of a top player.

Does he still play with a Josey?
 
Dakota Cues said:
Jay,
I took your advice and sent Shawn an email. I hope he responds. I'm always interested in the opinions of a top player.

Does he still play with a Josey?
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He used to play with a Josey + Tiger X shaft. Now he has his own cue model from Tiger... I would presume he plays with one of those. His opinion is rather interesting since he is a pro player and a cuemaker himself.
 
Great cues, great cue maker, super guy. I own many cues, two Joseys among them, I play with the two Joseys.
 
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have yet to hit with a Josey I didn't like. Pretty much all around good cues. The three I have owned have all played well, and managed to sell for more than what I paid/traded for them. I would say that Kieth's cues are one of the ten or twenty makers you just can't go wrong with.
 
they look too french in desighn..........reminds me of new orleans saintes emblem.......
 
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