The best thing about Judd's cues, next to his customer service, (imo) were his shaft tapers.
When I bought my first JT1(2007), I told him I only wanted a 59". He said he had one that was a custom order, and had 2 shafts with a taper made for a Pinoy player, but he backed out at the last minute. It was all he had at the time, and I didn't want to wait, so I jumped on it. My player for a good 7 years.
Fast forward 5 years, I pull it out of my case, and lay it on the table. I noticed something was a little weird, and rolled it across the table, and it wobbled bad between the handle and butt sleeve. Almost like a bad connection. Everything looked fine on the finish.
The handle was cocobolo, and it had a nice big knot in it toward the rear, really nice. Judd says the wood may have moved from the knot, or it could be loose connection. "Send it too me". He takes a look at it, and calls me, and say's " the knot decided it wanted to move"...lol. "Wood will do that". He says "give me a couple months, and I'll put a new handle on it for you.
Maybe 2-3 months later he calls and says it's on it's way. I said " what do I owe you",
he says "you owe me nothing. It was my fault for using that handle in the first place. I'm surprised it lasted 5 years."
One of the best playing cues I've ever played with. I pull it out whenever I get into a little funk, and just love that cue.
His taper was real close to the SPX from Gulyassy, nice and whippy. I also bought a fancy butterfly sneaky of his later. You cannot go wrong with a Judd cue.
Judd and Trudy were two of the best.