My experience with Schmelke

C

Catalin

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Questions are asked on here regularly regarding Schmelke cues. I know that some of you are curious or interested and I thought to share my experience on here for anyone considering it. I ordered 2 cues from Schmelke, 2 years apart, mostly wanting to try out some designs and ideas I had in mind. I know that some of you had a good experience, unfortunately that wasn't my case. I will try to be as objective as possible and give facts.

Odering process and general considerations:
The most basic way of ordering is through their website. Some of the cue models listed have options that can be selected from a drop-down menu. Options include type of joint, wrap or no wrap, wrap color, butt cap color, 1" or 1/2" ferrule. Ordering this way is straight forward but offers very limited options.

The secund option and the one I chose is to order via email or phone. In my experience you can call but they will ask you to send an email to confirm the specs, so you might as well do that directly. I sent the specs listed with bullet points in the body of the email, and also attached a sketch with all dimensions on it as well to avoid any confusion. You then get a quote via email and can confirm or further modify your design. A few things to consider:

- the options are basic and limited i. e. simple rings, choice of wood
- they don't core the wood and won't guarantee a specific weight. In particular a low weight may be difficult to obtain depending on the choice of wood.
- a specific balance ie forward, or type of hit are not guaranteed
- last I know, they were not offering the option of an extension. I find that very narrow minded from an established manufacturer.
- they chamfer the joint both on the butt side and the shaft side so the gap is pretty noticeable. They will not inform you before or give you the option so keep that in mind .

Cue #1: I sent the specs and asked for the lead time, I was told 3 weeks. I was returning from the US to Europe in 4 weeks and asked if they could confirm it would be ready on time. They said they would try but never committed and I wasn't sure until the last minute if I would get it. At one point while we were finalizing the design, they took 6 days to answer an email. I work in sales and 6 days is a long time to keep a customer waiting, especially that you haven't secured the deal. It is not good business. In the end I got the cue on the eve of my departure.
- The joint diameter was off spec (. 83" instead of. 84") making the aftermarket shaft I used with it visibly fatter
- The shaft length was off spec (ordered and paid extra for 30", it was 1/4" short)
- The black Irish linen was more of a dirty grey, uneven with visible lumps and traces of glue at both ends. You basically can't do a roll test with it, it will wobble no matter what because of the lumpy wrap.
- They quoted me a price for the shipping which I paid with the total, after shipping the cue they emailed me to say it cost more than anticipated and they took the difference from my credit card without asking for permission. I complained and got a refund for the extra amount.

Cue #2 (butt only) : I sent the specs and sketch via email, was told it would take 3-4 weeks. This time I wasn't in a rush. After that time passed without any news, I emailed them to ask for an update and was told it would be ready soon.
- A couple of days later I got an email saying they made a mistake and made the butt 29" long instead of 30". They would make another one and it would take a couple of weeks longer. I said ok.
- 3 days later I got an email saying it was ready. That makes me think that they rushed it, didn't allow the wood settle between cuts, the glue to cure etc.
- I asked for both cues to be sent to me and paid extra because it was my design and didn't want to leave it out there. In theory the 2 should have been identical save for the length. They were anything but. The joint collars, butt caps, even butt diameter were different sizes. We are not talking about small differences either, they were super visible. Like one ring that was supposed to be 3/16" wide was about half that on one of the cues. Basically neither of the 2 got all specs correct, the butt cap would be the correct size on one but not on the other and so on.
- The design had points and they came out uneven
- During the ordering process I asked about somme functional things and I was told they didnt think it was possible, but they did them on both cues. It would have been nice to get the confirmation, I only saw it when I got the cues.

Conclusion: Based on my experience, I do not recommend Schmelke and I would not order from them again. I didn't feel they were particularly knowledgeable or passionate about what they do, felt like it's just a business. I also had a discussion with a major online pool store and they said Players was better quality than Schmelke.

If after reading everything you stil want to order from Schmelke, here's my advice:
- Keep the design simple, focusing on figured woods. Rings and other elements are priced per unit and quickly increase the price
- Make it wrapless, their wraps are ugly and you can always add a wrap later
- Order butt only, their shafts are no good
- Douublecheck the specs after receiving the cue
 
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I had a similar experience. Ordered 2 basic cues from their website plus a couple of extra options. 1 tip arrived FLAT I'm talking |||| flat as can be. The other tip was wavy, spinning the shaft you could see the perimeter of the tip go up and down like it was partly nickel partly dime. One of the tips wasn't the one that I requested and paid extra for. The linen wrap was frayed and kind of sagged in areas. One of the joint faces wasn't smooth like they didn't face it off properly but installed the pin anyway. Chips in the finish on both butts.

Communication was poor from the get go, cues were 2.5 months from order to initial reception, it was hard to get a return shipping later from them, they figured all of the defects were from shipping weird, however, despite all of these complaints I will say the cues were packed very well).

To top it all off the cocobolo handle I received might as well be black painted maple.

Took a while but the cues are functional and play well enough, I hear other people have successful interactions with the company, I like to think maybe they were having a bad few months, but I don't see any reason to bring any of my business back to them.
 
I ordered a bacote SP from Schmelke thru another billiard website- Billiard Warehouse- chose my weight, shaft diameter, tip, and shaft taper- entire cue with shipping etc, came to $165, The first cue that I received, the shaft was not straight to any acceptable level for a new cue. They paid for return shipping and said that I would be made an entire new cue- why not just the shaft-not sure.

I received the new cue five weeks later- it is entirely acceptable and plays very, very well. I think that it is the best under $200 SP that I have ever seen and it actually plays like a much more expensive SP from a higher end custom shop- I've owned more than a few of those including Scruggs.

Truth be told, their specs are definitely not EXACTLY as I ordered. The specs like weight and taper etc. are off a bit- but not by too much to be unacceptable at this price.

I found their customer service to be excellent, they were responsive, replaced a mistake at no cost to me, and I think at this price point it is a cue that I would recommend for sure. There are a few other cheaper SPs like Players/ Rage that I also found to be quite acceptable at under $200.

This all occurred in 2022/2023 so my experience with Schmelke is current. I give them a thumbs up(y) for providing a cue that plays and looks great ( their bacote SP is super nice looking) at a very affordable price for the masses.

I actually had the cue out today and asked a friend to try it out- he loved it and plans to order one himself- he could not believe the price.

Sorry that your experience was not as good with Schmelke. I think folks should hear both sides when others have had different experiences with the same cue maker.

I agree entirely with the above poster Measureman- you just cannot expect too, too much from a maker at these price points- I believe that they far exceed the quality of my cue over what I paid for the cue.
 
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when you order custom you dont always get what you perceive as what you ordered. custom is meaning specially made.
not perfectly made. especially from a cheap producer.
with them you get not what is perfect but your monies worth.
 
I've been buying wood and cue parts and 4 prong blanks for them for years. I've had only a couple of very minor issues with them which were handled very promptly by them.
I have nothing but good to say about Schmelke and the people there!
 
Sheldon said:
I've been buying wood and cue parts and 4 prong blanks for them for years. I've had only a couple of very minor issues with them which were handled very promptly by them.
I have nothing but good to say about Schmelke and the people there!
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big difference in ordering parts vs. complete cues.
 
Catalin said:
- last I know, they were not offering the option of an extension. I find that very narrow minded from an established manufacturer.
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I did find these on their website...

Screenshot_20230410_211015_Chrome.jpg
 
All I can say is that I’m glad when I was 16 years old and turning out croquet mallets for the players in town I didn’t have to deal with balance points and weights to the nearest oz. The options I offered were maple, or hickory handle with oak, hickory or maple head and no one complained. Lol
 
maha said:
when you order custom you dont always get what you perceive as what you ordered. custom is meaning specially made.
not perfectly made. especially from a cheap producer.
with them you get not what is perfect but your monies worth.
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You get what you pay for in life in pretty much most everything.
If you have expectations, always make sure that they’re realistic.

It’s the pride & integrity of the cue maker that decides the outcome.
Sadly, price should not determine quality but all too often it’s the case.

I’m surprised by how many cue makers aren’t inclined to offer SP cues.
If you think about it, they’re in the business to make $ so it makes sense.
 
I think that once Scruggs SPs started to escalate so much in price- it may have started to change the minds of other cue makers in terms of making SPs as the price points made it more beneficial for them financially to do so. I paid $1100 for my last Scruggs SP - so called fancy SP- honestly, I prefer this Schmelke in terms of playability and appearance, $1100 vs, $165. -with cues things become very individualistic.
 
Unfortunately, with many custom cues. You don't always get what you order.
And the price is often a factor. As is the materials used,
It shouldn't matter, but in some cases, the price, doesn't always account for quality. In my own experience I payed, up wards of a 1000 and, you still end up with a Bent cue. And real Bent shaft. Alot of it comes down to wood used. How long the wood has been rested.the guy had quite a following too. Safe to say, I haven't, ever spent that much on a cue again. But as for buying a Schmelke, Keep it simple and like the guys have said. You know what to expect.
Do you mind me asking, if you ordered the first one, and it was a bad experience. Why did you do a second order with them?
 
Cue Alchemist said:
Do you mind me asking, if you ordered the first one, and it was a bad experience. Why did you do a second order with them?
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I wanted to test a design that would work well with a CF shaft, as I wasn't thrilled with what was avaliable. And I thought to give them a second chance in case the first time was a fluke.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk
 
maha said:
when you order custom you dont always get what you perceive as what you ordered. custom is meaning specially made.
not perfectly made. especially from a cheap producer.
with them you get not what is perfect but your monies worth.
Click to expand...
I would disagree. I'm not sure what measurements that are badly off and unfriendliness have to do with the price point. It sounds like carelessness to me.

If you buy a Japanese handmade knife in the 200 range, you get an work of art from a master who spent years perfecting their craft.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk
 
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