My experience working at BCA in Vegas

Guerra Cues

I build one cue at a time
Silver Member
Hello folks,

I kind of needed to vent, nothing better than AZB :)

So, after a chat with Gil Castillo, I went to work on his booth installing leather wraps. You need to check Gil's leather wraps, his elephant, shark and lizard. His texture wraps are awesome as well.

It was my very first experience working on a tournament at all, big or small.

Basically, I was thrown into the lions and I was not scared.

I am very confident about the quality of my work and even more satisfying was to ear the feedback of every single customer that walked away with a new wrap put on.

The highlight was the new elephant ear wrap I installed for Mika Immonen :thumbup:

I will have a very well known Pro player using one of my cues soon and that will be announced once the cue is ready and the deal gets sealed.

I want to thank Gill as well Joe Blackburn and Steve Lomax. I had a couple of challenges and Steve and Joe confirmed what my thoughts were about getting the job done right.

All and all, I will do it again. Most likely I will be working with Gil at SBE next year. If things go well I will be in Tunica, MS in July with some of my cues.

I want to thank all my friends and AZ'ers that passed by and said hello.

I think that at the end of the day the feeling of a job well done and satisfied customers is very important. I learned a lot - tackling all sorts of different cues and each cue needs to have a different approach on how to remove a wrap. Some are easy, some are hard to remove, basically, take one cue at a time.
 
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Can't go wrong with some tech tips from Steve, thats fer sure.
Glad your experience was a positive one Tony.

Nothing like doing a job for someone, getting good feed back and knowing that you did the best you could and the customer is also happy.
 
Tony,

Sounds like you had a very positive experience.

I can't wait to try Gil's shark. My friend has one on his Cog and it looks and feels very cool.

Rick
 
Can't go wrong with some tech tips from Steve, thats fer sure.
Glad your experience was a positive one Tony.

Nothing like doing a job for someone, getting good feed back and knowing that you did the best you could and the customer is also happy.

It sure was positive my friend.

Man, there were a ton of players from Canada, all nice people as well :)

A few challenges that came up...
- A Lucasi that had a rubber wrap (about 0.055"), I used a cork wrap and glued the shark skin to it and looked awesome when it was installed. I had to use a blade to remove the wrap :angry:
- A McDermott that already had a leather wrap and it took me almost one hour just to remove the wrap :mad:

I did not want to use a heat gun so the handle would not warp. I had to use the utility blase and brute force :)
 
Why are you venting, you accomplished you MISSION, deserving this.
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Man, there were a ton of players from Canada, all nice people as well

Yes, contrary to belief we are very easy to get along with. Our polar bears aren't so much tho.

I had to use the utility blase and brute force
One slip and thats good for a couple of stitches.

Cork eh. With that deep a wrap channel, it would take awhile to build that one up. I mean not really if you were in your own shop but when time is of the essence. How did it feel afterward? Did the cork actually add to
a nice cushy feel or just a good solid base.

Myself, altho I have all the goodies for leather wraps, I have yet to attempt one. I take it that cork can be sanded a bit if need be in that situation.

I do have a black and white Meucci that might look good with an Ox Blood faux ostrich skin that Lee had sent me. I always wondered what I was going to do with that one.
 
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Why are you venting, you accomplished you MISSION, deserving this.


:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Tony,

Sounds like you had a very positive experience.

I can't wait to try Gil's shark. My friend has one on his Cog and it looks and feels very cool.

Rick

I like the shark grip no doubt. It is starting to grow on me.

Yes, contrary to belief we are very easy to get along with. Our polar bears aren't so much tho.


One slip and thats good for a couple of stitches.

Cork eh. With that deep a wrap channel, it would take awhile to build that one up. I mean not really if you were in your own shop but when time is of the essence. How did it feel afterward? Did the cork actually add to
a nice cushy feel or just a good solid base.

Myself, altho I have all the goodies for leather wraps, I have yet to attempt one. I take it that cork can be sanded a bit if need be in that situation.

I like a cork wrap no matter what... It felt solid and not spongy. I think it would have felt spongy if the surface had 2 or 3 leather wraps together. I could have used wood veneer but the cork is a solid surface and bends really easy.
 
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Tony,

The cork trick is very cool. Seems to me that if you put a sanding sealer on the cork it may stabilize any sanding a little. I will try it if I get into a deep grove adjustment situation.

Thanks for sharing.

Rick
 
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Hello folks,

I want to thank Gill as well Joe Blackburn and Steve Lomax. I had a couple of challenges and Steve and Joe confirmed what my thoughts were about getting the job done right.

.

That was a good place to go for advice. Joe has done more tips and ferrules than almost anyone out there and everyone knows Steve's leather work is top quality. They make a really good cue-repair team. Sounds like you had some fun and a good experience. I will always remember how nervous I was when I worked my first tournament and how confident I was by the time it was over. Putting on tips with the top pros standing there watching was nerve racking at first for sure, but after a dozen or so tips the nerves went away.
 
Tony,

It was a pleasure meeting you and gil at the booth. I was impressed with your work, hope to make it out to Tunica myself. I will keep in touch, btw tell Leon to quit slacking lol.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
 
That was a good place to go for advice. Joe has done more tips and ferrules than almost anyone out there and everyone knows Steve's leather work is top quality. They make a really good cue-repair team. Sounds like you had some fun and a good experience. I will always remember how nervous I was when I worked my first tournament and how confident I was by the time it was over. Putting on tips with the top pros standing there watching was nerve racking at first for sure, but after a dozen or so tips the nerves went away.

It sure was fun Chris and I absolutely love Joe and Steve. 5 diamond people, no doubt. I was just a bit nervous when Mika was breathing on my neck waiting for his wrap and had a match waiting within the hour.

Tony,

It was a pleasure meeting you and gil at the booth. I was impressed with your work, hope to make it out to Tunica myself. I will keep in touch, btw tell Leon to quit slacking lol.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

Danny,

It was a pleasure to meet you and look forward to work with you in the future on a player for you.
I am trying to make it to Tunica.
 
Tony looks like you were a total success. My knees would of bin spaced apart so Mika Immonen wouldnt have herd them knocking. lol. I had Josh Brothers come to my shop and grill me with questions then said OK here's my cue. He watched as i worked. Just simple tasks (clean up and tip). Every angle i turned i saw him. When i finished and he ran his hand over then inspected closely. He was so pleased. At this point i started to breathe again for the first time in 10 minutes it felt like. Josh is a really great guy, but hes not Mika Immonen. Tony Great Job.
 
Tony looks like you were a total success. My knees would of bin spaced apart so Mika Immonen wouldnt have herd them knocking. lol. I had Josh Brothers come to my shop and grill me with questions then said OK here's my cue. He watched as i worked. Just simple tasks (clean up and tip). Every angle i turned i saw him. When i finished and he ran his hand over then inspected closely. He was so pleased. At this point i started to breathe again for the first time in 10 minutes it felt like. Josh is a really great guy, but hes not Mika Immonen. Tony Great Job.

Next time, just send Mika out to buy pizza......
 
Hey

Tony, when did you start making cues? How many have you made? Hope your doing well my friend
 
Tony, when did you start making cues? How many have you made? Hope your doing well my friend

Steve, I did sent you a pm but I had to update the thread to add a bit of information about myself.

I was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1969.

I've been playing billiards (3 cushion) since I was 12 years old.
Since I came to the states, 20 years ago I continued to develop my interest in pool. I was a cue collector before I ever thought about putting a tip on.
6 years ago I got tired of driving 90 minutes to have my tips fixed in Sacramento so I bought a Hightower Midsize lathe
I owned almost all cues except Szams or Bushkas, even owned a sneaky searing and a boar.
My philosophy in cue building is great choice of woods and playability and I always improve my building skills.
Southwest is my biggest influence, I owned like 7 SW's. Sugartree and Bluegrass play a big roll on my wood choices, specially due the Eric's knowledge of woods. Everything else is all about trial and error.
My cues don't play like a SW and the taper is different but they play solid and stiff, not overly stiff. I don't want people with a 2x4 on their hands.
Cuemakers that inspire me and that I learned from... Unknown, yet my best friend and bad s cuemakerJacob Hulsey, love Kent Davis work and Pete Tonkin is an amazing inspiration and good friend as well.
Leon Sly has been a good help as well, is tip tricks get me out of trouble in many situations.
My finish skills (still trying to get better) were learned from a neighbor and friend of mine that used to do most of the custom autobody paint work for Jeff Gordon, the NASCAR race driver.


My cues use most of the times a flat face 3/8x10 wood to wood with phenolic joint or ivory sleeved over phenolic.

Pricing... my cues start at $650.00 with 2 shafts with matching butt joint protector and rings at all positions.
 
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Thank you Tony for your fine work in Vegas at the BCA Nationals.
Here's a few examples of the custom Cue Tattoos we made and installed in our booth.
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