***** My new Black Boar *****

That cue is absolutely gorgeous! It's elegantly styled, with exquisite craftsmanship.

But how can you play with it? The thought of bumping it against a table would have me mortified!

While I was waiting for the cue to be finished I was thinking about the same thing. How am I going to play with this cue? What if I bump it? Then when I received the cue and held it in my hands I said WOW!! maybe it would be best to put it on the wall next to a nice painting that I have as Tony's work is a piece of art.
But (as I am not a collector) I had the cue done so I can play with it, enjoy it to the full not just look at it lol. I am just being careful !!
 
Fotis:

but i would have *strange* feeling in pool-halls :P Perhaps an extra body-guard would be good^^
 
I think your cue is beyond words. BB cues are perfect but even better than that. You have two fine people, Tony and Donnie to call on for support. It doesn't get any better. Truly from my heart.
"country"

Like you said BB cues are great and I am very happy with mine. I am happy because I got more than an excellent cue and overall service from Tony and Donnie. And this is something I appreciate the most. It's nice to know that I can pick up the phone and call Tony or Donnie for support or to talk about other things friends talk about.
Like you said... it doesn't get any better than that !!
 
Awesome ''BB''...!!

Gorgeous cue from Tony,

His work is second to none, also, a great investment .

It's tough to beat the beauty and hit of a ''BB''

Tony should be in the Cue Makers Hall of Fame,,!!
 
Of all the BB's I've seen here on AZ, this is the best one yet. Not over the top, but just enough "wow" factor
 
"bb"

Beautiful gift to yourself. Tony really outdid himself on this one. So pretty you can't even take her out to play. Well enjoy your piece of history, it surely will never ever lose value, only go way up. Thank you for sharing the pics-Enjoy!
 
Thats a great cue, I been playing with the exact same cue(inlays are differrent) but the same cue, his construction for all 8 pt cues are the same the only difference is the inlay patterns. I been using one for about 2.5 years or a bit longer and have about 1800 hours of play time on it, and It looks like new(the wrap is not as shiny), Thats one hell of a cue, I like yours better than mine for a player-mine is too fancy but I use it anyways because for me its the best hitting cue I ever played with. You can use this cue to break with etc. I dont like the way they break the balls so I use a different cue to break with.

Tony builds them for triangle tips, they play best with Triangles. One time about 18 months ago JA was staying at my house for a week, I think it was a Mosconi Cup trip because his whole family was there, yeah it was-I had th think for a minute. I dont talk to him much about pool, but that day I was racking for him playing straight pool. We never play each other 2 or 3 times in 20 something years. I had my Boar out, he walked in on me in the pool room at my house. thats right I remember now. After he played 14.1 for about 90 minutes. He started talking, I never talk when I'm racking for him-its serious practice time, business.

After the 14.1 session he asked about my cue, which caught me off guard. As we never discuss cues but maybe once every 6 months. He picked it up and hit 2 balls and said "The tip is a bit to soft for this cue", I said "You hit 2 balls-keep playing". He started playing 14.1 I started racking, back to business. we didnt talk. He ran off about 50 balls and missed. He said "Your right this tip does match the hit of this cue, its important that the tires match the car and the tip match the hit of a cue". Thats a pretty strong testimonial for Tony, he says specifically "I build my cues to play their best with Triangles". I didnt tell JA at first defending the "Soft tip" claim he made after he hit the 2 shots and said "tips too soft"; I just said "Keep playing" and nothing more, I didnt tell him about Tony's plan to build the cue to play well with that tip. He ran the 50 or so balls, it was in the 4th rack he missed. JA realized with out any suggestion that the tip did play right for that cue. I was impressed that JA recognized what Tony did as being correct, and they dont know each other real good but both recognize and share the same opinion. I agree, I have put other tips on a shaft a few times just to see the difference and Triangles are great. Hard tips suck on Boars.


I dont like my tips as tall as Tony leaves them after he puts a crown on them. This is one of the few areas Tony and I are different. I like my tips short, I played for about 2 years until i realized that with out question I like my tips shorter than most people do(Shane does as well coincidentally), I have him start the tip only 3/32" tall, some tips last 50 hours a good one about 125 hours. I just had the best tip of my life it lasted over 250 hours and it never got a shiny glaze on it, I wore it down so low the crown was sitting on the ferrel. 100-125 hours is average life span because I start them low. I never use anything but a towel and water to clean my shafts, when they are brand new they get rough after a few hours and I hit them with some 1200 grit sand paper 2-3 times to knock down the fibres that stand up on "New" shafts only. After that NOTHING but a terry cloth and water, when I dry my hands the cloth is damp enough then to wipe down the shafts and thats when I do that usually about once a hour. over time you wil build up a nice finish to your shafts-that isnt for sale in a bottle. Ask Tony about it, or my shafts he will tell you. This also works on Samboti shafts, Sugartree, SW and all highest quality shafts there are, its not specific to Tony's cues. but I mentioned this to you so you break in the thafts correctly, you will need sand paper 2 maybe 3 times in the beginning then NEVER again.

I had Tony build me 2 more shafts to match the 2 on my cue, I didnt have him bother with the ring work they are just black. My shafts are wore down a bit from use and terry cloth towels, he matched new 2 shafts up perfectly to the 2 played shafts that were original to the cue(They feel a bit skinner than the shafts on the "Fatboar"**** Cue, one I broke in just recently over the last few months, it takes that long to get the patina on the shaft from play that makes it feel like a million dollars. I had to use 1200 grit paper 2 times on this last shaft. I have a Z sahft for it as well, I use for 3C, that shaft took 3 times with 1200 grit, now its perfect.


I have had about 6 or 7 fulltime player cues in 26 years of playing serious pool(I did have a 8-9 yr break where i only played at home part time, but enough to remember how to play). I cant knock any of my full time cues. There is one big difference between the Boar and the other cues(except a Gus) I dont have a favorite shaft, hell I cant tell them apart. On my Tad I loved one shaft 3 times more than the other-it would take a day for me to adjust to the other shaft. The only adjustment i need to make when I switch shafts is if its a new tip, and how it bites the CB-that takes an hour max. The shafts play identical, I have 3 that do and one more I'm going to start playing with soon. I have a back up butt I dont talk about much that plays identical to my daily player with my daily shafts. so i'm set.

the only reason I will switch from using my boar is if we go back to the slow nap cloth, then i like a stiffer/heavier cue. I'm sure Tony could make that happen. As long as were on 860, i'm playing with a Boar. But Gus's are still my favorite cues. Even tony says Gus is the top cue builder of all time, and says Gus taught him more than anyone else. I awalys mention Gus and credit him, there is Gus is damn near any good cue made.

Congrats on your cue its beautiful, about once a year tony can shine it up for you. This cue will last you for as long as you play and look perfect the whole time.

Eric

**** link to Fatboar(I havent hit a ball with this cue yet-i will tho):

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=215921

I didnt even notice this thread until a week or two ago, your cue is EXACTLY like the Fatboar under the hood. And thats what counts. Tony's main interest and mine as well is performance. Tony told me "I want to be remembered for building and engineering the best playing cues ever. The art work is secondary. And it is to me as well. We did this cue fancy to push the limits of Donnie's eyes, LOL. The important thing and I know that you know it, but everyone should understand is that Tony builds cues to play good-period. The artwork is the business end of things, its where the $$$ comes from to finance the engineering and all the ideas Tony has and cues he builds that get cut in half if they dont work(and there are lots of those ;)) looking for a better way to get a better feeling/hitting cue. Tony chops up any cue that isnt perfect, he chops up cues that are better than some cue's I have seen sold for big bucks. then their are the experimental cues that gives him answers on things he is looking for. "trying to make a perfect object with less than perfect materials" is his biggest challenge. because each piece of wood is different. Building watches is predictable because the materials are consistent. Each cue built at this level is a job itself, thats why there are so few and cost so much $$. Same for Barry, Gus, Searing, Showman, Suger tree. It take time to deal with each cue. Gus turned out cues at this level faster than anyone to the best of my knowledge. Tony watches his wood 24/7/365 to make sure the humidity is correct the whole time he is building cues, Same for SW nothing is rushed. its not possible to mass produce cues like this. Its possible to mass produce cues that play good, but they are different than hand built cues. Same for guns, watches and wine. it takes time and knowledge.

And Less is more many times in life, IMO your new cue is prettier than this complicated cue. My daily player IMO is the best looking Boar to date and its much more like yours than the "Fatboar". I'm going to have Tony build another cue this year or next year and I have some ideas I want to talk to him about that are related to performance.
 
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The design is indeed very well excecuted and the joint is a 5/16x14 ivory over SS. It is not a very common joint used and i know another cuemaker that uses it (different construction though).


there is a reason for the ivory over SS, its not for looks or to protect the ivory. thats a myth


the real reason its there is to regulate the weight of the cue at the joint. Ivory is much less dense than SS per cubic unit. the core of the cue is threaded the SS is theraded and ivory is threaded as well, so it all screws together, its not a compression fit. Its rock solid. Because the ivory is less dense than the SS; the thicker the ivory wall is the lighter the joint is. The thinner the ivory is the more SS it takes to have the same finished size the heavier it is. I dont recall the diameter, its the same on all the cues. What isnt the same is the thickness of the ivory and SS, he has different sizes he uses so he can add or reduce the weight of the cue in the middle. this allows Tony to dial in the cue the way he wants to. He builds each cue one at a time and regulates the joint weight using this technique so he gets the desired hit. They look the same from the outside but some have more ivory some less, he uses what brings the best out of the cue.

Just putting a weight bolt in the ass end of a cue to change the weight changes the whole hit of the cue and effect's where the nodal points of the cue are and the hit. And a whole bunch of other things Tony explained to me, i'm repeating what I was told and shown, i'm not a engineer. but when Tony showed me what he did it all was logical and made perfect sense. He laid it all out for me and I learned more that day than I had in a long time about cues. It dosent make what other guys are doing wrong. Its not a mater of wright vs. wrong its just a explanation of changing the wight of a cue in the butt only isnt the only place to do it and when you do it the cause/effect it will have on the cues physics. I like to understand things, isnt going to change how I play or make me a better player-its just cool knowlege for myself. For Tony its a passion and business. JCIN went to see Tony before I did and he said "He is a scientist". I was curious so I was in Washington DC for biz and went to see for myself. I agree.

You cant tell by looking at the finished cue which joint he used, but you can be sure he used the one that gives him what he is looking for. Some are heavy some art lite because of the amount of Ivory and SS thats used. Thats the real reason for the combination of materials. And a genius idea IMO. Like I said in that long post Tony has engeneered lots of ideas and the good ones go into the new cues and the bad ideas get chopped up. this is one of the ideas that he started using and will keep using. Having the ability to regulate the weight of a cue in the middle is great. And I like the look of it as well.

There are other ways, use a 3/4 SS joint to take some weight off, or use all ivory(then its real light). so by using both materials and because its all theaded he gets the best of both worlds and all the cues have the same look. Some cue makers who use the big pin like SW add weight behind the pin-they just dont talk much about it, but that works for flat faced joints. Tony uses a compression fit like Balabushka did years ago, and I like that the best.


Its precision work and takes lots of very high quality ivory to thread it when its thin and not have it crack. Once the ivory is threaded on to the SS then its safe. Its the 2nd best part of the cue, I like not having a pin at the A joint the best, I believe that is the reason the cues play so good. The less joints in a cue the better they play, one piece cues play great but are a pain to deal with. So tony has eliminated all the flat faced joints under the wrap, its one piece of wood from the bumper to the pin, its on his website.


I just like to know how things work and I learned lots from Tony. I didnt invent any of this stuff. I just haven't seen it mentioned here so since this beautiful cue popped up, I thought this is a great time to talk more in depth about it than just the inlays. Like I said before whats under the hood is what i like. And old wood. Old wood plays better so in 20 years if you think this cue plays good now, wait and see then how it plays. thats a different topic all together.


best

eric:)
 
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Bump for Alton, we are talking on the phone and this thread got lost.


I really love this cue and we are chatting about cues? surprised:


Blackboars came up and he missed this cue and I want him to see it, its too good not to share.

best
eric
 
there is a reason for the ivory over SS, its not for looks or to protect the ivory. thats a myth


the real reason its there is to regulate the weight of the cue at the joint. Ivory is much less dense than SS per cubic unit. the core of the cue is threaded the SS is theraded and ivory is threaded as well, so it all screws together, its not a compression fit. Its rock solid. Because the ivory is less dense than the SS; the thicker the ivory wall is the lighter the joint is. The thinner the ivory is the more SS it takes to have the same finished size the heavier it is. I dont recall the diameter, its the same on all the cues. What isnt the same is the thickness of the ivory and SS, he has different sizes he uses so he can add or reduce the weight of the cue in the middle. this allows Tony to dial in the cue the way he wants to. He builds each cue one at a time and regulates the joint weight using this technique so he gets the desired hit. They look the same from the outside but some have more ivory some less, he uses what brings the best out of the cue.

Just putting a weight bolt in the ass end of a cue to change the weight changes the whole hit of the cue and effect's where the nodal points of the cue are and the hit. And a whole bunch of other things Tony explained to me, i'm repeating what I was told and shown, i'm not a engineer. but when Tony showed me what he did it all was logical and made perfect sense. He laid it all out for me and I learned more that day than I had in a long time about cues. It dosent make what other guys are doing wrong. Its not a mater of wright vs. wrong its just a explanation of changing the wight of a cue in the butt only isnt the only place to do it and when you do it the cause/effect it will have on the cues physics. I like to understand things, isnt going to change how I play or make me a better player-its just cool knowlege for myself. For Tony its a passion and business. JCIN went to see Tony before I did and he said "He is a scientist". I was curious so I was in Washington DC for biz and went to see for myself. I agree.

You cant tell by looking at the finished cue which joint he used, but you can be sure he used the one that gives him what he is looking for. Some are heavy some art lite because of the amount of Ivory and SS thats used. Thats the real reason for the combination of materials. And a genius idea IMO. Like I said in that long post Tony has engeneered lots of ideas and the good ones go into the new cues and the bad ideas get chopped up. this is one of the ideas that he started using and will keep using. Having the ability to regulate the weight of a cue in the middle is great. And I like the look of it as well.

There are other ways, use a 3/4 SS joint to take some weight off, or use all ivory(then its real light). so by using both materials and because its all theaded he gets the best of both worlds and all the cues have the same look. Some cue makers who use the big pin like SW add weight behind the pin-they just dont talk much about it, but that works for flat faced joints. Tony uses a compression fit like Balabushka did years ago, and I like that the best.


Its precision work and takes lots of very high quality ivory to thread it when its thin and not have it crack. Once the ivory is threaded on to the SS then its safe. Its the 2nd best part of the cue, I like not having a pin at the A joint the best, I believe that is the reason the cues play so good. The less joints in a cue the better they play, one piece cues play great but are a pain to deal with. So tony has eliminated all the flat faced joints under the wrap, its one piece of wood from the bumper to the pin, its on his website.


I just like to know how things work and I learned lots from Tony. I didnt invent any of this stuff. I just haven't seen it mentioned here so since this beautiful cue popped up, I thought this is a great time to talk more in depth about it than just the inlays. Like I said before whats under the hood is what i like. And old wood. Old wood plays better so in 20 years if you think this cue plays good now, wait and see then how it plays. thats a different topic all together.


best

eric:)

Eric, I am glad that you took the opportunity to share some interesting information about BB cues. I had the chance to have some very long conversations with Tony and he shared that info and some more, about the construction of his cues as well as other details regarding cue physics. I hope I have the chance in the future to visit him at the shop and learn some more interesting stuff.
I have seen your BB player (a nice fancy one) a while ago and I have to tell you that it's my favorite one. A beautiful design and a great player, the perfect combination.
Anyway take care and I hope we talk in the future.
Fotis
 
Great looking cue - how long is the wait for a BB?

The best way to know is to call Tony and ask him. I don't think thers is a waitting list at the moment (I didn't have to join one). I assume the wait for a BB cue is related to the work load at the given period of time. But as i said it's best to call Tony to find out.
 
Needless to say, awesome cue.

Special thanks to Fatboy2 for those very insightful posts. They were awesome to read.
 
Black Boar is #1 on my list of cues I'd love to own.. I contacted them about a cue recently and they were very prompt with their reply. Unfortunately, I cannot afford $8000 as a starting price for their current "players" cue line.

I wish I could but that's a luxury that I'm likely to never afford. Your cue is stunning and I wish I could afford such a masterpiece. I guarantee one thing, if I did own one it would be my only playing cue and not just a showpiece. I've only hit with one BB and have never hit with anything similar in my opinion. Congrats on the beauty!

Peace, JoeyK
 
The best way to know is to call Tony and ask him. I don't think thers is a waitting list at the moment (I didn't have to join one). I assume the wait for a BB cue is related to the work load at the given period of time. But as i said it's best to call Tony to find out.

Thanks (i also spied this) ;)
 
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I usually only like pointed cues if they have colored veneers, but BB cues are different. Your cue looks amazing without colored veneers and the quality of work is unsurpassed. I've yet to see a BB cue that I didn't like and I can only imagine how they must play! You have a great cue......

James
 
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