I got my cue from Al though the cue was really nice, i must admit my huge dissapointment on the shaft that came along with it though. According to his post in bilyar.net ( a very famous philippine billiard website ) all his cues comes with an 1AL1 shaft and thats one of my main reason to even consider getting one of his cues to begin with! Surprisingly my cue shaft did not!! it only came with a standard shaft to my dismay. I had this ordered thru a local friend of mine in the Phils. who's not too familiar with his cues and thats probably the reason why he overlooked this concern of mine. I had my contact come to his shop in Caloocan Phils. last Tuesday March 15 to check out some of his work, Al showed him 3 cues that just needed some finishing touches Al himself admitted that those sticks were already sold to his US customers but have not given any downpayment yet. Al told my contact that he is willing to sell any of those 3 sticks if my contact was willing to pay the price. My contact immediately informed me to get my approval on the price we agreed on the price AL was putting on the said cue. My contact then informed him that he would be going back to the U.S. in a week but Al insisted that he will be able to finish the work by Sunday.After 5 days my contact came back paid him in full and recieve the cue from him ( even had to pay for the cue case which is fine ,though some wouldnt mind throwing a free one with a considerable amount of purchase we just made ; ) That being said, I was just hoping that Al Baustista would be fair and honest enough to give my contact the same quality cues he's been known for regardless if the person buying from him is not really fully aware of the specifications that is standard from his work, afterall thats one vital factor of professionalism that solidifies a Cuemaker's credibility. Instead he included a cheap shaft, so unfortunately i really wouldnt be able to give him a fair review about his cue ( how it hits, the balance and playability ) because the shaft that he included is a standard low quality shaft to begin with. Guys im a Filipino myself if Al can deal in such a poor manner to his own people i could just imagine how he will with others of a different nation. just my 2 cents folks!!
