New cue-production or custom?

skins said:
Just order a new Josey cue.... That'll just about cover everything for ya :smile:

Skins------------- not above shameless plugs...lol
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LOL! But seriously...since buying my Josey back in '07, I sure haven't bought any other cues. Other than switching the standard playing shaft from Talisman to a medium Kamui black tip, I haven't modded it. I'm afraid to change it much since I'm so happy with it's stiff with great feedback feel.

I tried a LD shaft...like my standard maple Josey shaft better.

Now the caution...but that's just me. There are many good cues out there. I hope you find one that fits you as well as my Josey fits me.

Oh...Keith and his wife are a pleasure to do business with. I have yet to read a complaint about them here. Only Raves. Can't say the same about other cue makers...
 
Call Diveney

Pat Diveney makes very good cues at reasonable prices and I have 2 of them with a 3rd about completed. He makes 2 shafts, both are hand picked maple, one of those is a Lake Salvage which is old submerged wood. I have 3 of his Lake Salvage shafts I regularly play with. He uses the Radial Pin on most cues and will fit about any other makers shaft to his cue if the customer wants. He is really a great guy to deal with, honest and reliable. There are many good production cues, but the older I get the more American I buy. Many top pro players use a production cue companies cue, which once again proves it's the guy behind the stick that counts. A good shaft and tip will win titles if your up to it, any thing else is eye candy. Eye candy is nice and us guys are always looking at it in one form or the other and a fancy cue is sweet to look at. I went with one Pat's full splice Custom Ebony Hustler and a Custom Cocobolo Hustler cues. To my eyes they are a classy looking playing cue.
 
Plagueis said:
Hi everyone. This is a first post and I'm a new member so bear with me.

Then I discovered custom cues and the general consensus is that they are, without a doubt, above production cues.
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This is absolutely NOT a true statement. How could every custom cue maker be better than every production cue maker? It's just not possible. Some top flight "production" cue makers are much better than plenty of custom cue makers.

This is like saying Japanese cars are better than American cars. Not a true statement. Toyota and Mitsubishi are NOT on the same level of quality.
And many American carmakers are rated much higher then Mitsubishi and Subaru, but NOT Toyota and Honda. So, that generalization of Japanese being better is still held to be true for some reason when it can't possibly be true, because you can't lump an entire country in one bag.

And the top tier cue makers are expensive because of the type of wood, inlays, ivory, etc added into the cue. And they are also pieces of art. Thus, if you want to pay to play with a piece of art, that's totally cool, cause I get that. But, if you want the best deal, you don't need to go there and your dream cue can be had for a few hundred dollars.
 
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Ak Guy said:
Pat Diveney makes very good cues at reasonable prices and I have 2 of them with a 3rd about completed. He makes 2 shafts, both are hand picked maple, one of those is a Lake Salvage which is old submerged wood. I have 3 of his Lake Salvage shafts I regularly play with. He uses the Radial Pin on most cues and will fit about any other makers shaft to his cue if the customer wants. He is really a great guy to deal with, honest and reliable. There are many good production cues, but the older I get the more American I buy. Many top pro players use a production cue companies cue, which once again proves it's the guy behind the stick that counts. A good shaft and tip will win titles if your up to it, any thing else is eye candy. Eye candy is nice and us guys are always looking at it in one form or the other and a fancy cue is sweet to look at. I went with one Pat's full splice Custom Ebony Hustler and a Custom Cocobolo Hustler cues. To my eyes they are a classy looking playing cue.
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Diveney cues are excellent imo if you go the custom route.
 
Poolshootindon said:
My suggestion is to find a pool hall that has a large assortment of cues to try.

For many years we had a small pool hall called Billiards&Bagels in Gresham Or.

Jim had a huge supply of cues from custom cue makers and many production lines.

Nice part was that he would let you hit with any cue he had for sale. It was well worth going out there and hitting balls for a few hours to get and idea of what was available and what felt good to YOU.
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I miss that place. I spent a lot of time there before he closed down, quickly helped me narrow down what I wanted in a cue.
With so many variables , especially balance point, length, and weight, that IMO it's harder to find everything I'm looking for in a production cue.
 
Well I am leaning towards a schön or a samsara. I hear a lot of positive feedback about schön cues. Not much feedback at all about samsara cues.
 
Schon cues are nice. They use a standard 5/16x14 joints so it's easy to get aftermarket shafts or extension.
 
Kim Bye said:
Schon cues are nice. They use a standard 5/16x14 joints so it's easy to get aftermarket shafts or extension.
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I thought they had a joint unique to their cues? Will other 5/16x14 jointed shafts or butts work with their cues?
 
customs are about preferances

if you don't have any (I don't and have been playing a long time) then a production will shoot the same, physics says so

a straight stick is a straight stick
 
Thanks for all the input everyone, I'm still a few moths away from my purchase and I'm sure I'll reconsider dozens of times until then :D
 
IMHO you should get a good production. They play just as well as any custom, and you don't have to deal with the very unpredictable nature of many cue makers, or the wait for that matter. The only downside to a production cue vs a custom is that the custom will hold its value better.

Cue hit and feel is very subjective, but many people would tell you to put Schon cues towards the top of your list to try.
 
I think knowledge is essential! A custom builder has knowledge about player preferences. The mass production operations do not have! Things like tapers! Seasoning woods! Weight and balance! Many custom makers have repair experience that factories don't see. Factories just ship a replacement. Guys like ted harris , Guido Orlando and Joe Blackburn that work on pro cues at major events pick up info on player preferences. That knowledge makes their cues play better. They can give you the Corey dueul shaft taper. The wood to wood joint type preferred by players and made southwest famous. They select a cue length of your choice not many 60 inch production cues! The builder is often a very accomplished player! Example : Putnam and Nevel. Josswest a great player. Scruggs a good 100 ball runner or close. Why forgo this knowledge and Expertise for one off the Assembly line?

Some factories have a technological advantage due to better equipment, that edge is a very small edge if at all.

Kd
 
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the only thing you have to ask is if custom cues are so much better than production cues, why do people buy them and then put LD shafts, like a Predator 314-2, on them?

you order a custom, wait generally a long time, get it and it may or may not play well. and when you want to sell it, you loose a large chunk of $$ in most cases.
if you want to try a custom, buy used and try before you buy.
 
I see 2 big differences between a custom and production.

1) With a custom if you have specific preferences you can get exactly what you want, from weight to veneer colors to overall design.

2) A custom will likely hold it's value a lot better than a production cue unless said production cue is some kind of special limited edition thing. Production cues are more like cars; Once you drive off the lot you just lost 50% of your value.
 
I have a lot of cues, most are custom, some are thousands of dollars.
My most played cue by far is a Schon with a 314 2 shaft and a Kamui tip.
I honestly don't notice that much of a difference between the 'super cues' and the other production cues. As long as they are from a respected manufacturer.

And I certainly don't play any better with a 3000 dollar cue than I do a 300 dollar cue.

Yes you can pay for someone making sharp points and all that stuff but since when did that do anything at all for anyone's game.

Are you buying a looker or a player?

Would you rather get respect at your local hall because of how your cue looks, which is just someone else's work anyway, or because how how good a game you play?
 
Lumocolor said:
I see 2 big differences between a custom and production.

1) With a custom if you have specific preferences you can get exactly what you want, from weight to veneer colors to overall design.

2) A custom will likely hold it's value a lot better than a production cue unless said production cue is some kind of special limited edition thing. Production cues are more like cars; Once you drive off the lot you just lost 50% of your value.
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Neither one of your points has been my experience.
Have you compared how much old Schon's and McDermott's used to go for and how much people are getting for them today?
It's very easy to control the weight with most decent production cue makers.
 
9Ballr said:
Neither one of your points has been my experience.
Have you compared how much old Schon's and McDermott's used to go for and how much people are getting for them today?
It's very easy to control the weight with most decent production cue makers.
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Arent the sought after old Schon's really Bob Runde made cues which almost makes them customs?
 
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