i agree his cues are among the best.top three for playability and fit and finish. Mike is an incredible machinist and i find it hard to beleive he can't make the contact surfaces all flush.i just bought a 2005 with the new joint and obviously i can't tell 100% if all surfaces are completely flush or not inside the joint,but i can say it plays incredible and feels very tight when screwed together.i am no physicist but i don't understand why with the incredible machines these cuemakers have and the close tolerances some of them acheive,why this particular joint is deemed impossible to be flush.anyway thanks for the cue JP.i bought the one adsvertised above at cuesnthings.