New shaft for wille hoppe heirloom

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ShotgunLew

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Hello my name is chris. I inherited an old brunswick willie hoppe cue with a bowed shaft. My grandfather bought new. He hustled his way to pay for his college education and ended up becoming an officer in the air force. My father and I followed in his footsteps when we each turned 18. So we owe both of our military service and much of how we have shaped our lives to this cue. Simply put, the cue means alot to my family and I want to put the best playing shaft I can on this cue. I was looking for some opinions on who would be best suited to make a shaft for this. People I have been considering are bill shick, pete tascarella, and joel hercek. Any suggestions would be fantastic. Thank you in advance
 
I attached a few pictures, I know the cue is not very rare, or even that overly nice, but I love how it plays and it has been such a impact on my family that money is not much kf an issue with this one as it will also be my main player.
 

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you dont need a big name maker to do this or even want one. they arent interested and will charge double or more and take too long.
 
Scott Sherbine provides great service, very reasonable. He's the best choice, unless you know a mid level cuemaker near your home.
 
Agreed Scott I wouldn't doubt has probably the most experience repairing and matching old cues.

No one has a better reputation in the business on that front that I ever heard of. And considering that the guys very cheap.


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ShotgunLew said:
Hello my name is chris. I inherited an old brunswick willie hoppe cue with a bowed shaft. My grandfather bought new. He hustled his way to pay for his college education and ended up becoming an officer in the air force. My father and I followed in his footsteps when we each turned 18. So we owe both of our military service and much of how we have shaped our lives to this cue. Simply put, the cue means alot to my family and I want to put the best playing shaft I can on this cue. I was looking for some opinions on who would be best suited to make a shaft for this. People I have been considering are bill shick, pete tascarella, and joel hercek. Any suggestions would be fantastic. Thank you in advance
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I seriously doubt Pete or Joel are gonna make you a shaft. They have orders out th e wazzo and are not going to stop to make you a $300 shaft for a cue they did not make. I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it.
 
Have spoken with pete and bill already I was going to speak with joel but I am sure both shick and pete are more than qualified. Between the two or the other guy that was suggested?
 
ShotgunLew said:
Have spoken with pete and bill already I was going to speak with joel but I am sure both shick and pete are more than qualified. Between the two or the other guy that was suggested?
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Than I will save you a dime. Joel will NOT make you a shaft unless you own a hercek or spain cue.
 
I made a second shaft for my Hoppe because the original shaft had a goofy two piece ferrule that wanted to come apart.
I have many vintage Tru Balance cues and cannibalized one for the shaft.
I cut it and fitted a female insert then fit the pilot and even put a matching black collar on it.

The shaft came out very good and plays fine but I still cant shoot with it as well as my modern cues, the Hoppe's butt is a beast.
 
for a speedy delivery of a shaft i would frankly look elsewhere other than these three mentioned. as has been said, orders out the wazoo for these guys. FOR THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS.
it would be nice to get tascarella to do a shaft but it could "take a while"(cuemaker time is not the same as regular time). no disrespect meant, just stating a fact of life. i would maybe go with ryan at mueller's or an OB shaft.
i would be sure to specify the weight, taper,etc. i wanted on the shaft. a light shaft on a heavy butt does not bode well for me.
 
Pete isn't too busy to make shafts for other cues. I talked to him a month ago to make me a shaft for one of my old Titlists.
 
This is not an answer yo your question, but depending on the amount of"bowing" in the shaft you might consider getting a good repair guy to take a crack at trying to straighten it, especially given the sentimental value of the cue.

Ask Ryan at Muellers what he thinks he can do.
 
Cuebuddy said:
I made a second shaft for my Hoppe because the original shaft had a goofy two piece ferrule that wanted to come apart.
I have many vintage Tru Balance cues and cannibalized one for the shaft.
I cut it and fitted a female insert then fit the pilot and even put a matching black collar on it.

The shaft came out very good and plays fine but I still cant shoot with it as well as my modern cues, the Hoppe's butt is a beast.
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Did you keep the old shaft? FWIW - that black-and-white ferrule would have been an original one.

I see maybe 1% of Hoppes with an original shaft and ferrule.

Dale
 
@shotgunLew

cool old cue; I like, if poss, working the keep it as original as you can angle.

You can call Jacoby cues and inquire about a product they have that straightens shafts. This may or may not be a good option but worth a phone call, I'd say.

the 3 guys you mentioned are all more than qualified to do the job of making you another shaft and if any one of them can do this in whatever you consider to be a reasonable amount of time and cost then go for it.

I will add my +4 for Scott at Proficient Billiards who does this sort of thing daily. His quality of work is terrific and he gets things done timely.

A while back I was really lucky to score a herman rambow cue and a late 1930's brunswick case from a grandson who was selling what I figured to be a family heirloom. The cue had his grandfathers name inscribed in a pearl plate in the butt and the case had grandpa's name and address in the case's cardholder. There was also word of a misplaced picture of the grandfather sitting on his living room couch in between Minn Fats & Mosconi, holy crap!!! He was friends with both of them.

I couldn't get over the fact that they were selling such a piece of their family's history. :frown:

Glad to see you are handling things exactly the opposite. :thumbup:

GL with the shaft.

best,
brian kc
 
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pdcue said:
Did you keep the old shaft? FWIW - that black-and-white ferrule would have been an original one.

I see maybe 1% of Hoppes with an original shaft and ferrule.

Dale
Click to expand...

Yes I would never get rid of it. The shaft I made fits very well and I keep it on it in the rack. The original is kept in my pool collectible cabinet.
 
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