Old School Style "Progress Pics"

scdiveteam

scdiveteam

Rick Geschrey
Silver Member
Hi,

Here are some progress pics of a cue that I have been building for a Chicago Native and great pool player Tony G. This is Tony's second Esoteric Player that he designed all features of the cue for the custom order.

Tony is old school and likes his playing cues to be simple without a lot of bling. I offered to jazz it up with fancy rings and some inlays for him as a favor for this second cue order but he declined, opting for this simple player with a veneer stack mimicking one of his Bushkas.

I will be completing this cue in a few days and can't wait to present it to him. I am going to be wet sanding and buffing the finish today and installing the wrap tonight.

Thanks for looking,

Rick G


Raw Materials for this Fully Cored Cue built on a 5 year seasoned 3/4" Maple Dowel utilizing Garolite Le for the shaft insert and pin embedment anchor.
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Tony's Design Submittal for Construction
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Glue Clamping Point Veneers
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Cue After Gluing Point Veneers
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Turning in points and forearm on the butt saw machine. Ready for wood sealer and assembly
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More Progress Pics:

Final taper dimension, ready for pin install.

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Hey Tony, Your design is defiantly minimalist & old school, me like! Sometimes less is more. Now that I see it, I am glad you did not let me put on fancy rings. Everyone who comes into my shop wants to hold this cue. It is like a magnet. That heartwood currly is going to pop like a mofo under the finish. I can't wait!
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Pin installed within a Garolite Le embedment insert anchor for high tolerance machining to 1/4 thousands run out.:thumbup:
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Wrap groove carefully machined to .038 steps before any coatings application.
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Cue curing after 4 coats of epoxy was applied to form the substrate (before flat sanding) for the clear coat to be applied
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The GE Micarta ferrule installed before the shaft turning so ferrule is contoured to the shaft.
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Epoxy substrate flat sand awaiting the clear coat spray finish. Cue rolls perfect on the table:
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Joint concentricity A-OK:
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I sprayed the cue last week, A wet sand, buffing, wrap install and tip and you will be running racks.

Final Pics in a day or two.

 
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Nice Old Schooler Rick. I like the veneer combo. I'm sure Tony will be very pleased with this cue.:thumbup:
 
I love seeing this type of cue being built by you...and I mean that in two forms...1) I love seeing the "artwork" cues you're building (e.g. Orca II) but I love to see the "traditional" cues produced as well (and this is "old-school"); and 2) literally, seeing the progress pictures makes me feel like I was able to actually witness the construction in person!!!

Jason

p.s. Thank you very much for taking the time to do the progress pictures...I'm pretty sure EVERYONE loves seeing those...not just the new owner!!!
 
Thanks Jason,

My good friend Mr Hoppe told me a long time ago to take progress pics of all my cues and that people liked to see their cue's evolution. I did not get the message for many years.

Then I did it for one player and found out how critical this was to the overall experience of buying a custom cue. I build cues without down payments and since I have been doing the progress pics, I have not had one person back off of the order when the cue was finished.

When people see just a thumbnail sketch of the process, I truly believe that they have more satisfaction during the month or six weeks it takes to deliver a custom order especially if they are involved in the design like Tony was.

Thanks again,

Rick
 
jamsgolf said:
i love seeing this type of cue being built by you...and i mean that in two forms...1) i love seeing the "artwork" cues you're building (e.g. Orca ii) but i love to see the "traditional" cues produced as well (and this is "old-school"); and 2) literally, seeing the progress pictures makes me feel like i was able to actually witness the construction in person!!!

Jason

p.s. Thank you very much for taking the time to do the progress pictures...i'm pretty sure everyone loves seeing those...not just the new owner!!!
Click to expand...
what that guy said x 2
 
Hi,

Almost ready to fly out the door. A little clean up, 2nd buffing and a tip.

Rick

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Opps, better clean up that Bufing Glaze from the bottom of those threads!
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Rick,

I am glad you like that new Speed Clear. The nice thing about it is candy hard in one day for wet sanding and buffing and it cures Rock Hard. Very durable over the long haul.

Great Post,

Darrin
 
hillscues said:
Rick,

I am glad you like that new Speed Clear. The nice thing about it is candy hard in one day for wet sanding and buffing and it cures Rock Hard. Very durable over the long haul.

Great Post,

Darrin
Click to expand...

Thanks Darrin,

You were right, I do love it. Very hard and polishes great! No shrinking either!!!!!!!!!

See you next week.

Rick
 
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Hey Rick,

My name Tony G as well but I live in California ;)
Awesome looking cue buddy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Guerra Cues said:
Hey Rick,

My name Tony G as well but I live in California ;)
Awesome looking cue buddy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Tony G, oh yea, he's that serial wood hoarder in California who's got the best of the best exotic woods hands down. :yeah:

When he puts one of his sick combos together, forgetaboutit!! :speechless: When people try to copy his combos, they never, ever stack up in comparison. IMO :nono:

Rick
 
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real nice
i like these "old school"type cues
as you said the heartwood curly really pops
 
website

rick, you really need a website. I love your posts and think a website by you with your cue building philosophys, current and past cues and processes would be great. Also have you ever built a 3 cushion cue ? you probably know this but they are not just a pool cue with a fat tapered shaft. I would like to see/hear your take on a fully cored 3c cue.
 
seanandnik said:
rick, you really need a website. I love your posts and think a website by you with your cue building philosophys, current and past cues and processes would be great. Also have you ever built a 3 cushion cue ? you probably know this but they are not just a pool cue with a fat tapered shaft. I would like to see/hear your take on a fully cored 3c cue.
Click to expand...

Hi Sean,

I signed up for a website but decided I would rather stick to AZ PMs and my cell phone.

I have enough orders coming in so why bother.

My dad always said, word of mouth is the best advertising.

Over the past years I have been pretty a prolific poster in "ask the cue maker" section. If you search scdiveteam / threads and posts I have written enough there to fill a magazine. I have been hanging out there since 2005 and posting since 2007.

I feel that peer check and review among professionals is very important in any discipline. That's how academia and the scientific community does it and us cue makers do it every day. The river of knowledge is the best when it flows both ways.

Thanks for noticing the details I have been practicing so hard to master. Ernie G, Joel H, Bill Stroud, Bill Schick, Barry S, Dennis S, Mike Bender, TW and of corse DPK and some others are the guys who's work I have focused on as far as setting the bar for a standard.

It has been my experience and past career training that to raise the bar of expectations to a world class level you have to set high standards and try to exceed them. When using giants like these guys as your standard, most discoveries or improvements occur quite accidentally while you are hanging around, observing things while building cues. More Cues more better, Shit Happens!

The main question is are you having fun!

Rick
 
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