opinions on cuemaker tactics

[Tommy-D]

I've been in this spot myself. In my case,the guy had my tip down close to the ferrule,close enough it could have finished it up using a utility blade.

I guess he lost track of what he was doing,because he dialed his cutter in a little more and took a cut of .015 PER SIDE about an 1/8 past the tip into the ivory. Then,he acted like it wasn't his problem,and refused to make it right.

I'm lucky I had friends in the immediate area,because I swung on him but wasn't close enough to make contact,and we were separated. I had already made up my mind I was going to jail.

My mistake here was in not changing my own tip before the tournament,and letting this POS work on it.

I don't do many ivory ferrules,but am capable and equipped.

With that being the case,here is what I can tell you.

Even if he dealt with the mushroom properly,there still might have been some sanding needed to restore the appearance.

Just a few seconds with 600,then 1000,and polishing compound should have been all that was needed. I've fixed a bunch of mushrooms where even that wasn't needed.

If you could visibly see a taper in the ferrule when he was done,he used way too rough of a sandpaper,and stayed on it way too long.

You could also have incredible vision too.

I'd have tried like hell to make him EAT the shaft. Tommy D.

 

[southpawSW]

The last part of this which threw me over the edge was he never offered at all whatsoever any remedy of his responsibility. Then my first proposition to him was (which was a mistake cause it is all his screw up) that I would eat the tip and give you cost on the ferrule. He says he has to make something on the ferrule. I said why would you need to make a cent on something you screwed up? At that point I said you are out of line and you really owe me a tip and ferrule. Tried to meet him halfway when it was all his fault. That was what threw me over the edge.

 

[southpawSW]

I would post his name but not sure there could be business slander ramifications or crossing a line which could result in a legal matter where he could say iv cost him money.

 

[elvicash]

I would post his name but not sure there could be business slander ramifications or crossing a line which could result in a legal matter where he could say iv cost him money.

You might save some other people alot of hassles. Good luck southpaw.

 

[southpawSW]

Oh yea thought about violence but people would think pretty hard on me for knocking out a 70 year old. But there are plenty that would say it was a long time coming.

 

[iusedtoberich]

Back when (for me at the time, anyway) a cue was just a cue...

I was in Las Vegas back in '04 for the BCA tournament. I was shooting with a 13mm. The tip was on it's last legs, and the ferrule had always seemed to have little pits in it. So once our team was knocked out (NEVER change a tip in the middle of a tourney), I gave the shaft to one of the repair shops right outside the Riv ballroom to replace the ferrule & tip.

Picked it up the next day and it looked great, so I paid the guy and I hopped on the plane...

I was all 'pooled' out when I got home. A couple of weeks after getting back, I uncovered the pool table and started shooting with my brand new ferrule and tip... and couldn't make a ball to save my life.

Meh, ok, maybe I need to warm up... Maybe I'm tired... Maybe I need a little "somethin' somethin'" :thumbup:...

Over the next month, for some reason I couldn't get used to the new tip and ferrule. We started back up in league a couple of months later, and I was still in (what I considered at the time) a slump !!

A teammate looks at my cue, shoots a couple of shots, looks up at me and says, "Geez, you shoot with a thin shaft". I just kind of looked at him for a second, and after a few measurements I realized that the repair guy in Vegas TURNED MY SHAFT DOWN TO 11.5 MM !!!!

Like I said, back then a cue was just a cue. But I still kick myself in the @ss every now and then for not knowing what I should have been looking for

He owes you a new ferrule. No charge. That's where I come out...

Its impossible to prove, but I believe you are mistaken on what happened from reading your description of the events. I did cue repair locally for several years. Taking a shaft from 13mm to 11.5 mm is a TON of work. No cue repair person is EVER going to do that for "free", even if he made a mistake with the ferrule. Besideds being a ton of work, you would have IMMEDIATElY noticed a change in diameter from 13mm to 11.5. Its like night and day. No possible way you would not have noticed, even if you were a banger at the time, for arguments sake.

Furthermore, how did you know the shaft really started at 13mm? And what and how did you measure it to determine it was now 11.5mm?

I'm not picking on you, just relaying from the other side that often times the customer doesn't know what they have or what they want.

I did a shaft for one customer once, he wanted .5mm taken off. It started at 12.5mm, and ended at 12.0mm. When I gave it back to him, he says why is it so thin. I showed him the measurement and then he says he didn't know it would be that thin.

 

[Mickey Qualls]

... Same for the guy who turned the shaft down to 11.5 mm at the Riv, even if it was in '04.
Naming names is the only way to go for the well being of poolplayers everywhere, as well as the cuemaker/cue-repair guy community.
At least people won't be going around suspicious of anybody who has ever repaired a pool cue.

For the sake of full disclosure I hope it wasn't us

I honestly don't remember the guy's name. The only thing I really remember (aside from the cue shaft being turned down) is that, when looking at that 'cuemaker' area just outside the first ballroom, that he was on the left side of that section that year.

He was the only guy that was able to do it before I left the next day. The others didn't have the time due to prior orders to fill. At that point, I was just happy to find a guy that could do it :thumbup:

Its impossible to prove, but I believe you are mistaken on what happened from reading your description of the events. I did cue repair locally for several years. Taking a shaft from 13mm to 11.5 mm is a TON of work. No cue repair person is EVER going to do that for "free", even if he made a mistake with the ferrule. Besideds being a ton of work, you would have IMMEDIATElY noticed a change in diameter from 13mm to 11.5. Its like night and day. No possible way you would not have noticed, even if you were a banger at the time, for arguments sake.

Furthermore, how did you know the shaft really started at 13mm? And what and how did you measure it to determine it was now 11.5mm?

I'm not picking on you, just relaying from the other side that often times the customer doesn't know what they have or what they want.

I did a shaft for one customer once, he wanted .5mm taken off. It started at 12.5mm, and ended at 12.0mm. When I gave it back to him, he says why is it so thin. I showed him the measurement and then he says he didn't know it would be that thin.

I hear what you're saying, rich :grin-square:

That McDermott cue was one that I'd had for quite some time. Purchased new, from a dealer.

One of the things I remember when I originally purchased the McD was taking my old, Gold Circle bought cue (anyone remember them ?? ) with me to compare the difference in shafts. Trying to compare diameters and 'hide one between the other', the McD shaft was slightly larger than the Gold Circle. And instead of the silver ring in the collar, there was a wood ring that matched the rest of the cue. It was unique to that particular cue.

Basically, I wanted a better cue with roughly the same 'specs' as my El-Cheapo.

Fast forward to 2004. When I went to pick up the shaft in Vegas, I wanted to make sure the shaft I gave him was the shaft I got [insert pun here]. The joint collar matched, and the tip and ferrule looked great. Paid for it, hauled my @$$ back upstairs, grabbed my luggage, and left for the airport.

Back home was the first time I tried to shoot with it.

So once I realized that the shaft was turned down, I got home and used a drill bit guide to check the difference (I still had that Gold Circle cue). The Gold Circle cue wouldn't fit into the 1/2 inch hole. The McD shaft wouldn't fit in the 7/16, but was easy to put into the 1/2 hole.
Used a caliper a couple of days later, and the McD was 11.57

Maybe he swapped the joint collar on another shaft ? I honestly don't know at this point.

Fool me once, shame on me...