Eric has having some issues with his internet.
This cue is a early 70's Gus with 4 shafts. 2 new ones from Tasc and 2 old ones. One I believe is a Gus the other old one I'm not sure(more on that later)
It's a double black veneer cue which is a very desirable 4pt Gus, he built them from the early to mid 70's, I'm not exactly sure when he slowed down making the double black outer veneer.
It has 20 MOP inlays with the correct notched diamond for that period of cues. Also the round inlays getting smaller kinda gives is a Palmer/Bushka look as well. The four maple Windows between the rows of inlays are great. The edges of the windows are all perfect. So all in all it's among one of my all time Gus butt sleeves from that era, the Bushka and Palmer influences are very nice, however it's 100% Gus.
The wrap looks to be old, the cue was refinished at some point. I don't know when. The wrap might be original, if it's not it's still 15 years old. This is about a 40 year old cue. Kinda hard to believe when you see it. No buzzes or rattles. Sounds nice and firm.
Perhaps the rarest thing about this cue is back then Gus didn't use much curly maple. For that matter not much ever. This cue has the most ornate piece of maple I ever saw on a 70's Gus. It's not a knock off cue. I was skeptical about that because of the maple. Pete Tasc signed a LOA and Barry seen the pics and said it checks out. To a lesser extent I do know lots about Gus's and IMO it checked out as the real deal too. It's very old & just feels like a Gus and I have learned how to check some other ways to authenticate a Gus.
At first I thought it needed a inlay in the points but after looking at it everyday for a week I changed my mind and I like it as it is.
I know this might sound like a sales pitch, it ain't there is zero chance I'm selling this cue. U don't post cue pice often but this cue is so strong IMO I had to share it with everyone.
It's in the all time top 5 of 4pt Gus's, not in my collection but of ALL 4pt Gus's. Thats my thoughts after looking at this cue for a week and thinking long and hard about all the 4 pt cues Gus built: the inlay pattern, leather wrap, double black veneer, and extremely rare maple (for that time period) are why I rank this cue so high. If it was straight maple then it would be a top 20 cue. But man show me a piece of wood like that on a 40 year old cue. They are there but super rare.
I'll talk about shafts later. I just typed this in a phone & my thumbs are about to fall off
Best
Eric
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