Moving to AZ a few years ago from OH left a void, not of friendship, family or four seasons, but I lost the most important person...the guy who did work on my cue. I used to do it myself, but once I lost access to a lathe, the guys at Billiards Plus in Columbus, OH did all the work for me and I couldn't beat the prices with a stick. That's plug number one. 
Now that I am in AZ, I trust nobody with my Samsara and Schons, maybe i'll buy another lathe and setup shop in the house. I run this by my lovely wife and she reminds that there will be no more toys. You have a motorcycle, RC cars, RC airplanes, pool table, etc. etc. So I go out to a few of the newsgroups explaining my dilemma and get quite few reponses about Scott Whisler from around the US.
I give Scott a call and go over to his house, this was my first visit, about a year or so ago. His garage is full of cue making/repairing/tipping/etc equipment. He shows me some of his work, we start talking and eventually, he puts a new tip on my Samsara. The whole time we are in his shop, I continually talk about how anal I am when it comes to someone doing work on my cues. I tell him it's got an ivory ferrule and the whole time he is listening, not telling me "yeah, I know" or "i've done this before on more expensive cues". Yes, i've heard that before from other people and promptly left. He shows me how he has constructed tooling that will not allow the cutter to dig into the ferrule, pretty ingenious. Anyway, first trip to Scott and i'm VERY happy with his work and his overall personality. We shot the breeze for about an hour and I went home.
The Samsara needs a new tip after a year of playing and my first visit to Whisler Cues so I give Scott a call. The labor day weekend is coming up and he tells me, "just give me a call, if you can come over Sunday or Monday, no problem". With all the family stuff going on, I can't make it, so I call him on Tuesday, go over to his place and once again I am very satisfied with his work, prices are beyond fair and the conversation is really good.
Since I play in a league where I frequent many bars, i'm not crazy about taking ANY of my cues to some of these places. After I play each match, I put it back in the case, shut it, lock it and put it beside me. I explain this to Scott and tell him I would really like to have a sneaky pete with an ivory ferrule and joint. Yeah, it's a little overboard, but I like the feel of the ivory, i'm not giving it up. The salesmen in Scott jumps at the opportunity and he says, "I can do that". So we talk and he shows me some sneaky petes that are in the beginning stages of production and i'm very impressed. With that said, we discussed price and I said BUILD IT. The price was too good to pass up, especially with the ivory. I was expecting a much higher price, but when he told me he could do it for under $600, I about fell over. That maybe expensive to some, but with ivory joint and two shafts with ivory ferrules, I couldn't pass it up.
Anyway, I could have summed this up in one paragraph, but I can't say enough about Scott. He's a great guy who is truly concerned with what the customer wants, whether or not they are spending $40 or $4000, it doesn't make a difference to Scott. I should be getting my cue in the next 6-10 weeks. When I get it, i'll post up some pics.
If you get the time, visit Scotts webpage, www.whislercues.com
Now that I am in AZ, I trust nobody with my Samsara and Schons, maybe i'll buy another lathe and setup shop in the house. I run this by my lovely wife and she reminds that there will be no more toys. You have a motorcycle, RC cars, RC airplanes, pool table, etc. etc. So I go out to a few of the newsgroups explaining my dilemma and get quite few reponses about Scott Whisler from around the US.
I give Scott a call and go over to his house, this was my first visit, about a year or so ago. His garage is full of cue making/repairing/tipping/etc equipment. He shows me some of his work, we start talking and eventually, he puts a new tip on my Samsara. The whole time we are in his shop, I continually talk about how anal I am when it comes to someone doing work on my cues. I tell him it's got an ivory ferrule and the whole time he is listening, not telling me "yeah, I know" or "i've done this before on more expensive cues". Yes, i've heard that before from other people and promptly left. He shows me how he has constructed tooling that will not allow the cutter to dig into the ferrule, pretty ingenious. Anyway, first trip to Scott and i'm VERY happy with his work and his overall personality. We shot the breeze for about an hour and I went home.
The Samsara needs a new tip after a year of playing and my first visit to Whisler Cues so I give Scott a call. The labor day weekend is coming up and he tells me, "just give me a call, if you can come over Sunday or Monday, no problem". With all the family stuff going on, I can't make it, so I call him on Tuesday, go over to his place and once again I am very satisfied with his work, prices are beyond fair and the conversation is really good.
Since I play in a league where I frequent many bars, i'm not crazy about taking ANY of my cues to some of these places. After I play each match, I put it back in the case, shut it, lock it and put it beside me. I explain this to Scott and tell him I would really like to have a sneaky pete with an ivory ferrule and joint. Yeah, it's a little overboard, but I like the feel of the ivory, i'm not giving it up. The salesmen in Scott jumps at the opportunity and he says, "I can do that". So we talk and he shows me some sneaky petes that are in the beginning stages of production and i'm very impressed. With that said, we discussed price and I said BUILD IT. The price was too good to pass up, especially with the ivory. I was expecting a much higher price, but when he told me he could do it for under $600, I about fell over. That maybe expensive to some, but with ivory joint and two shafts with ivory ferrules, I couldn't pass it up.
Anyway, I could have summed this up in one paragraph, but I can't say enough about Scott. He's a great guy who is truly concerned with what the customer wants, whether or not they are spending $40 or $4000, it doesn't make a difference to Scott. I should be getting my cue in the next 6-10 weeks. When I get it, i'll post up some pics.
If you get the time, visit Scotts webpage, www.whislercues.com
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