It has been said that one cannot polish a turd.
Many would say a Taiwan cue is a turd.
Let me tell you the story of how I found a great guy that sure as hell can polish a turd.
Last Valentine's day my wife got me a cue. Occasionally she has done this. She has done such things with other types of gifts. She goes into my Ebay watch list and buys something. Many things in my watch list are not there because I want to buy them but because I am researching them. This has led to some odd gifts. Computer parts I don't need. Motorcycle parts I don't need.
This time I had been researching a series of import cues from the early nineties. She saw one I had been watching and bought it. It turned out to be nearly pristine. The only thing that really differentiated it from new was that it had been chalked.
It is a Mizerak Professional Series SM-7. Yes, a Taiwan cue. But an amazing surprise.
It is really an excellent cue. I would say the materials, construction, fit, and finish are more on par with the best Adam produced rather than anything I have seen out of Taiwan.
The original cues came with aluminum joint protectors. They were there. But they also came with two shafts and this cue only had one. And they came with a velvet sleeve, and this cue did not have one.
So, I started poking around for an extra original shaft. I know, a real long shot for an obscure cue, and a Taiwan cue at that. I posted in the wanted section on AZB. Then I started searching Google images and old Ebay sales.
I found a pair of unknwn shafts had sold a couple of months before on Ebay that were a dead ringer. I contacted the seller with my odd request to foreward an offer to the buyer. As it turns out the Buyer is an AZB member (and I think the seller too). He contacted me. I gave him my story and he turned out to be an old softy. He was going to do some project with the shafts but agreed to sell them to me and offered to do some work on them if I wanted.
Now, one should understand that the ring work on these shafts might lead one to believe they might be from a known US maker. But I knew what they were, and they were original Mizerak Taiwan made shafts.
So I had the kind gentleman put new ferrules on and clean up the shafts. He selected some old ferrules from his personal stash as well as a couple very good medium layered tips. He offered to put ivory ferrules on as that is my preference but I declined as I didn't think the cue would merit the expense. He sent me pics of the project.
I was going nuts for these shafts.
When they finally came I was very stoked. It took a little shooting and wiping with a microfiber cloth to get them to feel right but that was done by the end of an evening shooting.
I will tell you he gave me a nice deal on the work and the shafts. He truly is an old softy.
How does the cue play? Excellent really. And now that I have these two shafts I can leave the original alone.
The cue:
Many would say a Taiwan cue is a turd.
Let me tell you the story of how I found a great guy that sure as hell can polish a turd.
Last Valentine's day my wife got me a cue. Occasionally she has done this. She has done such things with other types of gifts. She goes into my Ebay watch list and buys something. Many things in my watch list are not there because I want to buy them but because I am researching them. This has led to some odd gifts. Computer parts I don't need. Motorcycle parts I don't need.
This time I had been researching a series of import cues from the early nineties. She saw one I had been watching and bought it. It turned out to be nearly pristine. The only thing that really differentiated it from new was that it had been chalked.
It is a Mizerak Professional Series SM-7. Yes, a Taiwan cue. But an amazing surprise.
It is really an excellent cue. I would say the materials, construction, fit, and finish are more on par with the best Adam produced rather than anything I have seen out of Taiwan.
The original cues came with aluminum joint protectors. They were there. But they also came with two shafts and this cue only had one. And they came with a velvet sleeve, and this cue did not have one.
So, I started poking around for an extra original shaft. I know, a real long shot for an obscure cue, and a Taiwan cue at that. I posted in the wanted section on AZB. Then I started searching Google images and old Ebay sales.
I found a pair of unknwn shafts had sold a couple of months before on Ebay that were a dead ringer. I contacted the seller with my odd request to foreward an offer to the buyer. As it turns out the Buyer is an AZB member (and I think the seller too). He contacted me. I gave him my story and he turned out to be an old softy. He was going to do some project with the shafts but agreed to sell them to me and offered to do some work on them if I wanted.
Now, one should understand that the ring work on these shafts might lead one to believe they might be from a known US maker. But I knew what they were, and they were original Mizerak Taiwan made shafts.
So I had the kind gentleman put new ferrules on and clean up the shafts. He selected some old ferrules from his personal stash as well as a couple very good medium layered tips. He offered to put ivory ferrules on as that is my preference but I declined as I didn't think the cue would merit the expense. He sent me pics of the project.
I was going nuts for these shafts.
When they finally came I was very stoked. It took a little shooting and wiping with a microfiber cloth to get them to feel right but that was done by the end of an evening shooting.
I will tell you he gave me a nice deal on the work and the shafts. He truly is an old softy.
How does the cue play? Excellent really. And now that I have these two shafts I can leave the original alone.
The cue:
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