poolcues

sciarco said:
who makes a better cue Leon Sly or Jack Madden .
Click to expand...

humina humina.

Sorry, co-worker used that at a meeting when the boss asked which one us was volunteering for weekend support. Had to be there. Ralph Kramden.
 
Last edited:
Good question. Just to really give you something to think about, which of them can match this facility?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2pXa9znwY

LOL..... just sayin :thumbup:

Btw, I don't have any affiliation with that company or even have one of their cues. I just get a kick out of watching how silly old mcdermott cues are light years beyond any backyard builder in both buying power and equipment.

I mean if quality was your concern, how do you beat that? :)
 
Last edited:
3andstop said:
Good question. Just to really give you something to think about, which of them can match this facility?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2pXa9znwY

LOL..... just sayin :thumbup:

Btw, I don't have any affiliation with that company or even have one of their cues. I just get a kick out of watching how silly old mcdermott cues are light years beyond any backyard builder in both buying power and equipment.

I mean if quality was your concern, how do you beat that? :)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, McDermott Cues are just a "production cue" to people now. They are not the flavor of the month (or year or decade) anymore. When I first started playing pool seriously in the early 80's, all the top dogs played McDermott cues at the pool hall I frequented. I drooled over them and longed for one. Now I have 6 and I love them all! USA made and 100% guaranteed with lifetime maintenance. But, they're just a "production cue." Pfft.

***DISCLAIMER***

This is my opinion, it doesn't make it right (or wrong) and it's not to offend anyone. It's just my opinion. I'm sure many have a different view. It's hard for me not to love this company. Their customer service alone is worth the price, to me.
 
3andstop said:
Good question. Just to really give you something to think about, which of them can match this facility?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2pXa9znwY

LOL..... just sayin :thumbup:

Btw, I don't have any affiliation with that company or even have one of their cues. I just get a kick out of watching how silly old mcdermott cues are light years beyond any backyard builder in both buying power and equipment.

I mean if quality was your concern, how do you beat that? :)
Click to expand...
Yea, I want my cue assembles by some guy who just started working there yesterday. Truth is, Those backyard cue makers as you call them do everything that you see in the video except they probably do it better and with a real feeling for the final product.

I know people who work at McDermott and it is just a factory like any other, with company politics, people who hate their jobs and could care less about the cue they are making or the person who may have to play with it.

McDermott's are good for what they are but they are still just a production cue and their quality control parameters are pretty wide compared to a custom cue shop.

They are nothing special regardless of what you see in that video. I used to be a McDermott dealer and I can tell you, I had to send back a lot of cues that ran from average with a few flaws or not quite straight to unsellable. I would often cringe at the shaft wood on their higher end cues. A small custom shop would have thrown this wood out, but a high production place like McDermott that is unrealistic, it will find it's way onto your cue.

Ask anyone who works on cues or even just does tip work some of the crap shafts they see on even higher end production cues. It is shocking sometimes to see a shaft on a $800.00 cue you would not use on a cheap SP.
 
Last edited:
ron3 said:
Try selling a current used McDermott. They bring very little $$
Click to expand...

And they cost very little to buy new as well.

I hear silver is a much better investment than cue sticks,but if the goal is return on investment, percentage wise, its probably a wash when you consider how much money you tie up spending thousands on a custom cue relative to your mcdermott, regardless.

My point was, there is a world of difference in wanting a cue for its unique art craftsmanship, and looking for a cue that dollar for dollar is made to high quality standards.

The original question was which cue is better not which unique design style do you like better.

I said it before, if I'm the salesman for high quality cue wood who am I more concerned about keeping a happy customer, the 12 cues a year maker or the million dollar a year account? Oh, i'll tell the 12 cue a year guy this is the best stuff I have, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who is really getting the best material.

And of course the 12 cues a year guy will tell us he provides us the best wood. He isn't lying, far as he knows it is, and far as we know it is too.

Its the same old thing, art vs a tool to do a job. If you're paying for the art and that's what floats your boat, wonderful. But if you think more expensive backyard reinventing the wheel makes a better tool, then I think you have been bamboozled.
 
So I have a McDermott. It's the M11B model aka "Hustler". Can't say as I care what kind of $$ it would bring because I will never sell it. I like it so much when I'm not using it, it rests in it's own aluminum case. An old school round tube with flannel sock and stickers to give it the SP look.

I also have a custom SP by a well known maker. It sits in my cue rack as a loaner for guests.

And what about all those custom builder's turning out cues made with Schmelke blanks? Why not save $400. and buy the real thing, Schmelke?

There are an awful lot of cue snobs here and if you spend $2,000 for a cue, you have to say it play's "LIghts Out" or some other stupid saying like, it hits the nuts. What else can you say when a $200. McDermott kicks it's ass?
 
3andstop said:
And they cost very little to buy new as well.

I hear silver is a much better investment than cue sticks,but if the goal is return on investment, percentage wise, its probably a wash when you consider how much money you tie up spending thousands on a custom cue relative to your mcdermott, regardless.

My point was, there is a world of difference in wanting a cue for its unique art craftsmanship, and looking for a cue that dollar for dollar is made to high quality standards.

The original question was which cue is better not which unique design style do you like better.

I said it before, if I'm the salesman for high quality cue wood who am I more concerned about keeping a happy customer, the 12 cues a year maker or the million dollar a year account? Oh, i'll tell the 12 cue a year guy this is the best stuff I have, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who is really getting the best material.

And of course the 12 cues a year guy will tell us he provides us the best wood. He isn't lying, far as he knows it is, and far as we know it is too.

Its the same old thing, art vs a tool to do a job. If you're paying for the art and that's what floats your boat, wonderful. But if you think more expensive backyard reinventing the wheel makes a better tool, then I think you have been bamboozled.
Click to expand...

You are entitled to your opinion, no matter how outlandish is may be. Regardless, the OP would like opinions comparing two specific builders, and this conversation is a sidetrack. If you care to start a new thread, I would be happy to discuss your claims if you like. As far as the OP's question, I will not offer any opinion other than that BOTH builders you mention build a cue far superior to McDermott, or any other factory cue. I'd say go with the one who builds the cues that appeal to you the most.
 
3andstop said:
And they cost very little to buy new as well.

I hear silver is a much better investment than cue sticks,but if the goal is return on investment, percentage wise, its probably a wash when you consider how much money you tie up spending thousands on a custom cue relative to your mcdermott, regardless.

My point was, there is a world of difference in wanting a cue for its unique art craftsmanship, and looking for a cue that dollar for dollar is made to high quality standards.

The original question was which cue is better not which unique design style do you like better.

I said it before, if I'm the salesman for high quality cue wood who am I more concerned about keeping a happy customer, the 12 cues a year maker or the million dollar a year account? Oh, i'll tell the 12 cue a year guy this is the best stuff I have, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who is really getting the best material.

And of course the 12 cues a year guy will tell us he provides us the best wood. He isn't lying, far as he knows it is, and far as we know it is too.

Its the same old thing, art vs a tool to do a job. If you're paying for the art and that's what floats your boat, wonderful. But if you think more expensive backyard reinventing the wheel makes a better tool, then I think you have been bamboozled.
Click to expand...
You kind of have it backwards. A company like McDermott can't really afford to buy the best cue shaft stock, then cull it out and end up with maybe 1 in 3 pieces of shaft wood to use on there cues.

Actually, I would say McDermott does not even buy from cue wood suppliers they cut the wood themselves and then try to use up as much of it as they can.

That select wood from cue wood suppliers commands higher prices and gets sold to custom cue makers who will pay a premium price for such select wood. The small custom shop can do this because they make such few cues and incorporate the extra costs into the final price of the cue.

McDermott is in a bottom line business, they do the best they can within reason but you will still see a lot of sh!t wood in their cues. Especially stained cues where they will hide flaws if they can.

You also seem to think every cue from a cue maker costs $2000.00 plus. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Their bread and butter are cues in the $400.00 and $800.00 range. Not really that far out of the price range of many production cues. I doubt many cue makers, other then a select few, ever sell a $2000.00 cue.
 
Last edited:
If you have already limited your choices to the two q-makers you listed .... go with the one that feels better to you & get a LD shaft ... I personally play with an OB-1 and am looking at their NEW OB-1+ shaft. put a good tip on it like Moori, Everest or Kamui ... again the tip is the most important. You will probably have to experiment with this because play will vary.

Suggestion: Stay away from the skinny shafts (11.75) they only make it harder to play with due to their small aiming point. 12.75 with a nickel radius plays a lot better. IMO

If you have not decided ... look around ... ask players if you can hit a few with their cue & tell them your looking for a new sick.

Bottom line is: GO WITH THE CUE THAT FEELS BEST TO YOU!!!

Good Luck!
 
Last edited:
I think the conscience is neither Sly or Madden make the best cue but McDermott.
Its just the old argument custom or production. They both can be good or bad just depend on the maker.
 
1- I don't buy my cues as an investment, I buy my cues to play with.

2- Buy the cue you like, try 'em all out.

3. The best cue is the one you like.
 
But McDermott is not in that building anymore. Im not sure if they ever owned it, I thought they did at one time and also the very large house on the hill right across the street from the factory, but the building went up for lease a while back and early this year McDermott moved into a much smaller facility about 5 miles away. A doctor is rumored to own the large house across the street from the old location, I only mention the house because it is very impressive, everyone in the neighborhood/town said it was McDermotts house when it was new.
 
CMarshall said:
1- I don't buy my cues as an investment, I buy my cues to play with.

2- Buy the cue you like, try 'em all out.

3. The best cue is the one you like.
Click to expand...

Thats true but some cues do seem to hold value better. For instance the Hoppe style conversions. If the cue hits decent you can sell one of those pretty easy.

Where as say a McDermott or any cue for that matter doesn't have to be a production cue, with a bunch of goofy inlays that you may have paid top dollar for you can't give away.

If you stick with nice classic cue designs and not weird stuff you can sell the cue should you wish. Not everyone wants to be a cue collector and should you decide to get a new cue it is nice to know you can at least get something out of your old cue.
 
desertshark said:
What's all the McDermott talk have to do with the OP's question?
Click to expand...

You're right, I lost it. I'm sorry, but I did have a reason, a kind of shake you by the shoulders wake up reason. I think that too many new players get caught up in thinking they have to spend a ton of money .... thousands of dollars on a cue for it to be any good. That's ridiculous.

I get crazy when I read these kinds of questions. You see, it wouldn't bother me if the question wasn't which one is better, rather which one do you think has a better design. That question makes more sense to me.

In my mind I read that kind of question as .... I'm gonna have to blow thousands of dollars on a custom cue ... which one is better? What? waddia mean which one is better?

They are all made with wood, and glue and no moving parts, no batteries, which one do you like? You're the person who has to like it.

If the unique design of the collectable art of a cue isn't what is drawing you to a cue, but rather which is better ... then why spend a gazillion dollars on wood and glue?

There are choices just as good with written lifetime guarantees by companies that are going to be around in years to come to honor a problem in a timely fashion should one develop.

That's where my mcdermott example came in, and it was just that, an example. They happened to have a pretty good video available to illustrate just that.

Now, if it's the style that attracts someone to spend thousands on a custom cue, that makes some sense to me, although I am not one that would spend more than a few hundred bucks on a cue, I can understand the art appreciation.

That's like asking which painting used the better paint, you're thinking of buying one, The Blue Boy or Mona Lisa?

If you're concerned about the quality of the paint, today's paint is better, neither of them are the best.

But you're right ... I went away for a while ... I'm back ... I'm sorry. :sorry:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top