Please let me explain something to all the critics of Paul Mottey and James White. Jim and Paul are not just great cue makers; they are master of DESIGN and COPY!
I agree they are Master cue makers, as well as Master thief’s. The fact that they have such talent makes the other that much worse.
On top of that they are even better business people. If people come to you and are willing to pay you thousands of dollars for a cue that you make a profit on what is wrong with that.
They would make the profit no matter what, their work is so good that people will pay their price. Southwest has an 8 year wait list and they make 300 cues a year, they will not make you whatever you want, not only will they not make you a 4 point cue but sometimes they won't make you a wood combo (in their style) that you want. Joel Hercek will not make a copy of someone's design, he has a 5+ year wait list and can sell anything he makes at pretty much any price he wants. Can you sit there and tell me from a business stand point that they are doing something wrong???
SERIOUSLY!
Seriously?? They are stealing, that's what's wrong, and worse they don't have to from a skill stand point and from a business stand point. They make some of the best cues in the world, they also have done some great designs, the point is they really don't have to do it, where as some people with less talent have no options, they do.
The customer wanted the copy of the cue.
Big deal, who cares what the customer wants, if you have integrity and your work stands alone you don't need to be a thief to make a sale. Did you read the post where Joel Hercek told someone no?? It didn't cost him the sale or any business.
The customer pays for the cue, and the customer is always right!
The customer isn't always right and when the customer wants you to break the law he's certainly not right. As of right now there isn't enough money in cues to cause someone to take it the whole way and sue, I can assure you that once it happens and it costs the person stealing some money then it will stop, as a matter of fact Paul has made a promise to stop, if he does or not I guess we will have to wait and see. But if it ever does go that far I guess we'll see how far you're theory that the customer is always right will go.
It is a BUISNESS, it is not personal.
No it is personal, it's stealing someone's personal art, a design is something that a person puts much time and energy into. Anyone who has ever paid for a 1 of a kind cue knows the price you pay for this work. Anyone who has ever had a design stolen knows how it feels, it's just wrong and lazy and bad business in the long run.
You only live one life, with no rewind button, that is it. What is so wrong with making the best of it?
With this idiotic line of thinking why don't you just go find the nicest house you can and move in. If your neighbor has something nice that you want just go take it. Hell if you need to just kill them, you only live once. Why should you live in a 3 bedroom house when the guy down the road has 5, so what it's his and you can't afford it, you only live once.
What is wrong with making the all mighty dollar, and living in huge houses, and driving really nice cars? NOTHING!
Nothing is right, so when you want a Southwest go buy a Southwest, when you want a Ferrari buy a Ferrari, you want a big house, BUY a big house, I missed where in your little rant you said anything about stealing these nice things. So you want a Szamboti???? BUY ONE, don't ask a cuemaker to copy one cause you can't afford it.
People strive for these virtues everyday. Please don’t tell me that money is the root of all evils.
LOL People strive to work hard so they can buy the nice things, only in pool do you find people working hard not to work and trying to figure out how to scam and steal their way into nice things. This is just an extension of that mentality. I know of pool players who work harder on not working then they would if they just got a job. It's funny how at the beginning of your post you were talking them up because they did whatever they had to (steal designs) to get money, now you're saying money isn't the root of all evil. Before when money made them steal you claimed it was good business, now it's the root of evil LOL make up my mind.
Whoever says that doesn’t have any or will never amount to having nothing. These people are just angry and are losers because life is passing them by and they have not amounted to nothing.
No sorry, you're wrong, some people have integrity, some people will not make any cue for any amount of money, some people will turn away work if it involves them stealing designs, and these people as we have already discussed seem to be doing very well for themselves (Mr. Hercek).
What they do is knock other people to make them feel better about themselves. WEAK!
No what weak people do is try to defend the practice of stealing so that they feel better about doing it. They say there is nothing wrong with it because so and so did it. They claim that since others have done it in the past it must be ok, when all the while they excuse it because they have just done it or they have a copy of a design on their web-site that they are trying to sell, or they have made a career out of the practice. There is no weakness in standing up to someone for doing something you feel is wrong, the weakness is in defending it so you don't make an enemy, maybe next cue you order you can tell them how you defended them and they will give you a discount.
When critics talk about lack of vision and talent that should be directed to people who criticize others and do not have any ability to create, or let alone even copy anything. No one ever remembers CRITCIS! In the pool world 100 years from now, people will remember and still be playing with Paul Mottey and James White cues. They will be remembered forever as great cue makers. The people who criticized there work will be long gone and forgotten and will never be remembered let alone thought about. To all the fans of Mottey and White, please do not sweat the critics. True talent cannot ever be knocked only criticized!
