Question about fairly new cue makers.

[Jaden]

I'm sorry...

Reasonably sized blanks - 2 days. As Mister Szamboti also said
Possibly less if waiting for stuff (glue, ...) is excluded.

I'm sorry but if you're working from blanks, I don't consider you a custom cue maker.

I make my cues from dowels or squares.

Jaden

 

[M.G.]

So basic materials is $105, not counting epoxy, glue, paint, sandpaper, wear on equipment etc.

Usual formula for a lot of stuff: selling price is price of base materials times 3.
So a cue is 315$ including your earnings, no?

 

[JoeyInCali]

Usual formula for a lot of stuff: selling price is price of base materials times 3.
So a cue is 315$ including your earnings, no?

That will cover material profits. Not labor.
Sometimes when that wood is gone, there are none left.
And that actually is true for a lot of materials too like double black phenolic, dark brown phenolic, clean linen melamine ferrules, ivory colored mason micarta and Ivor-X ferrules.
Starting cue makers would probably do better if they worked at Starbucks at night . At least they get 100% profit every night .

 

[CMarshall]

Yes I do. Yes they are. No I am not.

Dave

Thanks, Dave, for that enlightening post. Brings to mind a particular very famous P.T. Barnum quote. But, that's my opinion.

Marshall

 

[DaveK]

Thanks, Dave, for that enlightening post. Brings to mind a particular very famous P.T. Barnum quote. But, that's my opinion.

Marshall

Just answering rhetorical questions :thumbup:

I have several opinions/ideas my self :

- I get a specific cuemakers cue for about as little $ as possible (Blackcreek, PFD, Gracio, etc)
- I typically buy sneakys from cuemakers who splice their own
- I can buy (you can too) Schmelke sneakys for just over $100, so I don't buy custom maker sneaky-from-a-Schmelke for more $$$

Note that there are a couple of production Dufferins and three production Schmelkes in the photo, and combined they cost less than all-but-one of the customs.

Dave

PS If I may speculate, you may be interested to learn about a "very famous P.T. Barnum quote" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_sucker_born_every_minute

 

[Type79]

Reasonably sized blanks - 2 days. As Mister Szamboti also said
Possibly less if waiting for stuff (glue, ...) is excluded.

I have recently been trying to compile the approximate build time for similar cues. How do you arrive at your estimate of two days? Also is it from personal experience, i.e. are you a cuemaker?

Thanks in advance,

 

[CMarshall]

Just answering rhetorical questions :thumbup:

I have several opinions/ideas my self :

- I get a specific cuemakers cue for about as little $ as possible (Blackcreek, PFD, Gracio, etc)
- I typically buy sneakys from cuemakers who splice their own
- I can buy (you can too) Schmelke sneakys for just over $100, so I don't buy custom maker sneaky-from-a-Schmelke for more $$$

Note that there are a couple of production Dufferins and three production Schmelkes in the photo, and combined they cost less than all-but-one of the customs.

Dave

PS If I may speculate, you may be interested to learn about a "very famous P.T. Barnum quote" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_sucker_born_every_minute

I'm impressed! You're quite eloquent and obviously smart. We just have different opinions on cues, obviously.
:smile:

 

[book collector]

I really hope that this question does not offend any fairly new cue makers on here, but I am just very curious why even the newest of cue makers are asking so much for their cues?

Is $500 and up standard, and fair for a plain jane custom, coming from a new or fairly new cue maker?

I wonder how good the quality of a custom cue from a fairly new cue maker could possibly be?

Maybe the costs of the very nice woods and all of the other components are so expensive, and the time consumed with building the cue are so long, so it is fair to ask $500 and up for even the most basic custom cue (if it is of high quality and very well made).

I hope that my thoughts were not offensive, but it just seems that prices for new custom cues have really skyrocketed over the years, and I just wonder why.

Most players can't really afford the prices that most cue makers want for their cues, or can they?

And if a dealer buys a new custom from a cue maker, then the price will be even higher from that dealer.

I would love to find a really good cue maker from maybe Asia (that builds cues that are possibly on par quality wise to a lot of the cue makers here in the US), if there are any out there that build a good quality players cue for an affordable price (and please do not recommend Lucasi to me).

We had one here , I talked to him about buying a cue to help him get started and he asked for the same price I could buy from top tier makers with great reputations, he didn't last long.
Since then i have discovered he is completely kookoo and I'm glad I didn't spend even a few hundred on his crap.

 

[classiccues]

With the influx of new cuemakers, (I didn't even realize pool was popular again) the 400-1000 dollar threshold is bursting with bargains.

JV

 

[skins]

With the influx of new cuemakers, (I didn't even realize pool was popular again) the 400-1000 dollar threshold is bursting with bargains.

JV

Yeah well, between 400-1000 a bargain ain't guaranteed either... 95% of the time you get what you pay for...

 

[63Kcode]

Economics, pride and a little ignorance!

Economics,

By the time a new cue maker gets a cue finished. I bet they do have 50 hours in it. Have spent $5k and looking to spend another $5k to get to where they can build fancier cues. They have also told their spouse, parents and friends how much money they are going to make at cues. Since they see other new cue makers asking these prices. Why should I ask any less?

Pride,

By the time you have spent 50 hours building a cue. Its like a child to you. You can overlook any flaws. No matter how bad it plays. To them it plays lights out, whatever that means. Since they see other new cue makers asking these prices. Why should I ask less?

Ignorance,

They don't realize that the cue that takes 50 hours to build now. May only take 18 to 20 hours to build after a few years experience. Sometimes when you are new you get paid with experience, not cash. Since they see other new cue makers asking these prices. Why should I ask less?

Larry< still new at this cue making stuff!

 

[Kim Bye]

Usual formula for a lot of stuff: selling price is price of base materials times 3.
So a cue is 315$ including your earnings, no?

No, that`s not correct. If I total in all the expenses in making a cue, the glue and epoxy used, tips, sandpaper, wear on equipment etc. The cost for a basic cue would be closer to $150-170 not counting work hours.

 

[DaveK]

I'm impressed! You're quite eloquent and obviously smart. We just have different opinions on cues, obviously.
:smile:

Thank you for the kind words. If it matters my regular playing cues are a simple 60" Mark Bear (RIP Mr. Bear) and a 2001 Lambros ultra-joint. The Bear is a full splice with a wrap, typical of his cues, and the Lambros is a standard 4 point veneered cue built with a forearm-handle-buttsleeve, like the vast majority of custom cues. Maybe I do waste money on sneakys, but at the same time I have a lovely collection of interesting hardwoods, and they compliment my room and furniture (mahogany, birch, oak, walnut, much teak, etc). What can I say, I like wood (and trees for that matter) :thumbup:

To the OP, if it were me I'd look for a good condition used cue from a well known and respected cue maker. Of all my cues the best playing best balanced best finished cues are from more experienced makers.

Dave

 

[HDR10]

I'm sorry but if you're working from blanks, I don't consider you a custom cue maker.

I make my cues from dowels or squares.

Jaden

I don't understand this at all! If I buy blanks from blank makers they are custom and NOT cheap. If I make from titelist or 26 1/2, dufferin, valley or whatever house cues, did I not custom make it?
Where do you think GB got most if not all of his blanks?
Rambow? Many more!
I make cues about 7or 8 ways including buying blanks but also buy boards to cut squares from, make point wood from table legs up to buying ready to glue in. I've even turned a few brand new baseball bats down!
Please don't take this the wrong way at all.....I'm really trying to wrap my head around this statement because I've read or heard it before and have never got a real answer

 

[RackRunner]

I've been buying custom cues since 1982, and bought my first Runde-era Schon (R-12), in 1985. I have owned well over 300 cues since then. The "hit" or playability is always subjective, but I have a "Top 5" list of favorite cue makers. I decided I wanted to learn how to build cues, so I started to collect the machines necessary to do so. No disrespect to any of the gentlemen who make the bench top lathes for cue making but I took advice and learned what equipment to buy from the likes of Joel Hercek, Joe Gold, Bob Runde and John Davis. I put in over $50k in equipment before I created any sawdust. But I wanted the best equipment, best woods, best materials and I was willing to pay for it. It's just my personality, but I won't let anything out of my shop unless it's damn near perfect. But that's just me. Some new cue makers will stand the test of time and some won't. I sold my first cue for $1500, but that was to a friend who knows how anal I am about quality workmanship.

 

[Jaden]

They were cue assemblers...

I don't understand this at all! If I buy blanks from blank makers they are custom and NOT cheap. If I make from titelist or 26 1/2, dufferin, valley or whatever house cues, did I not custom make it?
Where do you think GB got most if not all of his blanks?
Rambow? Many more!
I make cues about 7or 8 ways including buying blanks but also buy boards to cut squares from, make point wood from table legs up to buying ready to glue in. I've even turned a few brand new baseball bats down!
Please don't take this the wrong way at all.....I'm really trying to wrap my head around this statement because I've read or heard it before and have never got a real answer

They were cue assemblers. There's nothing wrong with that, and they can make a great cue and when you're working with say a burton spain blank, you know you've got a quality blank.

But it's a misnomer to call an assembler, a cue maker.

Some of the cues I've made have been based on blanks. I made a great looking cue using a predator blank, but that's not ALL I do. I do my own v grooves etc.. I start with dowels and squares...

That's cue MAKING.

Turning a house cue into a two piece sneaky or even a beautiful cue with ring work and inlays is not cue making, it's cue modifying.

So yeah if you make cues from blanks but you also build cues from scratch, then you are a cue maker. If ALL you do is buy blanks and put them together, you're an assembler.

Jaden

 

[HDR10]

They were cue assemblers. There's nothing wrong with that, and they can make a great cue and when you're working with say a burton spain blank, you know you've got a quality blank.

But it's a misnomer to call an assembler, a cue maker.

Some of the cues I've made have been based on blanks. I made a great looking cue using a predator blank, but that's not ALL I do. I do my own v grooves etc.. I start with dowels and squares...

That's cue MAKING.

Turning a house cue into a two piece sneaky or even a beautiful cue with ring work and inlays is not cue making, it's cue modifying.

So yeah if you make cues from blanks but you also build cues from scratch, then you are a cue maker. If ALL you do is buy blanks and put them together, you're an assembler.

Jaden

Very nice explanation! We're on the same page! thanks