Scdiveteam asked me to post this to the forums as a reply to the Atlas thread that got him banned...
Dear Ask the Cue Maker posters and followers,
Here is my response to the things that have been said on the forum in the thread "Thank You Atlas Billiards":
To AZ Management:
Thanks to Mike Howerton for allowing me respond while I am barred for my profanity here in the forum. I am guilty as sin and I understand that rules need to be followed.
To Jacob ( alais - LSMG3):
It is my hope that when we see each other Jacob, that we can shake hands and laugh as I don’t hold any anamosity toward you. I now completely understand what your motivation was in hind sight. I hope you too will understand mine. Here is my response to your implied suspicions:
Until Tony posted the pics of your cues, I had absolutely no idea of why you were attacking me. Hence my intense responce in that PM. I was sharing info about a new product on the forum and all of a sudden this LSMG3 person starts attacking me. That’s how I saw it. Of coarse you and I have met and have had no ax to grind. When I looked at the profile of this guy that was creeping on me for no reason all I find was, Jake from Texas. No Cm info, website, nothing. I knew you as Jacob not Jake and never made the connection until Tony posted the pics of your cues. You are doubtless an "under the radar type of guy" and since I have never seen your cues posted I am not familiar with your work. In my memory form Philly all I can draw back on is that you used silver with very nice inlay work and the cues were great concerning the design and finish, that’s it!! After examining the pics that were posted I see that we both construct our billets in the same way. I don’t remember that from my breif visit to your booth. After all there were a ton of cues at that show.
When I got to the show in Philly, it is true that I went to every booth and took pics of the CMs and their table display. My motivation was to introduce myself and put a face on many people that I knew but never met. It was also my intention to post those pics on AZ on my laptop when I got back to my room to promote Kenny's Show as I like him and his effort there.. When I got back to my room someone else had already done the deed so I deleted all the photos to free space in my camera's memory. To listen to Tony it was a matter of fact that I was some kind of industrial spy with bad intentions, not!!!
For several posts you never once let me know what your beef was. I kept asking, who are you, are you a CM ect. If you would have been up front with your suspicions in the first place we could have avoided all of this. I do understand that you were mad as you had made some assumptions about me and my inspirations but for Tony to draw a conclusion about me taking photos at a show, to me ripping you off was not only a low behavior it was an immortal sin IMO, as he passed judgement on me after bearing a false wittness against me in public with no basis other that what he wanted to think. A phone call to me would have avoided all this drama. He choose not to do that. What is even funnier is that I had PMed Tony pics of my new ring modification the day before and his responce to my PM was "wow cool rings Rick". He could have said, hey Rick those rings look like Jacob’s rings or maybe he forgot what Jacobs rings looked like. I can’t get into my PMs right now to quote perfectly but that was the gist of it. I thought Tony was a friend and had been warned about him and his treachery by a few CMs but it took this to open my eyes to the fact about where I stand with him. As the saying goes “familiarity breeds contempt". A big lesson learned for me.
Ring Issue:
For over 7 years I have been doing the same rings on my cues and wanted to make some slight design change concerning the box veneered ones. My good friend and mentor Stew Mortson a great designer of cues spends about 20 hours in my shop per week hanging out and gives advise to me and all who visit same. An amazing and very sharp mind with a perfect memory of his vast experience from his 89 years on the planet. Stew has been in the cue game for over 40 years and made his bones as a designer and panto artist in California and here in Palatine, Il. One of Stew’s signature features on many of his one off cues is the canted or diagonal slot that he used to create motion in his cues on a bigger scale as well as the ring work area. His Nicklaus Cue, The Jordon Cue, Salvador Dali, and Barber Pole Cue are just a few examples of this feature element. Tony’s assesment and dismissal of this fact about Stew's designs in a subsequent post was more evidence to his untrained eye, treachery or inexperience, I am not sure. Arrogant bravado at this level is something that I have never seen and usury is a game I won’t play. The way he threw me down in his post like a rag doll does not surprise me in hindsight. He had to know that he was causing damage to Esoteric Cue using innuendo and speculation. I only bring these things up to protect my brand not to fan the flames. I know here are some that would read Tony's words and believe them only because they sound plausible. I only wish to disseminate between perception and reality by revealing the honest truth.
To answer your question now that every thing is clear, my inspiration came directly from my good friend Stew, not anything you are doing in Texas. And BTW, he told me he likes your work and understands that you have not been exposed to his cues and it was something that you developed yourself. That’s how it works. You don’t own a canted or diagonal milled groove, neither does he, and neither do I. Your rings are very fancy, delecate and much more intricate than mine and I really like them and your style. I like to be more of a minimalist. As it was said no one will ever mistake one of my cues from yours.
Patent vs Philosophy Issues:
The discussion of this has come up before and was a natural progression to the way this thread went off track. Anyone who thinks a patent is the answer to cue building design feature is a Pollyanna IMO. As it was pointed out, lawyers are expensive and the ends don’t justify the means. The answer to these issues in my opinion is to keep working hard at your craft, don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things and develope your own style. There will always be people who will be negative or judgemental for their own reasons and if there are not bumps in your road your not trying hard enough. Just look what happened here over a simple 30 degree milled slot. Let them say what they want to and go on your way. If you don’t quit, you will recieve the goal you aspire to. Forget about what the other guy is doing and please yourself. After the work is done if your think it looks cool and your cue plays the way you want them to, you win!!! Lets face it, these are only pool cues not rocket science formulas.
The Chinese have a philosophy for success in life that I try to pass on to every young person I meet. 1.) be on time, 2.) be prepared. and 3.) ignore anyone who critisizes your actions. If you do these 3 things and don’t quit at your endeavor. You can always overcome mistakes as they are truly the road to knowledge and understanding. You can’t overcome negative character issues without contrition and admission. There is always hope however.
Conclusion and Statement to the Forum Members:
This thread I created was intended to thank a great vendor and my friends at Atlas who are super people IMO. I wanted to share this stuff with fellow CMs. The thread was side tracked and the result is what it is. I am banned for a month and deserve it but the fact remains the same, the material I got from them mathes perfectly the rings and the stitches and shows no glue line when using the proper compensation. Guys like butterfly master Brett who I know will try this on their butterflys will obtain very sharp roundings.
Thank you to all who have seen things from my view and understand what I do and am all about. I appreciate it very much. I too have got a lot of emails of support and to that end let me say that I think Jacob is a very good guy, I just wish I knew who I was dealing with when all the heat started. The out come would have been very very different. When someone flames a fire it always gets hotter, LOL. I am trying to put water on it.
AZ Billiards is a great community form for us to share ideas and thoughts and I see it as like a group of friends. Friends are just family that we choose to have in our life. It is the experience of things like this thread that has just happened when we can really see who are friends and who are not.
JMO.
Rick
Dear Ask the Cue Maker posters and followers,
Here is my response to the things that have been said on the forum in the thread "Thank You Atlas Billiards":
To AZ Management:
Thanks to Mike Howerton for allowing me respond while I am barred for my profanity here in the forum. I am guilty as sin and I understand that rules need to be followed.
To Jacob ( alais - LSMG3):
It is my hope that when we see each other Jacob, that we can shake hands and laugh as I don’t hold any anamosity toward you. I now completely understand what your motivation was in hind sight. I hope you too will understand mine. Here is my response to your implied suspicions:
Until Tony posted the pics of your cues, I had absolutely no idea of why you were attacking me. Hence my intense responce in that PM. I was sharing info about a new product on the forum and all of a sudden this LSMG3 person starts attacking me. That’s how I saw it. Of coarse you and I have met and have had no ax to grind. When I looked at the profile of this guy that was creeping on me for no reason all I find was, Jake from Texas. No Cm info, website, nothing. I knew you as Jacob not Jake and never made the connection until Tony posted the pics of your cues. You are doubtless an "under the radar type of guy" and since I have never seen your cues posted I am not familiar with your work. In my memory form Philly all I can draw back on is that you used silver with very nice inlay work and the cues were great concerning the design and finish, that’s it!! After examining the pics that were posted I see that we both construct our billets in the same way. I don’t remember that from my breif visit to your booth. After all there were a ton of cues at that show.
When I got to the show in Philly, it is true that I went to every booth and took pics of the CMs and their table display. My motivation was to introduce myself and put a face on many people that I knew but never met. It was also my intention to post those pics on AZ on my laptop when I got back to my room to promote Kenny's Show as I like him and his effort there.. When I got back to my room someone else had already done the deed so I deleted all the photos to free space in my camera's memory. To listen to Tony it was a matter of fact that I was some kind of industrial spy with bad intentions, not!!!
For several posts you never once let me know what your beef was. I kept asking, who are you, are you a CM ect. If you would have been up front with your suspicions in the first place we could have avoided all of this. I do understand that you were mad as you had made some assumptions about me and my inspirations but for Tony to draw a conclusion about me taking photos at a show, to me ripping you off was not only a low behavior it was an immortal sin IMO, as he passed judgement on me after bearing a false wittness against me in public with no basis other that what he wanted to think. A phone call to me would have avoided all this drama. He choose not to do that. What is even funnier is that I had PMed Tony pics of my new ring modification the day before and his responce to my PM was "wow cool rings Rick". He could have said, hey Rick those rings look like Jacob’s rings or maybe he forgot what Jacobs rings looked like. I can’t get into my PMs right now to quote perfectly but that was the gist of it. I thought Tony was a friend and had been warned about him and his treachery by a few CMs but it took this to open my eyes to the fact about where I stand with him. As the saying goes “familiarity breeds contempt". A big lesson learned for me.
Ring Issue:
For over 7 years I have been doing the same rings on my cues and wanted to make some slight design change concerning the box veneered ones. My good friend and mentor Stew Mortson a great designer of cues spends about 20 hours in my shop per week hanging out and gives advise to me and all who visit same. An amazing and very sharp mind with a perfect memory of his vast experience from his 89 years on the planet. Stew has been in the cue game for over 40 years and made his bones as a designer and panto artist in California and here in Palatine, Il. One of Stew’s signature features on many of his one off cues is the canted or diagonal slot that he used to create motion in his cues on a bigger scale as well as the ring work area. His Nicklaus Cue, The Jordon Cue, Salvador Dali, and Barber Pole Cue are just a few examples of this feature element. Tony’s assesment and dismissal of this fact about Stew's designs in a subsequent post was more evidence to his untrained eye, treachery or inexperience, I am not sure. Arrogant bravado at this level is something that I have never seen and usury is a game I won’t play. The way he threw me down in his post like a rag doll does not surprise me in hindsight. He had to know that he was causing damage to Esoteric Cue using innuendo and speculation. I only bring these things up to protect my brand not to fan the flames. I know here are some that would read Tony's words and believe them only because they sound plausible. I only wish to disseminate between perception and reality by revealing the honest truth.
To answer your question now that every thing is clear, my inspiration came directly from my good friend Stew, not anything you are doing in Texas. And BTW, he told me he likes your work and understands that you have not been exposed to his cues and it was something that you developed yourself. That’s how it works. You don’t own a canted or diagonal milled groove, neither does he, and neither do I. Your rings are very fancy, delecate and much more intricate than mine and I really like them and your style. I like to be more of a minimalist. As it was said no one will ever mistake one of my cues from yours.
Patent vs Philosophy Issues:
The discussion of this has come up before and was a natural progression to the way this thread went off track. Anyone who thinks a patent is the answer to cue building design feature is a Pollyanna IMO. As it was pointed out, lawyers are expensive and the ends don’t justify the means. The answer to these issues in my opinion is to keep working hard at your craft, don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things and develope your own style. There will always be people who will be negative or judgemental for their own reasons and if there are not bumps in your road your not trying hard enough. Just look what happened here over a simple 30 degree milled slot. Let them say what they want to and go on your way. If you don’t quit, you will recieve the goal you aspire to. Forget about what the other guy is doing and please yourself. After the work is done if your think it looks cool and your cue plays the way you want them to, you win!!! Lets face it, these are only pool cues not rocket science formulas.
The Chinese have a philosophy for success in life that I try to pass on to every young person I meet. 1.) be on time, 2.) be prepared. and 3.) ignore anyone who critisizes your actions. If you do these 3 things and don’t quit at your endeavor. You can always overcome mistakes as they are truly the road to knowledge and understanding. You can’t overcome negative character issues without contrition and admission. There is always hope however.
Conclusion and Statement to the Forum Members:
This thread I created was intended to thank a great vendor and my friends at Atlas who are super people IMO. I wanted to share this stuff with fellow CMs. The thread was side tracked and the result is what it is. I am banned for a month and deserve it but the fact remains the same, the material I got from them mathes perfectly the rings and the stitches and shows no glue line when using the proper compensation. Guys like butterfly master Brett who I know will try this on their butterflys will obtain very sharp roundings.
Thank you to all who have seen things from my view and understand what I do and am all about. I appreciate it very much. I too have got a lot of emails of support and to that end let me say that I think Jacob is a very good guy, I just wish I knew who I was dealing with when all the heat started. The out come would have been very very different. When someone flames a fire it always gets hotter, LOL. I am trying to put water on it.
AZ Billiards is a great community form for us to share ideas and thoughts and I see it as like a group of friends. Friends are just family that we choose to have in our life. It is the experience of things like this thread that has just happened when we can really see who are friends and who are not.
JMO.
Rick
