(sorry to hijack the thread)
Hey Glen-
I thought you initially said you were coming out here in late September

I think November was the 2nd or 3rd delay

I know I rushed payment to Aaron in mid Sept. because I thought I might miss you...
You wasn't going to miss me Mark believe me...I babysat your table all the way through the process of the waiting for the changes to take place in the rail design just like I told you. I told you when they went through, and to get a hold of Diamond and place your order....what if the change took a lot longer to take place...would you still be waiting?
Yeah, I did wait for a long time for the rail angle change. Summer waiting is a lot easier than winter waiting..when I would use the table more...It's just frustrating to wait 3+ months after deposit (after waiting 9-12 months for the rail angle change) and THEN to get passed up by other more recent orders....I'm sure you understand...It's a Diamond distribution problem more than a RKC problem. Brunswick has a dealer 2 miles from my house

Diamond's dealer is on the other side of the Country

and requires the one-and-only RKC for setup/delivery.
I'll tell you this...no one, not any other table manufacture out here is going to produce a 9ft one piece slate pool table....but that does come with some drawbacks....and the handling of the table is one of them drawbacks. IF Brunswick ever did offer a one piece slate 9ft GC5....I guarantee you...no Brunswick distributorship would even think twice about handling it....at the customers request, so with that being said....just call ANY retail store and ask them yourself....about their willingness to even move a one piece slate...then tell them you have a one piece slate 9ft and see what kind of response you get

...I know there is some concern about having a one piece 9ft slate....but the reward far outweighs the drawbacks....such as never having to worry about the seams ever coming apart, the fact that the slate can be leveled without ever having to take the table apart...or remove the bed cloth...because of the time and effort that Diamond has put into designing their leveling system....and I think it's worth mentioning that no other table manufacture has even tried to copy Diamonds idea....I wonder why....when they lay the claims as to how great their tables are?
Thanks for all the offers on GC V. I'm way too picky and anal to buy used though.
You make valid point about the trade-offs, here was my thinking when I decided to go with a Diamond Pro-Am -- I'm sure you could elaborate in much more detail on all of these points:
If you were closer to the factory, you'd have had your table already by now.
Pro-Am
+ best built table on the planet....perhaps there is stuff in Europe or perhaps a Gabriel would come close...I don't know?
+ with the rail angle change, perhaps it equals the play of the Gold Crown V...how would it best the play? ...let's assume the pockets on the GCV are actually to spec

+ single piece slate w/wedge and under the rails!
+ best bumpers
+ resale
- looks terrible -- you pay a price for Dymondwood...the pocket corners..ugh..the black on the side...Oh well...I went with black because I think it hides the ugliness better than Rosewood

....you could move to a professional, which looks a tad better, but then you lose the best things about Diamond (Pro-Am Build, wedge, 1-piece slate, etc)...At that point, GC V starts to look much more interesting.
- black marks on balls -- can't believe they haven't fixed this yet as they have for the Professionals?
(ADDED) - 3+ months to get one, 4? 5?
= 860HR on both
Brunswick Gold Crown V
+ looks great for a home table
+ (arguably) best play - prior to rail angle change with Diamond
- pocket variation of 1/8" seems to be common -- this is just ridiculous for a table of this caliber...I can't believe someone hasn't talked to them about this...this is just unacceptable...you have to get RKC to your house to fix the NEW table...That is messed up.
- pockets at 142 degrees and 143 degrees are also common
= OK build...certainly a lot better than most Brunswick tables, but not as good as a Pro-Am
- 3-piece slate
- worse leveling system
- will not age as well
- poor resale value
- price...although, heavy discounts are common and it actually isn't nearly as bad as it may seem after those discounts...i certainly wasn't going to pay anywhere near full price.....20-30% off was real easy to get...
I really want the Pro-Am...but a GC V is better than no table at all!

Tell Diamond that they are really hosing their customers when they make them wait for 3+ months for a new table...
I should probably start a new thread on my learnings about GC V vs. Pro-Am...I'm sure all the info is in the archives...EXCEPT the timeline and distribution problems at Diamond.