On impulse, I bought a Ron Kilby cue on eBay a few months ago. If you're not familiar with Ron, his reputation is primarily as a maker of carom cues. However, he also makes cues in pool cue lengths and with shaft tapers suited to pool players' preferences. Like many carom cues, his incorporate wood threaded joints, with the male threads on the shaft. I'm experimenting with different types of cues, which is why I picked this up.
The purpose of this thread is to let everyone know that Ron makes a very high quality cue that can be extremely well suited to pocket billiards, if it's configured that way. With all of the recent interest in the Deano cues, with their wood pins and conical shaft tapers, I wanted to let folks know that Ron Kilby is an option well worth considering. My Kilby cue is becoming my favorite player: it has a firm yet responsive hit, deflection seems low (although I don't consider myself an expert on this), and my grip and stroke seem slightly more comfortable with this cue. Ron deliberately weights his cues more to the rear, with a slightly thicker butt and joint. I find this configuration to be confidence-inspiring, but it may not be for everyone. On his web site, he explains why he does this.
In addition, Ron is very service-oriented. He swapped out one of the two original 28" shafts for a 29" one at no charge, even after the first shafts had been received. I had several communications with him, and he was friendly and responsive.
His website is http://www.caromcues.com. In it he explains his cue buildling philosophy and various options for shafts and tips.
I hope I'm not coming across as a shill. I have no affiliation with Ron, just sharing a satifsfying cue purchase, for what it's worth. Ron's prices are very reasonable, which in my view helps make it a fun and low-risk experiment.
The purpose of this thread is to let everyone know that Ron makes a very high quality cue that can be extremely well suited to pocket billiards, if it's configured that way. With all of the recent interest in the Deano cues, with their wood pins and conical shaft tapers, I wanted to let folks know that Ron Kilby is an option well worth considering. My Kilby cue is becoming my favorite player: it has a firm yet responsive hit, deflection seems low (although I don't consider myself an expert on this), and my grip and stroke seem slightly more comfortable with this cue. Ron deliberately weights his cues more to the rear, with a slightly thicker butt and joint. I find this configuration to be confidence-inspiring, but it may not be for everyone. On his web site, he explains why he does this.
In addition, Ron is very service-oriented. He swapped out one of the two original 28" shafts for a 29" one at no charge, even after the first shafts had been received. I had several communications with him, and he was friendly and responsive.
His website is http://www.caromcues.com. In it he explains his cue buildling philosophy and various options for shafts and tips.
I hope I'm not coming across as a shill. I have no affiliation with Ron, just sharing a satifsfying cue purchase, for what it's worth. Ron's prices are very reasonable, which in my view helps make it a fun and low-risk experiment.
