Scmelke quality

B

Brother Ron

Well-known member
After much research and thought I contacted Dave at Schmelke and ordered a Red Heart Sneaky cue 18oz w/12.5mm tip for 147.50 shipped.
After shooting with it for several hours a few times I have to say I am impressed with the quality and feel compared to much higher priced cues.
It will work great for times when I would rather not take my Meucci 95-11 with it's keilwood shaft into a crowded bar tournament.
After purchasing the Schmelke cue I have officially retired my 1980's Eckes cue from back up duty.
 
Brother Ron said:
After much research and thought I contacted Dave at Schmelke and ordered a Red Heart Sneaky cue 18oz w/12.5mm tip for 147.50 shipped.
After shooting with it for several hours a few times I have to say I am impressed with the quality and feel compared to much higher priced cues.
It will work great for times when I would rather not take my Meucci 95-11 with it's keilwood shaft into a crowded bar tournament.
After purchasing the Schmelke cue I have officially retired my 1980's Eckes cue from back up duty.
Click to expand...
Eckes? I haven't heard that name in a while. I believe a 1980's example would be an Adam cue.

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Brother Ron said:
After much research and thought I contacted Dave at Schmelke and ordered a Red Heart Sneaky cue 18oz w/12.5mm tip for 147.50 shipped.
After shooting with it for several hours a few times I have to say I am impressed with the quality and feel compared to much higher priced cues.
It will work great for times when I would rather not take my Meucci 95-11 with it's keilwood shaft into a crowded bar tournament.
After purchasing the Schmelke cue I have officially retired my 1980's Eckes cue from back up duty.
Click to expand...
I think Schmelke still makes a great simple cue. Nothing wrong at all with it. Great option for getting a cue made. And if you like an aftermarket shaft, just get a standard joint and screw on whatever you like.

(y) (y) (y) (y)
 
I've owned 4 schemelkes (still have 2, one solid bocote with leather wrap for my break cue, one cocobolo sneaky for just that casual / whatever purpose). Something seems to have changed with their bocote wood and / or the final finish they use a few years ago. It looks a lot more cloudy / milky for some reason. Very good solid hitting big pin cues. The other two were sold to my friends, including my first cue I ever bought back in 1987 with their brass joint (not my favorite, but didn't know better then).

My break bocote break is in the middle of the first picture and will never sell it as it is one piece (might be warped because of this) but it hits so solid for a breaker, my sneaky is in the second picture, and the newer finish look (not to my liking, my friend's M10 bocote looks even more washed out / milkier) is in the third picture.
 

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Chopdoc said:
Eckes? I haven't heard that name in a while. I believe a 1980's example would be an Adam cue.
Click to expand...
Herbert Eckes was a key figure in Marshfield WI notably serving as an influential mentor to David Jacoby of Jacoby Custom Cues during the early development of Davids cue-making skills.
I bought my first Eckes Cue from Herbert in the 70's. He made his own cues on a lathe he had set up in his garage.
I purchased my second Eckes cue in 1985 after my little brother broke my first one.
In the 80's he still made his own shafts on his lathe, but I'm not possitive about the butts since some of them had a "Magnum" sticker under the finish on the forearm. I visited him on several occaisions and he always had a limited supply in his office. A friend that I shoot with regularly used to sell cues for Herbert.
 
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sbrownn said:
I've owned 4 schemelkes (still have 2, one solid bocote with leather wrap for my break cue, one cocobolo sneaky for just that casual / whatever purpose). Something seems to have changed with their bocote wood and / or the final finish they use a few years ago. It looks a lot more cloudy / milky for some reason. Very good solid hitting big pin cues. The other two were sold to my friends, including my first cue I ever bought back in 1987 with their brass joint (not my favorite, but didn't know better then).

My break bocote break is in the middle of the first picture and will never sell it as it is one piece (might be warped because of this) but it hits so solid for a breaker, my sneaky is in the second picture, and the newer finish look (not to my liking, my friend's M10 bocote looks even more washed out / milkier) is in the third picture.
Click to expand...
Looks like they cheapen out on the coating. I had my bocote around your breaker or something a bit more darker.
 

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sbrownn said:
got any pictures and joint details of this model? google didn't turn any up...
Click to expand...

Search here on AZB, a few pics will come up.
Chopdoc said:
Eckes? I haven't heard that name in a while. I believe a 1980's example would be an Adam cue.

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I had never heard of Eckes before. My first cue was an Adams H10 my father gave me in the late 80's, it was stolen from the pool hall when me and a few buddies went outside as "backup" to another buddy who was trying to get paid. Pool hall emptied out, came back in and my case was gone. :(
 
sbrownn said:
got any pictures and joint details of this model? google didn't turn any up...
Click to expand...
Top and bottom cues are Jackpots.

Both are ebony Merry Widows with 3/8-10 joints. Top cue has a camphor burl handle, cored with purple heart by Larry Vigus. Bottom cue has a maple handle.

Middle cue is a Merry Widow by John Chaplin, Coos Cues, and it is cocobolo cored with purple heart and it has a sindora burl handle.
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I ordered a blank several years ago, and it was not great. After a few months, you could fill the ridges in between the points and the forearm. Then it warped later on. I think the blank was maybe a $100 bucks so I wasn’t surprised.
 
Brother Ron said:
After much research and thought I contacted Dave at Schmelke and ordered a Red Heart Sneaky cue 18oz w/12.5mm tip for 147.50 shipped.
After shooting with it for several hours a few times I have to say I am impressed with the quality and feel compared to much higher priced cues.
It will work great for times when I would rather not take my Meucci 95-11 with it's keilwood shaft into a crowded bar tournament.
After purchasing the Schmelke cue I have officially retired my 1980's Eckes cue from back up duty.
Click to expand...
They made an inexpensive cue to my specs years ago. Still have it!
 
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