I absolutely agree with this. When you buy anything custom, you are investing in something unique and special. That goes both ways as well. You are buying something unique and special yes, but the person designing and making said product is also investing personal time, sweat, and sometimes even blood to bring that uniqueness into the world. Like you said, a custom cue is an experience. While I would probably never buy a high end custom cue myself, I do have several custom works of various types around my house that I absolutely cherish the experience of buying, admiring, and using.
Serious question about today's cues.
- Thread starter middleofnowhere
- Start date
I have played for a lot years. I play with a McDermott cue. I use a G -Core shaft, which has carbon fiber at the in of the shaft. I have been thinking of buying a McDermott Defy CF shaft, but I can't find any reviews on the shaft. Would anyone out have one, or, know anyone who uses a Defy shaft. Please let me know if it would be a good purchase.
Almost everything we buy is mass produced and machine made. Perhaps the few things we can buy that are customized are a bit of rebellion against this fact.
Link?
A few years ago one of the local players infamously used an original Balabushka to move the tally beads above a table.
"On a final note I respectfully disagree that a $10,000 watch is the same as a $100 watch."
Of course they are not the same but both will keep accurate time. It boils down to do you want to wear a watch or keep track of time.
Everyone I've met that had a custom high end cue was sure to tell me about it.
Of course they are not the same but both will keep accurate time. It boils down to do you want to wear a watch or keep track of time.
Everyone I've met that had a custom high end cue was sure to tell me about it.
If you don't understand the passion that some folks have for custom anything, then you just don't understand. It is easy in life to dismiss what you have never experienced, or are incapable of realizing. We all do that sometimes - some more than others.
So of course there is a difference in how an expensive watch is made and how a reasonably priced watch is made. But is one better as a WATCH than the other one? Or is an expensive watch even more comfortable to wear than a high end one? No. Once a certain level of quality is met, say a $100-200 Seiko, you are past just the utility or even nice looks, since I see many cheaper items that look as good or better.
One is better as art or as a luxury item and for personal satisfaction or a status symbol. At the end of the day, if you know it's 4pm, your wrist does not hurt from wearing it, it's a watch. If some guy spent 5 hours polishing a gear, used gold and platinum, packaged it in a fancy wood box, that is not a watch, that is a luxury item. It is the exact same with cues or anything else that gets to past just good enough. If you can make balls with it, the balance is good and it does not rattle when you use it, it's a good enough cue. Adding a name to it or using rare wood or fancy gems or metals does not make it inherently a better cue. A while ago they had some 10,000 dollar phones out, difference was it was made of expensive stuff and was exclusive, grandma at the other end of the line would have no idea if you called her on that or from your $40 10 year old Nokia.
Usually when someone spend a bunch on something fancy, they are not getting it for themselves, they are getting it so others know they have it. No one would buy a Rolex if it was hidden behind your shirt all the time or just used to tell time.
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JC
Coos Cues
Luxury is all relative so again, I respectfully disagree with you. There are "wants" and there are "needs." Do you NEED a pair of $200 Nike sneakers that cost $3.00 to make in Vietnam? No. Why don't you just strap a piece of leather to your feet and make utilitarian shoes or tie plastic bags to your feet to make socks? Does a $10,000 watch tell time better than a $100.00 watch? Actually......yes. It does. It does it's primary job of telling accurate, precise time BETTER than a 100 dollar watch but only the customer can weigh the price they're willing to pay for that level of precision machine work vs. the finite differences in the two timepieces. Since pool is SUCH a mental game, some estimate 90% mental/10% physical then playing with a higher end cue can and in my humble opinion DOES make a difference. Does a $10,000 cue play better than a broom stick for $1.50? Yes. It does, even though I've seen gents run rack after rack with the latter of the two. Does it play "better" than a mass produced cue? I think it does if the cue was built specifically for you and your wants and needs. Why did you select the cue you play with? Most likely it was because the quality of the materials and the look of the cue vs the price vs it's ability to do what you want it to do is where you drew the line in the sand regarding price. Why didn't you just buy a K-Mart special and learn to use that if you wanted nothing but utilitarian? But again, it's relative as to whether or not you're willing to pay the difference for the higher quality materials vs. a broom stick or carbon fiber or fiberglass or any other material out there. Luxury is relative but I dare say the vast majority of people could improve their game by having a custom cue made JUST for them by a highly skilled craftsman/artisan cue maker. How much of an improvement would be physical or mental; I have no idea. The willingness to pay for that finite difference in improvement is also relative. Is a 2% improvement worth $50.00? How about a 4% improvement for $200? As cue makers we would be offered shaft wood for pennies and we'd turn them down. We'd rather pay $100.00 per piece and get the absolute best of the best vs. sorting through 100 shafts to find one that was worth a rat's ass while throwing out or selling off the other 99. Why didn't we use Titebond-II wood glue to build the cue instead of the highest quality adhesives available on the market? The customer ultimately pays for that pickiness that technology, that engineering, that research, those materials regardless of whether or not the cue ever had an inlay put in it. Why not just buy a $2.00 watch at a Dollar Store if all you want to do is know what time it is? Why spend $100? Again, luxury is relative. After all when you really get down to it a $1000 bottle of the world's finest wine is still just aged grape juice in a bottle and a $2.00 My Little Pony wristwatch from the Dollar Store is some person's luxury sundial. For the record, I've never believed inlays have the ability to make balls but a state of mind.....can.
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Like many here I have lots of cues, mostly customs. Similarly, I have had lots mass produced motorcyles, all brands. I had many of these motorcycles modified as one off customs and a few handbuilt customs. I was a motorcycle dealer for 25 years and could do these things. The handbuilt and custom motorcycles were no better than the mass produced ones but much dearer to my heart. Also, it would sound stupid to spend all that money on customs and then say they weren't better, lol. Point is, the carbon fiber cues, shafts will not necessarily make you a better player. Skill and commitment to improving does that. For sake of argument it is my opinion that today's carbon fiber equipment is the best ever available. IMO, if today's quality of carbon fiber products had been available at the beginning of pool we would never have heard of wooden cues. I say this with regret because I have close friends who build custom wooden cues. I have one on order now. Certainly, I will buy more...but not because they're better.
middleofnowhere
Registered
Many high end cues are priced such because of extensive inlay. If the cue doesn't have spliced points then prier to doing the cnc work on it, it was just a turned piece of wood. So does CNC have any place in this discussion?
pros play with a certain cue for many reasons.
1. Unknown nobody, he play with what he or she bought.
2. Better know Pro, someone gave them Cue for exposure.
3. Much better know get free Cue, Case for product pimping. Old trade out.
4. Big name Promplsy with Cue from company that give most money. Pro is Cue pimp, and could play off the wall.
1. Unknown nobody, he play with what he or she bought.
2. Better know Pro, someone gave them Cue for exposure.
3. Much better know get free Cue, Case for product pimping. Old trade out.
4. Big name Promplsy with Cue from company that give most money. Pro is Cue pimp, and could play off the wall.
Does CNC have a place in this discussion? No. Not in my opinion. A CNC mill or lathe is a tool and nothing more. Now, I can 10000% guarantee this: NO one is building a cue with a hammer and a chisel. They're ALL using precision tools of some sort and some tools are better than others in that they're more precise and more accurate capable of producing repeatable results. I've seen some snooker cues being built by a well known cue maker and the process is downright barbaric by "machine standards." It's more akin to carving and hammer and chisel and hand plane work than it is machine work (lathe and mill.) That being said, I assure you there is as much art in doing CAD/CAM as there is technology. I think there is a misconception about CNC work in that the general belief is you slap a piece of wood on the machine, push a button and out comes a $10,000 cue. NOTHING could be further from the truth. The amount of skill and knowledge you must have to run a CNC mill or lathe isn't really less or more than running a manual mill or lathe but the knowledge is different. No....I take that back. I think the amount of skill and knowledge you need for CNC machining is perhaps greater because not only do you have to know good machining practices and the tactile and sensory skills to run a manual machine you have to have the added computer skills. The amount of knowledge you need for material holding plus the necessary jigs and fixtures (none of which are off the shelf mind you) is unimaginable and requires some serious creativity. Also, I think there is a misconception about wood "turning" on a "lathe." For the sake of the laymen in the audience this isn't YouTube wood turning of a bowl or a vase type of wood turning on a wood lathe and cutting with gouges. These are highly retrofitted machine tools that are used normally for turning metal but have been altered to turn wood to the same high tolerances of + or - .0005 of an inch or 1/2 of 1/1000 of an inch AND to do it repeatedly. A human hair is roughly 2 one-thousandths of an inch or .002 in. So, take that human hair and split it down the middle into four strips and you get a rough idea of the tolerances cue makers are holding. All a CNC machine is doing is making the process of getting from here to there more accurate and hopefully repeatable. To sum up, it's a tool. Nothing more. Some people create art with it, some people create firewood with it. Put a hammer and chisel in one guy's hands and he'll create a wooden spoon. Put that same hammer and chisel in another person's hands and he'll create The Pieta.
middleofnowhere
Registered
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Donkeybutt
Registered
high end cars and watches are status symbols and usually used to attract the females. Sorry, a pool cue, no matter how nice it is, ain't gonna attract no females, may repel them in fact. I nice cue is what it is, something nice to have, that's it.
Well said.
My watch is G-shock knock off. Seldom wear as phone, car, and most places o go have clocks.
Cue is ball hitter, can do with House Cue, or money is no object.