I checked it out. JB drops a cue, multiple times, through a tube which appears to be at a height even higher than the case drop. He then shows how different combinations of lids are damaged. Unless I missed it again, he still doesn't show how his case would fair in the drop test he used on Jack's case. He also never shows any damage to the pin on the cue, which he dropped multiple times.
If JB claims that the cue would be damaged, shouldn't he show the damage, if in fact any damage occurred during testing?
IMHO, all of this testing is much ado about nothing.
First of all, I would never drop my case from that height.
Anyone who does not use joint protectors is a fool and doesn't care about their cues.
JB's case may have a more protective interior, but is it really needed or is it overkill? After multiple drops, he never showed any damage to the cue. I certainly wouldn't drop my case and cues from that height once, let alone multiple times.
On a final note, JB keeps saying he is not bashing JJ. If that is true, why isn't he including any other top level custom cases in his tests?
I am sorry but I have to respond to this.
Let's establish the premise first.
Mr. Justis made the statement that cue could be damaged through a drop with this statement on AZ in 2006:
TO PREVENT PIN AND COLLAR DAMAGE, PLACE THE RUBBER BUMPER PORTION OF YOUR CUE AND THE TIP SECTION OF THE SHAFT DOWN TOWARD THE BOTTOM OF THE CASE.
If the pin and collar are installed down and the case is accidentally dropped, it could result in a bent pin or chipped collar from the force. I think this is a carry over from owners of cases with tapered tubes where you didn't have the choice but to install pin down.
So, it was Mr. Justis that suggested that damage can occur to a cue in his case in this manner. I have never suggested such a thing.
With the drop tests that were performed using the tube as a guide I was curious to see what happens when the cue is dropped when the pin is resting about 3-4 feet off the ground. This was done for my own curiosity in a video blog kind of way.
Today I went and did a bunch of drop tests with different cases, ours and others. So everyone can go and see that. I was very clear to state that I was not looking to see if the cue was damaged and I will state that I noticed no overt damage. My point was not to establish that Mr. Justis is correct that damage can occur in this manner.
Frankly I don't know, and if the result of all this shows that Mr. Justis is mostly incorrect then that is a plus for him and all of us who make cases. Personally I would prefer that the cue can never hit the lid hard enough to gouge it or dent it. Something along the lines of an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
The reason that other top case maker's cases weren't used as well is that I don't have any other top maker's cases that I actually own. I have an It's George and a Ron Thomas that are on loan so I don't feel like it's ok for me to beat those up. But if I did have them then I would subject them to the same tests. Fair is fair. Today I did do the test with three cases that we make, the Sterling Wave, the GTF and the J.Flowers Tribute series.
That video is available here:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2684463
Again the point of these videos is to show what happens. I didn't know what would happen, nothing was prearranged, I just did it live on camera and let the chips fall where they may.
To answer your question though of whether my padded interiors are overkill you'd have to ask the people who have had their cues damaged in various ways.
Let's consider the situation of FTGokie. He claims that his cue was damaged in his case. Let's assume that he is actually wrong and somehow he damaged it unconsciously in another setting and didn't realize it. Then when he pulls the cues out he thinks it happened in the case.
In my mind if the case didn't allow the cues to rattle and bang against each other then he wouldn't even have the thought enter his mind that the case could have allowed the cue to be damaged.
So for him it certainly wouldn't have been overkill to have a case where there was no doubt in his mind that case was not at fault.
As for joint protectors, well I think that the tests certainly do make the point clearly that you are safer with them than without them.
But on today's video I make the point that some people's joint protectors cost more than most cues. I don't know what Alton Tanaka's fancy ones cost but I don't think I'd be out of line to guess that some of those sets were over $500.
So in that vein I wouldn't even want my joint protectors to be clinking against each other or ever hitting the the top of the case.
Also as you know many joint protectors are over sized. And because the butt collar and shaft collar typically do not sit perfect adjacent to each other the means that in a case which allows the parts to touch at the top the lip of the jps can clink against the joint area of the butt.
Can something happen? Maybe, maybe not but I doubt that many of us want to sit around and tap our parts against each other to find out how many licks it takes to make a dent.
