my friend who is a SW collector told me that Jerry Franklin only sprayed cues for the last 3 years he was there.anyone have any knowledge of this he is pretty good freinds with Laurie and said that if you want a cue that Franklin actuaaly built you need to go back to 1993 or earlier.
Sw
- Thread starter masonh
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The vast majority of time frames and terms used to describe who actually constructed a specific South West cue is in many cases completely inaccurate. South West is today, and has been in the past, a "team effort."masonh said:
The cues constructed today are made by the same people that were making the cues when Jerry was alive. For many years before his death Jerry did mostly the finish work on the cues coming out of the shop. Mickey has been there for over twenty years and actually started out doing clean up work for Kersenbrock Cue Service where he learned to use a lathe when he was a young boy. Al has been there for 18 years. Chance has been there off and on since he was born. Jerry's brother worked for many years working mainly on the "Fancy" cues. Laurie was and still is there picking wood, culling shaft blanks, running the office and the everyday operation of the business. There are several others that have worked in the shop over the years that also made contributions to the business.
I sometimes get the impression that some South West cues are described as "Jerry Franklin made cues" as if somehow it validates a superior quality over other South West cues which is completely in contrast to the concept Jerry had for the company. I appreciate the contribution that Jerry made to every South West cue I have ever owned as well as the contribution by everyone else at South west cues. I own and have owned a considerable number of South West cues. It's very unlikely that I have ever owned a cue that was made entirely by Jerry Franklin and it's just as likely that no one else has either. Enjoy your cue. enjoy the game.
Regards, Roger
i know about all of the guys there and stuff,but was curious about what my buddy said,b/c there does seem to be a "Franklin is worth more" mentality with most collectors.you seem to confirm what my buddy said when you said for many years he only worked on finishing them.i agree with you though.the best hitting and plaing SW i ever owned was a 2005 and i have had many as well.thanks for your insight.
I own two fancy Southwests that were made during the Franklin era. I wouldn't pay half as much for fancy cues that are made today. There is nothing stopping Southwest from producing a lot of fancy cues if they decide to hire additional people and start adding lots of inlays. One of the reasons that Fancy Franklin Southwests are so valuable is because he didn't make very many. If an when Southwest stops making pool cues and they only make very few fancy ones in the upcomming years then those cues should also go up in value quite nicely.
Barry Szamboti worked for Gus for quite a few years and I am sure had a hand in building quite a few Gus cues. These cues are going to be worth more because Gus was alive when they were built, it doesn't matter who actually handled every aspect of building the cue.
So in my opinion as a collector Franklin era cues are always going to have a premium over cues that were made after his death.
Barry Szamboti worked for Gus for quite a few years and I am sure had a hand in building quite a few Gus cues. These cues are going to be worth more because Gus was alive when they were built, it doesn't matter who actually handled every aspect of building the cue.
So in my opinion as a collector Franklin era cues are always going to have a premium over cues that were made after his death.
TheMarsMan said:
Absolutely....John, you hit the nail on the head. But that premium may only be 200-400 on a plain 6-pt whereas is might be 2-4k or more on a fancy inlaid one.
cueaddicts said:
It always makes me feel better when an expert agrees with my opinion!
I agree with your estimates on pricing also, probably about a 10-15% increase in value for a Franklin Era cue.
I'm not sure if you were making a reference to my earlier post, if not, please disregard this post. The point I was making was concerning the quality of the cues rather than the monetary value. Clearly on most occaisions you are going to pay a premium for South West cues made while Jerry was in the shop. That does not necessarily mean the cues are of a higher quality.TheMarsMan said:
I think most cue makers would agree that the cues they made in their first year of production were not any higher quality than the cues they were making 10 years later and very likely were of a somewhat lesser quality. As an example, you stated that you had 2 Franklin era fancy cues, it's almost a certainty that the majority of the work on those cues were done by Jerry's brother Gary. If he were to make those same two cues eight years later it seems like a valid argument that the work could actually be better even if the value of the cues was perceived to be less.
The only part of your post I strongly disagree with is where you state that there is nothing stopping South West from producing a lot more fancy cues by hiring additional people and start adding lots of inlays. I think if it were that simple they would have done it by now.
Regards, Roger