TAD-1-T-WH Tigerwood Big Pin is Rare (picture)

[Thecoats]

When I zoomed in on the picture of the pin the joint definitely looks like something other than ivory. I see patterns not grain. Cool old cue, I bet it is a good player.

 

[Seiji Lépine]

I am not that great a player now, maybe I was much better in college? Of about a dozen high end cues including several other TADs and brand new TAD shafts made a few months ago, this cue plays among the best. My friend who is consistently a break and run nine ball player is also impressed with this cues overall performance. I am getting new 13mm by 30 inch shafts made for it; however, it maybe pretty hard to make it play better than its current 10.8mm by 29 inch original shafts. They play very stiff and have a longer taper than standard TAD shafts. If the new shafts don't play as well because too much has changed in the design, I may ask Fred to copy the current shafts exactly so I have clean new shafts. I have only two cues that make me play better. This is definitely one of them. The contact feel and ball control is just a little bit better than everything else I have. It is also the ugliest condition cue I have, but you can tell it was somebody's main cue. It has seen many hours of play. Says a lot about the cue. It came from Japan, I'm hoping it doesn't warp from the drastically changing environment. Goncalo Alves hopefully is very warp resistant. If the shafts warp, I can get them replaced, but if the butt warps, I will mourn the loss. I am not getting the butt refinished to reduce the opportunity of warping the butt.

 

[Seiji Lépine]

I think it cleaned up nicely. I got two new 30 inch shafts. One old, one new shown. The ink stains are gone, the damaged finish is fixed. It's all glossy now without the big plots of dull matt spots caused most likely by someone spilling solvent on it. The original wrap filled with chalk stains was kept (it feels good). The wood looks dark and quite attractive in good lighting. Almost as nice as rosewood. Still hits a ton! Funny, the more I look at this cue, the more questions I have about the wood. It doesn't look very much like Tiger wood.