i think tad is a cuemaker of GREAT integrity and you will get the very best in effort and quality.
his cues are also good investments.
however,,,,i have owned three tads in the past and played with another. the three i owned all had dead hits, and the forth i tried - i didn't like. having said that i know of two people who's opinion of cues i respect more than ANY other player i know, and they have only good things to say about tad's hit. i willl say also, that the three cues i owned were rather old dating back to the early 70's, but they were dead hitting back then as well.
while all the cues that leave tad's shop goes through his approval, you must know that he no longer makes most of the cues. they are done by his son. i believe tad only builds the expensive, all ivory cues.
lastly, while i admire tad's designs, and they are very unique in the industry, he's not very creative since he's been using basically the same design over and over again. so imo, buying new or old makes very little difference from a cosmetic standpoint,,,,however tad DID make the older ones, and that may count in your purchase.
if you don't like clearcoating the delrin, tell him not to or at least have him explain why he does it.