The Szamboti's of tomorrow: the future of cue making
- Thread starter Retail1LO
- Start date
I have two names for you SEARING AND SHOWMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kchighendcues said:
KEN,
I WOULD ALREADY CONSIDER THESE GUYS, PART OF THE "IN" CROWD. I DON'T THINK OF THEM AS MAKERS OF TOMORROW. BUT THEY ARE BOTH AWESOME CUEMAKERS.
While I agree that Hercek, Searing and Showman are already on the "Elite List" for cuemakers, I would think Keith Josey and Mike Capone should be added, too. Their cues play very nice, and they are cranking out some artwork on top of that as well.
Off topic - Panhdlce, Great new Avatar. I had a mid 90's Les Paul Classic Plus in Honeyburst that was stellar. That is THE guitar, bar none, I wish I would have kept...
Off topic - Panhdlce, Great new Avatar. I had a mid 90's Les Paul Classic Plus in Honeyburst that was stellar. That is THE guitar, bar none, I wish I would have kept...
bruin70 said:
Yeah, let those guys go nutso. That will just drive up the value of the cue maker who takes his time on every step, chooses the very highest quality wood, joinery, finish, and make sures everything lines up dead nuts. After all these years, the formula for making a great cue hasn't changed. Machinery has advanced to provide more precision. It's the people who are using it to refine the formula rather than reinvent it who will succeed.
There's a nutty cuemaker in Sta Barbara.
Makes artsy cues by hand.
They sell for thousands of dollars.
Some to movie/tv stars like Don Johnson. Don likes bridges so he had this make him a cue with bridge art/inlays in it.
Dude made it for thousands.
He calls his cues Driftwood, I been told.
Nobody has heard of him. A few have met him.
He is the Kaiser Sose of cuemaking.
Makes artsy cues by hand.
They sell for thousands of dollars.
Some to movie/tv stars like Don Johnson. Don likes bridges so he had this make him a cue with bridge art/inlays in it.
Dude made it for thousands.
He calls his cues Driftwood, I been told.
Nobody has heard of him. A few have met him.
He is the Kaiser Sose of cuemaking.
all I hear is sugertree...........
Since there are many opions I will add that this year I went to the derby and vf,there were numerious sugartree cues around (grader tried even to sell me one at vf)and I really dont see the hype,they are nice cues but there was nothing to them except the woods used were different and exotic to some but didnt appeal to me(key word,dont get offended sugertree fans),I like the traditional work.This may sound like a knock to some but different strokes for different fokes.Been around cues for many years,Had just about every cuemakers cue at one time or another,sold alot that I wish I still had,including 5 searings
.And seen some cuemakers really hyped up in the past and now there like trying to sell ice cream at the north pole! I recently bought a blackcreek that was in inside pool in march and the work is great and there's ALOT of work in it. For a young guy he is right there. I showed a friend (jay)from pa his cues and he purchased a real nice one for over 3500 cash at vf saturday after he saw and hit with them. Jay had some of the nicest szambotis in his case you have ever seen,so he must know something too.After that,if you were at vf,I went to the other side of the aisle and ordered a Haley,his work is just beautiful. Nobody has a crystal ball,and if your going to invest in cues,make sure you and you alone love the cue,because its all speculative. JMO
Since there are many opions I will add that this year I went to the derby and vf,there were numerious sugartree cues around (grader tried even to sell me one at vf)and I really dont see the hype,they are nice cues but there was nothing to them except the woods used were different and exotic to some but didnt appeal to me(key word,dont get offended sugertree fans),I like the traditional work.This may sound like a knock to some but different strokes for different fokes.Been around cues for many years,Had just about every cuemakers cue at one time or another,sold alot that I wish I still had,including 5 searings
.And seen some cuemakers really hyped up in the past and now there like trying to sell ice cream at the north pole! I recently bought a blackcreek that was in inside pool in march and the work is great and there's ALOT of work in it. For a young guy he is right there. I showed a friend (jay)from pa his cues and he purchased a real nice one for over 3500 cash at vf saturday after he saw and hit with them. Jay had some of the nicest szambotis in his case you have ever seen,so he must know something too.After that,if you were at vf,I went to the other side of the aisle and ordered a Haley,his work is just beautiful. Nobody has a crystal ball,and if your going to invest in cues,make sure you and you alone love the cue,because its all speculative. JMOFoolurself
Registered
Cuetec and Meucci handsdown!
cuedoctor said:Since there are many opions I will add that this year I went to the derby and vf,there were numerious sugartree cues around (grader tried even to sell me one at vf)and I really dont see the hype,they are nice cues but there was nothing to them except the woods used were different and exotic to some but didnt appeal to me(key word,dont get offended sugertree fans),I like the traditional work.This may sound like a knock to some but different strokes for different fokes.Been around cues for many years,Had just about every cuemakers cue at one time or another,sold alot that I wish I still had,including 5 searings
I have to agree with Charlie. I just don't get the attraction to the plainer cues like Sugartree and Zyler. Since hit is all opinion, I need to be turned on by the design and I like some flair. The curliest maple or most figured cocobolo takes a backseat to 4 ebony points with nice veneering steeped in tradition. But thats me. Some people think tradition is too old, while some people think alot of cnc is cookie-cutter. It's all what you like.
But the future of cuemaking is not in the cuemakers, its in the popularity of pool, 400 cuemakers need an audience and if pool keeps loosing ground to poker and other things, there will be alot of wood burning.
JV
Since hit is all opinion
But somehow a lot of people pay for that hit.
Some people think tradition is too old, while some people think alot of cnc is cookie-cutter. It's all what you like.
I think "tradition" is just done by so many. Before they even become known for their hit.
CNC floating points just do no sell anymore imo.
But somehow a lot of people pay for that hit.
Some people think tradition is too old, while some people think alot of cnc is cookie-cutter. It's all what you like.
I think "tradition" is just done by so many. Before they even become known for their hit.
CNC floating points just do no sell anymore imo.
But somehow a lot of people pay for that hit.
Agreed, you will get people mystified by the hit of a cue. But I put my own limited abilities in mind before judging hit. Plus I understand the phenomena of cueforia.
I think "tradition" is just done by so many. Before they even become known for their hit. CNC floating points just do no sell anymore imo.
Many guys do tradition, but few do it really well, IMHO. But its still the look I like. While I admire some cnc designs, they are not cues I would collect myself.
JV
Agreed, you will get people mystified by the hit of a cue. But I put my own limited abilities in mind before judging hit. Plus I understand the phenomena of cueforia.
I think "tradition" is just done by so many. Before they even become known for their hit. CNC floating points just do no sell anymore imo.
Many guys do tradition, but few do it really well, IMHO. But its still the look I like. While I admire some cnc designs, they are not cues I would collect myself.
JV
Agreed, you will get people mystified by the hit of a cue. But I put my own limited abilities in mind before judging hit. Plus I understand the phenomena of cueforia
The hit is the result of really fine construction technique and wood selection imo.
I have witnessed how Kerry Zeiler matches shafts to the different forearm woods. It is a process I do not know if anyone outside of him even does.
A lot of people pay more for his sneakies than a lot of pointed/inlayed cues out there.
The hit is the result of really fine construction technique and wood selection imo.
I have witnessed how Kerry Zeiler matches shafts to the different forearm woods. It is a process I do not know if anyone outside of him even does.
A lot of people pay more for his sneakies than a lot of pointed/inlayed cues out there.
The hit is the result of really fine construction technique and wood selection imo. I have witnessed how Kerry Zeiler matches shafts to the different forearm woods. It is a process I do not know if anyone outside of him even does.
A lot of people pay more for his sneakies than a lot of pointed/inlayed cues out there.
Look, I am not bashing anyone. But everyone has their differences and their magical, mystical techniques. (You have a guy in Chicago that marries his wood before hand.) I am sure Kerry's cues have a distinct hit, the end all to end all, I doubt it. People are also willing to pay 650.00 for a Scruggs conversion of a house cue, that doesn't make them the best cues in the world either. Again, its all opinion. Your ultimate hit, and my ultimate hit are sure to be entirely different.
JV
A lot of people pay more for his sneakies than a lot of pointed/inlayed cues out there.
Look, I am not bashing anyone. But everyone has their differences and their magical, mystical techniques. (You have a guy in Chicago that marries his wood before hand.) I am sure Kerry's cues have a distinct hit, the end all to end all, I doubt it. People are also willing to pay 650.00 for a Scruggs conversion of a house cue, that doesn't make them the best cues in the world either. Again, its all opinion. Your ultimate hit, and my ultimate hit are sure to be entirely different.
JV
Retail1LO said:
I think this is a very good discussion for a post. I have been putting cues away for more than twenty years, and I have some great success and some equally big failures. But from this, I have learned that traditionally made limited quantity items will always increase in value in time. Currently the market has more individuals making and trying to sell cues than ever before. In my opinion, the current market is flooded due to this, and also due to the use of CNC machinery.
With the advent of smaller types of CNC machinery and computers in general, people have been able to complete certain types of work that would take weeks if not months by hand. Now with this said, everyone knows that, the more of any particular item that is available the less demand there will be for these items over time. Keeping this in mind, what is a good value in todays cue market. Currently for these reasons, I only buy cues from cues makers who use traditional methods for construction, which include, Pantograph's, traditional adhesives, and limited machinery.
In my opinion, these items will always increase in value through time. This will occur due to a demand that can never be met, especially with the current trends of cue building moving farther and farther toward CNC Machinery, and craftsmanship and computer milling becoming synonymous.
Last edited:
masonh said:
best post in the thread,
its all in the age of the wood, TAd has old wood as well as SW. As wood ages it changes, and the older it gets the less it changes, so a cue that has wood that was cut down 40-60 years ago is ace-duce, old titlests that are cut in half by unknown wanna be cue makers play good, its all in the wood,
granted todays cue makers are building nicer looking cues, better tollerences BUT, none of them play good as the "old wood" cues.
