I couldn't stop thinking about the Eddie Wheat cue and the rings. I ended up putting the cue under my micro scope to take a closer look. Here is my conclusion. -
In magnifying it I could see that Eddie builds his rings like this:
Step one:
He takes phenolic disc that is cut thin and installs it which would look like a single thin black ring
Step two
Then he installs a maple disc that is 3-4 mm thick like a plain maple ring
Step three
Then he installs another black phenolic disc.
Step four
This is where he cheats, he etches out a square section and fills it with some sort of black nail polish or even what some people where saying simply a sharpie, any way it is some black filling. I imagine he tapes off the maple ring and applies the nail polish and lets it dry, after that her applies a finish. I can assure you that the Eddie Wheat cue I have has rings that are not made from a billet.