I've had a Cameron Red-X mallet since '04. Tried others but nothing better. Scotty himself said it was the best feeling putter they made.
Treadway cues
- Thread starter enimrac
- Start date
vintagecollectibles831
Well-known member
I do not mean the hit alone. I mean, the hit / feel of everything that might go through your mind as you hold the cue, and follow through the cue ball. All cues feel / hit different, but I really enjoyed a Gulyassy cue that I once played with.
I only had a 'cosmic connection' to one cue really, a 1983 R. Black 4pt Hoppe. I traded it for a Scruggs that played fine but the ol Black was special. Oh well.
vintagecollectibles831
Well-known member
I had a Kikel that I miss so much. That cue felt very special to me, when playing with it. As always, I was unable to hold onto it. I woukd love to have another Kikel someday though. Always wanted a Richard Black too. Classic Bushka style..
...or you can periodically check out superiorcues.com where brand new cues from custom cue makers line the walls. No wait.
Benelli
Well-known member
RB cues from 84 to 95 have nothing but magic in them!
There are some amazing Bushka style cues from that time period!
I had Richard make me an ebony 4-pt in 1978 and it played lights out.
In 1981, I was living in the Philippines and playing pool everyday so I had him make me another cue, a Merry Widow.
There was a young Air Force guy from Texas that was in awe of Richard Black, another Texan, and he kept bugging me to sell the 4-point to him after I told him I had ordered a new cue.
I sold it to him before I got a chance to put in much time with the new cue.
The first cue played WAY better and I regretted selling it.
I then moved to Japan and on one of my travels back to the USA in 1985, I went back to the town where I grew up and visited the pool hall where I had learned to play and worked as a kid and teen. The owner was buddies with Jim McDermott and he got me a rock-bottom steal on a McDermott C-14 when the D-Line catalog came out.
I didn't need another cue, but I got such a good deal I knew I could sell it for more than I paid for it.
When I got it, it played OUTSTANDING, so I kept it and sold the Black.
I used it for decades.
I still have the C-14 and I have turned down MULTIPLE cash-in-hand offers of more than 10 times what I paid for it.
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This is the same model "Casino" Merry Widow cue I ordered from Richard in 1981, except mine had a black pigskin wrap.
I had a RB like that. sold it to buy my Hoppe.
This is what the 4-point looked like. It had a white/green speck Irish linen wrap.
This was the photo Richard Black used for his catalog when I had him make the 4-point in 1978.
$175 is what I paid for it.
I wanted him to make the Hoppe for me, but he said he didn't want to make any more of them until he figured out what was causing them to make some sort of weird sound when you hit the ball with them. I assume it was because of the way he constructed the butt cap with the Hoppe ring and I can't remember if he used a bumper on them at the time or whether it was recessed into the butt.
I guess he figured it out because he started making them again,
$175 is what I paid for it.
I wanted him to make the Hoppe for me, but he said he didn't want to make any more of them until he figured out what was causing them to make some sort of weird sound when you hit the ball with them. I assume it was because of the way he constructed the butt cap with the Hoppe ring and I can't remember if he used a bumper on them at the time or whether it was recessed into the butt.
I guess he figured it out because he started making them again,
vintagecollectibles831
Well-known member
Very beautiful cue. Very cool story. I have played with a few D Series Mcdermotts, and I was very impressed with how nice they hit. The C series must be super rare, and the B series must be ultra rare. I read that a few famous cue makers worked at Mcdermott during those B and C Series years. Can't remember their names though. I am thinking that Tim Scruggs may have been one of those cue makers. Might be mistaken though.
There were several, if not many, of Richard's original 4-point veneered cues mistaken for and sold as Balabushka's.
I had never heard of Richard Black until I came back to the USA from Taiwan in 1976.
I was going to buy a Balabushka that went for less than $200 before he died in 1975, but the cues he had made before he died were all going for well over $1000 in 1976, after he was gone.
I went to a pool supply store in San Bernadino, CA to look at some cues and I saw what looked like a Balbushka, but it was a 4-point Richard Black and the owner, a guy by the name of John Sanders, told me he was the sole distributer for Richard Black cues in Southern California.
I didn't know what the actual price of what a Richard Black cue should be going for at the time so I told him I would come back later. I then looked through some Billiard News papers and found Richard Black's advertisement and I called him direct. He told me he would make me one for $175.
When I got the cue from Richard, I needed to buy a new case for it, so I went back to John's store to look at cases. He asked me what kind of cue I was going to use it for and I told him "a Richard Black" and he asked where I got it.
I told him I ordered it from Richard and he got pissed. He said he had an agreement with Richard that all cues in Southern California should go through him.
I don't know what became of his dealings with Richard after that, but I know the $175 I paid Richard was a hell of a lot cheaper than John was selling them for in his store.
In my opinion, the C-series were the best. They used a lot of old and exotic woods in those cues and that was back before they started using computers to do most of the stuff.
I used to call the factory and talk to Jim McDermott a lot back in those days. I really liked him and he told me a lot of stuff about pool cues.
Here are some links to their old cues from the past.
B-series
McDermott B-Series | Retired Pool Cues | Collector Pool Cues | McDermott Cues
McDermott Pool Cues manufactures and distributes handcrafted pool cues, high-performance shafts, pool cue cases, billiard balls and quality billiard and pool cue accessories.
www.mcdermottcue.com
C-series
McDermott C-Series | Retired Pool Cues | Collector Pool Cues | McDermott Cues
McDermott Pool Cues manufactures and distributes handcrafted pool cues, high-performance shafts, pool cue cases, billiard balls and quality billiard and pool cue accessories.
www.mcdermottcue.com
D-series
McDermott D-Series | Retired Pool Cues | Collector Pool Cues | McDermott Cues
McDermott Pool Cues manufactures and distributes handcrafted pool cues, high-performance shafts, pool cue cases, billiard balls and quality billiard and pool cue accessories.
www.mcdermottcue.com
I have another idea for a cue that i might reach out to Cody for, i've heard a lot on here about him and been following his facebook for a while now too.
A buddy at the pool hall traded for one last week and i got to play with it for a hour or so and i loved it. Sadly he sold it within a few days. He played a rack with it after trading and decided it wasn't for him lol.
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
I'm sure the same would be true with a cue from Josh Treadway .