So as many of you know I'm a big fan of Paul's work. Over the years we have built a relationship that has become more than just cue maker-customer. I would consider Paul and Ellen good friends.
With that in mind, as you can imagine I spend a fairly good amount of time at the shop. I was there on Sunday and during a discussion with Ellen, realized I had something she needed and promised to make another trip soon to drop it off. That trip came yesterday and I can't begin to tell you how glad I was I happened to be there when the mail man showed up. So on to the story...
Ellen dropped off a few packages in the office and one of them was a shipping tube. You know the one's that cues often get shipped in?
I don't know why but that tube was calling my name. I had no idea what was in it or who it came from but I just kept looking at it everytime I walked by. A little while later, Paul started opening the packages. First package-New chuck for one of his machines. Second package-Some really nice high quality veneers. Third package-Who the hell cares, just open the tube already!!! Lol
As he picked up the tube he quickly scanned the return address and with a quick, "I have no idea what the heck this is", started opening it. Once open he remembered it was a Titlist he had recently bought. I think his exact words were "Oh yeah, it's that Rosewood Titlist I bought." It always amazes me when he says things like that in such a nonchalant tone when I can barley stay in my shoes from excitement.
Anyway, he decided to chuck it up in the lathe to see how nice the wood was underneath all the years of dirt and grime. I had moved on to a seperate conversation with Ellen in the CNC room regarding the ringwork that was going to be in my new cue Paul is building for me. About a minute later I hear Paul calling my name from the shop asking me to come over for a look. As I approached, I hear this from Paul...... "Guess what? This isn't rosewood." After my initial confusion, my eyes settle on the cue and guess what I see? HOLY CRAP! A Purpleheart Titlist!!!
To some of you this may seem like no big deal but to those of you who know me, you know I've been looking for a PH Titlist to do a conversion on for..... well, forever! Needless to say, I broke a record for the shortest amount of time a peice of wood was in Paul's inventory. Lol. I immediatly told him I had to have it.
I have heard rumors floating around for a while that some of the Titlists Paul has used for his conversions are not authentic. The biggest argument for this false claim is that "the veneer colors are too bright". Let me put the rumors to rest right now... It's complete BULLSH*T. I have owned an Ebony Titlist conversion Paul made and it would be easy to discount it as not being authentic when you compare how bright the veneers are on that cue to some other conversions. So just to put it in perspective for you, here are a few photos of my Purpleheart Titlist in a few different stages of construction.
This first photo is just after he took off the first layer of dirt and grime and I was writing up the order for the cue. I'm going to do it in the classic style with an Ivory joint and Ivory Hoppe ring. You can see the peice of elephant that will be used for the wrap. You can see that the Purpleheart and the veneers are still rather dull in color at this point.
In this photo you can see it chucked up in one of Paul's many lathes. At this point he is starting to turn it down and even out the points and you can see that the Purpleheart and the veneers are starting to brighten up a bit.
This photo was taken today and you can see that the veneers are really starting to pop!
So, needless to say I am very excited about my Purpleheart Titlist conversion. Sorry for the poor quality photos. I didn't have my DSLR with me so I had to settle for iPhone photos. Lol.
With that in mind, as you can imagine I spend a fairly good amount of time at the shop. I was there on Sunday and during a discussion with Ellen, realized I had something she needed and promised to make another trip soon to drop it off. That trip came yesterday and I can't begin to tell you how glad I was I happened to be there when the mail man showed up. So on to the story...
Ellen dropped off a few packages in the office and one of them was a shipping tube. You know the one's that cues often get shipped in?
I don't know why but that tube was calling my name. I had no idea what was in it or who it came from but I just kept looking at it everytime I walked by. A little while later, Paul started opening the packages. First package-New chuck for one of his machines. Second package-Some really nice high quality veneers. Third package-Who the hell cares, just open the tube already!!! LolAs he picked up the tube he quickly scanned the return address and with a quick, "I have no idea what the heck this is", started opening it. Once open he remembered it was a Titlist he had recently bought. I think his exact words were "Oh yeah, it's that Rosewood Titlist I bought." It always amazes me when he says things like that in such a nonchalant tone when I can barley stay in my shoes from excitement.
Anyway, he decided to chuck it up in the lathe to see how nice the wood was underneath all the years of dirt and grime. I had moved on to a seperate conversation with Ellen in the CNC room regarding the ringwork that was going to be in my new cue Paul is building for me. About a minute later I hear Paul calling my name from the shop asking me to come over for a look. As I approached, I hear this from Paul...... "Guess what? This isn't rosewood." After my initial confusion, my eyes settle on the cue and guess what I see? HOLY CRAP! A Purpleheart Titlist!!!
To some of you this may seem like no big deal but to those of you who know me, you know I've been looking for a PH Titlist to do a conversion on for..... well, forever! Needless to say, I broke a record for the shortest amount of time a peice of wood was in Paul's inventory. Lol. I immediatly told him I had to have it.
I have heard rumors floating around for a while that some of the Titlists Paul has used for his conversions are not authentic. The biggest argument for this false claim is that "the veneer colors are too bright". Let me put the rumors to rest right now... It's complete BULLSH*T. I have owned an Ebony Titlist conversion Paul made and it would be easy to discount it as not being authentic when you compare how bright the veneers are on that cue to some other conversions. So just to put it in perspective for you, here are a few photos of my Purpleheart Titlist in a few different stages of construction.
This first photo is just after he took off the first layer of dirt and grime and I was writing up the order for the cue. I'm going to do it in the classic style with an Ivory joint and Ivory Hoppe ring. You can see the peice of elephant that will be used for the wrap. You can see that the Purpleheart and the veneers are still rather dull in color at this point.
In this photo you can see it chucked up in one of Paul's many lathes. At this point he is starting to turn it down and even out the points and you can see that the Purpleheart and the veneers are starting to brighten up a bit.
This photo was taken today and you can see that the veneers are really starting to pop!
So, needless to say I am very excited about my Purpleheart Titlist conversion. Sorry for the poor quality photos. I didn't have my DSLR with me so I had to settle for iPhone photos. Lol.
