Was Gus Szamboti....

Matt_24

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Was Gus Szamboti color blind? I only mean that in a complimentary way, because in all of his color choices/design elements he chose combinations that were simple, yet popped.

Strong black and white designs.

Veneer choices over (ebony of course) that really popped between the ebony and birdseye.

I ask, because I'm red/green colorblind (meaning not 100% colorblind, but when you start mixing up shades, etc I can't see stuff - it is weird) and I haven't seen a Szamboti yet that didn't POP.
 
Matt_24 said:
Was Gus Szamboti color blind? I only mean that in a complimentary way, because in all of his color choices/design elements he chose combinations that were simple, yet popped.

Strong black and white designs.

Veneer choices over (ebony of course) that really popped between the ebony and birdseye.

I ask, because I'm red/green colorblind (meaning not 100% colorblind, but when you start mixing up shades, etc I can't see stuff - it is weird) and I haven't seen a Szamboti yet that didn't POP.


The main colors in this universe are Black, Red and white :)
 
The Beginner said:
The main colors in this universe are Black, Red and white :)

So, does that mean God is colorblind ?? man, that's deep.... :)

Interesting topic and surely this can be verified through Barry. My suspicion is that this was the look he liked/developed early on and ultimately made it his own. You can tell from his earlier stuff that styles and designs were evolving and being refined. Think most cuemakers go through a similar process of developing their 'signature' or 'look'.
 
The colors of "Gus"

Gus Szamboti had his favorite colors for the veneers in his 4 point cues. They were black, red, black, white. To this day, the colors in the cue he made for me are as vivid as the day he handed me the cue.

I once asked him for his opinion of making me a cue with a green veneer, his response was "You don't want a cue that looks like a Taiwan special."

I firmly believe Gus was not color blind.

Best Regards,
Hal
 
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I don't think he was color blind. He just had a talent for seeing a finished product before it was begun. Color coordinating is key in building visually appealing cues. Not only do matching the colors matter, but matching the color tones. There are infinite shades of each color, so simply matching red to blue is not good enough. You have to match the correct shades & tones & textures of each color accordingly to give the correct contrast that we as humans find visually appealing. The best artisons can do it, whether they are cuemakers or autobody techs or cartoonists, but the rest cannot. G. Szamboti was one of those artists who could. Better yet, he had limited supplies to choose from, so his accomplishments of stepping above his peers are greater than some realize. All the cuemakers had access to the same materials & supplies, so how did he make his cues look so much better than the rest? Simply put, he was better.
 
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