What’s the worst cue you’ve ever bought?

7

7Baller

Member
About a year ago I ordered a cue from a fairly well known Filipino cue maker. The butt has warped badly and I now own an $800 house cue. Before he started building I checked to make sure it would be cored and he assured me it would. I’m tempted to cut it in half to check if it really was cored.
What is your worst buy?
 
That reminded me I had one too from the Phillipnes about 20 years ago. It was quite fancy and about $315 on ebay (new). It came all warped and messed up. I returned it for a refund minus about $75 in shipping. Lesson learned!

More recent was Schmelke. Total pos. Pin only centered on the shaft it came with. Finsh was garbage. Pin came loose a month later, I don't even think it was glued. Butt had some necking down near the joint. Another lesson learned.
 
Philippine cues are all over the place in terms of quality and specs like shaft taper. Their mostly leather wraps are usually too slick to be of any value. They are generally cheaper in price for good reasons. Many look great in photos and even in person but almost never compare to any well regarded American cue maker in overall quality.
 
A Verl Horn back in 1997 - it was beautiful, I went to Mooreland and bought it from Verl. The cue was full tuxedo cue like he is famous for. The cue literally played terrible. I ended up trading it away to a collector in Dallas a year or 2 later.
 
Can't say I've ever bought a cue whose quality held me back from my shooting abilities, and I've bought a lot of them. I've never had to return a cue for a defect, finish, warped shaft, pin not centered, or anything actually.
Some really nice cues I got early on were when I went to Brunswick in Bristol Wis to buy a pool table at their yearly clearance. You show up on a Saturday, pick your table, backup your pickup and they load the pieces. Heck of a deal, you would get a $3000 table for about $1200. They had tote bins of cues for $15-$25 that were really nice.
Anyway they put the wrong slate in my truck, gave me slate without wood edging, and I didn't notice till I got home. I immediately called but didn't expect anyone to answer as it was a half hr past when they said they were open. The head of the place answered and I explained what happened. He told me he was really sorry and asked if I could come back on Sunday and he would meet me to change out the slates. I only lived about 30 miles away so said no problem. We exchanged the slates, and he felt so bad about it he told me to pick a couple cues out for my troubles. He said I could pick from any of them. I saw one I really liked and asked if it was ok, he said take it. It was a beautiful Joss Brunswick, didn't know what I really had at the time, just liked it's looks. Incredible cue for free.
 
Back when I was a kid I bought an aluminum cue🤣

Worst cue for the money category, Southwest. OMG it was like a broom handle. Can’t hardly believe that I’ve wanted one for 40 years and when I finally got one I absolutely hated it.
 
jtompilot said:
Back when I was a kid I bought an aluminum cue🤣

Worst cue for the money category, Southwest. OMG it was like a broom handle. Can’t hardly believe that I’ve wanted one for 40 years and when I finally got one I absolutely hated it.
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The Boy's Club had 'em in all colors. I would always be disappointed if they were in use.
 
The only cue I ever had that I didn't like was one I won from a raffle at our end of the year league party.
The rubber bumper deteriorated years ago and I have been using it as a break cue. It is not pro tapered.
I have only ever bought 3 cues...
An Eckes cue back in the early 70's which I really liked until my little brother broke it.
I bought a replacement almost identical to it in 1985 that I still have and use periodically today.
My current everyday player is a Meucci 95-11 that I purchased in 1995.
The 95-11 does not accept an extension like the HOF1 does, but the quality is exceptional and I like the coloring.
 

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There are no BAD Cues, if it just for playing. Person with Skill, can play well with most any Cue.

Worst experience with Cuemaker was Tony Zinzola, he butchered design, ran late, ran later, was Mr. Excuses, was someone who had a wonderful offortunity to be major player in the Cue Biz, until he Shafter TIKKLER.

JMHO
 
After much thinking, it would have to be the Players jump break cue I got about 12 years ago. Hit the rack just fine and jumped okay, but the damned weight bolt would never stay screwed in tightly. It reached a point that I carried an Allen wrench in my case because damn near every time i played, you felt it rattle loose. A year and a half later, I finally gave in and bought a McDermott Stinger at Super Billiards Expo.
 
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KAP1976 said:
After much thinking, it would have to be the Players jump break cue I got about 12 years ago. Hit the rack just fine and jumped okay, but the damned weight bolt would never stay screwed in tightly. It reached a point that I carried an Allen wrench in my case. A year and a half later, I finally gave in and bought a McDermott Stinger at Super Billiards Expo.
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What was the cause?
 
straightline said:
What was the cause?
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Hell if I know. I never investigated beyond trying to tighten it more. I paid $100 for it so, if it was a more expensive brand I probably would have, but I just chalked it up to being a cheaper label and the quality stuff associated with that. I still have the cue in a case so I guess there's still a chance to dig deeper.
 
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