What defines a Balabuska "Style" cue?

[Soulweb]

I see a lot of "inspired by" threads, copies, tributes, etc. But what exactly defines a Balabushka style? Is it strictly 4 points with 4 veneers? Any specific colors? Specific joints? Points? Inlays? Always maple forarms and ebony butt sleeves with MOP inlays?

Does this mean that George Balabushka pretty much made the same cue over and over with only minor cosmetic changes? Did they usually have a standard tip diamter? Were they generally all around 57.5" in length? Did they vary in weight? Did he built to order, or just build and sell?

I have used the Google button, but only find cursory general biographic information and the occasional link with one for sale, or was sold.

I LOVE that Balabushka look. or I guess you could call it a "classical" cue style. I know that by today's standards it's a fairly safe, uninspired style, but for me I always loved it. I was just curious as to how specific the term "Balabushka style" was.

 

[jrt30004]

most of the balabushkas i have seen are pretty much what you described. maple forearm, ebony butt sleeve, delrin butt cap. they have 5/16x14 piloted stainless joints, four points, four veneers and differing inlays. i am sure he did other things but mostly this is what i have seen.
i designed my own cue with a style straight from ideas i got looking at balabushkas. i am like you, i love that style of cue. if i have ever have another custom built it will be very simillar to the one i have. maybe different color veneers or different inlays. but it will look very much in that traditional vain.

 

[fd_colorado]

In the absence of any replies, I will attempt to tell you the very little that (I think) I know about Balabushka cues.

Here are some examples of the "Bushka" style as interpreted by Richard Black...

http://www.blackcues.com/traditional_cues/bushka.shtml

Note the single ring on the butt section. (If anyone has this cue with a double ring and a March (?) 1988 signature, it is probably my old cue that I ordered new from Black.)

Another maker of Balabushka inspired designs is the Adam/Balabushka line of production cues.

http://adamcueco.com/catalog.cfm

The web site goes into some detail about the license agreement so I won't repeat it here.

The other defining trait of the Balabushka is the taper and resulting feel of the cue. I believe Fast Larry makes his "juice" shafts to the Balabushka specs. BTW, my current playing cue is a Helmstetter RHC-5 (very similar to the Balabushka) with a "juice" shaft. I think it offers alot of play for not too much money.

 

[cueaddicts]

Here's what it is in my mind.....when I think of "Bushka style."

Basic elements:
~ 4 point cue with 4 or 5 veneers, typically ebony prongs into maple forearm
~ Stainless steel joint (piloted) with thicker silver trim ring in the collars
~ 3" or less butt sleeve
~ 1.5" white delrin butt cap
~ linen or leather wrap (typically white with green speck linen or smooth black leather)

Additional elements (possible):
~ presence of notched diamond and/or dot inlays, in the points and/or butt (mother of pearl)
~ presence of stacked metal, fibre or plastic rings included above the wrap or in butt sleeve
~ inlay patterns or other elements (name plate, railroad tracks, etc. that are attributed to his work)

 

[tomatoetom]

What is a juice shaft??? Thanks

 

[West Point 1987]

Here's what it is in my mind.....when I think of "Bushka style."

Basic elements:
~ 4 point cue with 4 or 5 veneers, typically ebony prongs into maple forearm
~ Stainless steel joint (piloted) with thicker silver trim ring in the collars
~ 3" or less butt sleeve
~ 1.5" white delrin butt cap
~ linen or leather wrap (typically white with green speck linen or smooth black leather)

Additional elements (possible):
~ presence of notched diamond and/or dot inlays, in the points and/or butt (mother of pearl)
~ presence of stacked metal, fibre or plastic rings included above the wrap or in butt sleeve
~ inlay patterns or other elements (name plate, railroad tracks, etc. that are attributed to his work)

He also tended to favor straight grain maple forearms (not BEM or fiddleback) as he believed they hit better. As he started changing providers of his blanks, that changed a little and you'll see some figured forearms, but the classic Bushka had a straight grain nose. The infamous "Bushka Ring" was usually the one above the wrap. Inlays were pretty simple, notched MOP diamonds, MOP or ivory dots, etc. Several had liberal use of acrylic rings (blue, green, red or purple), and more than a few had clear acrylic sections of the butt sleeve. He also used a lot of rosewood as well as ebony. Rauenzahn has made a bunch of very good tributes, as had Verl Horn and of course the authority, Pete Tascarella.

That said, any decent maker can easily pull off a good tribute, the challenge is to keep from adding a lot of stuff to it (we all keep adding to perfection, don't we?).

 

[pdcue]

I see a lot of "inspired by" threads, copies, tributes, etc. But what exactly defines a Balabushka style? Is it strictly 4 points with 4 veneers? Any specific colors? Specific joints? Points? Inlays? Always maple forarms and ebony butt sleeves with MOP inlays?

Does this mean that George Balabushka pretty much made the same cue over and over with only minor cosmetic changes? Did they usually have a standard tip diamter? Were they generally all around 57.5" in length? Did they vary in weight? Did he built to order, or just build and sell?

I have used the Google button, but only find cursory general biographic information and the occasional link with one for sale, or was sold.

I LOVE that Balabushka look. or I guess you could call it a "classical" cue style. I know that by today's standards it's a fairly safe, uninspired style, but for me I always loved it. I was just curious as to how specific the term "Balabushka style" was.

Keep in mind 'Balabushka style' is a marketing term - so there is no formal
definition. Most of the important points have been covered.

IMHO - the 'critical' parameters are: piloted SS joint, 4point-4veneer
into maple forearm, Linen wrap, black joint collars, white Delrin butt cap.

I know George did wrap a few cues with leather, but only a handfull.
He also made some with Hoppe rings - extremely rare.

............................................................................................
Does this mean that George Balabushka pretty much made the same
cue over and over with only minor cosmetic changes?
..........................................................................

Pretty much yes.

57.5 was the default length - you could get other lengths.
Tip size was optional.
Weight was optional.

Mostly he built to order, esp as he became so popular - tho he did
build some just to sell.

Dale

 

[fd_colorado]

What is a juice shaft??? Thanks

It is a reworked shaft with a taper that he copied from a pro player's cue and a 11.75mm tip. I think the juice part comes from the extra twist you can put on the CB with the 11.75mm tip.

http://www.poolchat.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7178

If one can get past the controversy that Fast Larry seems to generate wherever he goes and just play with the setup, I think most players will like it.

 

[Philweezer]

GB inlays

Did GB ever used ivory in the inlays or was it primarily MOP?

 

[TATE]

Did GB ever used ivory in the inlays or was it primarily MOP?

Everything I've seen has been mother of pearl. These were varios sizes of dots, notched diamonds and notched squares. There were some arch inlays in a certain butt style but these were maple.

 

[LAlouie]

My guess is that it's a sales-hype thing. Balabushkas were simple after all. So a Balabushka style cue would be traditional looking ie nothing fancy. Any inlay would be MOP dots or notched diamonds simply laid out. I would say at this point in cuemaking where everyone wants to do something fancy, a "bushka-style" would refer to something simple.

 

[classiccues]

Frank Paradise probably started using the luthier driven MOP inlays, regularly in designs, but Bushka refined it. There are patterns in cues that are Balabushka. All of them are simple with todays machinery, when he was doing them on his equipment, they were far from that.

George was a master at balance, his cues rarely were inlay heavy in the butt, then light in the prongs or vice versa. He was in my opinion, the first to take notice of this.

Bushka style can mean classic, can mean that Bushka did, or what he might of done. Yes, with pearl normally, but certain rings above the wrap. Again Paradise did elaborate ring assemblies first, but George toned them down a bit, he had a good eye for design. Even in a 9 or 11 ring assembly, Georges choices were eloquent, not loud. Bushka has a ring that bears his name, the Bushka ring. Usually in ebony/white blocks. But he did these and made them popular.

Balabushka was not afraid to use materials found in other genres. His railroad track pattern, another Bushka first, was from a veneer strip out of a wood working catalog. He has flashy glittery bands, that to this day, no one knows where they came from.

Simple cues that to this day, are emulated, tributed, and borrowed from.

JV

 

[Fast Lenny]

These are two that are almost done, Bushka style cues. George would not approve of the birdseye forearms and the joint is 3/8-10 non stainless too but those differences were just my preferences as I like the hit of a 3/8-10 and the look of birdseye forearms. The one with the orange acrylic I am going to keep and the blue will be sold to a lucky person. I wish I could have gotten some acrylic like George used but its near impossible to find.

 

[ADAM HENSON]

I love em!

 

[CaptainHook]

Here is a pic of my LTD-3, it has many of the traditional Bushka style looks to it.

 

[CaptainHook]

Many similar looks on my early Palmer also;

 

[Fast Lenny]

I never posted the finished pics of these cues but here they are. :smile:

 

[CaptainHook]

I never posted the finished pics of these cues but here they are. :smile:

Those are beautiful cues, I can’t explain how, but both Palmer and Balabushka used various color plastic rings and clear windows in the butt of some of the cues they built.

 

[cfrandy]

I am currently waiting for my finished Balabushka Tribute. This tribute will be as close to a real Balabushka as you can possibly get! It started with a John Davis Brazilian Rosewood "shorty" blank which I purchased many years ago. This blank is exactly the kind of blank George would have used in 1970-1971. Then I chose a cuemaker who understands Balabushka cue making design and principles; Steven Klein. The quality of the materials, such as handmade notched diamonds & Bushka ring instead of premade, add to make this cue as near to authentic as possible! I cannot wait to get this cue in my hands. I will post the finished cue when I get it! I am trying to find a case maker who can make a case that will match the quality of this cue. I want the case to be made of the same leather in the wrap, Spanish Bull leather (which I got from Martin Bick - Jazznpool).

 

[spliced]

There are certain dimensions and measurements which when used tend to give a cue more of a balabushka style look than other 4 pointed cues without these specs. These include:

~A 1.5" white delrin buttcap with a chocolate brown Brunswick Ku bumper that sticks out appx 1/8" from the bottom of the buttcap. Never saw a Bushka with the bumper sticking way out.

~A 2.5" buttsleeve. This may have varied slightly on some of his cues but every balabushka butt sleeve I have seen has been this length and it gives his cues a very distinct look. Anything longer changes the look of the cue a lot. Tascarella uses a 2.75" sleeve and Szamboti uses a 3" sleeve. Balabushka used ebony (often inlaid with MOP dots and notched diamonds) or various plastics for the butt sleeve. I think Balabushka rarely, if ever, used ivory inlays. Szamboti used a lot more ivory and less MOP.

~4 SHORT points with 4 veneers. Balabushka most often used full splice or shorty spliced blanks from titlist blanks or blanks built by the Burton Spain/John Davis shop. These full splice blanks tend to have points that only come 6-7" from wrap to tip, and left appx 5-6" of maple forearm from the tips of the points to the bottom of the joint collar. This also gives a very distinct look, and I feel it is often overlooked when people attempt to build a Bushka copy or tribute. Most modern cues with short spliced forearms have 8-9" points which completely changes the look. This is one of the reasons why the Balabushka tribute cues made by Adam with George's "signature" on the forearm just don't look quite right. Also, Balabushka never built cues with the entire full splice pushed up into the cue's forearm as is seen on many modern blanks such as the current ones being produced by John Davis.

~Straight grain maple forearm. I do not believe George ever built a cue without a straight grain maple forearm. If he did it was rare. He felt birdseye was a sign of inferior maple. Also, Balabushka's finish (laquer i believe) had a tendency to yellow over time, so the maple in his forearms usually does not look snow white unless the cue has been refinished.

~1" stainless steel joint collar. Changing the length of the collar or using a material other than steel, such as ivory or phenolic, makes the cue look much less like a Bushka. Also, Balabushka used a 5/16x14 piloted joint.

~1/2" black fibre trim rings at the joint with a thick nickel silver ring. The thickness of the black ring may have varied slightly, but from what I have seen, 1/2" was pretty standard. I think I read somewhere once that Balabushka actually used real nickels for his joint trim rings, though this may not be accurate. I have also heard that thick silver rings like Bushka used are difficult to come by and some cuemakers have actually resorted to stacking two thinner rings on top of each other to achieve the look.

~Wrap. I believe Balabushka mostly used white w/green spec Cortland #9 linen and may have used other brands such as Penn linen. He may have used white w/ brown spec as well. He also occasionally did smooth black leather wraps.

~Balabushka cues, as well as most cues of the 1930-1980 era, had a fatter handle, around 1.27-1.3" diameter, and were shorter in length, usually around 57". I do not know if 12.5mm or 13mm was his standard tip diameter. I believe he made multiple shafts of varying lengths and diameters for his cues, mostly to customer request. For ferrules he used mostly ivory but may have sometimes used fibre ferrules as well. Ferrule lengths varied between 1/2" and 1". I am unsure what brand of tips were his standard, but I think it was a French brand (Chandivert?) or champion tips (I may be confusing this with Gus Szamboti).

Anyway, put these elements together and you will have a VERY Balabushka styled cue. This look of cue is what made me fall in love with pool cues in the first place and like the tuxedo, it will never go out of style.

Hope this info helps