What Do The Cue-Makers Play With?

Funny. A bit like chefs, very fuzzy about the food they make for others, but eats leftovers and junkfood themselves...
 
Here is my daily player for last 8 years or so...been through many different shafts.

19 1/4 oz, 30" Cocobolo full splice with long curly points starting from the bottom. Phenolic joint and butt cap. No finish so it gets that worn out look. Nothing special.

Extended predator shaft, 32" with triangle tip.

Also have multiple shafts, 30-34". Cue ball ferrules and differnt tips to test hit with. Been asked numerous times to sell it but this is the one for me.

Multiple others just to mess around with.
 
Maybe its my middle-child-syndrome but I usually keep the best cues for myself.
 
Currently playing with one of my Rodeo scrimshaw cues (it's for sale) as the cue I had been playing with for about two years was sold to someone looking for a cue instantly. Still had to finish up 2 new shafts for that one before it left. Have been trying to figure out a design for a cue for myself for several years, a cue I would not sell.

Specs are not tough, 12.75 ferrule with a shaft length of 31". I like both ivory joints (current cue has ivory joint and I break with it) or wood to wood in 3/8x10 or Radial. Prefer to use G-10 pins and no weight bolts but depending on species that is not always possible. My cues have no A-joints so there is no weight in the forearm/handle either. Weight is regulated by core choice and wood species used. Butt size is 1.240" as I have fairly large hands and do not like skinny cues. If I finally build a cue for myself it will also have a 31" butt for a total length of 62" with a weight of 19-19.2oz, shaft weight of 3.7 or so. Balance of the cue as fairly neutral to slightly forward, I don't want to the cue to feel heavy or to be so forward balanced although I understand why some, particularly some women, would need or appreciate this.

What I look for in the cue is how much "work" it does. I want it to move the cue ball easily. So the cue has to transfer energy well, not absorb it. When testing a cue I hit the cue ball hard, I don't just roll the shot in as any cue can do this. I hit it hard to see if the cue is breaking down on power shots and tell potential customers to do the same.
 
Bavafongoul said:
I'm sure there are many of us that would love to own a blem cue from a cue-maker we admire. You see this all the time with other merchandise and sporting goods where the item is sold "as is" without any warranty but the flaw is pointed out in the merchandise up for sale. There's lots of great bargains that can sometimes be found.....if you could get a Louie Vitton Purse on sale at 50% off because the zipper was sewn uneven or the straps were a slightly different color shade, it's still a great present to get someone.

When things are manufactured for sale to the public at large, it's expected there will be some product rejects, even if it only involved a misprinted label on the garment or the color shade was different, etc. But some things are not worth releasing, especially when there's a limited number of items. Aside from a pool cue, another example is paintings. I think there will be very few painters that would put one of their works up for sale at a discount because it had a flaw in the canvas, or the paint colors were unevenly matched or the size proportions of the scene were incongruous to what the painter had in mind........Nope, those paintings get destroyed or never seen until the artist dies. There's too much pride and reputation involved and maybe some of that rubs off on cue-makers. I know there are curios, currency, newspapers, artifacts that can have a mistake which renders them the most rare of rare types of its kind....like a misprinted Treasury Note.......but that's not the norm.....but it might apply to cues.....I dunno?

Look, it's one thing to say you're playing with a cue because the points & veneers were off or the inlays didn't align evenly but the cue still plays as well as any you ever made, That's a cue you might also consider passing along to someone that's a close acquaintance and definitely one you'd play with but it's not one you want out on the streets representing your cue-making. Nope, I tend to think that when you decided to become a cue-maker, you made a contract with yourself to be the best cue-maker you can be....and it's a contract that's hard to ignore when the cue-maker is honest and truthful with himself, as much as with his customers. I don't foresee pool cue building mishaps eventually contributing to any market evolution in the future for "blemished cues for sale".

Thanks for the replies.....I see some folks expressing a definite preference which is what I was imagining would be the case.

Matt B.
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I doubt many cuemakers would sell rejects. It's not very good for business. I owned a ------------ cue that I bought used and it played extremely well. The seller did not tell me (or didn't know) that the cue had spearpoints that were covered up with marker under the finish. The cue had holly inlays and an ebony nose (the inlays were barely visible, but it was enough to bug me).

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Never, ever, ever, sell a blemished cue. I get asked this all the time. When you sell one, it is the first thing the buyer points out to everyone. "Hey, I got a good deal on this 'Xxxx' cue because of this little blem..." Now, the friend either wants a blem cue too or wants a good cue at the blem price. Nothing good comes from it.



Ever.
 
ratcues said:
Never, ever, ever, sell a blemished cue. I get asked this all the time. When you sell one, it is the first thing the buyer points out to everyone. "Hey, I got a good deal on this 'Xxxx' cue because of this little blem..." Now, the friend either wants a blem cue too or wants a good cue at the blem price. Nothing good comes from it.

Ever.
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BINGO! Give that man a cigar!
 
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