What was your first true custom cue????

Back in the mid '70s I bought my first TAD from a good friend for $75. Not a PJ but with veneered points and MOP diamonds along with boxed MOP diamonds in the butt sleeve. I wish that I still had it today. I sold it back to Bob a couple of years later for the same $75.

A few months later I went to Tad's shop and ordered myself another cue. No inlays in the forearm on this cue just burned BEM. The butt sleeve has MOP diamonds in ebony windows. I got this and 2 shafts with ivory ferrules for about $380. This one I still have today and is affectionately been named the "Beast" by my wife.

Gerry S.
 
My 2nd custom. The first was a Coco Doc Frye with a black wrap. I sold it for $75 and had Doc make this for $125(2 shafts and a hard case....not the one shown). Purchased around 1965. I still have it. It is not my player
 

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First custom :):)

I have been playing production cues from the start of the sport till now which is around a year and I'm proceeding to make/design my very own custom
With bebot Bautista. They really do make very nice and quality customs. You all can search them on Facebook bebot Bautista custom cues. *excited*
 
My first cue was an old Viking with "Viking" in gold script under a clear window.

My first true custom cue was a 60 in, all ebony Greg Pierce (from Missoula Montana at the time) it came with a black linen wrap but I had a leather wrap put on it when I had it refinished. I still enjoy playing with it on occasion.
 
My first custom cue was a Philippi made in 1991. My parents took me to Long's Billiard Supply in Newport News, VA because I wanted the Joss N-7 (the same model I used in TCOM) but they were out of stock on that cue. I didn't see anything else I liked and the owner told us to hang on a sec and brought it out from the back. It was the most beautiful cue I had ever seen up to that point... I think it was around 1992 and I was about 14 years old.

The first custom cue I ever ordered and had made just for me was a Ginacue in 2002. That's all I've played with since and that's all I'll ever play with. I have enough shafts to last a lifetime. ;)
 
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Dufferin conversion SP from Lee Peppers.

A good friend of mine owns it now.

Patrick
 
I'm not sure

I custom ordered a Joss merry widow in 1985. What I received 3 months later was not at all what I ordered. It arrived the day before I was going in for back surgery, so I only had that (painful) day to accept or return. Perhaps by then, nothing was truly custom from Joss. I still have the cue even though I never got to like it as originally delivered. Dan sent me an aluminum weight bolt, which helped substantially, and recently, I started using a shaft by John Showman. Now it plays like the cue I thought I ordered.

If that doesn't count as my first, the first custom ordered cue I owned was a 1991 South West. I bought it from a cue dealer who designed and ordered it for the purpose of selling. He never saw the cue. So I felt like I was the first owner, but I did not custom order it.

If the SW doesn't count, then I am about 6 weeks away from my first personally custom ordered cue (Lee Pepper).

Greg
 
My first was a Kikel that was ordered and designed with the help of Jamie / worminator that was 2005
 
My first was a cue from Greg Sirca, but I know some will say it is not custom because I did not have it made for me. My next is a BHQ break cue which I did have built for me. My next will be a BHQ playing cue with two shafts, one for pool and one for snooker and an extension. Brent got some very nicely fiqured walnut for it.
 
Custom Spec's All the Way

50+ yrs & never had one, I'll let you know when I get one. Buying someone's by a custom maker does not make it a true custom. Buying one off the shelf from a custom maker is not a true custom. Its been hashed before but a true custom is made to your specs.

I have two that are close but the butt size and taper are not exactly to my liking. I may order one, one day before I expire. Money is not the issue but the waiting list is! :grin:

Rod
I understand your feelings about that.
Top: 1984 Clay Etheridge Showcase Hustler: 58 1/4 inches length, 19 1/4oz weight, 1 1/4 " Fibre Ferrules, 15" drop Pro Taper Shafts, slim taper butt to conform to my hand size. $65.00 plus $25.00 for the extra shaft.
Bottom: 1993 Gary Medlin(GEM Cues) custom designed by me, made to my specifications as requested. 58",19 3/4 oz's, All White Ivory, 99.5 Silver. One of a Kind. Can't get this off the shelf, Bubba!
 

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My first was a Dan Built (Dishaw). Dan was touted as a talented "up and coming" cue maker by salesman Ariel Carmelli at Best Billiards in Santa Ana, CA circa 1995. I still have it and it hits great. Ebony with Birdseye Maple Points, Two Veneers. Pretty nice ring work too.

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Ariel made me a sneaky a couple of months later to use as a break cue. I still have it, too.

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First custom cue

#1 was a JW from Bill in the mid 70s, and I still own it, I have replaced 1 Ivory ferrule that cracked in the 90s but other than that its all original 4 points 4 veneers delux deco rings eboney points into figured maple. Since then I have bought sold and traded at least 300 cues, I owned my own table repair service for about 20 years and was allways around Pool, I still own 29 cues plus enough seasoned wood thats 10-30 years old to build 10-20 cues. I have a Burled maple stump from the Pigeon Forge area of Tennasee, that was over 30 years old, that was air dried in a wood shed, I recently cut it up into usable pieces, it is extremly light weight but looks fantastic, I think I am going to build a vacume canister and stabilize it with an epoxey type resin or an acrylic ,I also have some buckeye burl same issue there.
Cues I own#1 JW-#2 Jenson Hoppe-#3 Dayton Hoppe-#4S.W Satin 80s-
#5 Dominiak Sweet16- #6-8 Bobby Jett custom cues-# 9-10 Mike Stacey-#11 Rat cue Ryan T-#12 Vintage Wayne Gun- #13Vintage Andrew Diamond-#14 Fischer 6 pointer-#15 D.P LOL-#16K.V PJ/SP-#17 Lee Peppers custom Wrapless fullsplice 4 pointer with stacked veneer rings-#18 Shurtz 4 pointer with Ivory inlays-#19 Russ E 16 Point custom with 5 veneers-#20 Early Madison Bob MW-#21Vintage Rich MW wrapless-#22 1950s Willie Hoppe w/2 shafts Purple heart model- #23-24- 2 D-series Mc Dermots-#25 B-16 McDermott with 2 shafts-#26-27- 2 rosewood Brunswick True splice Old school conversions I did #28 is a 60s Dufferen BEM eboney pointed butterfly that I am converting, #29 is a Dave Sutton Dufferen conversion and I must say done very well and plays excellent I must have gotten lucky on Dave because I read a lot of unsatisfied posts on him here on AZ. I enjoy AZ and its comunity , Happy 4th of July All.
Bob
 
I ordered a Jerry Franklin Southwest. It was all blond, figured maple forearm with tan speck wrap and tan colored phenolic. I think it showed up at the house around 1987 after waiting nearly a year. The cost delivered was $281. It might not be custom to some but I thought very highly of it. Sadly I got broke in college and sold that cue for little more than I paid for it. It played very well and I would love to have it back.
 
My first two piece customs were a player/break jump sneaky pete made by Steve Bailey down in Phelan, CA. I was told they were some of his earliest work. Sadly, the BJ was stolen. I still have the player laying around somewhere in the in safe.
 
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