What's your typical wood surcharge??

Jeff G. Martin

Jeff G. Martin

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been in contact with Jacoby about making another cue for me. They're very local to me, so I like doing business with them. I've also talked with Tony Zinzola as I REALLY admire his work. The cue in question would be a bumperless Hoppe, amboyna butt, four amboyna points, and two or three veneers. My question to you cue makers, is what's a typical surchage for amboyna in this type of cue? Jacoby wants to charge $200 extra! Would I be better off with afzelia? Or is that going to be just as expensive. A question for them perhaps. To be fair, I actually didn't mention amboyna to Tony. When I was talking with him I was considering pink ivory.

I dabble a bit with wood working and LOVE exotic woods. I've made some killer pens out of afzelia and amboyna! :grin-square: With that said, I want to attempt a plain jane constructed of an amboyna butt and birdseye forearm. Not a player, but just something to look pretty and stick a short shaft on so I don't have to break my cue down in the event that I need it. An amboyna butt would cost $19.95 from cuecomponents.com. Have you cue makers found their cue stock is good enough for your work?
 
$200 is not unreasonable, as long as the amboyna is top notch.
$20 worth of amboyna is likely going to be crap.
 
Jeff G. Martin said:
An amboyna butt would cost $19.95 from cuecomponents.com. Have you cue makers found their cue stock is good enough for your work?
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I was just on their site and couldn't find it. They currently are selling squares 18" long for $73 and butt sleeve pieces 5" long for $29, but I couldn't find the $19 whole butts.
I believe the price for good amboyna was in the $35 a pound and up range, last time I looked a couple months ago.
Dave
 
Jeff G. Martin said:
I've been in contact with Jacoby about making another cue for me. They're very local to me, so I like doing business with them. I've also talked with Tony Zinzola as I REALLY admire his work. The cue in question would be a bumperless Hoppe, amboyna butt, four amboyna points, and two or three veneers. My question to you cue makers, is what's a typical surchage for amboyna in this type of cue? Jacoby wants to charge $200 extra! Would I be better off with afzelia? Or is that going to be just as expensive. A question for them perhaps. To be fair, I actually didn't mention amboyna to Tony. When I was talking with him I was considering pink ivory.

I dabble a bit with wood working and LOVE exotic woods. I've made some killer pens out of afzelia and amboyna! :grin-square: With that said, I want to attempt a plain jane constructed of an amboyna butt and birdseye forearm. Not a player, but just something to look pretty and stick a short shaft on so I don't have to break my cue down in the event that I need it. An amboyna butt would cost $19.95 from cuecomponents.com. Have you cue makers found their cue stock is good enough for your work?
Click to expand...

I don't think in this case it is as much the surcharge for the wood as it is for the construction and treatment of the wood. Amboyna is very very brittle so it will have to be cored and if the entire butt is made from it it should also be Resin impregnated to strengthen it. I have seen a number cues made from this wood that cracked over time even though they were cored, so there are no short cuts when using it. So in the end, I suspect that this is the real surcharge that you have been quoted not the price of the wood alone.

JIMO
 
Thanks eveyone for the replies. And thank you to those who PM'd me..I can appreciate your anonymity.

But just to clarify...this is only the butt sleeve.....not the whole butt as someone suggested.

Dave, here is a link to the cuecomponents.com butt sleeves...
 
My apologies, I went with your statement 'an amboyna butt' not realizing you meant just the butt sleeve. They have those on that page for $19.95, but if you go to the forearm page, they list the sleeve for $29.95.
So are you looking for a complete forearm and butt sleeve of amboyna? I do agree with Craig that the surcharge is probably a mix of special handling and treating of the burl, along with the price of the wood.
Dave
 
Dave38 said:
My apologies, I went with your statement 'an amboyna butt' not realizing you meant just the butt sleeve. They have those on that page for $19.95, but if you go to the forearm page, they list the sleeve for $29.95.
So are you looking for a complete forearm and butt sleeve of amboyna? I do agree with Craig that the surcharge is probably a mix of special handling and treating of the burl, along with the price of the wood.
Dave
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I'm only looking for the butt sleeve and points to be amboyna. I found a cue on their site that was pretty much what I wanted, and told them I wanted to replace the ebony in the cue with amboyna burl. To which they replied "to replace the ebony with amboyna burl would be an upcharge of $200 since it is a more expensive material." I specifically asked what the surcharge would be, as I knew there would be one. But like I said, I was not anticipating it would be $200. Would afzelia, thuya, camphor, or madrone be less expensive??
 
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$200 extra for an amboyna buttsleeve and some points might be excessive. V-points will require a bit more than inlays though.
I took you to mean the entire handle/buttsleeve section.
 
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