I am going to try to convey this question the best I can, but I'm having trouble with how to word this. Couple things; I don't want this to be a debate about what a " custom " cue is. For the purpose of this conversation custom will be used generically meaning a cue that cost $400 and up, made by independent shops ( usually smaller operations ), and catalog cues are to be included.
So we all know for the most part the used cue market has been in the toilet for quite awhile. So this discussion is strictly about new cue sales. I believe most of us on here can probably name 20-30 cue makers, and even if we can't name them we would reconize their name if we heard it. Now I don't have any concrete production #'s but what I do know is on the extreme so makers are only putting out maybe a dozen cues a year. On the other end of the extreme probably several hundred and everything in between . So all together we are talking about cues in the thousands I would guess. I set the minimum price at $400 but no cap on price. We all know the very expensive cues are a very very limited market, almost irrelevant for the purposes discussed here.
I am going to go out on a limb and say the most the average league player pays for a cue is going to be between $300-$400. We know there are what about a million league players all together ? So we know the market for the high end cues are normally the serious collectors and the cheapest cues are normally bangers or those just starting out and the intermediate cues are probably what most of us use. I'd also imagine that the average person that buys a cue will have it for years, ie not a new cue every year. Remember I said average, not like us pool junkies lol.
So with however many cue makers there are out there - 40?50?60? More? All pumping out varying amounts of cues, and I haven't even included all the production cues sold each year - Predator, Meucci, McDermott etc that adds up to a WHOLE LOT of cues every year . Year after year after year.............Now we can add in the secondary market which I have no idea the total # but I'm sure there are tons of sales there too - price not withstanding.
So that brings me to my ultimate question : where are all of these cues going to. Sorry it took me a bit to get there but I needed to put the question in context. Doesn't it seem that the total amount of cues being sold each and every year is way disproportionate to the buyers? I have only out this in perspective of the US market and of course there is a worldwide market, but still ? Speaking of the production side of thing - with companies like Predator and the others I mentioned and still not yet taking into consideration all of those Chinese knock offs is have to imagine now we are talking into the hundreds of thousands cues each and every year? I'm just wondering where the hell all of these cues are going to? Is it possible that the cue supply is SO TERRIBLY over saturated that is the cause for the tanking secondary market? Seems it could be athe least a good portion of the problem, yet everyone continues to keep pumping them out year after year. I welcome all thoughts on this thanks!
So we all know for the most part the used cue market has been in the toilet for quite awhile. So this discussion is strictly about new cue sales. I believe most of us on here can probably name 20-30 cue makers, and even if we can't name them we would reconize their name if we heard it. Now I don't have any concrete production #'s but what I do know is on the extreme so makers are only putting out maybe a dozen cues a year. On the other end of the extreme probably several hundred and everything in between . So all together we are talking about cues in the thousands I would guess. I set the minimum price at $400 but no cap on price. We all know the very expensive cues are a very very limited market, almost irrelevant for the purposes discussed here.
I am going to go out on a limb and say the most the average league player pays for a cue is going to be between $300-$400. We know there are what about a million league players all together ? So we know the market for the high end cues are normally the serious collectors and the cheapest cues are normally bangers or those just starting out and the intermediate cues are probably what most of us use. I'd also imagine that the average person that buys a cue will have it for years, ie not a new cue every year. Remember I said average, not like us pool junkies lol.
So with however many cue makers there are out there - 40?50?60? More? All pumping out varying amounts of cues, and I haven't even included all the production cues sold each year - Predator, Meucci, McDermott etc that adds up to a WHOLE LOT of cues every year . Year after year after year.............Now we can add in the secondary market which I have no idea the total # but I'm sure there are tons of sales there too - price not withstanding.
So that brings me to my ultimate question : where are all of these cues going to. Sorry it took me a bit to get there but I needed to put the question in context. Doesn't it seem that the total amount of cues being sold each and every year is way disproportionate to the buyers? I have only out this in perspective of the US market and of course there is a worldwide market, but still ? Speaking of the production side of thing - with companies like Predator and the others I mentioned and still not yet taking into consideration all of those Chinese knock offs is have to imagine now we are talking into the hundreds of thousands cues each and every year? I'm just wondering where the hell all of these cues are going to? Is it possible that the cue supply is SO TERRIBLY over saturated that is the cause for the tanking secondary market? Seems it could be athe least a good portion of the problem, yet everyone continues to keep pumping them out year after year. I welcome all thoughts on this thanks!
