Which cues/cuemakers have gone down in value/quality?

BrooklynJay

BrooklynJay

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just another thread for people to talk about cues/cuemakers...:D

Over the past several weeks there's been a lot of threads about the best cues/cuemakers, the most playable cues, etc. so I thought I'd start one about which cues/cuemakers have gone down in value/quality or have not appreciated in value as much as anticipated.

I know Meucci's has had a big drop in quality recently and many people feel Dale Perry's direct marketing on ebay has devalued his cues somewhat. Who else?
 
Uncle Bob from Mississippi... LOL

Plus their Customer Service SUCKS..

If you do not know who is Uncle Bob think the LETTER "M"
 
Mike Templeton said:
Ditto....And his craftsmanship seems to have gone to hell as well.
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the quality of available employees in Sledge, MS is pretty low, too !
tractor drivers and farm laborers don't make good cuemakers,,,JMHO
 
I haven't been able to get a meucci into my store in the last several months that hasn't been flawed. When I send them back, they give me attitude and send me another one with flaws..... what a joke...lol
 
It seems to me like ive noticed the average going prices for espiritu's dropping, when i first started shopping for cues, i saw mid level ones going for anywhere from $600-$1000, now its not uncommon to find them going from anywhere from $300-$600 on ebay.

Also, i regret to say it, But coker's arent bringing in much of a premium, because their are so many being traded openly ont he market. Its not uncommon to find a good looking, mid range coker for $500. Still above the Dale Perry's, but not far off. At least my coker is a high end coker, and if i sell it, it should bring more of a premium.
 
BrooklynJay wrote:
> Which cues/cuemakers have gone down in value/quality?


I can at least think of one cuemaker: Russ Espiritu.

-- peer
 
Peer said:
BrooklynJay wrote:
> Which cues/cuemakers have gone down in value/quality?


I can at least think of one cuemaker: Russ Espiritu.

-- peer
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saw him (Espiritu) in an APA team event in Jackson, MS last weekend,,, couldn't see if he was shooting with his own cue or someone else's,,,LOL:p
 
these are all low end cuemakers anyway, and when people buy these cues, value/price is part of their decision making. therefore, valuation becomes pointless because one also has to consider things like used/new/. devaluation will always be part of the evaluating process of any used cue.

with so many cuemakers, there is an inevitable shakeout....those whose value matters and those whose value doesn't. and the cues that will suffer most will be the production cues, like meucci, predator, and viking etc. sounds like perry made a bad business decision.
 
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Why the sudden decline/devaluation in Espiritu cues? Anyone care to elaborate?

I'm only asking because I noticed the same thing as Prolecat - Espiritu cues showing up on ebay a bit more regularly and not fetching the same prices they once did.
 
pharaoh68 said:
Russ Espiritu
Dale Perry
Paul Drexler

and I could name a few more but I might upset a few people on this forum!
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no no dont be silly you wont upset anyone please name a few more......................lol
 
with so many cuemakers, there is an inevitable shakeout....
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I have been thinking about this for several years after buying a bluebook. Back in the 60s, 70, and 80s, there were a handfull of good cue makers. Into the late 80s and early 90s there seemed to be an explosion in the craft. Look in a BB of cues and see all the makers that started in the 90s.
Prices of cues have been driven sky high, and alot of people started focusing on collectable cues, paying these high prices and now the bottom is starting to fall out for all but the big names who coincidently have been making cues since the 70s and 80s.
I have always bought cues based on 2 things, playability being number one. How it looked being number two.
People talk about a cues playability as a magical thing, its not. If the cue is solid, and has a good tip on it..... chances are it will feel good. If you took a well constucted cheap cue, and a fancy decorated, but poorly constucted cue and let someone of average skill and knowledge play with both, chances are they would like the fancy one based on the opinion that it must be better.... look at it.
BUT if you do the same test blindfolded..... they will pick the cheaper well made cue every time because it hits better.
I dont know, it just bugs me that some of the worst playing cues Ive ever hit with are going for several thousands of dollars because they are made by so and so. If you want quality that will stand the test of time (and I dont mean this as an insult to the newer cuemakers-time will tell on you guys) Buy a well made playing cue from some of the older makers who still put the focus on how the cue plays, not how many pieces of ivory and malichite they can stick in the buttsleeve..
Rant done.
Chuck
 
Another option is to find a cue that hits sweet, and have a custom shaft made for it. I did, and it's a match made in heaven. Don't even ask who made the butt; the shaft was made by Ed Young.
 
How about the Holay Grail of cues Southwest? I've only every played with one, and I thought it was nice. Didn't know what year it was or not. I've never heard anything negative about SW (post Franklin or not). I know there seems to be a difference in value between a Franklin SW and a Modern SW, but I would assume that the price difference has nothing to do with a difference in quality. But ultimately my question is, does anyone feel there has been a drop in quality with post Franklin cues? And if so, is anyone willing to stick their neck on the line to voice that opinion?

My top picks for drop in quality would be.

DP-still makes a realtively solid cue, but with the numbers that he's puttin out these days, something has to give and my guess is that time per cue=quality, and wood selection/treatment would be the first factors to suffer.

Falcon-Used to make a great solid production cue but haven't seen one that isn't warped in the past couple of years.

Meucci-nothing needs to be said.
dave
 
Tokyo-dave said:
How about the Holay Grail of cues Southwest? I've only every played with one, and I thought it was nice. Didn't know what year it was or not. I've never heard anything negative about SW (post Franklin or not). I know there seems to be a difference in value between a Franklin SW and a Modern SW, but I would assume that the price difference has nothing to do with a difference in quality. But ultimately my question is, does anyone feel there has been a drop in quality with post Franklin cues? And if so, is anyone willing to stick their neck on the line to voice that opinion?

My top picks for drop in quality would be.

DP-still makes a realtively solid cue, but with the numbers that he's puttin out these days, something has to give and my guess is that time per cue=quality, and wood selection/treatment would be the first factors to suffer.

Falcon-Used to make a great solid production cue but haven't seen one that isn't warped in the past couple of years.

Meucci-nothing needs to be said.
dave
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I've had the pleasure of buying, selling and trading DPK and SW Q's since the 80's.

If anything the quality has IMPROVED as the "gang" refined their skills.:)
 
Puzzled

pharaoh68 said:
Russ Espiritu
Dale Perry
Paul Drexler

and I could name a few more but I might upset a few people on this forum!
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I've heard and kind of seen the price on Drexlers cues going down, why is that? I love his designs and i've hit with one and it hit good?
 
easy indicators of value dropping cues

BrooklynJay said:
Just another thread for people to talk about cues/cuemakers...:D

Over the past several weeks there's been a lot of threads about the best cues/cuemakers, the most playable cues, etc. so I thought I'd start one about which cues/cuemakers have gone down in value/quality or have not appreciated in value as much as anticipated.

I know Meucci's has had a big drop in quality recently and many people feel Dale Perry's direct marketing on ebay has devalued his cues somewhat. Who else?
Click to expand...

The easiest way to determine the cues that will drop the most in value immediately are the cues that are continually being flooded on ebay. This would include:
Meucci
Mcdermott
Dale Perry
Sledgehammer
Joss
Coker
and the list goes on and on...

as for used cues that go no-bid a whole lot I've noticed in the last 90 days on ebay:

Mike Erwin
Jerry Olivier
Samsara
Ray Schuler
Bill McDaniels
Bobby Hunter

also used predators aren't holding very good resale. It would be safe to say that just about any production cue used on ebay just isn't going to pull much more than 40-50% of its' MSRP, and cue dealers wouldn't even give you that for it on trade unless you're trading up on something with a decent margin for them to absorb the over allowance.
 
and the list goes on

BrooklynJay said:
Just another thread for people to talk about cues/cuemakers...:D

Over the past several weeks there's been a lot of threads about the best cues/cuemakers, the most playable cues, etc. so I thought I'd start one about which cues/cuemakers have gone down in value/quality or have not appreciated in value as much as anticipated.

I know Meucci's has had a big drop in quality recently and many people feel Dale Perry's direct marketing on ebay has devalued his cues somewhat. Who else?
Click to expand...

Ebay also seems to be flooded with post Runde Schons

as for cues that show on ebay occassionally, and even play well, but cannot seem to hold good resale, the top of the list has to be:
Layani
Pechauer
 
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