Who built Schuler cues after Ray Schuler passed away, and were they good quality cues?

[vintagecollectibles831]

Maybe
But if I was a proud cue maker, I would have wanted to have my name on it.

With respect to Schuler, his joint, and his classic designs, they should be called Schuler SLC, no matter who currently builds them.

Jacoby has made cues for Predator too, for example. And, probably other cue makers, or brands.

So, Schuler SLC is basically a brand, and should be called Schuler, because that was his joint that he invented, and Schuler designs are very unique to Schuler, I believe.

 

[vintagecollectibles831]

I wrote the InsidePOOL article on Schuler Cues shortly after Ray passed, and interviewed everyone at the shop during my visit. Prior to Ray passing, Noel was already the lead cuemaker. Ray signed the cues, but Noel started playing around with signing. When Ray passed, Noel continued being the lead cuemaker, and his brother was also on the build team. By that time, Terry Trim was sole owner, and his son Bryan was the shop manager. The decision was for Noel to sign Ray’s name, and they added SLC to mark the era.

Terry decided to outsource the build to contract manufacturing, and Jacoby was the choice. The Jacobys do the signing (I believe with a machine) and they underline the SLC to mark the era.

There’s a about a dozen other things to say, but I think I answered the question. Let me know if that works for you.

Thanks a lot. So, Noel was the head cue maker at Schuler, after Ray passed away, and up until Jacoby started building Schuler cues. Thanks again.

So, I assume that it was after Jacoby started building Schuler SLC cues, is when Noel began building them, and signing them Noel Mendoza by Schuler, if I have that right? Thanks.

 

[vintagecollectibles831]

He would have hated me. I probably have twelve or more non-Schuler shafts for my Schulers.

Hi, curious, when you say Non Made Schuler shafts, do you mean that none of them were made by Schuler, Mendoza, or Jacoby? Or, any of those guys in the shops?

 

[vintagecollectibles831]

Please stop doing this. Or delete your post when you get the right information.

The cue build and ownership was the same just prior to and after Ray passed. Terry Trim was owner, and the Mendozas were building the cues.

Probably the biggest changes to Schuler cue happened when Ivan Lee started building cues there for a time. It was that period when Ray agreed to change the butt thickness away from an old school cue thickness to a slight thinner butt.

“Ray had big hands, so making the butt thinner wasnt on his mind,” Ivan told me.

Ivan also was responsible for introducing more intricate inlay designs into the cue. Ray was never an aesthetic or artistic guy, and he was more concerned with the feel and feedback of the cue.

Okay, I understand now, and I will remember what you said. Thanks.

 

[Cornerman]

Thanks a lot. So, Noel was the head cue maker at Schuler, after Ray passed away, and up until Jacoby started building Schuler cues. Thanks again.

So, I assume that it was after Jacoby started building Schuler SLC cues, is when Noel began building them, and signing them Noel Mendoza by Schuler, if I have that right? Thanks.

For a little more clarity, at least a year before Ray passed, Noel Mendoza took over the cue making responsibilities. Terry Trim had already taken over the business for the most part, and Ray was allowed to relax and smoke a cigar all day. So when Ray passed, that’s when Noel started signing the cues with SLC, no underline. SLC started when Ray passed. So aside from the letters, there really was no difference between original and SLC. Did Terry and his son ask to do some different things? Yes, but they didnt make any changes to the processes and design, but they did start making V-spliced cues, of which Ray wasn’t a big fan.

When Terry decided to close the shop and outsource the build to the Jacobys, that left Noel and his brother out. The Jacobys then started the underlining of the SLC.

Noel says that he received permission to build the same Schuler Cue design from Ray’s widow, Cathy Schuler. So he’s building them and signing how he signed them at the Schuler shop, and now adds “by Noel Mendoza,” I don’t know if all of his cues added this. Mine has it.

I don’t want to comment on legalities or contractual agreements as I have no idea what the exact wording is on Jacoby’s contract.

If you compare my Noel Mendoza Schuler next to my Original Schuler of the same model, they’re the same.

The Jacobys are building the Schuler Cues to a design specification and design drawings I assume. I dont believe they received the equipment or the CNC programs. But they know what they’re doing.

 

[Poolhall60561]

Made me think of my Schuler’s.
Anytime I picked up a cue from Ray I would get a tour of his shop and a few good stories.

 

[mikepage]

I was going to mention your name because I had a vague memory of your having one of his low deflection shafts. I played with a few of them, I guess at varying stages of development. It started when I told Ray I had a Predator shaft made to fit his cue. That didn't go over well with him at all, as you can imagine! He didn't like the idea of people putting someone else's shaft on his cues, so he started developing his own low deflection shaft. [...]

lol. I walked into Ray's shop in Palatine probably late 1990s--met him and his wife. He got pretty animated talking about deflection, Bob Meucci, shaft tapers, and then I made the mistake of asking if he'd put his joint on a Predator 314 blank. Holy cow, the cigar really started moving then....

 

[KAP1976]

World 14.1 Champion and Runner-Up WPA World 9-ball (johnny archer) and probably in my top 3 Most Underrated Cuemaker of all time.

who are the other two?

 

[Cornerman]

who are the other two?

Bob Owen
Jeff Olney

But I could add a couple more could be in my top 3 underrated like:

Rick Howard
Ryan Theewen
Richard Hsu
Teddy Harris
Ned Morris

 

[Cornerman]

lol. I walked into Ray's shop in Palatine probably late 1990s--met him and his wife. He got pretty animated talking about deflection, Bob Meucci, shaft tapers, and then I made the mistake of asking if he'd put his joint on a Predator 314 blank. Holy cow, the cigar really started moving then....

Noel put one on for me!

 

[Cornerman]

I am curious about the Schuler cues that were made after Ray Schuler passed away, but before Jacoby started building them.

Did Noel Mendoza taker over the Ray Schuler cue shop, or did he build cues on his own, using the Schuler joint? I guess that is an off topic question.

Mainly just curious who took over the shop after Ray Schuler passed away, and if you feel that those cues, with the SLC under the Ray Schuler signature, were good quality cues?

I also understand that the SLC cues with an underlined mark under the SLC are / were made by Jacoby, and that those cues are very high quality, from what I have been told.

So, for example, would you buy a Jacoby made Schuler, or a Schuler that was made after Schuler passed away, if you had the choice?

Any collector market for Schuler cues that were not made by Schuler or Jacoby? Are they worth much? Hard to sell? Easy to sell?

And, back to my original question. Who made them?

Just curious.

Thanks a lot for any thoughts.

Just to close this out, the Jacobys did in fact buy out Terry Trim, so Jacoby own Schuler Cue today.

 

[JPB2]

Ray schooled me on his opinion of the benefits of a sharper taper, so I started experimenting with them. I switched to an open bridge for about a year, which was a pretty bold move for me to make on tour, and I played with the carom shaft for a while, and then switched to an American shaft taper. I think I was able to make a closed bridge with that one. My stroke wasn't short like the 3C players who stood taller at the table.

At the same time, Gene Nagy, who I was practicing with, was using one of my Schulers with a constant taper, so I was surrounded by sharp tapered shafts. But the pro taper shaft was always in my case to fall back on. When Predator shafts came out, they suited me and I never looked back from low deflection shafts.

The American taper shaft is nice.