Poolplaya9 said:
Yes. The difference in protection would only be apparent in extreme and very rare circumstances, so it offers little advantage when you consider how often it comes up. I've already said that I prefer the padded tubes though.
This one doesn't look like an Instroke for a change. Nice case, new and unique in design with a different look. I like it.
Looks like an Instroke with slight variations and some unique decoration.
Looks like an Instroke with slight variations and some unique decoration.
Looks like an Instroke with slight variations and some unique decoration.
I never knocked it. It's a great overall design (although it had some flaws that mysteriously took forever to fix and some that were never fixed). I carry one myself often, and often recommend them to others as well. At or near the top in protection and functionality.
I'm not knocking you for copying anyone else. We were debating "latitude of creativity" and "best assortment of variation of design," and I'm just saying you can't really claim creativity with copies of other people's work, that's all. It doesn't mean that they aren't great cases though.
His stuff has quite a few different unique looks, which is a big difference, and is what we were discussing. Until the last few months, you only had one look. Now that you are branching out with truly new designs in the last few months, you may IMO soon be up there in "latitude of creativity" and "best assortment of variation of design."
I was never attacking you or your cases in any way. I think they are great, and overall are among the best. I own several, and would own another. We were only discussing one part of cases, which was the "latitude of creativity" and "best assortment of variation of design," and as of the last few months you have been expanding in that regard. I wish you continued success.
The difference in protection is quite large and affects the cues on a daily basis. Here is one instance. I disagree with Jim about the interior fabric he uses. It is too abrasive for cues. If you took that fabric to any cuemaker at a show and asked him to polish his cues with it he would throw you out of the booth. Jim disagrees with me on this point but I know that I am right because of my experience with all kinds of fabric for the liner.
So let's extrapolate that to daily use. In a Jim Murnak case the cues are not held snugly, they move freely within the tube. When the case is transported the cues inside of it are constantly moving from side to side and up and down the tube depending on the motion and position of the case. So if I am right then the cues are constantly rubbing on this fabric and getting micro-scratches on them. Maybe this doesn't mean anything to the guy who has a $200 cue and could care less about the finish. But to a guy who has a $5000 cue he doesn't want to take it out of the case at some point and polish it only to find hundreds of tiny scratches on the finish. I could be totally wrong about this and the cloth could be completely harmless.
But as the great Burton Spain said, maybe the pet alligator won't eat the family dog but the dog sure feels better if the alligator isn't there. Why not use a cloth that is clearly non-abrasive?
You claim that the instances where the extra protectiveness would be needed are tiny and insignificant. I think that's just a way to trivialize what I do and what I stand for. It's another way of saying "protection doesn't matter" as long as it looks good.
As to the exterior look, I am not going to fall into the trap of comparing on a case by case basis which products "look" like which predecessors were on the market.
Those of us that make cases know what it takes to make the cases I showed you. Jim, Jack, and all the rest can see what it took to make those case. I guess you have to be more intimate with the overall process to appreciate the uniqueness of each case I showed you.
One high end collector who owns all the top cases acquired the Rolls Royce. His comment to me recently was that out of all the cases in his collection that one is the one that all of his visitors go to first and admire.
So even though you don't appreciate what went into that case and where it departs radically from it's predecessors, some do understand it.
I can certainly can claim creativity when I take other people's elements of designs, as Jim has done, and build on it to make a new thing. That's what he has done and what I have done.
Jim, for the most part, stays within his signature style of building a tube case. Sure he has a lot of variation on the outward appearance but it's not the same as being willing to do any style of case, with any interior, and doing it with new elements.
I guess my "signature" style will never be the exterior of the case. Mine will always be what happens when the owner of the case opens it up and sees how nicely his cues are protected. I will never ever ever ever confine myself to one "look" and will always be willing to do what the customer wants to the best of my ability. In that regard I am quite confident that JB Cases and the body of work that we put out through our shop and through the two factories I run, from $5 cases to $2000 ones are certainly the most varied and broad selection of cue cases from a case maker that exist.
Thanks for the well wishes. I hope that next year I when this topic comes up again that we have come closer to Jim in your mind. We will keep trying
P.S. To address why some of the issues with Instroke seemed to take years to correct. Actually most didn't take years, when a problem was discovered I corrected it immediately as best I could. The thing is that there would have been hundreds or thousands of cases already on the market with the unimproved build. So the overlap causes issues when someone buys a case two years after the improved version is out and they get the old one. It's a crappy part of the manufacturing cycle. The other reason why some issues didn't get resolved sooner was because of the "design by committee" mentality that Instroke adopted where I, as the creator, was forced into a minority position and had to fight to make changes to the product. That's a crappy part of taking on partners.
So now, I have no partners and complete control over the build process from start to finish. It's quite liberating.
the latch on the top pocket came apart and the zipper in the bottom pocket came unstitched. All of this happened after about 18-24 months of moderate use. For that kind of money I expected it to hold up better than that. 
