Your Cue Stick History?

9 on the snap said:
They are very nice looking sticks. I was playing with a predator 4k4, before the Frey, but I wanted more feedback. I really like the Frey. Those Josey's look sweet though.
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Here's what I can do.
My very favorite stick is an unwrapped 1/1 Scruggs.
But... I also have a TS sneaky pete which I imagine would be similar to a Frey.
Similar hit, but I definitely like the Josey better.
 
jay helfert said:
First I had a house cue that Pappy Winkler in Dayton put a brass joint in for me. I played with it for a few years until it got stolen out of a poolroom in Richmond, Indiana. I set it on the table when I went to the bathroom and it was gone when I returned. I was playing a $1 (on the 5) and $2 (on the 9) Ring Game, and there must have been 20 people watching. NOBODY saw a thing! :)

Next cue was a very fancy Adams cue that I played with a few years. I just got tired of it. Then I had Ernie make me a beautiful Tiger Wood custom cue, my first. He put my name in the butt cap. Also stolen out of my car. I then bought a Balabushka for $100 in 1972 that I loved, but when someone offered me $250 for it in Dayton, it was gone. Good move huh. Following that I had a plain Tad that was a wonderful playing cue. Times got tough and I had to sell it too.

Next I had a custom Schrager for several years. Bert made it for Bill Igel, but he never picked it up. So Bert gave it to me instead. I loved that cue and played good with it for maybe ten years. But shame on me, I left it in my car and the car got stolen. They found the car a couple of days later, missing a set of tools and my cue. Bert refused to make me another one. He said I was irresponsible, and maybe he was right.

My last cue is a Josey that I picked up in Reno about ten years ago. I got a good deal on it and planned to resell it. But after hitting some balls with it, I got to liking it, and am still playing with it today.
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I was in Ernie's shop and saw a cue with your name on it and an interesting story to go with it.....:) Btw, I spoke to Bert quite recently and he and Pat are doin' OK, all things considered.

Joe
 
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Mine should be easy compared to most.

From house cue to an old kinda fancy 4 point Adams in about 1967.

Used Gina Titlist Conversion I bought for $130 in 1969, played with it until about 1981 and owned it until about a month ago (still have an option to buy it back someday)

Got a TAD in around 1981 (looked like an old Martin) which I own to this day.

Started playing 3 cushion in about 1980 and had several Helmstetter's, a Longoni and finally a great Schuler I bought at the world cup in vegas 1986 (signed as such by Ray) which I still own.

Bought a Martin from Sam Whorrly(sp) in about 1986 which had his name "Sudden Sam" engraved in ivory on the butt sleeve and sold for quite a bit with about 9 shafts.

Bert Schrager in about 1984 (who I played poker with along with Lou Butera among other characters weekly) made me a sneaky pete which I own to this day

Last month after selling my Gina of 39 years, took delivery of my new Gina which I have posted here.

Really very few cues and primarily ONE gina for almost 40 years of pool.

Joe
 
I've been through perhaps 50+ cues,

What I wish I had not sold:

Lambros
Tad
Murray Tucker


What I have kept:

Franklin pre-date SW (main player)
Paul Mottey (forearm dated on my 50th b-day)
Judd Fuller JT-4 (Paul Brienza did me a solid on this one)
Meucci Original OL-1 (sentimental value as my first one)
 
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Had but gone:
Schmelke
Helmstedder
Early Meucci SP
Clay Etheridge (Showcase) Sp
A few others I've forgotten

Still Have:
60's Viking
McDermott C-3
Lishan
Predator CC-2 first edition
Predator SPJU
'06 Espiritu wrapless
'99 Shurtz 6-pointer
Unknown make jump cue
10 pack of Fillipino cues. Some good. Some not-so-good.


The SPJU is my current break cue and I usually shoot with the other Predator athough they all see play occasionally.
 
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metallicane said:
Went to college in 1980 at Miami and fell in love with pool. Had no money and bought a POS no name cue that fall. Received a Mali cue for Christmas that year. Knew I wanted something better and bought a Star Cue in Miami Beach. Went back the following year and upgraded to a cocobolo Star Cue.

In 1987, I went to Tim Scruggs and had him design a cue for me which I had for 10 years until I bought an ivory laden Mike Lambros. I sold the Scruggs to my best friend and he still has it to this day. Our boy Kevin Varney has done some work on it (tips, clean shafts etc...). I then had Mike make me a sneaky Pete and a 5 pointed players cue.

in 2004, I had Mike Sigel make me a cue. It was a great experince working with Mike. From there I bought another Sigel, a Blue Grass, a Josey, a Troy Downey, and most recently an Ariel Carmeli from this site.
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And my most recent purchase is a new Jacoby wrapless with loads of inlays. I can't wait to add it to my growing collection.

I have a growing case collecion as well. I am just waiting on a soft Murnak case that was ordered back in December.
 
Hmm

15$ Modells cue lol
Crappy Halex Graphite cue lol
Players G-2212
Lucasi LE-11
Predator Sneaky Pete
Nevada Cue
 
My cue history.. I pretty much sold every cue I had in order to fund the next one. I have never owned more than one player at a time.

First was a Minnesota Fats (still have it), followed by..
Lucasi LE 68 (sold)
Cuetec white Earl Strickland model
Unknown sneaky (sold)
Greg Hearn bacote Widowmaker (sold)
Arnot Q rosewood player w/ivory joint (sold)
Ron Kilby bubinga player with wood thread joint (sold)
Arnot Q bacote sneaky (sold)
Schon R6 (sold)
Mike Lambros Brunswick Titlist conversion (sold)
Tim Scruggs (sold)
Jacoby Jump/Break (sold)
Schon R2 (sold)
Omen Ebony player (sold)
It's George Cue (sold)
Predator 5k2 (current player)
Brunswick Willie Hoppe pro (planning to convert)

cases:
cheap box case (destroyed)
Vincitore 2x4 (sold)
It's george 1x2 (sold)
Whitten 1x2
Ron Thomas custom 2x4 (sold)
Vincitore 2x4

I think thats it. Damn ive spent a lot of $.
 
In order
Players (gambled it away)
J&J (sold it)
J&J with nylon wrap (sold it)
KC, southwest imitation (sold it)
Schon Ltd
Dale Perry (sold it)
Back to same Schon Ltd.
Skip Weston
Tad plain jane
Ariel Carmeli
Zylr
Kent Davis (current player)

My fav. of the bunch:
Tad
Won more tournaments and money than any cue
 
- 5 piece atrocity that had a hollow butt that the shaft fit into. It was it's own case for God's sake.

- Moved up to a real fancy 22 dollar jobber that I bought at the local home center......Watson's in Cincinnati.

- Plain Jane Meucci

- 4pt Meucci

- Schon SP-20

- Schon.....don't remember the number

- Thomas Wayne

- SouthWest

- Cuetec..........I was going through my Earl Strickland phase

- Paul Mottey

- Paul Mottey

- Paul Mottey

- Paul Mottey

- Paul Mottey

- Paul Mottey

- Tim Scruggs

- James White

- Paul Mottey

-SouthWest


MULLY
I think this guy likes Mottey........
 
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In order:

Snooker cue - John Bennett London. This one's approx 40 years old.
Snooker cue - Broken ferrule, repaired and gave to my brother
Showcase Billiards Sneaky Pete - Built to similar specs as my first snooker cue.
Joss Color of Money cue - Used as my break cue after Wes Hunter built a cue for me (see below). Repaired by local hobby cuemaker. Should have asked QBilder to repair.
No name cue I picked up at a pawn shop. Used as my primary break cue until I snapped a shaft during one break. Replacement shaft made by Wes Hunter a year ago.
Cuetec J/B cue - Sold
Hunter Classic Custom
Bunjee Blaster J/B - Sold
Bunjee Jump Cue
Sugartree Custom****
XBreaker J/B Cue ****
Stealth AT1 Jump Cue ****

**** These are my primary players

I still have all the cues with the exception of the sold ones.
 
Currently playing with :

Alex Brick Snakewood, Ebony, Ivory
Alex Brick Palmer Model #20 Tribute
Alex Brick Goncalo Alves
AE Cocabolo, Ivory
Chad Carter 8 pt. Amboyna Burl, Tiger Maple, Ivory

In the past 10 years, I have bought, sold, and traded over 350 High-end Cues (mostly on eBay) ... 75 of them were Mint Condition Original Palmers ... I have yet to own an Original Palmer Model #20, so I had Alex Brick build one for me and it is Fabulous !!!
 
Meucci M-4: 2001 till present
Meucci HP-3: Dec. 2007 till present (dont shoot with it no more)
J&D Custom 4 point Ebony on Curly Maple with MOP diamonds and dots with leather or lizard wrap: Coming in a week or two
 
FWIW - From the year 2000 in approx order:

junk house cues
junk fancy no-name POS cue - D
Lucasi
Meucci Gambler - A
McDermott
Olivier
McDermott
Schon Ltd - A
Dufferin
Stacy
Auerbach - D
Dale Perry
Scruggs 4pt -K -F
Dale Perry
Dick Neighbors
Joss
Diveney JB
Zac cue
BCM
Scruggs Hustler - K - F
Diveney JB - K
Scruggs Hustler
Andy Gilbert 6 Pt - A
Thompson
Diveney
Andy Gilbert 6 pt
Frey
Josey - A
Scruggs Hustler
Sledgehammer
Diveney
Scruggs SP - K
Sledgehammer - K

I've been pretty lucky, most were bought on-line without being played beforehand, never mislead or ripped off. Very few disappointments. Most were sold near breakeven and on-line, a few re-sold locally. It's been fun. Pretty much have it out of my system now and expect to keep most of my favorites that show in my signature.

A = wish I'd kept
K = Kept
D = Disappointment
F = Favorite players
 
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This should be a challenge since its been nearly 25 years since I started playing. Ignoring all the cues I have owned but didnt really play with and bought them mainly to sell and trade with, the cues I played a while with were:

1. Star cue sneaky pete. I had like 4 or 5 of these. Broke many of them in anger when i was a teenager.
2. Meucci original. (who hasnt played with one of these if you've played for 25 years?)
3. Meucci Sneaky pete (stolen out of a locker at UC Berkeley Student union)
4. Wayne Gunn Sneaky pete (sold in Gainesville)
5. Joss East (nice cue...sold it when I grew tired of Ramen noodles in college)
6. Schon (traded in on my next cue)
7. Paul Mottey (beautiful cue. Dave Hughes from colorado bought it off me in Chicago after I was pickpocketed and was nearly busted)
8. Omen Sneaky pete ( the cue I won ACUI nationals with. sold it to a buddy in Miami two years ago...he has left it at Ted Harris' shop for over a year now and I would say Ted is probably the current owner of the cue).
9. Southwest (sold it on ebay)
10. Joss from circa 1970. (still have it..its my backup cue)
11. Scruggs Titlist (still have it...the future cue for one of my sons)
12. Szamboti (current playing cue. got it around 2000 from Mark Kulungian)

I have had probably 2-3 dozen cues not listed here that passed through my hands and might have even been played with for a short while. Searing, alot more Southwests, Omega DPK, Benders and a bunch of Schons, Joss' and Meucci cues come to mind. I should be getting a Sugartree here soon and I might give it a try for a while. I have always liked wrapless cues.
 
I just remembered something else. The first cue I ever had was one that i got from a yard sale when I was 14. I didnt know how to play at all and i was lucky to score an amazing cue that broke down into 5 pieces and had all these rings that you could change the weight and balance. It even came with a bag of screw on tips. It was a famous maker "In China" and it cost my a whopping $3. I always thought "In" was a silly first name.

I think the first time I pulled that cue out in pegs pocket in Miami, was the last time I pulled it out.After they stopped laughing, someone let me hit with his Star sneaky pete and I immediately realized this "china" guy sucked balls at making cues.. :D
 
Nine Ball said:
Would like to see pictures of your plain jane Szamboti if you care to post them here.
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lol i just read this thread again and realized its an older thread and I replied in it ages ago. Just saw your post here. My cue looks almost exactly like the one Fatboy owns only its got ebony in the buttsleeve instead of the Rosewood that I think Eric has. Same collars, same long points as Eric's. Probably plays about the same too. Mine is 19.5 oz and probably is from the late 70s.
 
I'm 62, but only got serious about pool about 6 years ago at that time I was given an McDermott EJB by a friend then

McDermott
Mike Webb
Tim Scruggs Sneaky
Mike Webb Sneaky
Samsara
Andy Gilbert
Madison Bob
Madison Bob J/B
Murray Tucker
Scott Sherbine
Bob Frey
Joe Callaluca
Barry Cameron (current player)
Skip Weston
James White
A couple of Dufferin Phantoms (hell of a 70 dollar cue)
Lucasi Sneaky

Two on order:
Another Mike Webb
A Cory Barnhart

On waiting list:
Joel Hercek
Ron Haley

Miscellanous cheap cues with my table.

I've only sold two cues a SledgeHammer because I bought the Mad Bob J/B.
And a Blackheart cue for cost because my nephew need a cue.
 
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