LIST YOUR
F A V O R I T E
CUE MAKERS
AND/OR
CUE BRANDS
WHICH HAVE YOU OWNED
?
WHICH DO YOU REGRET PURCHASING
?
WHICH DO YOU REGRET PARTING WITH
?
WHICH DO YOU HOPE TO OWN SOMEDAY
?
ANY CUE MAKERS OR BRANDS YOU DISLIKE
?
SHARE ALL YOUR WHYS + WHYNOTS
Favorite cue maker: my friend, Gary Hay, maker of Haysticks. He taught the guy that started Viking how to make cues, played Willie Mosconi once in an exhibition match and has been making cues for about 60 years, with all of his business coming through referrals.
Favorite cues: custom break/jump cue with quick detach butt section, Cocobolo merry widow butt with black Irish linen wrap, purple heart shaft, titanium ferrule, Samsara break/jump tip. Custom shooting cue, Kingwood merry widow butt with black Irish linen wrap, maple shaft with brass ferrule, currently wearing a Cuetec 15k Cynergy 12.5mm with Moori clear base medium tip. Both cues made by Gary.
Other cues I own: Lucasi short 2 piece jump cue with G10 tip, Schmelke purple heart sneaky Pete. Brunswick 2 piece cue with linen wrap and nice teak-ish looking wood butt piece, maple looking shaft, nothing fancy but it works. No name 2 piece cue made in Tawian, metal/metal joint, butt is very dark wood, maple looking shaft, light grey linen wrap, ivory ferrule and butt end piece, bought new for $89, probably in the early 80s. Has a tiger on the ivory butt piece, used this cue for about 25 years and won many a game with it.
I don't regret purchasing any of them and have not sold any cues.
I don't have any cues on my wish list and don't dislike any brand or cue maker.
Because I like the grain and character of nice wood I have never desired a cue with ornamentation; inlays, points, etc. It is a tool and the fancy stuff doesn't make it work any better, at least for me.
Up until the point that I bought the 'tiger' cue I only used bar cues. I would just pick out the one with the best tip, and without dings in the shaft - if there was one on the rack, roll it across the table to find the up/down orientation of the warpage and use the weight stamp as the index. And then proceed to win, but I got to where I wanted the consistency that would only happen with owning a cue.
I probably would have been fine with off the shelf cues but I bought the custom cues because we are lucky enough to have a local cue maker in our small community that is also a pool shooting friend of mine. Since he has a machinist background he also fabricated some of the machinery he uses to build cues. Just about all of the stronger shooters around here have at least one of his cues, all made to order. At about 80 years old his cue making days are mostly over but he still does tip replacement and repairs on cues he has made.
One of his favorite things to do is to go into a bar, grab a bar stick and proceed to whup ass on anyone with the temerity to challenge an old timer. So once in a while, we walk into a bar without our weapons and see if there is anyone to school, just for the fun of it.