Your thoughts on outrageous cue prices

Mensabum said:
No offense meant I assure you. The wood I was referring to is the old growth maple trees in forests on the northern part of the continent that have all been decimated and cut down.
I'm sure there's still fine wood to be had or you guys wouldn't still be making cues. Perhaps I should have been more specific and included over 40 years old, hard as a rock and straight as an arrow.
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None taken.....
Commercially, yes, you can be hard pressed to find trees that have grown as long as I am old. Privately, now that is where the "good" trees still are.
You just have to know who is harvesting and processing this type of wood. That goes back to my making wood relationships post somewhere that I made.
 
Mark V said:
Cue makers gotta buy groceries and pay the note on their cars as well.

To quote Ray Charles in the Blues Brothers: “well, you know, depreciation man.”

When the cost of almost everything is up 30% from 10 years ago, cues will be also.
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Holy crap...you mean we're expected to eat and drive cars also? When am I supposed to have time to do that? I gotta get these cues done or somebody might be mad at me for missing my estimated target date o_O

Gotta love Ray and Blues Brothers (rip John)
 
Mark V said:
Cue makers gotta buy groceries and pay the note on their cars as well.

To quote Ray Charles in the Blues Brothers: “well, you know, depreciation man.”

When the cost of almost everything is up 30% from 10 years ago, cues will be also.
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Many cues are up 100% from 10 years ago.
 
MTfish said:
I don't think the price for a competitive playing cue is that bad now. Yes, you can spend a lot but that's always been the case. If you want you can buy a Cuetec Avid for $250.00. That's about what you'd spend for a low end Meucci, McDermott, or even a Merry Widow Joss 32 years ago when I started playing not even counting for inflation. What kills me now is what amateur players spend on all the peripheral stuff like jump cues, break cues, extensions, etc. When I started playing pool 32 years ago, you didn't feel that handicapped (from an equipment standpoint) just carrying your playing cue in a basic case. Yes, break cues and jump cues were a thing but not standard equipment the way they are now. No one felt the need to carry around 2 or 3 different aftermarket shafts that cost more than the cue, either. I guess that's progress but I kind of miss the old days when my Meucci in my little Porper 1x1 case didn't make my cranky should hurt when I had a long walk to the pool room.
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I am literally amazed at times when I look around the hall and see all the different types of equipment the league players have. I was surprised to find that almost 80% by my count had CF shafts.
Some have snap sticks and jump cues, but can't use either properly. Mostly younger players. They'll have a butt from company X paired w a CF shaft from who knows where and some of these pairings are the ugliest POS I've ever seen!! It must hit good or they wouldn't play with it, Right??
On the other hand, they might not know how to play to begin with. Just buying into the hype. Nothing against league players, they keep the halls' doors open. At least they're trying and buying. After all, they are the future of this game, so... Perhaps I need to rethink this.
Nope.
Overthunk it to begin with. 😂
 
league players are keeping the doors of our pool rooms open. welcome them for that and what they spend on junk.
they are like bad golfers, as they keep buying things as the game is new and exciting to them.

unfortunately, they play and go home and don't add to the pool rooms atmosphere.
 
Oh
maha said:
league players are keeping the doors of our pool rooms open. welcome them for that and what they spend on junk.
they are like bad golfers, as they keep buying things as the game is new and exciting to them.

unfortunately, they play and go home and don't add to the pool rooms atmosphere.
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Oh, there's atmosphere all right!! You can smell it!!🤣
 
Cues are cheaper than kitchen cabinets. By rights there shouldn't be a handmade cue for under a thousand dollars. Hobbyists keep cue prices artificially low. Most shops full of precision equipment charge $150 an hour shop time or more. $150 times the twenty hours to make a plain cue, do the math.

One reason I never got serious about building cues. My beginner cues would have cost a thousand or more. Would they have sold? Probably, as long as I turned out quality. I had people standing in line for anything I built, which is the only way I would have built cues. Stuff happens in life. If you have fifteen or twenty due dates to meet and you have a health issue you can be crucified on the net. Fugetaboutit!

Hu
 
Cue quality in general have gone significantly up, you can get a cue pretty cheap these day online and they will play pretty good. However, when it come to custom cue like anything else, you will have to pay a premium for the craftsmanship, quality of the wood and the rest of the details and reputation that comes with that brand of cue.

Predator limited 30 years rose gold ebony cue is over 8K for a limited production cue (it used to be 4K for limited cue) so prices for production cues in general have doubled. If you looked at the BK Rush...I used to get these wrapless used for 300 and 400 with wrap but now these BK rush have double in price. It's only naturally that custom cues pricing aligned with inflation. All the top tier custom cues will only get more and more expensives and will never be cheaper.....if you don't buy now and you think it's too high and should wait for the price to drop...you are kidding yourself (if you can't afford one now...you'll never got one in future because in another 5 years and you find the prices will double again.

Carbon fiber shafts have been dominating the market and it has been getting cheaper and cheaper. I tried all of them and found the harmonic can not be compared to a high quality shafts that are selected by top builders...The wood shafts are unique, the grain lines and feel of the high quality wood can never be replicated with carbon and they are much more valuable in my opinion.
 
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BarenbruggeCues said:
None taken.....
Commercially, yes, you can be hard pressed to find trees that have grown as long as I am old. Privately, now that is where the "good" trees still are.
You just have to know who is harvesting and processing this type of wood. That goes back to my making wood relationships post somewhere that I made.
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Like most good things in life,

Quality isn’t a commodity , carbon fiber is a commodity

Sign me up for the good stuff. I’m happy to pay.

Best
Fatboy <——- connoisseur of gracious living
 
King T said:
You are right! If Pool is your thing there's a cost of participation at every level depending on your enjoyment. I have some very cheap golf clubs because I dont care about the game, play when my boys call me to hang out, but I have a few cues over $3k and all kinda pool gear that cost way more than my clubs becuse Pool is my thing.

I wouldn't buy a Action cue for $10, but I also wouldn't buy a Southwest for $8K.
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I wouldn't buy a SW for $80 if I was forced to play with it
 
all cue makers except for one started out as wanting to make a good product at a good price.
not being good business men they mess it all up.
most still make a good cue but cant price it right and get it built to specs and on time. so lose their rep. unfortunately.
 
Ascue said:
Many cues are up 100% from 10 years ago.
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And your point is…….? Price of utilities, insurance, labor, materials, premises, equipment & maintenance, inventory costs, shipping, salaries, medical insurance & business overhead such as accounting, accounts payables & receivables, payroll taxes, licenses, advertising (trade show participation & publications), etc. for a cue making business have done what over the past decade? Gone down, remained flat, gone up a tiny bit or suffered the same fate as all of us have experienced and skyrocketed?

Do not presume to begrudge another man’s fruits of labor as if he was being overly compensated for his workmanship.
The price of new vehicles are 60% higher than a decade ago. Everything is more expensive & quality does cost more.
Every cue maker is entitled to charge as much as they want & make the most profit they can cuz we don’t have to buy.
 
Bavafongoul said:
And your point is…….? Price of utilities, insurance, labor, materials, premises, equipment & maintenance, inventory costs, shipping, salaries, medical insurance & business overhead such as accounting, accounts payables & receivables, payroll taxes, licenses, advertising (trade show participation & publications), etc. for a cue making business have done what over the past decade? Gone down, remained flat, gone up a tiny bit or suffered the same fate as all of us have experienced and skyrocketed?

Do not presume to begrudge another man’s fruits of labor as if he was being overly compensated for his workmanship.
The price of new vehicles are 60% higher than a decade ago. Everything is more expensive & quality does cost more.
Every cue maker is entitled to charge as much as they want & make the most profit they can cuz we don’t have to buy.
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Everything has not doubled. Don't be so quick to waste my money. You are the reason for rampant inflation.
 
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