a great 3/4 cue needed as soon as possible

[renzie67]

Hope everything in your life works out Bursque I apologise for doubting you it was just when the subject changed to Thai cues I got suspicious you maybe somebody else. For that I apologise . You lost out on a brilliant deal and I lost out also as the cue sold for less on eBay. No hard feelings.

[brusque]

Hope everything in your life works out Bursque I apologise for doubting you it was just when the subject changed to Thai cues I got suspicious you maybe somebody else. For that I apologise . You lost out on a brilliant deal and I lost out also as the cue sold for less on eBay. No hard feelings.

Thanks for the honesty mate. All cleared up. I concede that I probably over-reacted. My apologies for that too. I really liked your cue and was very serious but when you doubted me, I flared up.

My miseries are not over yet though because I just called the Thai guy from Master cues. I had to explain to him that when he sends me a parcel he does not have to declare the exact price so I do not have to pay customs on it (yeah I know its cheating but I already pay almost 50% in taxes on my income to the state so I think that much cheating is allowed). As it turns out, he cannot speak a word of English. It was funny. He was laughing and I was laughing. He just has some standards templates for responding on email and even they are quite hard to understand. Now the same cue is available in UK too but my idea was that they might be "bulk items" while I might get lucky and get a better one if I approach the guy direct despite higher shipping costs from Thailand than the UK.

I will try to sort out that paypal thingy because I guess that seems to be the easiest and mutually desired transaction mode. It seems like I am not gonna get a cue any time soon so probably I will just resort to teh last option i.e. ordering one directly from JP where (1) I will probably get a mass produced item and (2) I will pay a whooping 92£ for shipping while it actually costs 22£ (3) and then I will pay even more in customs as an extortion.

[rob s]

The only problem with declaring it as a low value item is that it means it can't be fully insured when sent by courier, as long as you are willing to take that risk then most cue dealers on here would be willing to do it, I know I've done it in the past. I think the best thing to do is list your rough budget range and some specs ie ash or maple, length, weight, tip/ferrule then people can offer you what they have available. This forum is a great place to buy a cue and avoid the waiting list, there are a lot of cue collectors/dealers on here who sell them for reasonable prices, some are brand new and you can pick up a bargain if you are polite and a good negotiatior. Good luck in your search anyway matey

[jrc750]

Hope you find a cue soon mate.
And yeah get your paypal account sorted as it's best way of sending money. For future reference you do not need a person's name and address to do a bank transfer, just the sort code and account number, maybe that is what you mean by BIC and IBAN ????

[brusque]

I am willing to take the risk of no insurance because I don't think its quite easy to extract money out of insurance anyway if something goes wrong

my specs are simple

type 3/4
ash shaft
ebony butt
length 57-58"
tip 9.5 mm
weight 18-19 oz
butt diameter 28-30 mm
joint 12-16"
basically a standard off the shelf kinda thingy for me to try and find out if I need any laterations

It cannot be simpler than that. The price ranges including Thai cues so far is 150£-600£. I do not understand that huge gap. I can give say 500£ too but I need to know whats so special in that cue compared to a 150£ Master PB1 from Thailand. When I do not know what makes a 600£ cue worth 600£ it only makes sense to go for a 150£. Everyone tells me I am trying to save money while I am just trying not to waste it. There's a difference between the two and apparently everyone seems to think I am looking for a "steal" while I just want value for money and a great playing experience. I don't even care about any fancy veneers etc. Just want a plain cue but cannot figure out why the prices range from 150-600 for the same materials and from the pictures they all look of similar quality and I cannot hold one in my hand to tell the difference. OK craftsmanship might be different as its a skill at the end of the day but how can it differ soooo much is beyond me.

Anyway I am just going to take a decision in the next few hours. Finding a great cue has been a pain thus far

[brusque]

Hope you find a cue soon mate.
And yeah get your paypal account sorted as it's best way of sending money. For future reference you do not need a person's name and address to do a bank transfer, just the sort code and account number, maybe that is what you mean by BIC and IBAN ????

Maybe in the UK you do not need name and address but my bank has this as a mandatory field on the web form. IBAN is an international account number and BIC identifies the bank (also called swift code I guess).

Regarding paypal, only option left is to give them an international call for support as to reach them via email I need to answer the security question and I cannot tell my lost credit card number to them. I tried calling them but its outside their work hours now. Will try to sort that out.

[rob s]

I am willing to take the risk of no insurance because I don't think its quite easy to extract money out of insurance anyway if something goes wrong

my specs are simple

type 3/4
ash shaft
ebony butt
length 57-58"
tip 9.5 mm
weight 18-19 oz
butt diameter 28-30 mm
joint 12-16"
basically a standard off the shelf kinda thingy for me to try and find out if I need any laterations

It cannot be simpler than that. The price ranges including Thai cues so far is 150£-600£. I do not understand that huge gap. I can give say 500£ too but I need to know whats so special in that cue compared to a 150£ Master PB1 from Thailand. When I do not know what makes a 600£ cue worth 600£ it only makes sense to go for a 150£. Everyone tells me I am trying to save money while I am just trying not to waste it. There's a difference between the two and apparently everyone seems to think I am looking for a "steal" while I just want value for money and a great playing experience. I don't even care about any fancy veneers etc. Just want a plain cue but cannot figure out why the prices range from 150-600 for the same materials and from the pictures they all look of similar quality and I cannot hold one in my hand to tell the difference. OK craftsmanship might be different as its a skill at the end of the day but how can it differ soooo much is beyond me.

Anyway I am just going to take a decision in the next few hours. Finding a great cue has been a pain thus far

Ok to put it simply prices range due to material and production costs. You are an intelligent guy so you realise something made in Thailand is a lot cheaper to make than a truly uk handmade cue. The Thai cues are usually not left to settle for as long as the uk made cues and are spliced differently.
Personally I would decide if you want a real UK made cue with a good resale value or a value for money Thai cue which probably won't get you your money back when you come to sell or a Thai cue finished by someone like crispian jones. If you wanna go down the Thai route (which I recommend if you are on a budget) then get a phoenix cue in my opinion there 3/4 cues are better than mastercues as mastercue joints have problems quite regularly, if you search on the forum there are threads showing mastercues where the joint has come loose. Also phoenix cues are cheaper than GBL cues as GBL prices have gone up again recently. Craftsman sell phoenix cues but I am sure they wouldn't be willing to declare as a low value item so you would have to deal with the tax. Also you could get a plain ebony customised cue from crispian which will be a Thai cue but with a better finish and he may be willing to declare as a low value item so it would work out only a bit more money than the phoenix from craftsman plus tax.
If you are gonna get a handmade UK cue then I personally recommend Trevor white, Dave coutts, Robin Cook, Stamford just to name a few and SOME parris cues are great but for all these cuemakers there will be a massive waiting list so you would need to find 1 here or on eBay for a good price which can be difficult.

[ADR147]

OK because i am kind!

1, master cue are great cues but buy a one piece not a 3/4 - that is from 10 years of experience dealing with them.

2, be very careful about your import tax and trying to cheat the system you can get in a lot of trouble over trying to save a few quid!

[brusque]

Ok to put it simply prices range due to material and production costs. You are an intelligent guy so you realise something made in Thailand is a lot cheaper to make than a truly uk handmade cue. The Thai cues are usually not left to settle for as long as the uk made cues and are spliced differently.
Personally I would decide if you want a real UK made cue with a good resale value or a value for money Thai cue which probably won't get you your money back when you come to sell or a Thai cue finished by someone like crispian jones. If you wanna go down the Thai route (which I recommend if you are on a budget) then get a phoenix cue in my opinion there 3/4 cues are better than mastercues as mastercue joints have problems quite regularly, if you search on the forum there are threads showing mastercues where the joint has come loose. Also phoenix cues are cheaper than GBL cues as GBL prices have gone up again recently. Craftsman sell phoenix cues but I am sure they wouldn't be willing to declare as a low value item so you would have to deal with the tax. Also you could get a plain ebony customised cue from crispian which will be a Thai cue but with a better finish and he may be willing to declare as a low value item so it would work out only a bit more money than the phoenix from craftsman plus tax.
If you are gonna get a handmade UK cue then I personally recommend Trevor white, Dave coutts, Robin Cook, Stamford just to name a few and SOME parris cues are great but for all these cuemakers there will be a massive waiting list so you would need to find 1 here or on eBay for a good price which can be difficult.

Thanks Rob. this is a high quality response. makes me wiser. Gets in my head and makes most sense to me. It does nto try to sell me a cue but is actually helping me. That's is all I requested and I thank you for taking the time.

>> Resale?
Not an option at all. Where I live no one would want a snooker cue even if I gave it to them for free . I guess maybe not even 200 people in all of Denmark play snooker and most don't know or care about what a great cue si . So once I buy something it better be good as reselling is not an option. No one would buy on ebay either because of extra shipping incurred and the inability to check the cue in person before buying.

>> Trevor white, Dave coutts, Robin Cook, Stamford etc.

Yes they must be making great cues and I could pay for the quality but I cannot wait months.

I think you clarified a few things. It helped and I am getting very close now . Thanks.

[rob s]

Thanks Rob. this is a high quality response. makes me wiser. Gets in my head and makes most sense to me. It does nto try to sell me a cue but is actually helping me. That's is all I requested and I thank you for taking the time.

>> Resale?
Not an option at all. Where I live no one would want a snooker cue even if I gave it to them for free . I guess maybe not even 200 people in all of Denmark play snooker and most don't know or care about what a great cue si . So once I buy something it better be good as reselling is not an option. No one would buy on ebay either because of extra shipping incurred and the inability to check the cue in person before buying.

>> Trevor white, Dave coutts, Robin Cook, Stamford etc.

Yes they must be making great cues and I could pay for the quality but I cannot wait months.

I think you clarified a few things. It helped and I am getting very close now . Thanks.

No problem matey, good response too by the way. 1 thing I have to disagree on is the resale thing, even if you are in Denmark a Trevor white or John parris cue will sell through eBay for not much less than you paid for it as long as you are willing to ship worldwide. I have bought (and sold) cues from all over the world as long as its through PayPal you are protected anyway.
Just for your information a plain ebony 3/4 phoenix cue is £159 plus shipping brand new from craftsman which is a bargain as they are great cues, even robin cook recommended them to me and he is 1 of the finest cuemakers around.

[luke-h]

No problem matey, good response too by the way. 1 thing I have to disagree on is the resale thing, even if you are in Denmark a Trevor white or John parris cue will sell through eBay for not much less than you paid for it as long as you are willing to ship worldwide. I have bought (and sold) cues from all over the world as long as its through PayPal you are protected anyway.
Just for your information a plain ebony 3/4 phoenix cue is £159 plus shipping brand new from craftsman which is a bargain as they are great cues, even robin cook recommended them to me and he is 1 of the finest cuemakers around.

have to agree with the craftman recommendation my pal has one in a one piece maple and its stunning....wish it didnt play that well because im getting sick off him getting tons against me lol

[brusque]

OK because i am kind!

1, master cue are great cues but buy a one piece not a 3/4 - that is from 10 years of experience dealing with them.

2, be very careful about your import tax and trying to cheat the system you can get in a lot of trouble over trying to save a few quid!

Thanks. Great advice.

1. 1 pc is not an option due to transportation challenges

2. I know that is why I am here and not on a webshop of some established trader. that is also why I am actually interested in a new "used" cue not to save money (but to save unnecessary customs duty) with no fancy flashing stickers etc. to be credible with the story that it is a used cue sent for repair etc. That is why mutual communication and trust is of utmost importance. Unfortunately the Thai guy did not understand a word of all I said otherwise this case was settled already 4 hours back and the money would have been on its way towards him.

[brusque]

OK everyone. After a lot of spanking, I did get some quality advice from more than one people through this thread, pms, and email. thanks a lot for your advice. It did help a lot.

All things considered, i have finalized what my plan is. If anyone is curious, let em say I have requested Andy Travis to make me a simple ebony cue with pretty much standard specs. I hope Andy accepts the request and the terms and if he does not, the Phoenix master cue for 159£ it is then.

It was good fun altogether. I did more research on this cue than I ever did on anything ever in my life ... my apartment and my car included so let us hope I made the right decision because I really love playing snooker and its a pleasure always to play with a decent cue.

Thanks everyone again for all your input. My humble apologies if I offended anyone.

[dave121260]

If your looking for a andy travis cue I have one for sale that match your requirements if your still looking but would like paying through PayPal