Colourful Wood

[KeithinFrance]

You must be joking, pal. Only way that veneer is coming off is when you pry my cue out of my dead hands!!

Did like the Muahahahahaha very much, though. Very effective. Did you check out Stamford's variation on a theme.

Humbug effect splice is basically one wood used in a splice with vertical lines of another, different coloured wood or veneer coming from the top of the splice down to the bottom; traditionally 3 are used. Like the splicing on the bottom of one of Mike's shark cues. Also, inspired by the 'humbug' sweet!

[KeithinFrance]

Oh that. I've seen that before! That's the stripey liney effect!
Keith why do you say it will be expensive? Rosewood is cheaper than ebony isn't it, and ive seen many cheaper cues with similar effect splices.
p.s. you seem to have fallen silent on the fact you should have red veneers under your cocobolo :P

You guys type faster than me! + I had to go to the loo!

[KeithinFrance]

what constitutes expensive like ?
have a price estimate of a cuemaker an the only bit that was different was the tulipwood/rosewood humbug. would that add dramatically to the cost ?
it'll probo be the last cue i ever buy new and talking our lass into it, providing me poker funds pay for it.

To do the tulipwood/rosewood humbug will cost you in the region of £100. That's an educated guess. Reason is that all the work is done by hand! It's tricky and time-consuming to do, so you're paying for time and nuisance value.

[KeithinFrance]

Oh that. I've seen that before! That's the stripey liney effect!
Keith why do you say it will be expensive? Rosewood is cheaper than ebony isn't it, and ive seen many cheaper cues with similar effect splices.
p.s. you seem to have fallen silent on the fact you should have red veneers under your cocobolo :P

It'll be expensive because of the work involved in hand-making the cue; in a hand-made cue you're paying more for the time of the maker than for the materials, so you won't pay less for a rosewood-butted cue than for an ebony one. For the "stripey line effect", in cheaper cues it's done in other, cheaper ways than in a hand-made cue where the whole thing is done by hand and that's a pain in the proverbial! I know cuemakers who quite simply won't do such a thing because it takes so much time!

[RGCirencester]

Then how does Mike do his Shark series cues? They appear to be the same thing, The active users thing says your out there Mike... Is Kieth right yet again? He usually is, but i can argue anyway, my lack of knowledge might win yet!
The paradon cue wizard makes rosewood cues about 40 pounds less than ebony, and handmade rosewood cues have always been cheaper when i've seen them advertised along side there ebony counterparts.

[KeithinFrance]

Then how does Mike do his Shark series cues? They appear to be the same thing, The active users thing says your out there Mike... Is Kieth right yet again? He usually is, but i can argue anyway, my lack of knowledge might win yet!
The paradon cue wizard makes rosewood cues about 40 pounds less than ebony, and handmade rosewood cues have always been cheaper when i've seen them advertised along side there ebony counterparts.

I really wouldn't describe Mike's Shark series cues as "cheaper", to be honest! They're dearer than quite a few hand made cues out there. But I think the word "appear" is the key word, here. I'm willing to bet that they're not all individual blocks of wood inlaid to form a pattern, and if they were, the Sharks'd be more that £160!

When I mentioned handmade cues by a cuemaker, I really wasn't meaning Peradon, it was more Dave Coutts, Trev, Robin,Mike, Tony Glover and others of their standing I was referring to. Peradon don't really "handmake" anything! I'm also willing to bet that the handmade rosewood and ebony cues you're on about are not really handmade. People who make hundreds of cues a week can buy huge amounts of rosewood in at cut prices, therefore they can pass along this saving because of economies of scale; Dave, Trev, Mike et al don't buy industrial amounts of any wood, so it's different. But, and this is the key thing, what you're paying for is their time and skill, not the wood! Unless it's something really rare and expensive, like a snakewood cue or exhibition grade mahogany which is so expensive it's ridiculous!

[RGCirencester]

Mikes shark cues are ebony. it was more the humbug pattern £100 thing i was referring to with that point, not the rosewood. I'm now actually interested to know how mike makes his "humbug" veneer patterns.
And with rosewood butts, every time i have seen one (actually handmade not cheap chinese rubbish, even though cheaper chinese rubbish does tend to be cheaper in rosewood) it has been cheaper than an ebony counterpart. But i haven't seen that many and it could be a coincidence. I always thought rosewood cues were cheaper though. Knocking 40 pounds off a 250 pound cue, you would still be paying for the experience of the cue maker in my opinion.

[spotsand stripes]

anyone know what i could expect to pay for that off various makers then ?
it aint price matching as much as curious, cos i reckon if yer put all the top named makers cues in me hands without telling me who was who, i wouldnt have a clue. have used a cue i bought from a table top (pool) for 20 years. sent it to craftsman (a long time before next day delivery) waited 4 weeks and aint looked back. to be honest how does anyone know what they want ? by the time yer found the length, then weight, then feel of the butt and finally ferrule size how can yer know whats right ? (even for yersen)
surely what it looks like is the last thing ?

[KeithinFrance]

Ask Mike how he does the humbug thing, it's the best way to find out, IMO.

Everybody thinks the same thing concerning a rosewood cue, until they ask a cuemaker and they explain what I've already said. How do I know? Because I asked too! But you could always ask Mike too. Sorry, Mike! No, no ... I've got a better idea! Go onto John Parris' website and go to the custom cues page, I can't remember what it's called, and look for the specs page as if you were going to place an order. If I remember correctly, you can choose your own butt wood for a Special or Paragon etc. You've got two choices, ebony or rosewood; there's no reduction for rosewood if you choose it! Honest, guv!

Right, I'm going to go to bed, it's 01:45 here and I've got to get up in the morning, unlike some!! Goodnight all.

[KeithinFrance]

anyone know what i could expect to pay for that off various makers then ?it aint price matching as much as curious, cos i reckon if yer put all the top named makers cues in me hands without telling me who was who, i wouldnt have a clue. have used a cue i bought from a table top (pool) for 20 years. sent it to craftsman (a long time before next day delivery) waited 4 weeks and aint looked back. to be honest how does anyone know what they want ? by the time yer found the length, then weight, then feel of the butt and finally ferrule size how can yer know whats right ? (even for yersen)
surely what it looks like is the last thing ?

Probably the price of a hand-made cue + front splice + give or take £100 , so between £280 and £500, depending on cuemakers, and I'm not talking London prices, here.

Yes, it should be, but often it isn't!

[RGCirencester]

The parris website has a checkbox for rosewood or ebony but doesnt say the price. So we will never know (im probably wrong so im going with this hopefully to end this argument with me not losing). How about cocobolo rosewood kieth?
p.s. who goes to bed before 3am :P

[KeithinFrance]

The parris website has a checkbox for rosewood or ebony but doesnt say the price. So we will never know (im probably wrong so im going with this hopefully to end this argument with me not losing). How about cocobolo rosewood kieth?
p.s. who goes to bed before 3am :P

You can get a cue made up with a cocobolo butt no problem at all, as it's a nice heavy, stable wood. Cost? Same as an ebony-butted cue!

Who goes to bed before 3 am? Me!! and the kids, which is why I had to go to get some kip, otherwise they've got too much energy and I don't have any!!

[Burwat Champ]

Tulip Wood
Becote
olive wood.

The above 3 would be my choice

[spotsand stripes]

Tulip Wood
Becote
olive wood.

The above 3 would be my choice

dont know what becote looks like, but thats the problem am having deciding between olive and tulip. both look great.

[KeithinFrance]

It's bocote, also known as mexican rosewood. Look on Robin Cook's website, he uses it and you'll see some examples there. Personally, of the 3 above, I'd go for Tulip, which is beautiful and subtle, but also because it's becoming harder to get hold of! Better get it before it disappears!

Oh, spotsand stripes, which cuemakers are you near, do you know? And which cuemaker did you go to for the quote for the maple cue you mentioned before? I forgot to ask you last night; that's what fatigue'll do for you!