Cue Makers as players

[ChatLag]

In my opinion in is a bit like in Formula 1. The engineers making the car are not driving it.
But the most important is that driver and technican can find a common sense and language and that the driver is able to put his requirements in word understandable for the technican.

So the player should know what he likes and what he is missing and the cue maker should be able to understand that and to implement that in a cue. So knowledge about material, craftsmanship and about the result of certain measures is more needed than to be a top player.

[eaoin11]

That says it really well. I would like to know more about how Trevor achieves various playing qualities in his cues but I guess one needs to become a customer to find out more secrets, and rightly so

[sangwsh]

hi Trevor,

Could you help to email me a quote for custom made cues? I wrote several emails and tried different email addresses but can not contact you at all. Let me know if the shipping address need to be out of China. My email address is sangwsh at hotmail dot com. Thanks a lot!

[poolqjunkie]

If a cue maker is great with wood, but cannot play at all. He can still make a great cue if he listens to his customers, and have someone good at the game to give him feedback and evaluate the cues for him. The important thing is that he needs to listen and understand.
Same goes for a great player/cue maker, because what he likes in a cue may not be what the customers want.
ROS and many pros are playing great with their JP cue so although JP is not a century runner, he obviously knows how to make a cue that plays well. I would think it is through interaction and working with pro players that allows him to know what is desirable and what is not.

[trevs1]

If a cue maker is great with wood, but cannot play at all. He can still make a great cue if he listens to his customers, and have someone good at the game to give him feedback and evaluate the cues for him. The important thing is that he needs to listen and understand.
Same goes for a great player/cue maker, because what he likes in a cue may not be what the customers want.
ROS and many pros are playing great with their JP cue so although JP is not a century runner, he obviously knows how to make a cue that plays well. I would think it is through interaction and working with pro players that allows him to know what is desirable and what is not.

Couldn't agree more with this post, it makes total sense and is what I was alluding to earlier.

Naturally, it helps to be a player as a maker and perhaps more so a very competent player, as it gives you an insight to what a specific person is trying to convey in their requirements, but, it isn't necessarily essential in my view.

I wouldn't necessarily say it has to be feedback from 'Pro' players though, as more or less anyone could possess the ability to offer contructive opinions on what they feel works well and what doesn't.

[poolqjunkie]

Yes, Trevor. You know, in the past, I have met cue makers who told me they were great(better than me that is) and so I should let them decide what would work for me--well, that did not work very well.

Then I have met cue makers who could not make a ball, who tried to tell me how wonderful their cues are in terms of playability, and that did not work for me either.

Then I have met cue makers who would listen, and always work on improving their cues based on feedback from their customers. Regardless of their playing level, they made their customers happy.