Cue arrived but............

[Jonny]

Cue has arrived on time and undamaged by parcel force, horray , not surprised though, the packaging was ridiculous haha however..........

There are lines leading up from the splice corners (so the pointy bits) up to the brass joint and i was wondering are these cracks or are these just the lines of the splices of ebony.

Also, are mastercraft cue badges extremely small? :S can't help but think this badge is a lot smaller than on people's pictures

feels really smooth and nice looking shaft though, now i understand why you guys pay a bit more money

Case is nice and solid too

Butt splices are uneven but i was expecting that/knew that (could see in pics, but that's just aesthetics)

overall, think i picked up a pretty good buy (if those lines are just glue lines and not cracks )

Question now is, does it play well

[cueman]

Piccies please!!!

[davyp26uk]

I got one (Emerald Gem) about a year and a half ago and it plays well but noticed a small crack at the butt end of the cue in the ebony. Doesn't seem to be spreading or affecting the way the cue handles.

[Jonny]

Excuse the **** duvet, uni suppied

Top side



Belly - with the huge uneven splice XD



Side with the even splicing



On further inspection, tilting the cue up to the light, can see a very small crack but from forum posts, it's not much of a problem and if it is then i could always send it off to get repaired

[Bigmeek]

Jonny I think I know what you mean by the lines. My Mastercraft has them as well. Just to be clear its where the black ebony has been joined to the ash shaft (or maple in my case). The line runs down the ebony butt for about 4-6 inches. Mine is not that visible but quite clear when you hold it in the light. I've never really examined any other handmade cues that closely so don't know if this is normal. My old machine spliced Powerglide doesn't have any lines but that's probably because it's heavily varnished.
My badge is slightly smaller than a 5 pence piece.

[Bigmeek]

Jonny I think I know what you mean by the lines. My Mastercraft has them as well. Just to be clear its where the black ebony has been joined to the ash shaft (or maple in my case). The line runs down the ebony butt for about 4-6 inches. Mine is not that visible but quite clear when you hold it in the light. I've never really examined any other handmade cues that closely so don't know if this is normal. My old machine spliced Powerglide doesn't have any lines but that's probably because it's heavily varnished.
My badge is slightly smaller than a 5 pence piece.

PS can you post a pic of the Butt please

[Jonny]

Jonny I think I know what you mean by the lines. My Mastercraft has them as well. Just to be clear its where the black ebony has been joined to the ash shaft (or maple in my case). The line runs down the ebony butt for about 4-6 inches. Mine is not that visible but quite clear when you hold it in the light. I've never really examined any other handmade cues that closely so don't know if this is normal. My old machine spliced Powerglide doesn't have any lines but that's probably because it's heavily varnished.
My badge is slightly smaller than a 5 pence piece.

Yea it's where it joins the ash shaft, and i can only see it if i look extremely closely at a certain angle with light.

Smaller than a 5p sounds about right then, i thought for a second that i may have gotten a fake one lol , the forum pics make the badges seem massive.

What kind of butt pic do you want?, it's just a standard ebony one

[Bigmeek]

Ok thought you might have got some fancy splicing. I got Olivewood. very nice

[Dan27]

Badges probably do look bigger on photos.