Craftsman cues

[monkey]

Ive noticed most of them have gone up £10 each. Now this is quite alot imo, as i was going to get the cheap victor burr for £65 but now its 75

[Freddie Ng]

Cue price is always going up mate

[jonnylovessn8ker]

Ive noticed most of them have gone up £10 each. Now this is quite alot imo, as i was going to get the cheap victor burr for £65 but now its 75

its called inflation mate

[Matan]

What is the difference between the Victor cue and the 147 cue?

[Mr P]

Cue price has gone up a rack lot since about 5 years ago when I started. I remember getting a good cue off e-bay for about £4, you struggle to get a block of chalk for that these days.

[jonplayer]

Monkey don't investigate the price of a Cadburys creme egg in th last few years, You'll have kittens

[Bigmeek]

What is the difference between the Victor cue and the 147 cue?

147 is hand-spliced. Victor is machine-spliced.

[perpetualboredom]

Fair play the them I say, they were practically giving cues away to the point where they were struggling to fill the racks as quickly as they were going out!

[monkey]

lol ok ok, daft thing to post i suppose
Just one question, a hand spliced cue wont PLAY or FEEL any different to the machine spliced ones will it?

[Bigmeek]

lol ok ok, daft thing to post i suppose
Just one question, a hand spliced cue wont PLAY or FEEL any different to the machine spliced ones will it?

To the average player IMO there will be no difference in how they PLAY but there is definately a difference in how they FEEL. A nice well made hand spliced cue will almost certainly be finished to a higher standard and will have had numerous "sandings" and "oilings". It will feel silky smooth. A machine spliced cue will probably just have a coating of varnish.

[ste bed]

I know this is a very old thread but I have just bought a craftsman victor off ebay came this morning plain ebony machine
spliced 3q ash shaft not checked the specs yet but looking at it 58in , 18.5oz, 9.5mm , 29mm butt. I have to say for a machine
made cue its superb no filler splices are all tight nice shaft perfectly straight ferrule is flush completely oiled finish smooth as silk.
there is a light streak running through the ebony but thats just cosmetic adds to the caricature of the cue. Paid 35£ for the cue and
a solid ebony spiroloc mini butt plus case ( christ cue makers sre charging 30 odd now just for a mini butt) makes me think how was craftsman cues selling these so cheap I would have happily paid about £80/90 if some one was selling it in my club and could have seen it beforehand.
I will post some pics of it with the wooldridge cue I posted about last night when I find my camera.

[cueman]

Craftsman were always undervalued and it does beg the question how is it that they can make such good cues for so little, when other cue makers at the time were selling their's for double and sometimes treble the amount for a same spec cue.

When I first encountered Craftsman back in the mid 90's you could buy the 147 cue for £90, a hand made ebony butt and top quality ash shaft an absolute bargain. Fast forward nearly 20 years and they have only increased the price to double that for the same model. You simply can't get a hand made cue made to your own spec from any cue maker, even a hobbiest or someone just starting out for less than £200!

If they can do it so can others that is my take, they are still making a profit and not only that but also working out of a large premises where the rent and running of the building far exceeds many other cue makers who work from home.

[Holsworth]

Got my 147 cue from Craftsman is 1991. Was £75 then!

[ste bed]

And they where making better cues back in the 90s a team mate as a 147 he had it custom made to 60in as he's 6f5 and its a top quality cue apart from
the splice points being out a little but I dont think they ever worried about that much. Fast forward to 2007 I bought a brand new one for another team mate I found 1 on ebay brand new both extensions still in the tubes craftsman sent it in the guy even sent me the receipt I paid 105 + postage. The cue came and it
was no where near the same quality as the one my mate had made in the 90s it had a kind of glossy finish to it not varnish but something similar the ash was nowhere near the same quality bit disappointed with it really.

I also bought a custom majestic 1 piece with purple heart instead of tulipwood around 2005 which was a beaut I donated
it to the league to raffle off to get some extra cash for 1 of the comps. A guy won it whod probably one ov the
worst players in the league doesn't even use it uses some crappy 2 piece with a screw on tip.

[cueman]

I think Craftsman have always been a bit hit and miss when it comes to quality. I ordered a majestic back in 2012 along with a custom made cue from mastercraft with the view of seeing which one was best and selling the one off. Like you I was a little disappointed with the quality.

The ebony was very streaky and thinly planed down, tulipwood was quite pale and not vibrant like you get with genuine good quality tulipwood. The finish as you mention was the big let down though, not lacquer but a finish that makes it feel like lacquer. It played alright and the spec was pretty much spot on but I sold it to my mate for £100 as I knew I'd be lucky to get much more than that if I advertised it on here or ebay.

I too owned a great cue from them back in 04 when I decided to take a trek up to Leeds and pick one out in the shop. It was a custom made cue, don't know why it was on the shelf, I didn't ask questions. A lovely responsive ash shaft, just 3 arrows, nice ebony butt with 4 lower snakewood splices over sycamore veneers. I tried it on the table and just couldn't miss with it, every pot straight in the centre of the pocket, had a good 30 mins with it, tried out some other cues but this just felt like magic. Bought it, £169, bargain I thought.

Got it back home still playing well with it but it didn't come with an end joint fitted, just a rubber pad. So I sent it back to get the joint fitted and ordered the extensions, big mistake. Cue came back feeling and playing completely different to how it did before. Made a funny noise on striking the ball, I was gutted. Sold it less than a month later on ebay for £200 with the extensions thrown in. The guy I sold it to actually contacted me because I pulled it on the final day of listing because the highest bid was only £110 which was way below what I wanted for it, given the money I'd spent on petrol driving up to Leeds and the cost of sending it back and forth to get the end joint fitted.
I told him I wanted £200 he was happy to pay and sent it off. He loved it, said it was the most responsive cue he's played with. I still regret selling it because although it felt different it still played well. I guess it was just the disappointment in my mind that I knew it had changed from the cue I was playing so well with. After that I decided I'd never alter a cue ever again, always make sure that cues are made with an end joint fitted because they do alter the feel and balance.