Is Robert Osborne Right?

[cazmac1]

Hi Jim I don't want anything. I'm just airing my view that is built from my experience. This is just my opinion and not everyone will agree. I have no interest in a cue made for Ronnie as there is no one fit all rule here. But to answer your other question yes if you had a dozen shafts for me to choose from I'm sure I'd find something close to what I was after.

[jim evans]

cant you go to parris cos there the nearest and ask or is there someone nearer

[cazmac1]

Jim, believe it or not I've done that and all the cues with the shafts I liked were coming up really heavy for some reason. I don't know if there is a relation ship between the stiffness of the shaft weight and density. It may just have been that, that was what was there and another day I would have found something. But saying all that my current cue is very light and has the stiffness. It must be the 3/4 and SD joints making them come in at 19 ish.
My current cue is a one piece no SD

[jim evans]

i had a couple of blokes round my house looking at my collection and they were both there tapping shaft feeling for the vibration and saying that would make a good player and so on right through the whole 150+ of them so i supose theres no ans apart from picking a few out and seeing how it works for you,in 1 of the other posts i was saying i played last night with a 100 yr old ormeand son and my mate packed in with 1 red left

[1blonde]

You have 150+ cues Jim?

Wow and I thought my hubby had it bad

[jrc750]

.... and I thought my hubby had it bad

I reckon your hubby has it good, having you that is, you sound like a real fun girl

[cazmac1]

I think i'll have to pop round yours one day jim and try some of your cue's gold if you couldn't find the perfect cue out of that lot you may as well pack it in

[jim evans]

anytime caz our lass is getting used to srange men going in my bedroom lol

[Neil Taperell]

Ha! Ha! Great line Jim

[poolqjunkie]

Cue making is kind of like a dying art in a way.
It is something a lot of people do not really understand how to do and when you want to try it it is very hard to do well.
It is kind of like singing. Some people just cannot sing. It is not something for everyone.
Then when you can master how to do it you would want to become better and better and there is no end. In order to get better a lot of time and money is needed for nicer wood, better tools and so on, not to mention the ridiculous amount of time and energy spent in trying to figure out how to do all these things that no one is willing to teach you.
When you can finally make a decent cue, some people will tell you so and so is cheaper or they can get such and such made in China for half the price.
At the end of the day, it is a very underpaid jobs that is also very difficult to do well. Not a lot of people would want to make this a profession unless they are really passionate about cues--which is why I said it is a dying art form.
I am not sure if there will be a next generation of cue makers as good as the ones we have now in say 30-40 years.
So, in that sense, I congrat Robert and I hope he can keep selling his cues at the prices he asks for to whoever appreciates his ability and is willing to pay for them. He deserves it.

[lloouu]

Cue making is kind of like a dying art in a way.
It is something a lot of people do not really understand how to do and when you want to try it it is very hard to do well.
It is kind of like singing. Some people just cannot sing. It is not something for everyone.
Then when you can master how to do it you would want to become better and better and there is no end. In order to get better a lot of time and money is needed for nicer wood, better tools and so on, not to mention the ridiculous amount of time and energy spent in trying to figure out how to do all these things that no one is willing to teach you.
When you can finally make a decent cue, some people will tell you so and so is cheaper or they can get such and such made in China for half the price.
At the end of the day, it is a very underpaid jobs that is also very difficult to do well. Not a lot of people would want to make this a profession unless they are really passionate about cues--which is why I said it is a dying art form.
I am not sure if there will be a next generation of cue makers as good as the ones we have now in say 30-40 years.
So, in that sense, I congrat Robert and I hope he can keep selling his cues at the prices he asks for to whoever appreciates his ability and is willing to pay for them. He deserves it.

Yes, totally agree with that. I believe that there has no free lunch, and you pay what you got from the top cue maker who's with good reputation in the market. Skills and reputation is something really hard to build up. It worth our respect!! ;-)

[JasonOwen]

Cue making is kind of like a dying art in a way.
It is something a lot of people do not really understand how to do and when you want to try it it is very hard to do well.
It is kind of like singing. Some people just cannot sing. It is not something for everyone.
Then when you can master how to do it you would want to become better and better and there is no end. In order to get better a lot of time and money is needed for nicer wood, better tools and so on, not to mention the ridiculous amount of time and energy spent in trying to figure out how to do all these things that no one is willing to teach you.
When you can finally make a decent cue, some people will tell you so and so is cheaper or they can get such and such made in China for half the price.

Totally agree with Airin.
It draws you in, spends your money and drives you to be better and better, very compelling.

[arbitrage]

Cue making is kind of like a dying art in a way.
It is something a lot of people do not really understand how to do and when you want to try it it is very hard to do well.
It is kind of like singing. Some people just cannot sing. It is not something for everyone.
Then when you can master how to do it you would want to become better and better and there is no end. In order to get better a lot of time and money is needed for nicer wood, better tools and so on, not to mention the ridiculous amount of time and energy spent in trying to figure out how to do all these things that no one is willing to teach you.
When you can finally make a decent cue, some people will tell you so and so is cheaper or they can get such and such made in China for half the price.
At the end of the day, it is a very underpaid jobs that is also very difficult to do well. Not a lot of people would want to make this a profession unless they are really passionate about cues--which is why I said it is a dying art form.
I am not sure if there will be a next generation of cue makers as good as the ones we have now in say 30-40 years.
So, in that sense, I congrat Robert and I hope he can keep selling his cues at the prices he asks for to whoever appreciates his ability and is willing to pay for them. He deserves it.

then why sell for so little? particularly customized to order cues? surely you appreciate the irony - snooker is a sport with more prestigious tournaments, better prize money per tournament by far than pool (and also star players who earn much more) - yet pool cues are way more expensive than snooker cues.

maybe people need to thank the british for making premium, customized services available at affordable prices to the average joe. however, don't despair - the chinese may be able to change that equation soon - just look at the prices of other collectibles being bid up by chinese buyers.

[Inoffthered]

I've actually Given the game up until after xmas, I might be looking to get a cue with a bit more weight in it. lol

Funny you say that tho Caz, I've gone back to my original JP "slim" of @ 14yrs use. Feels so good ( yes, 25mm butt LOL ), and I've been buzzing with it. The TW I got back in the Summer STILL feels good too. The ash on the newer cue is lighter ( because it's newer, quality ash ) and the JP is obviously older, almost golden brown in colour. The contrast of the brass ferrule against this wood helps me aim ( as I feather very close to the white ) and I've been hitting the ball like a dream again.

I doubt I'll sell the TW tho, it's a quality cue and will prob. talk myself into using it again some day when I start making excuses for my poor form with the JP. Haha.

So IDK. It's prob. all in my head at the end of the day, but for whatever reason, it's just what I'm used to. Good luck to all those searching.

[poolqjunkie]

Yes, it is ironic indeed.:-)
Personally, I feel that the customers of snooker cues pay most of their attention on the playability of their cues; while a lot of US Pool customers in the US/Japan/Taiwan pay lots of attention on the butt--ring work, material of the joint/ferrule, type of joint, inlays, finish, and how complex the design is...
I have seen US pool cues with very complex designs that will blow the most intricate snooker cue out the door; but playability cannot be achieved through fancy design/inlay. In my opinion, from personal experience, a lot of pool cues I have tried did not really play that well, certainly not in the same class as the best snooker cues--although they were much more expensive.
Anyone with money can buy a very expensive CNC lathe, a cue lathe, some DVD, books, and some woods and start making US Pool cues. There are so many new cue makers in the US now.
But a cue should be made to play the game first and foremost so it needs to play well before anything else. It is my firm belief that a cue maker should learn how to build a good hitting cue before trying to make all these fancy inlays and such.
But this is not the case with a lot of US pool cue makers. They spend their money and time trying to put very fancy inlays in their cues; buying very expensive spray booth to get a mirror like auto finish; they put loads of ivory and precious stones on their cues and spend tones of hours trying to make the rings as complicated as possible.
When it comes to the shaft, very often the quality is not very good, or it is made with a Predator 314 shaft or one of those "high performance" shafts. Because they use three sections in the butt section, it is hard to make the cue with very good transmission of hit. Since they usually use the same taper which is set by CNC or a tapering bar, all the shafts would feature the same taper. Some shaft woods are stiffer than others so with the same taper it is no surprise that the hit is not consistent from shafts to shafts.
Of course with so much money invested a spray booth, CNC lathe, inlay equipment...they cannot sell the cue for just $500 each. A lot of customers in the US plays with a Predator shafts so they are actually buying a cue because of the butt.
Snooker cues, in my humble opinions, make much more sense when it comes to its construction. The whole idea revolves around how to build a cue that plays very well. It is a very practical approach--without too much bells and whistles-- to build a piece of equipment to pot balls.
Customers are usually paying a lot of attention on the shaft, and the way the cue plays, rather than whether the cue has lots of inlays or any ivory or things like that.
Playability is very subjective and hard to explain. It is hard to put a price tag on playability alone. You can see the ivory and diamond on a pool cue--you can justify paying $10,000 for a cue if you can see 3 carats of diamond inlaid on it; but how do you justify paying $2000 for a cue with some wood splices on the butt just because it plays well? And what one person thinks is a great hitter might not be suitable for the next.
For a snooker cue to fetch the kind of money a pool cue can is more difficult simply because traditionally a snooker cue is supposed to be quite plain looking and most of the value of the cue is found in the shaft and how it play.
Having said that, there is no law that says you cannot build a snooker cue that plays well and also looks a million dollars.:-)