Graeme Dott's Parris Ultimate No.2050

[mythman69]

[QUOTE=klx-inc;709375]That's why it's always best to visit the cuemaker in person when ordering a cue, regardless of distance!/[QUOTE]

Not easy when you live in Australia and the good cuemakers live in the UK . . .

[vmax4steve]

Any cue makers want to weigh in with what is the main cause of splices being slightly misaligned? Dodgy measurements? the splice moving slightly because of the glue when its first clamped? Be interested on hearing from a cue maker on this but this seems to be an area where not many answers are given.

All three of the above plus the shaft moving when it's being planed after the butt splices have been glued on and needing to take slightly more from one side of the butt than the other in order to keep the cue straight.
This is one reason why top cuemakers take so long to finish a custom order. The shaft needs to be left for long periods between planing stages to allow for movement of the wood as stresses within the wood are released as wood is planed and sanded off piece by piece.
Of course any splice/s can be removed and new wood spliced on but with exotic hardwood so expensive I wouldn't do this myself just to satisfy someone who is overly fussy about aesthetics rather than playability, but then again if I was charging £700 + I could afford to.

[stejohn]

To get splices dead level is very difficult, the butt has to be evenly planed/turned round. Then accurately measured and marked out then evenly planed ready to glue the splices. Then the glued splices have to be planed/turned round again accurately to keep everything level. Very tricky and only the best cue makers can get them even all/most of the time. Also its easier to get the top points even but the bottom points are much more tricky due to having to plane each reverse splices exactly 180 degrees to each other and at the exact same angle.

I'm no cue maker obviously, but can understand the difficulties in hand splicing. I found it diifficult enough trying to add a front splice even!

When paying for high end cues £500+ i would expect level splicing. Otherwise if there a fraction out but the cue plays great then that is what really matters.

[sanman]

To get the top splices correct the is relatively easy when compared to the bottom splices.

The factors that affect the alignment of splices are the angle of splicing relative to the axial direction of the shaft. Both the angles need to be planed exactly at the same angle relative to the axial direction(direction of the shaft lenght, not the direction of the shaft circumference). The opposite splices need to be exactly parralel to one another and the perpendicular splices needs to be exactly perpendicular. When all of these requirements are met you get perfect splices. And that takes time and effort. like its always been said only the very best cuemakers can get this correct.

[trevs1]

Posted by Cally....

Just to clear this up cos the point is just not sinking in eh....

The point of ppl having a go at JP is that he sells his cues in 'ranges' so when someone pays a premium for a cue that supposed to be a cut above the rest and you are paying (quite) a premium for extra care and nicer aesthetics in a shaft etc etc.......

Then an ultimate(s) pops up that is out on a few splices (by quite a margin on some). You think that is acceptable? No, NO it's not. That is what the premium price is for see fella. What is the point in having a range of cues if it makes no odds apart from a badge? the premium is for pure aesthetics not for playability. Do you see?
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I'd have to agree with much of this.

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Posted by Cueman....

Not to mention that the shaft will be of the best quality playing wise too. It amazes me how successful he is at making the pros cues that they adapt with and play so well with like Mark King for instance who has only had this cue a fairly short time. Say what you like about Parris but when it comes to Ultimate range they are in a class of their own, why else would so many top pros use his cues if they were no good!
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I'd have to disagree with much of this.

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Here's why......

I think that to simplify it, what people are paying for is........

a) The ability to request every detail of the cue, not only with regard to specs, but design also.

b) The highest grade of materials held at any given time (which can be variable for obvious reasons) for both butt materials and shafts

c) Greater attention to detail in build quality and finish.

As for shafts being "of the best playing quality" well, that's hopeful to be honest. The reason I say that is because Ultimate cues are made to the specs a customer requests, so those customers "could" request a cue which has specs which are not entirely conducive to a great performing cue. Having said that, a well experienced maker would have some idea of what parameters to work to, in order to keep a cue as "normal" as possible, even when asked for slightly "off the wall" specs.

On the professional player thing mentioned by Cueman.....

The very idea that any maker builds cues "knowing" what will suit people is a little wide of the mark to put it mildly. There is completely and utterly no way that a maker can accurately predict how any cue will perform. However, staying within what could be considered relatively standard margins of shape and size will go some way to ensuring that a cue should play well. As we all know, the vast majority of cues made are within these "relatively standard margins", and so should be pretty good.

The simple fact is, that unless a cue is completely dreadful, professional players will be able to adapt somewhat to it. It's pretty clear to anyone with half a brain that the reason for that is just due to their fundamental level of proficiency at the game, having gained years of experience putting into practise what is obviously from the outset, a decent level of natural ability. To be fair, very strong club players or good amateurs would be exactly the same. I have personally used many Parris cues, some of which have been made for top level pro's. Some of these have been excellent, but some have been astonishingly bad. Like any other maker, they are variable, no matter the name on the badge. There is nothing that places a Parris cue above ANY OTHER make of cue in playing terms alone, nothing at all. This could be proven if there were some way of blind testing cues, but unfortunately, there isn't that option so the debate will sadly continue in the same pointless fashion it always has.

There are fairly simple reasons why a lot of the game's pro's use Parris cues, but I'd rather not go into some of those reasons here. Clearly, John Parris has earnt his reputation. He didn't blag it or cheat his way into gaining such status, it was earnt the hard way. The fact that he's been smart when it comes to promoting himself and his products is perhaps to be applauded, and again, he deserves credit for that. To my mind, there's no doubting that he is definitely someone who took cuemaking in the UK to a better level.

[narl]

The ultimate shaft has always been about aesthetics from what I can recall from the catalogue they used to have, straight, evenly spaced grain arrows. As said doesn't mean its going to play any better, though a nice looking grain I suppose makes for a better looking cue which most likely will make the player take to it quicker.

[narl]

[B]
b) The highest grade of materials held at any given time (which can be variable for obvious reasons) for both butt materials and shafts

Getting the much sought after Jet Black ebony seems to be a pain in the arse these days, I've contacted a few cuemakers who say they can't guarantee it as obviously it could look black on the outside and have traces of resddish brown tinge on the inside. I take it theres a premium on the jet black stuff and do timber yards have much of an idea if their stuff is the blacker than a boot in a coalmine at midnight variety?

[jono*]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/John-Parri...61225446905%26

genuine??

[cueman]

looks real enough but you can never be sure these days unless you see it in the flesh. Seems a rather low starting price considering its a nice snakewood splices and veneers. Even given the age which I'd guess at about 2006 at the latest it would command at least £550 and I'd start it at that price. Even though the ferrule is a bit tarnished that can be brought back to life and the spec is good. Seems to good to be true and of course the seller hasn't any previous history, its screaming that there is something wrong with this but you could get lucky.

[jrc750]

Well price will shoot up, so starting price doesn't really matter on this cue

[jono*]

Yeah. I contacted the seller. She didn't have much of a clue about the cue. Just that it's a one piece. May get lucky but there is the risk of no feedback on te seller.

[trevs1]

The front splice has a split just below the name badge. (no shock with snakewood)

In fact, it looks like it has two, one just under the letter "R" and another shorter one towards the base of the butt below the "S"

[ADR147]

so new face splice required.

[trevs1]

Not really, it won't get any worse and in all probability can't be felt at all.

Having said that, it ain't going to get any better and heal up on its own either though.

[joffy01582]

can you not phone john parris quoting the cues number and ask for info on said cue