Difference in cues

[potter93]

Hi everyone I am going about buying a new cue, I would like to buy a john parris cue or another of similar quality. I was just wondering does anybody know the differences other than the price between a john parris classic cue, which is under the "parris collection" cues on his website and an ultimate or paragon cue made to the same spec (Plain ebony butt, 3 quarter jointed)

[jrc750]

The Ultimate "should" have a great looking hand picked shaft as that's what your paying a lot more money for, but doesn't necessarily mean you will play any better with it !

[narl]

The Ultimate "should" have a great looking hand picked shaft as that's what your paying a lot more money for, but doesn't necessarily mean you will play any better with it !

Indeedy, eyecandy essentially

[potter93]

So the finish on the cue will be the exact same and same quality ebony used?

[cueman]

Its difficult to say for certain. All I know is with the Ultimate range you are getting everything the best of any cue you can imagine. So that probably means better quality ebony as well, the blackest they have but the finish should be the same and that always enhances the colour and grain of any cue. Only thing is its pot luck buying any cue, it might suit you, it might not. Try not to get too hung up about ebony though or wood in general, some ash shafts look great but play crap, other shafts don't look good or have a very wild grain yet play great. Trust your instinct and order the cue, you'll be pleased with the quality.

[SouthPaw]

Hi everyone I am going about buying a new cue, I would like to buy a john parris cue or another of similar quality. I was just wondering does anybody know the differences other than the price between a john parris classic cue, which is under the "parris collection" cues on his website and an ultimate or paragon cue made to the same spec (Plain ebony butt, 3 quarter jointed)

What I've seen come out of the Parris workshop recently i wouldn't even consider a Parris cue, obviously some of his apprentice cue makers are no where near the great man himself's level of quality. Would choose a White, Cook or Wooldridge any day of the week!

[cueman]

What I've seen come out of the Parris workshop recently i wouldn't even consider a Parris cue, obviously some of his apprentice cue makers are no where near the great man himself's level of quality. Would choose a White, Cook or Wooldridge any day of the week!

A friend of mine recently had a professional model cue and it was very good indeed. I think a lot depends on materials you can get at the time. Its easy to criticise JP but he has hundreds of orders and they simply have to get them out, obviously not everyone is going to be perfect, hence the question about the standard compared to the Ultimate.

You can't go comparing Robin, Mike or Trevor either as they are just one person making cues so they can have a better quality control over the cue, JP simply doesn't have the time to ensure each one is perfect, but then I wouldn't say his cues are shoddy either. If you had the option its much better to go to the shop and try the cues out first to see what you are getting, however they do seem to make better cues if they are made to order to what is put in the shop. Judd Trump bought his cue off the shelf in the Parris shop, if its good enough for him I'm sure its good enough for any standard of player.

[karlos fandango]

If your specs are standard ones ie 57" 17-18 oz it might be worth just travelling down and see whats in the cue rack..at least then you can have a hit with it and get a feel for the cue

[potter93]

The reason I want the ebony to be good quality is because the ebony on the cue I have at the moment must have been died black because after playing with it for about 2 weeks my cueing hand was all black and now the bottom 4 or 5 inches of the cue is dark brown. I've been using the cue for about 6 months or so and i am happy out with how it plays its just that annoys me a small bit. I wont put the make of the cue on the forum unless people want to know..
Did anyone ever hear of this happening before (died ebony coming of onto your hand)???

[bigandyg]

I did buy a hand spliced ebony butt cue recently and when I started to work on it it turned out to be cheap rosewood,What make was your cue.

[potter93]

It is a mastercraft retribution, I bought it as a cue and case deal on a website which I thought was a good deal because I practically got the case for free. The cue's shaft has a very good finish, very smooth and with nice grain. Is this a common problem??

[ADR147]

i can't imagine they would dye a cue.

[narl]

Ive heard of some asian cues with "black ebony" splices actually being dyed rosewood in the past.

[cueman]

i can't imagine they would dye a cue.

I had a mastercraft black prince not long after they first started out and had exactly the same problem. Played a session with it, the shaft was unspectacular too, rather dead, Anyway got a slightly damp cloth wiped it down and the ebony suddenly turned light brown as the dye came off like stripping paint. I was a member on maximumbreak forum where Dave was also a member and mentioned this but they disappeared off that site after that.

To be fair I did get the cue exchanged for one with a maple shaft which I sold on soon afterwards. I gave them the benefit of the doubt as they were starting out and probably hadn't got a great deal of stock of ebony or at least not of good quality. Seems strange that the OP has also had a cue through max break (by the sounds of things) and had a similar problem. Although I personally ordered direct from mastercraft myself.
Since had a 1pc cue with ebony butt and 4 lower snakewood splices but the ebony was very good quality. Very black with just some fine variation in colour which most ebony has.

[potter93]

i can't imagine they would dye a cue.

I didn't think so either after reading such good comments about them before buying it. As I said already I bought it as a cue and case deal off another website which actually worked out cheaper than the cue direct off mastercraft. Do you think the cues ebony wasn't very black so maybe they decided to sell off cheaper with slightly died butt's. I could be completely wrong in saying that now and as iv'e said already I am very happy with the rest of the cue, its just a bit annoying and everyone asks me why is the bottom of my cue dark brown and the rest black lol ..