Tony Wilshaw machine spliced cue

[culraven]

I've just picked up a cheap machine spliced ash and rosewood cue off ebay, turned out to be a really nice cue with a cracking finish, the guy told me Tony imports them and hand finishes them before badging them up and selling them on.
Can anyone confirm this is true, and how much they sold for originally?

Cheers

[Maverick54]

Business is business I guess. Reputable cue makers buying cheap imports and badging them up as their own. Sounds familiar.

For all those that knock Parris - at least when ordering a cue from him you know its been made in his workshop in London and is what it claims to be.

[Bigmeek]

Business is business I guess. Reputable cue makers buying cheap imports and badging them up as their own. Sounds familiar.
For all those that knock Parris - at least when ordering a cue from him you know its been made in his workshop in London and is what it claims to be.

Only problem Maverick is that JP probably never made the cue! Could have been one of his apprentices. LOL. (Been said and posted many times before.)

[Maverick54]

Only problem Maverick is that JP probably never made the cue! Could have been one of his apprentices. LOL. (Been said and posted many times before.)

But an apprentice who's probably had many years of training under the eye of John and his main men rather than the little chinese kids knocking out mass produced cues for a bowl of rice.

If British tradesmen are the best did they not start out as apprentices once? I did. Served a five year apprenticeship. I wouldn't have thought they'ed be allowed to do any serious work on any custormers cues until they were well trained and upto the job.

[Bigmeek]

Agreed. Wasn't saying the cues are no good just that they weren't made by the great JP himself. As we all know you get top quality tradesmen and some who are not so good. Anyhow JP cues isn't the point of this thread so we'd better say no more.
The OP wants to know if cuemakers re-badge cheap cues and I think your answer is YES? I've only come across one case of re-badging and it wasn't on a cheap cue but on a mid-range one and it was sold on as this so no harm done I suppose.

[culraven]

I don't have a problem with it in he slightest, there is a market for these cheaper cues and we can't produce them as cheaply as our Asian friends. The thing that has always let cheap cues down is the finish, so if he can source the cues and bring them up to a standard he is happy to put his company's name on, thats just simply good business.
I bought it on a whim because it was local, so no postage to pay, just was curious as to whether i got a bargain, only paid £20 witha triangle case?