R.i.p

[Wayne G]

If £600 is for a plain butt it might be a little high but I think people would willing to pay a premium for a cue that was completely handmade from squares.

What is the difference or benefit to be gained from working from a square as opposed to an oversized dowel, other than a whole lot of time and energy to get to the same size(only then to discover it's unsuitable possibly)?

[Andy Travis]

My shafts come to me at approx 47 1/2'' i was told the price would be double if 58'', if my supplier sent them at 58'' i would still saw them to around 47-48, reason being if you make a 1 piece cue out of a full length 58'' shaft it will weigh around 13-14oz.
To add another 4-5oz and keep the balance at 17'' you would have to drill into the butt around 20'', if anyone tried this they would find the deeper they got the more out of centre the hole would be sometimes maybe coming out of one of the splices.
So i weight my cues in 2 diferent places, drilling from 47 1/2'' up 10'' adding weight then bonding a dowell to make the shaft 58'', when the cue is spliced with ebony to get the customers weight i have to drill up the butt again removing nearly all the dowell i added and add the required weight. so when the cue is finished the first 10'' of the ash butt has been drilled away.

This way was not copied from any other maker it just made sense. it is the only way to do it.
If that cue was split further up he would find a lead weight weighing around 60-80 grams 9-10'' from the join.

There is nothing else to tell you.

[RogiBear]

What is the difference or benefit to be gained from working from a square as opposed to an oversized dowel, other than a whole lot of time and energy to get to the same size(only then to discover it's unsuitable possibly)?

No real benefit other than the possibility of charging more for a completely handmade cue

[Terry Davidson]

I have bought around 5 cues from Andy Travis. They were all good and played well except for one that had a 'hollow' sound when you hit the cueball and it was a little off-putting. Andy worked with me to try and resolve that problem (which disappeared when I plugged in the mini-butt...weird huh?). I changed the ferrule but that didn't help either and the cue still has that sound.

Anyway, Andy has only ever charged under 300 for the cues I purchased which were fairly plain and I always buy the 2 extensions and admittedly I never bother to ask Andy about the pedigree of the cue since his prices are competitive with the Thai cues and even perhaps a little cheaper than Omin. I feel I've received good value for my money from Andy no matter what the pedigree.

I paid 800+ (with 2 extensions, shipping) for a cue from Mike. Mike made this cue exactly to my very precise specs and it plays very well. This cue developed 2 cracks around the joint which Mike blamed on me and took no responsibility for. I managed to fix the cracks and the cue is virtually back to 'nearly new' condition but no thanks to Mike and his customer service. (He did offer me one of the 'G' cues but not sure it was a deal or not). I am sadly disappointed with this level of customer service.

So before this debate my MW cue was already worth a lot less than I paid for it and now if it was a refinished blank that makes it worse as I paid Mike's premium price (and wait) for the 'British Handmade' quality. Until this is cleared up to my satisfaction I will be thinking twice about ordering another MW cue but not an AT cue as I think the price is right.

But all that said, this MW cue plays very well and it is my playing cue but I still think I overpaid for it one way or another. It has Mike's innovative blackspin ferrule system but in cruising the McDermott Cue site I found an identical ferrule system and they even had drawing of how it's installed (screw down the shaft) and say they have been offering this for over 6 years now. How odd!

Terry

[rob s]

What is the difference or benefit to be gained from working from a square as opposed to an oversized dowel, other than a whole lot of time and energy to get to the same size(only then to discover it's unsuitable possibly)?

Not a lot to be honest mate, I don't think many people would have a problem with cues being made from any oversized 60" or 58" dowel as long as the cuemaker is upfront and honest about this. The problems start when people are using cues already spliced with ebony. Another problem is that the shafts have to be extended sometimes with different woods (ash & maple in 1 cue) so it is not really a 1 piece cue (technically speaking)

[humperdingle]

Would someone who customises Thai cues be prepared to post some pics of before and after? I.e. pics of a cue they received from Thailand, and after they've reworked it?

[luke-h]

Not a lot to be honest mate, I don't think many people would have a problem with cues being made from any oversized 60" or 58" dowel as long as the cuemaker is upfront and honest about this. The problems start when people are using cues already spliced with ebony. The fact the shafts have to be extended sometimes with different woods (ash & maple in 1 cue) so it is not a 1 piece cue (technically speaking)

also one thing that has been missed out is when you buy a cue from parris or the like you accept that during the cue planing stages the wood is rested adequately to account for bends, is this process still the same for thai cues? or are people going to be finding over time their cues start developing bends?

[rob s]

also one thing that has been missed out is when you buy a cue from parris or the like you accept that during the cue planing stages the wood is rested adequately to account for bends, is this process still the same for thai cues? or are people going to be finding over time their cues start developing bends?

Very good point mate

[Wayne G]

Not a lot to be honest mate, I don't think many people would have a problem with cues being made from any oversized 60" or 58" dowel as long as the cuemaker is upfront and honest about this. The problems start when people are using cues already spliced with ebony. The fact the shafts have to be extended sometimes with different woods (ash & maple in 1 cue) so it is not a 1 piece cue (technically speaking)

Just trying to get all this straight. I believe Crispian said that with the Thai spliced cues the splices were not hand planed, that they were convex and done by machine. He showed this in his pics in his last post in the other thread. Is this correct?

[rob s]

Just trying to get all this straight. I believe Crispian said that with the Thai spliced cues the splices were not hand planed, that they were convex and done by machine. He showed this in his pics in his last post in the other thread. Is this correct?

Yeh spot on Wayne

[rob s]

This was Andys response to the fact the cue was extended but I'm not sure if it explains the splices, only a cuemaker could answer IMO

My shafts come to me at approx 47 1/2'' i was told the price would be double if 58'', if my supplier sent them at 58'' i would still saw them to around 47-48, reason being if you make a 1 piece cue out of a full length 58'' shaft it will weigh around 13-14oz.
To add another 4-5oz and keep the balance at 17'' you would have to drill into the butt around 20'', if anyone tried this they would find the deeper they got the more out of centre the hole would be sometimes maybe coming out of one of the splices.
So i weight my cues in 2 diferent places, drilling from 47 1/2'' up 10'' adding weight then bonding a dowell to make the shaft 58'', when the cue is spliced with ebony to get the customers weight i have to drill up the butt again removing nearly all the dowell i added and add the required weight. so when the cue is finished the first 10'' of the ash butt has been drilled away.

This way was not copied from any other maker it just made sense. it is the only way to do it.
If that cue was split further up he would find a lead weight weighing around 60-80 grams 9-10'' from the join.

There is nothing else to tell you.

Original Source: http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/boa...#ixzz2aLj8TevV
- TSF - TheSnookerForum.com

[Exile]

These days I only really use 1 timber yard so I can't speak about all UK timber yards. The bloke at mine usually has a selection of squares that he thinks I might like. I usually end up buying about 30-40% of these. He also shows me the boards waiting to be processed and I get my pick of those if I see anything that makes a nice cue. He's quite patient with me as I'm usually there for a couple of hours picking through the tons of wood he has. It's all rough sawn including the ebony but he's happy to plane a few faces off for me so I can see the wood better.

[EnterTheDragon]

These days I only really use 1 timber yard so I can't speak about all UK timber yards. The bloke at mine usually has a selection of squares that he thinks I might like. I usually end up buying about 30-40% of these. He also shows me the boards waiting to be processed and I get my pick of those if I see anything that makes a nice cue. He's quite patient with me as I'm usually there for a couple of hours picking through the tons of wood he has. It's all rough sawn including the ebony but he's happy to plane a few faces off for me so I can see the wood better.

That sounds like good customer service, something im not used to here in Finland. For example we have exactly one timber yard that sells ebony, and the price is like 200% compared to anywhere else in Europe, not to mention that it's not even seasoned properly.
On the other hand, the ash is very good quality and there is lot's of it since it's not used here too much.

[Exile]

I'd be happy to pay £600+ for a 100% from you Jason. Your work is superb and I love when your pics flash up on my FB wall. I see real cues like this as a sound investment. Future collectable's. I'd also be happy for a Thai blank finished by you for a bit less £. Just as long as there was clear badges on both.

I used to design fishing equipment for one of the big boys of the leisure fishing industry. You could buy a reel for as little as £40 that was injection moulded in South Korea or you could buy a top end reel for about £900+ that was made in our factory in the UK. Both reels were sound of engineering but they appeal to two very different markets. Both had the country of origin on them so there was no confusion about the product the customer was buying.

Ps if my wife caught me buying a cue from someone else when I make them myself then that would be the end of me. I suppose my cues would be more valuable though lol

[cally]

Oh The shock, the horror, the LOLS.....



Wheres wooly?.......



Would be good to hear mikes thoughts on this, well all makers should chuck there 2p in, had to laugh at jason owen admitting using thai cues after his back against the wall, but said nowt until it was pushed.. .... Naughty!