Craftsman cues no longer made to order!

[Dave Walton]

Ridiculous the way some players are about cues. I'm happy with the specs being near enough what I asked for with my cue, don't give a sh*t about the chevrons or grain, just get used to it!

But most/many people do care, so your sell on value will be higher if you have a pretty looking shaft.

That's the problem, too many people ordering cues just to sell on and inflate the market instead of actually playing with them!

[perpetualboredom]

I could only think of Parris, and maybe Trevor White where you'd be able to sell a cue for more than it cost new.
Sadly the only way to get around that would be cut the waiting times, which you'd do by raising the prices new to the same levels they sell for by cue prospectors. Otherwise you're always going to get people who think, "I'll order 3 parris ultimates, sell the other two at a premium and get mine for free".

[cueman]

I could only think of Parris, and maybe Trevor White where you'd be able to sell a cue for more than it cost new.
Sadly the only way to get around that would be cut the waiting times, which you'd do by raising the prices new to the same levels they sell for by cue prospectors. Otherwise you're always going to get people who think, "I'll order 3 parris ultimates, sell the other two at a premium and get mine for free".

Jp and other cue makers should simply limit the amount of cues people can buy in one go. I know that won't happen or be a popular decision but the problem with waiting times today is agents. For example look at Raymo (exquisite), only been making cues for relatively short period of time, already most of his orders are for agents over in asia.

Obviously its great for him because he makes cues in batches and gets his money up front, very little hassle. Problem for us though is it inflates the market because of the shortage of his cues here. Same is happening to most UK based cue makers, eventually we'll get priced out of the market because they can inflate their prices because over in asia they pride themselves on owning a UK made cue.

Surely we have got our priorities wrong though! I mean a lot of cues sold here now are imported from asia, yet a lot of UK based cues are exported to asia. So we get an inferior product whilst they get a premium product and for that reason I won't touch some UK based cue makers now because they have made their bed, they have chosen to sell out to the Chinese and asian market and you simply can't get a cue from them for love nor money if you live here!

[Cuedos]

I think this will be the way for all cue makers soon enough because people are mentally fussy, change their minds and make unreasonable requests. "I need 4 arrows i could not play with 5 arrows". "it is 17.4 not 17.5 oz it is far too light", "I need a tip at 9.67mm". are some of the example I have just this week. robert osbourne was the first to make them how he likes then sell them but it will become the norm I am sure.

I also see this all the time along with the requests for "ultimate shafts" and want to pay £50 - some of them wouldn't know a good cue if they fell over it !

[Dave Walton]

Mike Wooldridge, Coutts, Robin Cook cues just to name a few where you could probably sell them for more than what you paid aswell as the mentioned Parris and Trevor White.

[Erwan_BZH]

The level of expectations these days is just scary sometimes. I was laughing at some posts above, mimicking the crazy customers that that a 9.6548mm tip, combined with a cue 58 1/8" , etc. Unfortunately so true but so dumb at the same time. The guy who pretends he can't play with a 9.5mm tip where he was used to 9mm is just a fool IMO. We're talking about half a millimeter here...doesn't gonna change your life.

I mean, I recently changed my cue and the new one carries different specs I used too but big deal, it works. I have had a JP Superior that I purchased from aDR147 a couple of years ago and I recently aquired the Jason Owen #144, sold by Coomsey (top bloke to deal with, that Jimmy btw! ). Here are the respective specs:
JP: 58" 9mm 19.5oz 3/4 ash shaft
JO: 57.5" 9.5mm 18.3oz one-piece maple shaft

So the Jason Owen is a little bit shorter, lighter, with a bigger tip and a one-piece, which give a total different feeling. And futhermore, it's maple and not ash anymore....By reading some of the comments, this is the type of 'changes' that would have put off so many guys "because it's not as usual"!
But I decided to change and give it a try and boy the overall balance is fantastic and the cue plays so well. And this is not a knock on the JP as it is a very good cue as well. Changes are nice in life. People have just forgotten their natural abilities of adapting to something new...

[Maloy]

The level of expectations these days is just scary sometimes. I was laughing at some posts above, mimicking the crazy customers that that a 9.6548mm tip, combined with a cue 58 1/8" , etc. Unfortunately so true but so dumb at the same time. The guy who pretends he can't play with a 9.5mm tip where he was used to 9mm is just a fool IMO. We're talking about half a millimeter here...doesn't gonna change your life.

I mean, I recently changed my cue and the new one carries different specs I used too but big deal, it works. I have had a JP Superior that I purchased from aDR147 a couple of years ago and I recently aquired the Jason Owen #144, sold by Coomsey (top bloke to deal with, that Jimmy btw! ). Here are the respective specs:
JP: 58" 9mm 19.5oz 3/4 ash shaft
JO: 57.5" 9.5mm 18.3oz one-piece maple shaft

So the Jason Owen is a little bit shorter, lighter, with a bigger tip and a one-piece, which give a total different feeling. And futhermore, it's maple and not ash anymore....By reading some of the comments, this is the type of 'changes' that would have put off so many guys "because it's not as usual"!
But I decided to change and give it a try and boy the overall balance is fantastic and the cue plays so well. And this is not a knock on the JP as it is a very good cue as well. Changes are nice in life. People have just forgotten their natural abilities of adapting to something new...

Fully agree!

But was laughing a bit with "Wizzard of Wishaw" signature under such post :-)

[Erwan_BZH]

lol yeah.......a tad bit ironical, isn't it? :P

[Maloy]

lol yeah.......a tad bit ironical, isn't it? :P

Yeah, it is!

[jrc750]

.......
JP: 58" 9mm 19.5oz 3/4 ash shaft
JO: 57.5" 9.5mm 18.3oz one-piece maple shaft

......

That is some major change going on there

[ADR147]

That is some major change going on there

was thinking that!

[Syrus]

Jp and other cue makers should simply limit the amount of cues people can buy in one go. I know that won't happen or be a popular decision but the problem with waiting times today is agents. For example look at Raymo (exquisite), only been making cues for relatively short period of time, already most of his orders are for agents over in asia.

Obviously its great for him because he makes cues in batches and gets his money up front, very little hassle. Problem for us though is it inflates the market because of the shortage of his cues here. Same is happening to most UK based cue makers, eventually we'll get priced out of the market because they can inflate their prices because over in asia they pride themselves on owning a UK made cue.

Surely we have got our priorities wrong though! I mean a lot of cues sold here now are imported from asia, yet a lot of UK based cues are exported to asia. So we get an inferior product whilst they get a premium product and for that reason I won't touch some UK based cue makers now because they have made their bed, they have chosen to sell out to the Chinese and asian market and you simply can't get a cue from them for love nor money if you live here!

LOL, Who says you get an inferior product and they get a premium? The ultimate ash top quality what's used in asia is the same quality or even better than what you get in the UK. you pay only for the quality in Uk twice as much as in asia. Is same with other products. You pay for a TV in Uk, 1000 pounds, you can buy the same TV in Thailand for 400 pounds. This has nothing to do with quality but with monetary value difference. A teacher gets paid in UK 1200 pounds in a month. Same teacher in Thailand gets paid 150 pounds.

[itsnoteasy]

LOL, Who says you get an inferior product and they get a premium? The ultimate ash top quality what's used in asia is the same quality or even better than what you get in the UK. you pay only for the quality in Uk twice as much as in asia. Is same with other products. You pay for a TV in Uk, 1000 pounds, you can buy the same TV in Thailand for 400 pounds. This has nothing to do with quality but with monetary value difference. A teacher gets paid in UK 1200 pounds in a month. Same teacher in Thailand gets paid 150 pounds.

It's not just that, it's the taxes we get hammered with as well.

[Syrus]

It's not just that, it's the taxes we get hammered with as well.

+10 to this one !!!!!

[Maloy]

+10 to this one !!!!!

You might be surprised, but there are taxes in all countries... How many % in UK?