Splices not too far out !

[Ramon]

does this effect how the cue plays ?

sorry m8,


sorry m8,
but what you say is the biggest crap I've ever heard in my life !!!!!!!
It is not about how the cue plays,, but what you pay for.
If it is for you all about playblts of the cue. why do'nt you buy a maximus ultimate or Praram Limited range????. ? I can assure you they have much better quality shaft and they play much better than a JPU.
When a customer pays 1400 pounds for a cue,, is not just for the ash quality but he also pays for the time of the cuemaker.
Normally, if you wait 2.5 years for a cue. you would expect these splits are equal. (other cue makers do it in just a few months) !!!!
btw, If you sell me a JPU with best quality ash and best plyblts ash, only for 350 pounds.
Believe me, you do'nt hear me complaints about these splits !!! DEAL ????

[itsnoteasy]

From Parris website.

Do john parris personally work on the cues Yes, No cues leave the workshop without my final test and inspection. Bullsh*t

If that's true why is he letting cues with off splicing go out? , not bothered, just missed it, or didn't see it?

[jb134]

I don't think that's true but I will certainly get an answer for you.

Dunno. Just one of this funny things you hear. The guy wasn't suggesting anything negative.

[jb134]

Good luck getting a £350 JPU Ramon. ;-)

[jb134]

If that's true why is he letting cues with off splicing go out? , not bothered, just missed it, or didn't see it?

Possibly that's not covered by the "final test and inspection" maybe he just bangs in a dozen or so straight reds off the blue spot........

[Ramon]

you tried a trevor white cue and you don't think it comes close to john parris? welcome to the forum david blunkett.

I think a better description would be: stay away out off drugs !!!!!

[itsnoteasy]

Possibly that's not covered by the "final test and inspection" maybe he just bangs in a dozen or so straight reds off the blue spot........

I think that may cover the test bit JB, but an inspection is more of a look at how the cues put together , that's the way I would read it anyway.

[Leo]

I think a better description would be: stay away out off drugs !!!!!

You sure that's a better description

[jb134]

I think that may cover the test bit JB, but an inspection is more of a look at how the cues put together , that's the way I would read it anyway.

Agreed. It's not the best of sentences is it? I mean what defines "working on a cue"? A last rub with a soft cloth? Fitting the tip? Chopping down the tree?

[guernseygooner]

The cue in question belongs to a newish member on here. I doubt he will feel TSF love when he sees his eBay sale being ripped apart.

I recently picked up a JP traditional off eBay. I sh*t you not, one of the bottom splice points is 1" off and the shaft is not what you would call 'pretty' - but it has such a nice hit I am considering using it for the coming season. I think a lot of people are missing the point here. I am no JP critic and it doesn't effect playability, but for the prices charged i would have thought getting splice points level should be a minimum requirement especially considering all the other makers here and overseas seem to manage it no problem.

What I don't get is some people's obsession for getting picture perfect shafts. Before I joined here I didn't even know that people placed such an importance on even chevrons etc. it might come as shock to some but it makes no difference to playability.

[Catch 22]

Seriously? Tell you what, measure the output of John Parris cues. Then imagine all the alleged scouring through timber yards for "just the right board" etc etc. cut the board. Take one of the shafts. Which is currently a block. Plane to a taper. Now, while that's resting, go buy a board of ebony.

Cut it to blocks, then cut that to strips, then cut those into triangles for splices.

Now, you have the beginnings of a cue. Plane two flats onto the sides of the shaft, perfectly aimed at the side grain. Being careful of course to ensure that the flats begin level and taper exactly to a point outside the centre of the bottom of the shaft. Remember to find the centre of the bottom of the shaft.

Glue two of your ebony splices to the flats. Leave.

Return the next day and plane two flats in line with the top and bottom grain of the shaft, again being careful about starting and finishing points. This is fractionally more difficult as you are now planing ebony and ash together. Don't forget, in the previous steps to ensure the grain of the ebony is running the correct way for ease of planing.

You get the idea.......

Obviously the manufacturing process can be expedited by doing processes in bulk rather that repeating them for each individual cue. Greater minds that mine have estimated the man hours required to make a top quality cue from scratch. If JP is doing so on each individual cue, I take my hat off to him.

It is my contention that what you are paying for is in fact a cue made and badged in his workshop by him or his craftsmen to his standard.

In your above example re 1, 2, 4 cues etc. when you put your car in a garage to get the brakes done, do you expect it to be done by the head mechanic or by a lad who may have done 1, 2, 4 sets of brakes which are then checked by a superior?

When you get a wall built do you expect it to be built by a brickie or the foreman?

I can get brakes on my car for £50 and I wouldn't care who installed them . But If I took it to a garage that charges me £1000 because it has the best mechanic in the world ...then I want the brakes done by the best mechanic in the world , not his apprentice......because I'm paying more for the privilege .

I could buy a cue for £250 that would play great from a range of brands ....... But if I spend £800 on a cue it's because I want it made from that particular maker . I don't see what's wrong with that .

[vmax4steve]

nope but demonstrates a lack of care and attention.

not neccessarilly true

what cue will suit what person is impossible to judge but how well made the cue is can be done pretty easily.

again not neccessarilly true.

A cuemaker has spent six months honing his chosen ultimate shaft, shaving it little by little. a few millimetres at a time, taking a bit off one side, when it moves, to keep it straight, then a bit off another side for the same reason.
Leaves it for six months after the final planing and it's still dead straight, so then begins the splicing process. Planes the butt end down from the pencil mark made on the shaft, gets it spot on, then the other side and gets it spot on also.
Glues on the ebony, waits a couple of days, puts it up to his good eye and looks down the shaft and low and behold, what a p1sser !! that planing of the butt end for the splicing has released some tension in the wood and it has moved a few millimetres out of dead straight.

So now what ?
Well what he does now is not to start again and sell the cue he's spent a year over as a sin bin, it's an ultimate shaft for certain, has the tight straight grain and resonates as it should when struck with the palm of the hand (years of cuemaking craft and experience tells him this) so he planes off a little bit more when splicing the other two splices on so he has a a couple of millimetres more ebony to work with on that side in order to be able to keep the cue straight, shaft and butt in alingment using the makers own taper, which identifies his cues more than the badge does, and gives it the characteristics that top players demand and pay a premium for.

So the splices are a bit out come the end, but the cue has an ultimate shaft and a years work and care and attention to it hasn't gone to waste.
And that's just one scenario where the splices can be out.

I'm not talking about Parris in particular, this sort of thing happens to any and every cue maker out there who genuinely takes their time over the choosing and shaping of a shaft by hand.

Some people on this forum are painting John Parris like some sort of cuemaking Fagin, ridiculous. He may have some sort of production line going on with certain people doing only one job, but if it's done by hand then it's hand made and probably the only way to get through the orders he has without resorting to dodgy import practises.

To my mind if a cue has millimetre perfect splices I would have doubts that it's a genuine hand crafted cue. That sort of accuracy is usually only available through machining. Yes you can make a cue that is spot on, but not every single bloody time, that's simply being human and the difference between hand made and machined by hand.

As for the picture of the cue in question, looks a lot like my own, which has two opposing splices that are longer (but even with each other) than the other two (also even with each other), probably for the reasons I have detailed above. Nothing to be at all concerned about as it could be that even more work has gone into it to keep it straight.

[svendh]

Very good post steve

[jb134]

[/U][/B]


I can get brakes on my car for £50 and I wouldn't care who installed them . But If I took it to a garage that charges me £1000 because it has the best mechanic in the world ...then I want the brakes done by the best mechanic in the world , not his apprentice......because I'm paying more for the privilege .

I could buy a cue for £250 that would play great from a range of brands ....... But if I spend £800 on a cue it's because I want it made from that particular maker . I don't see what's wrong with that .

I never said there was anything wrong with expecting that. Expectations are completely subjective and there is no reason to believe they bear any relationship to actual happenings.

[jim evans]

personly dont think much about splices being a bit out,if my cues are an inch out or so i sell as sinbin ,dont mean its not a good player at the end of the day.but mines an hobby dont have to make everything pay, the real lads have rental ,taxes, and other **** to pay,but it shouldnt allow shoddy.