Thailand

[cueman]

Just wondering what folk think about the huge influx of Thai and Chinese cues. To begin with, the cues from China were rudimentary with LP standing alone in quality. Anything below £100 is can still turn out to be a hammer IMO. But times change and quickly, and now we have custom made Thai cues for not a lot of beans double-quick sharp; no two year wait and brilliant customer service. Even the basic O'min seems three times the Peradon cue cost equivalent. I'm a big advocate of Made in Britain, but do you think that British cue makers should be very worried. As ADR says, it's not as if they (UK makers) are using British timber and if it really is all kiln dried now (I'm guessing the turnaround from cutting a tree down and turning into blanks is now a matter of months, not years), is cue making in Britain toast?

I think that the cue making in this country was getting a little out of hand in all honesty and now we have good quality options to keep the prices in check.

We were seeing huge increases in prices from the british cue makers and prices have been jumping 300% in some cases compared to a few years back. Ash is hardly an expensive wood and yet to see some cue makers charging over £400+ for a plain ebony/ash cue is a joke, regardless of how much ash they go through to find the right piece.

Now with the competition from asia we are seeing the cue makers having to compete against what are extremely well made cues but with the added bonus of tremendous looking shafts as well. Not only that but these cues play very well and many pros are now ditching the british cue makers and switching to Thai cue makers, I know of quite a few who are or have had cues made by them. I think that tells a lot because players want the best playing cues they can get and they are going to have people like Dominic Dale and his knowledge of cues telling them this is where the best cues are being made right now.

[haggishunter]

Ha ha red rag Chris!
PS just me being grumpy. Havn't won a league match this season. Back up to 45 for next season!

Your doing better than us mike ��
Not at all fella, the point that made was as you put it was indeed irrelevant you were spot on... I just wanted to said my two bit saying they're not insane so long as you can afford it, red rag indeed �� and that there is nowt wrong with the Thai cues, I'm no expert but I've seen a couple over the last year or so and they do exactly what they are supposed to do.
Hope to catch up soon and see the new wood.

[itsnoteasy]

Just wondering what folk think about the huge influx of Thai and Chinese cues. To begin with, the cues from China were rudimentary with LP standing alone in quality. Anything below £100 is can still turn out to be a hammer IMO. But times change and quickly, and now we have custom made Thai cues for not a lot of beans double-quick sharp; no two year wait and brilliant customer service. Even the basic O'min seems three times the Peradon cue cost equivalent. I'm a big advocate of Made in Britain, but do you think that British cue makers should be very worried. As ADR says, it's not as if they (UK makers) are using British timber and if it really is all kiln dried now (I'm guessing the turnaround from cutting a tree down and turning into blanks is now a matter of months, not years), is cue making in Britain toast?

Seems to me there has been a kind of cue makers swap happened, we seem to buy a lot from Asia and Asia goes nuts for our top makers, so I doubt the top boys over here are worried as the market they are selling in now is huge compared to the domestic one.

[Leo]

Seems to me there has been a kind of cue makers swap happened, we seem to buy a lot from Asia and Asia goes nuts for our top makers, so I doubt the top boys over here are worried as the market they are selling in now is huge compared to the domestic one.

I would say Asia goes nuts for John Parris not any other UK cuemaker

[itsnoteasy]

I thought there were cue makers over here that you can't even get cues off now as they all go to Asia ? I could be wrong though I'm not up on all that.

[haggishunter]

I would say Asia goes nuts for John Parris not any other UK cuemaker

robin cook as well it would seem since he's only selling to that market now but I guess they all seem to have a good market over there. I would agree that jp is still the biggest name of the lot.

[RogiBear]

I would say Asia goes nuts for John Parris not any other UK cuemaker

Not sure about that, look at the likes of RO and Raymond they pretty much only make cues for the asian market and the price they fetch over there is pretty ridiculous compared to what one would pay here for the same.

[Leo]

Not sure about that, look at the likes of RO and Raymond they pretty much only make cues for the asian market and the price they fetch over there is pretty ridiculous compared to what one would pay here for the same.

Robert Osborne you can pop in and buy, as for Raymond I believe he's the only one

[RogiBear]

Robert Osborne you can pop in and buy, as for Raymond I believe he's the only one

You can pop in and buy but those cues were intended for asia, he is not reliant on custom from the UK, but as haggishunter said I also believe robin cook now only sells to asia also

[Leo]

You can pop in and buy but those cues were intended for asia, he is not reliant on custom from the UK, but as haggishunter said I also believe robin cook now only sells to asia also

Forgot about robin cook

[cueman]

Seems to me there has been a kind of cue makers swap happened, we seem to buy a lot from Asia and Asia goes nuts for our top makers, so I doubt the top boys over here are worried as the market they are selling in now is huge compared to the domestic one.

Yes but you have to be a little scepticle as to why the chinese inparticular are buying in such quantities.

Many will be for players or agents who are very brand conscious, having the biggest and best branded stuff is important to the chinese, it gives them an elevation of prestige amongst other people and snooker is hugely popular so anyone owning a Parris or Coutts for instance will gain more attention in their club.

On the other hand is the dodgy side of chinese people, those who will be buying to copy or fake these cues. There will be a few out there buying these cues to replicate them perfectly, just as they do anything else of value. That is up to the cue makers as to who they deal with but I'd be very selective of who I sold my product to in china knowing full well how good copies can be, it could serve to destroy your business. We've already seen Dave Coutts have someone turn up to have photos taken in order to try and prove they are an agent but have been proved to be selling fake cues. For me once this happens it makes you wonder whether or not money is everything and selling out exclusively to the chinese market could well be a huge mistake in the long term.

[haggishunter]

yeah for sure, I got my cue from him the other week and asked about another and said it may happen but would be a while and put it this way I waited two and a half years for the one I got the other week... at least I think that's how long it was, was so long I've forgotten but I don't mind it was worth it. he was a pleasure from start to finish. from what he was saying in his emails he has a lot of stuff on his plate to get though at the moment before that situation changes, if it ever does.

[louise sheldon]

I can not see this happening as the Thailand firms as good as they are have a workforce and because of this there can never be the same pride in the cue that the small concerns and the one man cue makers of the uk , this is even more evident to me as I have worked on them all and it's not until you get inside a cue as when ether re splicing or lengthening a cue that you really see the difference like badly cracked side glued down or large voides where shaft has been lengthened just below the ebony fingers also dry glue joints so splicing not properly bonded , as a rule I do not see this with the small uk makers .

[ADR147]

I would say Asia goes nuts for John Parris not any other UK cuemaker

that is not correct - they go a bit mad for the ultimates but for most parris cues it is easier to sell TW MW RC DC etc etc.

[Leo]

that is not correct - they go a bit mad for the ultimates but for most parris cues it is easier to sell TW MW RC DC etc etc.

I meant ultimates, the other Parris cues won't mean much to them