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About 18 months ago i had a call from Jim Black, he had enjoyed looking at pics of me making cues and had a few questions about how i make cues, towards the end of the conversation he asked if i would be interested in taking a look at one of his cues. Now i know Jim works in the musical instrument trade so had an idea that his cues would be good so i said i would order one for stock to sell.
This April the cue finally arrived well packaged in a rainwater downpipe with something like bake bean tins that fitted rather well on each end of pipe. It was nice to see a cue well wrapped up with decent end caps as i see all sorts of shoddy packaging arriving for alterations and amny a time th top of the cue has pierced the flimsy tape at the end of a tube and has been sticking out.
Anyway i had left the cue design upto Jim and what i received was a nice looking one piece ash cue with an ebony butt and a facing splice of mexican rosewood and thin maple veneer. the first thing i noticed was the shaft was nicely tapered and well grain filled, the ebony butt was well spliced and even points, there is an sd joint for extensions and a nice brass disc with Jims logo on, the cue is oil finished and felt good, so first impressions very good.
After seeing the cue i decided to keep it and put it in my collection as Jim makes his cues from start to finish so he will only be able to make a small amount each year. Its only very recently that i have had the chance to try jims cue as i have been very busy, Jim had fitted a standard elkmaster tip so i took this off and fitted one of my royal pressed tips as these are more consistant and i am used to the,. The shaft on the cue is medium stiff and played very well at both snooker and billiards, so all in all a very nice cue
Keep up the good work Jim
This April the cue finally arrived well packaged in a rainwater downpipe with something like bake bean tins that fitted rather well on each end of pipe. It was nice to see a cue well wrapped up with decent end caps as i see all sorts of shoddy packaging arriving for alterations and amny a time th top of the cue has pierced the flimsy tape at the end of a tube and has been sticking out.
Anyway i had left the cue design upto Jim and what i received was a nice looking one piece ash cue with an ebony butt and a facing splice of mexican rosewood and thin maple veneer. the first thing i noticed was the shaft was nicely tapered and well grain filled, the ebony butt was well spliced and even points, there is an sd joint for extensions and a nice brass disc with Jims logo on, the cue is oil finished and felt good, so first impressions very good.
After seeing the cue i decided to keep it and put it in my collection as Jim makes his cues from start to finish so he will only be able to make a small amount each year. Its only very recently that i have had the chance to try jims cue as i have been very busy, Jim had fitted a standard elkmaster tip so i took this off and fitted one of my royal pressed tips as these are more consistant and i am used to the,. The shaft on the cue is medium stiff and played very well at both snooker and billiards, so all in all a very nice cue
Keep up the good work Jim
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