John Parris Cues

[ADR147]

Plenty of food for thought here - and I accept all your points, - in an earlier post on this subject I said (ie our ability for free speech and our personal opinions) - I merely wanted to point out that Andrews opinion should be viewed as a 'personal' opinion and not one of given or stated fact otherwise it could be misconstrued as bias or worst of all, character assassination. John randomly visits the forum and it would be nice for all of us to have his input, but you can't blame the guy for deciding not to visit the forum anymore if he and his products are going to be continually slagged off. You might argue that he should come on line and answer his critics - but he considers he has nothing to gain by getting involved in a slanging match and as he said . I'm sure Andrew will continue to sell John's cues on ebay and profit from them - thet's the irony of it all

i don't think anybody here has attempted to assasinate the character of anybody else? most people on the forum are fair minded and their opinions reasonable.

I will of course continue to sells johns cues when i get them, it would be stupid to imagine that you could do what i do and not and of course many of them are superb. I will even sell yours keith if they are offered to me at the right price, in the end i have a mortgage to pay!

[archalf1471]

this has been debated at length many a time, Parris or not Parris. I see both sides of the argument. I agree with ADR to some degree and respect Andrews opinion as the amount of cues that go in and out of his door every year does qualify him to comment on what is or not a good well made cue, just because you are not a cuemaker does not mean you cannot critisise someone who makes the cue, especially idf you have spent a considerable amount of the folding stuff on the thing.

I too speak as I find, and thus far in 25 years of playing snooker the best received cues I have had in terms of timbers used and build quality were made by both Mike Wooldridge and Trevor White regardless of price.

I have owned 2 Parris Ultimates and both were indeed excellent cues. I have also owned a Parris Champion cue for 5 days only as it was possibly the worse cue by any of the "main" cuemakers there is. I have also seen many a Parris cue over the years and have seen a mixed batch some good some bad. To this degree I would suggest that certain cue makers ( manufacturers) are more consistant than others? Could a link here be, that smaller firms where the cues are made by smaller teams in smaller batches produce more consistant work?

Moreover again repeating what many people have said previously John Parris has marketed himself well over the years and should be applauded because of this, but could the overall quality of the product now being jeapordized by being a victim of his own success???? Others better positioned or qualified than myself my be able to judge better

[MikeWooldridge]

what a marvellous thread!

several things:

1) excellent post jp1. except it's royce not royse....

mind you it's a long post and when i 'proof read' some of my long rambles, i find loads of weird new words that my fingers made up!

2) keith, i can't really see what adr147 said that equates to 'slagging off'. and he would be one of the last people on this forum i would label a 'layman'.

as far as i know, he has made cues, and has certainly dealt in all brands of cues for many years. so in that respect, his opinion is one of the most valuable on this forum for the less knowledgeable seeking good advice.

as for him holding myself and trevor in high esteem, i think he holds trevor in higher esteem. but that's cos he's cheaper and adr147 is scottish after all...

3) i myself have recently said to several people that i feel sorry for john parris and the stick he gets on this forum, and elsewhere. i have the utmost respect for what he has achieved. without doubt the market leader and no.1 brand in the world.

whether the quality of product deserves that status or not is another issue. but it is an issue that concerns many people in the market for a quality cue, which is why this forum is an invaluable tool for the 'confused'.

but what john has done well, is market himself and his products superbly. or as i like to call it - bumming professionals....

and of course, with a little help from our famously unbiased british broadcasting corporation...

peace...

disclaimer - it's just a joke john, keep up the good work...

[archalf1471]

""John randomly visits the forum and it would be nice for all of us to have his input, but you can't blame the guy for deciding not to visit the forum anymore if he and his products are going to be continually slagged off. """

Well this raises the question why are they regularly slagged off......When with other cuemakers on here Mike and Trevor specifically we see nothing but praise for their products????

If you shout loud enough about how great your products are, market leader etc then you should ensure these products stay top of the pile or accept the criticism that goes with producung sometimes substandard stuff

[Wity]

How many pros have or play with one of his cues influences posers.

How many pros that actually paid for their Parris cues might be influential though.

John Parris has responded on a forum to claims of him buying Thai cues and rebadging them over at www.uk8ball.com some time ago.

I would never buy a Parris cue, well not unless I believed I could make a profit on it the next day on ebay There are simply far too many owners of them who have complained about the poor quality of them.
One example of this was when I pm'd a guy selling one on ebay, his add stated that he was charged £30 extra when he bought it because he asked for it to be 1" shorter than the norm. My pm was: "what do you expect he had to send it back to Ulkrit to do it."
and his reply, "lLOL you'd have thought he would have sanded the saw marks out though wouldn't you?"

I'm a long long ways off being a cue expert but having read just about all there is on the nett about snooker cues since I got the bug 18 months ago I now own a cracking cue made by Trevor which he's told me will cost £400
should I want it replaced like for like but the truth is if it were nicked I'd say oh **** whereas if anyone nicked my best cue that cost me under a ton I'd cry.

My best cue ?

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ead.php?t=9931

[keith auld]

The reason you probably haven’t seen many or any of my cues over the years is that
(a) for 10 years I only made a limited number of cues due to having to bring 2 kids up on my own and as a result only had time for custom jobs and almost all of those went abroad or locally (‘Checkside’ a member on the forum recently saw one of my posts on this forum and told his father who wanted a new cue – I’d previously made one for him 15 years ago and he’s always been happy with it, subsequently he placed his order and is now a happy owner of another Keith Auld cue – but if my memory serves me right, he was in Kuwait when I made his 1st cue), so from that point of view, hopefully all my customers have been happy with their cues over the years and they have become like close friends and don’t want to be parted from them.
(b) Like Trevor over the past 10 years I haven’t advertised, prior to that I used to have a regular ¼ page colour advert in Pot Black magazine. As a result of being on the forum I’ve realised the power of the internet and developed a web page and have a new one being constructed at the moment which will accept orders and paypal, and although I have many orders from UK customers, I still do a large amount of my trade overseas; currently I’m completing an order for China worth in excess of £2500, with another larger order in the wings to follow this one. Also I’ve just signed a contract with a Chinese distributor to repair and alter cues on his behalf, irrespective of who the original manufacturer was, and a consignment is just being cleared of customs and due to be delivered to me today containing cues from many of the names you’ve mentioned in your previous threads. Personally I believe the future for the British cuemaking industry is China and those makers not involved in this huge market are missing out, but once you’ve blotted your copybook with the Chinese, you’re frozen out their market, so great care must be taken in this regard to ensure only the best goes to them
(c) I appreciate your offer to handle/sell my cues, in fact I’m flattered to be grouped in amongst all the great cue makers mentioned so far, but as you can see from the above, I’ve got my hands full and wouldn’t want to get involved with another distributor, home or abroad at the moment

[Watford]

Paris cues my mate bought one of those on flea bay din't know they had a site!
How funny are they!

Parris cues my 2 penneth!
As I've said before seen some good, seem some not so good. I wouldn't say never buy a Parris. I would say never buy a Parris without seeing and playing with it first.
And I'm sorry but I agree that the web site is misleading to people who don't know better.

[ADR147]

there is no doubt that china is the way things are going and i send a lot of cues there and have a number of contacts, but so far they are not producing top quality cues themselves. its just a matter of time though.

[keith auld]

Even with their undoubted ability to make virtually everything, they still want handmade English cues and they have the money. They don't mind paying for the best, so long as that's what they get. I've been told of one cuemaker that my particular customer won't trade with having been let down by him in the past and the quality not being good enough, for this cuemaker to get back into the Chinese market will be very difficult because they all talk to each other and compare notes, hence the need to send the best you can and hope that they are well received and if not be prepared to replace without cost. Their demands for how many arrows on a cue, exact weights and balance points shows their requirements and attention to detail. I must confess that I like to work to these perameters, it makes to whole process more personal.

[trevs1]

Even with their undoubted ability to make virtually everything, they still want handmade English cues and they have the money. They don't mind paying for the best, so long as that's what they get. I've been told of one cuemaker that my particular customer won't trade with having been let down by him in the past and the quality not being good enough, for this cuemaker to get back into the Chinese market will be very difficult because they all talk to each other and compare notes, hence the need to send the best you can and hope that they are well received and if not be prepared to replace without cost. Their demands for how many arrows on a cue, exact weights and balance points shows their requirements and attention to detail. I must confess that I like to work to these perameters, it makes to whole process more personal.

Not to mention more time consuming, stressful and ultimately difficult to manage.

[keith auld]

Well said Trevor - but wholly satisfying nonetheless (when it all goes right) - but expensive too (particularly when it goes wrong)

[Darth_Spud]

Off topic I know but... Erm how exactly do you get into cue making? Are there any online tutorials? I'd love to have a go just to see what its all about.

[trevs1]

Off topic I know but... Erm how exactly do you get into cue making? Are there any online tutorials? I'd love to have a go just to see what its all about.

I think for many, if not most, it's a self taught skill, so fiddling around with a few cues is a start.

As for what gets you into thinking of doing it, I don't recommend going about it as I did, as a hobby after a motorcycle accident.

That bit was'nt so much fun.

[platt]

After reading the comments by players, dealers, cuemakers and the people who jump on the band wagon, I myself have owned 5/6 parris cues over the years and all but one was worth keeping. this was a traditonal cue that john himself worked on.
So in my humble opinion it is hit and miss with parris cue.
But i have always found john very helpful to deal with and a nice guy to speak to.

[Watford]

Off topic I know but... Erm how exactly do you get into cue making? Are there any online tutorials? I'd love to have a go just to see what its all about.

It's money for old rope!
Just sand down a broom handle, bit of black paint, jelly tot on end!
Bob's your uncle!
Get a "Parrris cue" badge, stick it on ebay and £300 no worries!