Parris Cues, My Experience

[qc2]

I've been a long time member here, more of an observer than contributor admittedly but having more recently started playing again I've been trying to get to grips with cue related niggles, alterations etc so have been in touch with different cue makers, placed some orders and had alterations arranged etc.

If you were to use the forum as your only reference point there are certain assumptions you'd make about John himself and his cues, some of which from my own recent experience couldn't be further from the truth. I went in yesterday to get a cue re-tipped and re-finished and ended having a long-ish chat with him about all things snooker from his own cues and business to local clubs/players, some of which I thought I'd share (apologies to those waiting for Ultimates if this chat has delayed things further!):

No longer working on other cues
He turns away alteration/re-finish work on other makers' cues which is probably well known but he said it was a tough but at the same time logical decision to make. There just isn't any money in it for a start (re-tip and re-finish was £35 which I was taken aback by in a good way, fairly sure this was the same price I paid back in 2010). He also found he was getting so many jobs come in from people who have bought x y and z chinese cues from Ebay, being brought in for tapering, re-finishing, splicing which took up so much time but also required the more skilled workers, time which would otherwise be spent working on custom cue orders.

He spends most of his time on tour with the players
Certainly not from my experience, the several visits I've made to his shop I've always been greeted by John himself. He says he is so busy he hardly travels and can only afford the odd 2-3 days which he usually does over a weekend anyway.

He no longer makes cues himself
He doesn't hide the fact that he has a team of cue makers. He claims to be hands on over seeing each of the stages; while I was in there one of his team came out with an unfinished cue for him to inspect following an earlier conversation I probably interrupted by visiting the shop.

It's impossible to order a cue without waiting X number of years
This couldn't be further from the truth. He had 30-40 cues available off the rack ready to take away. Yes there is certainly a wait on Ultimates, especially the 1pc ones but Ebay and the prices on used or ready made cues made me believe that waiting times on all cues was so long that this was the only option.

Quality is no longer the same
Being in South London everyone seems to have a Parris cue so I've seen plenty, some recent and some made 20+ years ago. The cues I saw in store didn't all have perfect splicing, but neither do some of the older cues from 20 years ago which people seem to hold an elevated view of. Of the cues I saw, even the Parris collection cues (e.g. Traditional and Supreme), several had absolutely perfectly even splice work, beautiful shafts and looked absolutely perfect. The belief I had that these were the bottom of the range cues made by the amateur/rookie cue makers can't be true based on what I saw.

No doubt some of the views I held were similar to others on the forum, purely from what I saw on Ebay and comments on this forum. Even as someone relatively local and having dealt with him personally in the past it was easy for my views to be influenced and make assumptions. From my personal experience John is a nice enough chap, very approachable with model customer service. I haven't ever ordered an Ultimate cue so can't really comment on that experience. That said, it is possible for you to walk in with £400 and walk out with a perfectly good Parris cue, something more recently I've been led to believe you couldn't do.

[thai_son22]

Interesting write up. In a similar style to which I had wrote with regards to another cue maker addressing specific points.

I recently visited Parris cues within the last month and too had a chat with him. I won't say he wasn't polite but some of the statements he had made from across very sort of 'passive aggressive' in regards to other cue makers which could have been viewed as disappointing/offensive in the context it was spoken of.

In terms of his cues, you are right. Some even splices, some uneven. It'll be to some people's tastes and not to others.
Not much to add on this.

[DeanH]

nice write-up

He spends most of his time on tour with the players
Got to say I have not heard or read this assumption, I have always seen that he is in the shop most days

He no longer makes cues himself
This point of view is from the assumption that he does not physically pick up the plane and do the work any more, which I doubt he does
As you say, he states that he "oversees" all the work.

It's impossible to order a cue without waiting X number of years
Again, got to say I have not heard or read this assumption applied to all his cues, only Ultimates/Paragons. On his website the waiting times for models are listed. As you say there are many cues in stock in the shop for any walk in trade, his range of models is the large and there must be something for everyone, I try not to be swayed when I go


"passive aggressive" I think that comes down to replying to the same questions/mis-information he has answered many many times over the many years
Exactly the same when Curtis interviewed him in the workshop, you could hear the resigned "here we go again" tone of voice to some of his answers

[qc2]

nice write-up

It's impossible to order a cue without waiting X number of years
Again, got to say I have not heard or read this assumption applied to all his cues, only Ultimates/Paragons. On his website the waiting times for models are listed. As you say there are many cues in stock in the shop for any walk in trade, his range of models is the large and there must be something for everyone, I try not to be swayed when I go

Perhaps just me then but to see regular range cues on Ebay for £500-£900 and selling when you could walk in and get one for the same or less, you'd think you had no choice but pay those prices. A fool and their money...

[narl]

The passive aggressive in regard to other cuemakers has piqued my interest.

[GeordieDS]

So people are paying way over the odds on Ebay for John Parris handmade cues that he doesn't make, they're obviously still very good cues but oh the irony

[ghost121]

The problem with Parris is that he puts cues out onto the market that other cue makers would cut in half and start again.

[itsnoteasy]

He doesn't do alterations because he was swamped with Chinese cues,who buys a cheap Chinese cue for around £40-50 then says, I know ,what it needs is a retapering and new splices from John Parris? Doesn't sound right to me, unless they are then trying to pass it off with the old customised cue by John Parris, to some unsuspecting punter, not in the know of cue language. If that's the case I'm glad he doesn't do it.

[Ramon]

Perhaps just me then but to see regular range cues on Ebay for £500-£900 and selling when you could walk in and get one for the same or less, you'd think you had no choice but pay those prices. A fool and their money...

Not everyone is living or based in UK, my friend .

You can buy a unique cue for 450?
I saw one (a while ago ) on ebay for 600.

Well, lets say sumone from Australia looking to buy that cue.
How much should he pay to cover the travel expenses? (flight/Hotel?)
So, in the end he would be better off by buying that cue from Ebay.

nice write-up , btw.

Glad you recently started playing again . Hope you enjoy the game. :snooker:

[narl]

He doesn't do alterations because he was swamped with Chinese cues,who buys a cheap Chinese cue for around £40-50 then says, I know ,what it needs is a retapering and new splices from John Parris? Doesn't sound right to me, unless they are then trying to pass it off with the old customised cue by John Parris, to some unsuspecting punter, not in the know of cue language. If that's the case I'm glad he doesn't do it.

Wasn't just that, they had numerous other makes coming in for alterations and it was putting them behind on cue manufacturing so they stopped doing it. It was mentioned on twitter in a response here:

https://twitter.com/FECKARSEinc/stat...93989291130880

[itsnoteasy]

Wasn't just that, they had numerous other makes coming in for alterations and it was putting them behind on cue manufacturing so they stopped doing it. It was mentioned on twitter in a response here:

https://twitter.com/FECKARSEinc/stat...93989291130880

Fair enough, you can't argue with that, anything that helps the waiting times must be a good thing.

[Madbox]

Hi Guys

I put a post up a few months ago, about Parris cues, It really wasn't to bash Parris cues or John in any way, but it seemed to open the flood gates, I won't go into the details on that post.

But I would like to just say, Having spent time purchasing cues from various makers and enjoyed playing with them, they have all been good cues. But and I am gonna say this, I went
into the shop 3 weekends ago, just to have a look around, there was one or two customers in there and John Parris was manning the till and showing people around. No I decided to have
a look at the on the rack Unique cues, that are made by Parris cues. I played with all the one piece cues, but found myself going back to a very nice looking Ash/Ebony/Blue spliced cracking cue.
John kept asking if I was OK, and to carry on playing with it, incase I got liking it. So I am pleased to say that John was very accommodating towards me being there. Agreed I would not Order a Cue,
but I now feel I have found the cue I have been looking for. So I am happy now, its just a good case I need now.

I do think sometimes these manufacturers get a rough deal from us the online warriors. Parris, may not make the cues himself, but the guys in the workshop behind the shop sure do, all under Johns
supervision, but he sure don't order in shafts from china, that has been stated before. I am personally really happy with the one I picked from the rack, and to be honest I had about an hours conversation
with John and he was a great guy to Speak to.

I appreciate that there people out there who would not even go to the shop because of distance, and the prices that are charged for cues, but if its right its right. Again this can be said of any of the manufacturers out there...

[qc2]

Fair enough, you can't argue with that, anything that helps the waiting times must be a good thing.

A few yeas ago I took a non Parris cue to him for a re-taper and re-finish. I genuinely needed a cue fixing, it wasn't a case of trying to polish a turd. The 'maker' I ordered the cue from had already taken the cue back once and bodged the taper leaving plane marks at the top of the shaft. Had it re-tapered, finished and re-tipped at Parris for £37. At the time I was thinking it's so cheap why don't more people do this? Obviously I wasn't the only one thinking that...

Not surprised at all and can't blame him for not touching other makers now.

[cueman]

I don't blame any cue manufacturer for this actually. When you think about it, a lot of these cues are probably cheap, poorly made, if they start sanding the cue down and doing work they could be making the cue worse, depending on how much lacquer and stuff they are using to hide the poor quality of the materials used.

Then the customer realises he's wasted money on the cue, and probably doesn't want to pay for the work done, often leading to JP being out of pocket as the customer walks away and he's left with a cue that he can't sell, not to mention the hours wasted where his workers should be concentrating on making cues, like mine!!!