how many british cue makers left in 5 years

[potter741]

has anybody thought how many british cue makers might be around in 5 years.
i know there are the individual cue makers like john parris and trevor white,
who do not need to sell lots of cues to make a living

but what about the big companies like cuecraft, peradon's and craftsman.
i know that riley's and lewis & wilson have gone, thats just 2 i know about,
and i bet there's probably a few others.

but with the influx of mass produced imported cues like o'min, mastercue thailand and unique, and also how their quality has improved, is there still a market for the u.k cue builders?

i'm wondering if some of these established uk businesses might fall by the wayside in the near future.

[ferret]

I know Rileys has had many a problem over the year but why do you think the CUE operation side of the business went **** up!!! cheap imports, the only place you would find a Rileys cue these days is in your local snooker hall, you know the ones your club has paid £5 each for.

If I was playing snooker and somebody got out a Rileys cue I would probably pack my cue away and walk out ............ that would be after picking my self up off of the floor from laughing at them

But seriously, imports is not the way to go, I would get a British made cue over anything, even if a cue made in China was endorsed by all the top 32 players.

[Alex0paul]

If I was playing snooker and somebody got out a Rileys cue I would probably pack my cue away and walk out ............ that would be after picking my self up off of the floor from laughing at them

Doesn't Steve Davis use a Riley cue?

[ferret]

Doesn't Steve Davis use a Riley cue?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo, thats why he got knocked out lol

God if he is that skink I could of loaned him my cue for the week

[gingerale]

Doesn't Steve Davis use a Riley cue?

No, Alex. He had a Rileys badge on his Burroughes&Watts Ye olde ash (some threads about the cue on here) last year.

-

I know many players who buy a lower-cost cue when starting the game. Which makes sense for those who want their own and not a rack cue but aren't sure if they'll go on playing. Because of the expensive import/shipping costs from Britain to some countries they're more likely to buy a Mastercue than a Cuecraft, for example. But almost all players I know who continue playing snooker want a more decent cue then and tend to get e.g a Stamford or a Hunt&Osborne. Can't see asian cues are taking over.

On top of this, I guess BCE are making a fortune with the signature cues. (Don't know where those are produced though )

[BITTER]

UK Cuemakers in 5 years would be about the same has now I would say.

All a mater of supply and demand, at the moment supply is fine to keep UK makers in work.

Companies such has Peradon and Cuecraft may stop making in UK has the temptation of imports may become to good to resist.

But a high value cue company like Parris will have no problem continuing to turn out UK made cues for many years to come and beyond.

It's the individual cue makers of which only a few remain that we need to survive.

[mchpddl1]

cue maker

Personally i think quality of cues from Asia can catch up with any makers in UK. But asian made cues are mainly focussed in mass produced audience target and hence only wanting to earn mass money. They can catch quality of any UK makers if they want to.

I think UK cue makers have established long tradition already, and they will continue to survive surely. What i personally suggest is not seeing other country's cues as competitors, rather UK makers should innovate in cue technology and try to derive more technical development such as Accurate cue, which at least they derived theory and explaind how it works. I think British people are notorious for innovation and craetivity, you can see how many products British people have created great products and others just copy? Its time to innovate. Having said that cues are simple products, but someone must have ideas to imporve further.......

[BITTER]

The chinesse don't have the quality of wood, why do you think they cover it with paint and thick lacquer

They will never match the quality of genuine UK cue makers unless they pay for good quality materials.
Then they will lose the edge on price.

I am yet to see a decent cue from China.

Thailand cue makers however appear to be much better at sourcing material.
The quality from them is very high, better than some UK makers but still short of the better UK makers.

Has for accurate is it a success in technology or marketing.

High sales price and very low production costs tends to point to the latter,

[ADR147]

the problem is that the prices are going to go up - it will be hard to buy a uk made cue in a few years for less than £400 because firstly ebony has gone up by about 5 times in the last few years and supply and demand means the blackest stuff is going to be very very expensive soon, the ash has also gone up in price as have all the other woods but also peoples cost of living has gone up and in order for a uk cue maker to make a living now he has to either make his money on cheap imported cues and cases or charge a lot of money in order to be able to pay his bills! all the cue makers will say the same thing - every year they have been finding it harder and more expensive to get the quality they need.