Welsh Pool, mastercraft or craftsman?

[Jonny]

Basically what the title says :P looking to spend about 100-200 nothing too expensive. I've heard good things from all three companies and some bad things (although minor) as well XD and just wondered if i could get anymore information from anybody who has used them

[tinytim139]

to confuse things more green baize= excellent cues

[snooker warrior]

go for welshpool,, i have had two cues from paul (welshpool)(bitter on this forum) both cues were made to my spec, a 1 piece ash with ebony butt 59 1/2 inch 21ozs and 9mm + a case £165 delivered and i will recommend to anyone,,,,, you wont get a better cue made to your own spec anywhere for the money

[Jonny]

to confuse things more green baize= excellent cues

prefer it to be made in the uk

[Jonny]

go for welshpool,, i have had two cues from paul (welshpool)(bitter on this forum) both cues were made to my spec, a 1 piece ash with ebony butt 59 1/2 inch 21ozs and 9mm + a case £165 delivered and i will recommend to anyone,,,,, you wont get a better cue made to your own spec anywhere

did you have any splices in that? or was it just ebony and ash

[snooker warrior]

just plain,as i like a classic looking cue,but he will make you what you want,have a look at his website,,if i wasnt totaly happy with the cues paul has made me,i would not recommend him ,, email or pm him and tell him what you want and normally takes 2/3 weeks

[DandyA]

I bought a "Welsh Dragon" from Welsh Pool Trading at the beginning of October and I love her - at the "value" end of the handmade market, I think WPT's cues are extremely good value for money ...

for a handmade cue for only a little over £100, you can't expect perfection and indeed there are a few finishing errors but they are simply cosmetic (splices not perfectly aligned, ebony butt has a brown scar, things like that) ... but all the important things are right ... lovely shaft, 3/4 joint and butt-joint perfectly fitted ... oh and the joints are "airlock" which I like too ...

I did wonder about the tip it came with - don't know the make - brown, deep and very hard ... thought about replacing it but I decided to file it down to about half it's depth and see if I could get used to it ... which I have and I now really like that too ...

So yes, I'm 100% in favour of www.WelshPoolTrading.co.uk ...

A friend of mine has just bought a Craftsman Victor (the cheapest of the Craftsman range at £60) ... I haven't played with it but I wouldn't have anything bad to say about it either ... very decent ... the only thing that slightly surprised me was the width of the shaft - although to the eye, the tip/ferrule is much the same on both cues, the shaft on the Craftsman is noticeably thicker than my Dragon ...

I have no experience of MasterCraft so can't comment - well except to say I wouldn't be surprised if I do lol ... I do not know for certain and it is a closely guarded secret who makes WPT cues but WPT in Welshpool and Mastercraft in Shropshire aren't that far apart are they?

in your budget of £100 to £200, I'd definitely also look at Mike Wooldridge's Shark series ... wicked looking cues imo and within your budget ... you get the benefit of the skills of one of the top cuemakers in the land but they're cheaper than a full-blown MW cos they are butterfly spliced - which I understand to be a "machine" splice which looks like a "hand" splice (just two rounded splices rather than four) ...

hth

[CUEDOCTOR]

go for welshpool,, i have had two cues from paul (welshpool)(bitter on this forum) both cues were made to my spec, a 1 piece ash with ebony butt 59 1/2 inch 21ozs and 9mm + a case £165 delivered and i will recommend to anyone,,,,, you wont get a better cue made to your own spec anywhere for the money

AGREE...........FAIR PRICE, and GREAT HANDCRAFT FOR CUSTOMCUE

[Jonny]

I bought a "Welsh Dragon" from Welsh Pool Trading at the beginning of October and I love her - at the "value" end of the handmade market, I think WPT's cues are extremely good value for money ...

just quoted a bit to avoid stretching the page

thanks for the detailed reply would it be alright if you uploaded some pics of your welshdragon please?

[tinytim139]

prefer it to be made in the uk

i thought like this till i went there drove 3 hours and very happy i did fantastic cues. Best thing is he has got loads of cues there and try them till you find one that feels right. Looked at every cue in his range (master gbl and wooldridge) and ended up with his own range. Splices nice and even (top and bottom) nice balance and a good piece of maple was had. British made dont mean better made (although generally it is, it isn't in this case).

[Jonny]

i thought like this till i went there drove 3 hours and very happy i did fantastic cues. Best thing is he has got loads of cues there and try them till you find one that feels right. Looked at every cue in his range (master gbl and wooldridge) and ended up with his own range. Splices nice and even (top and bottom) nice balance and a good piece of maple was had. British made dont mean better made (although generally it is, it isn't in this case).

suppose so, just realised i live pretty much next to it so i might take a look

[poolqjunkie]

Where is it made, Thai?

[cueinhand]

Yup, I got a custom made GBL cue , well made, great quaility of craftsmanship,the spec. is what I want exactly AND with very good price.
I can't believe that it was made in THAI ,even better than many cues from UK.
I was play with this cue for a month, it was impossible to fault the cue's playablity and craftsmanship.
My 2nd order had been placed to Green Baize !

In here,I recommend the GBL to anybody who looking for a high quaility cue with very good price.

[mchpddl1]

Hi do you mind to share around how much is a custom made cue from GBL please?

[cueinhand]

My GBL (C4) Cue+Mini Butt+Tele. exten.+postage
Total cost me 270 GBP ( But I can't get the same discount in my 2nd order)

Wonderful quality
made to you spec. exactly
Attractable price

Now, I will say GBL is my first choice!!