Help!! BCE Westbury or Brunswick Anniversary

[tominizer]

I have to make a choice very soon. Here's the deal with both deals noted below being roughly the same cost.



Very nice condition Brunswick Anniversary 6x12 with new cloth and bumpers, including setup and some accessories from a very reputable seller.

Good condition steel rail BCE Westbury 6x12 in decent shape but needs some work and needs to be shipped from some distance. To be bought on pictures alone.

[tominizer]

Must add that the Anniversary table there are very few unknowns. Seller is a well respected table mechanic and would be assembling/installing the table.

With the BCE table, it's apart and no chance to check it out/play it assembled. Would need to arrange for transportation and a mechanic to assemble. Some risk here.


Guess the big question is the BCE table worth the risk or would the Anniversary be "good enough" ?!??!

[cuebru]

I don't know BCE but I know you can't go wrong with a good anniversary

[Jono857280]

Easy decision.Westbury BCE!

Pros
---
Bought mine 3rd hand. Lovely table. Steel block of course - tournament standard table.

Used in every major ranking event between 1982-1991 -including Cliffs 147 in the World Championships, Kirk's 147 in the Masters, Davis/Taylor black ball struggle - all done on a Westburys.

Nice 1.75 inch slate.

Cons
----
Subframe and muntings are pine with a Mahogany stain and not true Mahogany - mine were cracked since the previous owner over tightened the dowl joints -carpenter replaced mine with nice Brazillian mahogany for table stability and prevent slate sag.

Pocket leather rubbish - cosmetically nice (dark brown) but prone to early splitting. No real problem - for 300usd you could have a set made up by local leather worker that are better than the original.

caps attached to steel block (on each end) are rubbish. I think they're made of pine or basswood. These are the small wooden pieces that the cloth is wrapped around and also form the inside of the pocket when the table is assembled. Better off have a wood shop make some up in maple or a slightly harder wood. These are very strategic pieces of wood but nery cheaply made.

Mr.Davidson has a Wesbury I think.

Cheers
Jono.

[Terry Davidson]

I have a BCE Westbury steel-blocked which is marked 'Pot Black 1968' which I purchased from Odie Willit of ODBilliards in Hamilton (Dundas) Ontario.

Mine was quite well used and in a club too but mechanically everything is fine except I have to agree with the comment on the rail caps and also I had one socket inside one of the slates which take the rail bolts missing however the remaining rail bots seem to keep that cushion tight.

I would have preferred the BCE anyway over the Brunswick Anniversary just due to the bucket pockets on the Anniversary, the rail bolts coming from underneath and also the round rails as opposed to the square rails on all the British and Chinese tables.

Terry

[tominizer]

Hey, thanks guys for all your thoughts.


Well, part of the decision was made by the Minister and Finance and Tourism at my house (Wife). Cosmetically she likes the Anniversary better. And for me, there were too many unknowns with the BCE this time.

The Anniversary is coming through Odie as well and he will be doing the installation. The BCE was from someone unknown. $1200 for the BCE table though !!! I asked Odie for a BCE but his were outside our present budget considering the end product we were also looking for cosmetically.

Odie and his crew dropped the table off in my garage (great guys!!) and now some of parts are out for refinishing as they were in rough shape. Skirts had this really thick brown paint finish that was really badly chipped. Two of the three legs needed attention as well to correct some vertical cracking in the veneer. The side and the corner aluminum out for a mirror like finishing too also because they looked well used. I want to also do the aluminum leg trim but it's in too rough shape to make it worth the while. Too many vacuum knocks and other knicks and knacks. So at some point in the future, I'm going to take it to have it reproduced. I have a few contacts for the labour part that can form it up. It's just sourcing the think aluminum skin. But that will have to wait as we've already popped the budget big time. Also need to source out some new pocket cups. Got a quote for $70 + government for new ones. Much needed to cosmetically keep the wife happy

I'll try and post up some pictures once she's all done.

[tominizer]

Anyone seen Odie from ODBilliards lately?? Been trying to get ahold of him via phone and email with now luck.

[Terry Davidson]

tominizer:

Odie has been out of town until just recently. I talked to him last night via his cellphone number (289-260-5884) and I'm sure you can reach him on that or leave a voicemail at least.

He is also checking his email.

Terry

[tominizer]

Hey Terry. I've tried emailing and calling him over the last two weeks with no luck. He sold and installed a table to us that we have problems with due to their install. ODbilliards (Odie) doesn't seem to want to respond back to me. I've been trying to reach him or his table mechanic Pat with no luck so far. it's become very frustrating.

[Terry Davidson]

tom:

I didn't realize you had a complaint. As it would be his expense maybe that's why Odie is taking his time, although I know he's very busy right now as I'm looking for some service (re-covering) and he can't get out here for awhile.

I know both he and Pat will be at Shooters in Toronto this Saturday as Odie is the tournament director and Pat will be playing, so you could always 'accidentally' run into him there.

What's the problem with the Anniversary? Maybe I can give you some advice if it isn't too much

Terry

[tominizer]

I don't want to start an online mud slinging thing but let's just say I spent a LOT of money restoring the wood and aluminum on the table, and it was in rough condition. Very rough. Upon climbing under the table after the install, one of the skirts has 8 attachment points where it should only have 6. So it doesn't bolt up correctly. On the other side, they put a 12-14" crack in the skirt that was competely restored during the install. Ouch. Lastly there's two slim one inch long bumps under the cloth that pretty much ruin the playability of the table. The bumps are no where near the butt joints either and run perpendicular to those joints as well.

These guys seem decent. All I'm looking for is confirmation that they will be responsible for these issues and returning to make things right. I don't think this is unreasonable and a quick phone takes less then 10 seconds to put the customer at easy.

[tominizer]

Sorry I mean at ease. And all restoration was completed before the install.

[tominizer]

All I hear is crickets.

Guess I'm eating my original words at the beginning of this thread. Going on a month now. It's too bad as I had a pile more potential business for ODbilliards if they had turned out honest and stood behind their work.

[Terry Davidson]

tominizer:

I just found out this weekend that Odie took a bad spill on ice last week and damaged his knee, hip and shoulder and is out of action for awhile.

He wasn't at our ranking tournament this weekend although Pat was.

Not sure how long Odie will be out of action

Terry

[tominizer]

That's unfortunate.

Terry, any contact info for Pat? Most importantly I need to get that cloth fixed so I can start using the table again.