What decides the price of the cue stick?

[_Harry_Potter_]

We have 2 snooker tables in our office and are allowed to play an hour or so daily. Now the office cues are pretty cheap (mostly one piece and few 2 piece 1/2 not 3/4). I am pretty sure the price is not more than 10-15 bucks a piece. Now I have cue stick of my own.
Being a beginner, I can say that it is nice stick (3/4) but again I am not aware of the qualities of the stick and what makes them so expensive - in some cases.

Mine is around 40 bucks but I have seen posts on this forum and on some online websites that price of cue sticks range from few 100 bucks to even 1000 of bucks. To me it seems like a standard Ash wood with some rare woods for the designing near the butt.

What I want to know from the experts is how one decide which cue stick is worth the price being quoted for it? In some cases, the maker's name/reputation and the year of manufacture matters for the collectors/auctioneers.

Apart from this, quality wise, how can you decide if this particular stick is worth more than the other?

[itsnoteasy]

The market and what someone is willing to pay, are the two things that decide the value of almost anything. Most things will have a bottom line where materials and time and effort put in,have to be reached to make it worth while but a top end price ,that's up to the consumer really. The producer can place any price they want on it but it's the consumer that says if it's worth it and this is shown if they sell.

[alabadi]

i would say the reputation of the cuemaker. the better they are at producing the cues to a high standard they can then charge more.

the materials wouldn't differ a great deal a piece of ash is a piece of ash, however some pieces will be more expensive depending on the age of the wood and how it is dried.

the amount of splices too would determine how much is charge and the type of exotic woods for the butt. but overall I think at least 2/3 of the price goes for the workmanship of the cuemaker.

[vmax4steve]

£10 for the shaft, £30 for the ebony, £20 for an exotic splice, £10 for the sandpaper, 10p for the glue, 25p for the ferrule, 20p for the tip, labour at say £10 per hour, finishing etc is variable, and in some cases add an extra £300 for the badge, only a little bit of plastic but oh so very expensive
What that total comes to is anyones guess, but I suspect the gullibility of the buyer is a big, big factor.

[golferson123]

What decides the price of the cue stick?

what about tooling?

[itsnoteasy]

£10 for the shaft, £30 for the ebony, £20 for an exotic splice, £10 for the sandpaper, 10p for the glue, 25p for the ferrule, 20p for the tip, labour at say £10 per hour, finishing etc is variable, and in some cases add an extra £300 for the badge, only a little bit of plastic but oh so very expensive
What that total comes to is anyones guess, but I suspect the gullibility of the buyer is a big, big factor.

I think that's a bit harsh Vmax, there are loads of other things, if done from a work shop, lighting ,heating, rent, business rates, national insurance, staff,knowledge ( What cost do you put on this) maintenance of tools let alone buying them, good quality ones aren't cheep, time spent raking around timber yards, there are probably loads of other things I haven't thought of. It's totally different if you are a hobby cue maker, or just splicing ready made shafts.

[MrRottweiler]

I think rare cues will be most valuable such as individually made ones or ones that are signed by a renowned cue maker or player. Sports dealers and Snooker specialists who know the score probably see the best profit in cues that are very rare or have been signed by someone or come with a document that proves the history of it. Cues that are mass produced might still be made of fine materials and of a high standard but they are still 'off the shelf' and no-where near the £100+ plus price tag. A lot of the production is probably machine made instead of hand crafted which you could argue doesn't change how the cue plays but it comes down to preference. I think Davis' first cue that lasted most of his career cost him £15.

My first cue which my dad gave to me after one his mates from the pub gave it to him was a dream to play with but I damaged it so much I had to get a new one. I always wondered if it was valuable because it had the nicest dark ash wood I've ever seen and the wooden badge had a strange symbol with the word 'whirlwind' next to it. There was nothing else on it to suggest it was linked to Jimmy White so I've always been in doubt about it. The symbol was similar to the one the artist Prince uses when he changed his name (to give you an idea of the type of design). I butchered it and took so much off it made the tip too big for me to play with. If it was valuable I probably hacked all the value away long ago

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

£10 for the shaft, £30 for the ebony, £20 for an exotic splice, £10 for the sandpaper, 10p for the glue, 25p for the ferrule, 20p for the tip, labour at say £10 per hour, finishing etc is variable, and in some cases add an extra £300 for the badge, only a little bit of plastic but oh so very expensive
What that total comes to is anyones guess, but I suspect the gullibility of the buyer is a big, big factor.

Ten quid for sandpaper?

Anyways, the answer is expertise + opportunity.

[tepe]

Would be nice to know how many hours of work from a top class cue maker is required to make a first class cue. One piece with plain ebony but, no gimmics.

[jrc750]

Would be nice to know how many hours of work from a top class cue maker is required to make a first class cue. One piece with plain ebony but, no gimmics.

People are not robots, everyone will work at different speeds

[Ramon]

We have 2 snooker tables in our office and are allowed to play an hour or so daily. Now the office cues are pretty cheap (mostly one piece and few 2 piece 1/2 not 3/4). I am pretty sure the price is not more than 10-15 bucks a piece. Now I have cue stick of my own.
Being a beginner, I can say that it is nice stick (3/4) but again I am not aware of the qualities of the stick and what makes them so expensive - in some cases.

Mine is around 40 bucks but I have seen posts on this forum and on some online websites that price of cue sticks range from few 100 bucks to even 1000 of bucks. To me it seems like a standard Ash wood with some rare woods for the designing near the butt.

What I want to know from the experts is how one decide which cue stick is worth the price being quoted for it? In some cases, the maker's name/reputation and the year of manufacture matters for the collectors/auctioneers.

Apart from this, quality wise, how can you decide if this particular stick is worth more than the other?

To be honest , i do'nt know what you mean by quality wise .
If you are talking about craftsmnshp ,, sum of them are better . For example , MW Or TW cues . They have a better finish comperd to other brands i've seen ( and I have'nt seen all of them ).
In terms of playability , you have to play with it . I do'nt belive a particular brand cue is the best player .

[Ramon]

Ten quid for sandpaper?

Anyways, the answer is expertise + opportunity.

Expertise ???
May I ask what do you mean by that ?

[tepe]

People are not robots, everyone will work at different speeds

Surely I understand that. But would be nice to know rough estimate of hours required. And I was talking about top class makers. Not about people who do it as hobby.

[LucLex3119]

Lets look at it this way.

People have their favourite cue makers. Each cue maker claims to have the best cues on the market. One may have better playability in their cues, one may have a better finish or more even splicing. But surely hand made is hand made?
I enquired about a Woods cue and asked how much it would cost for a hand made ash cue in the Traditional style (Ronnie replica) the price was £149 delivered.

Andy Travis £300 for a simple cue design.

Mike Wooldridge £575 for his Tiger design

Trevor White £600 for a cue

John Paris £900 for his ultimate

What makes these cues different?

If they all use ash sourced from Uk suppliers then the price variation can only be down to popularity.

[Snookclops]

I would not claim to be an expert but I am dubious that really expensive cues deliver anything more.

I had the funds for a 400 quid cue ($600) but walked away from shop with a cue, quite a short cue (considering I am 6 feet 2 this cue comes nowhere near my shoulder it's shorter than most cues) at 100 quid. I tried peradon, all sorts but they all seemed too thick and too hard.

My cue is thin, light 16oz just how I like it. I'm willing to bw convinced otherwise but a light, thin short cue just yields better results for me. I had a 170 quid cue craft Apollo I snapped over one knee one morning after terrible luck and a hangover. I prefer the cheaper cue.


I have had really cheap cues at 25 quid. These are terrible in my experience. Once you break about 75 quid it seems just preference to me - I don't think a 500 quid cue plays much better that 100 quid cue.