9-Ball
Topic: Strickland smashes cue!

"Leading 6-3, Strickland missed the brown 7 and such was his annoyance that he smashed his cue into the floor, splintering the shaft of his cue into pieces."

OMG!!!

hilarious

love him or hate him the man is box office

LOL

At least it was only a POS Cuetec.

I wish I'd seen it... I'll have to wait for the repeats! Does he have any more matches?

i heard that it aint a Cuetec... or at least the shaft isnt.

after having one briefly (not as my playing cue, but cos someone gave me one for sod all) i cant see how he could play with the finesse he does with one. surely he must be using a different shaft.

anyone know?

The shaft isn't a standard Cuetec from what i've heard. At a guess i'd asy its deffinatly NOT a pred,lol.

Out of all the players I'd say that only Rodney Morris is the only guy to play with a very expensive cue. On his profile it says zsamboti but i heard he shoots with a Showman now.

On 2006-12-11 01:07 , craig Wrote:
You seen Ralf's cue lately? $20k I believe.

Yeah, Ralph gets his cues made by Dan Janes himself, who is a cuemake and also the owner/founder of Joss Cues, the same guy that made the J-18 in The Color Of Money, that was mistaken for a George Balabuska

Willie

Craig....Rodney does shoot with a John Showman now but still owns his Szamboti, until I can get it off him anyway

I shot some balls with Earl's cue in 2002 and the shaft looked something a little bit more special than Cuetec, the butt was Cuetec all the way.

Wizard....Dan didn't actually make the Joss J18 in the Color Of Money as it was a standard production cue. He only makes the likes of Ralfs cue or when a customer has enough $ to pay for something a little more special. Whilst not 'mistaken' for a Balabushka, it was used due to the similar charachteristics the J18 had to a Balabushka (4 points, veneers, straight grained maple forearm and mother of Pearl inlays.....all attributes of Balabushka cues). They did have a Balabushka on set but feared for its safety when Tom Cruise did his twirly cue bit on the 'Werewolves of London' scene.

...and John Schmidt looked to be shooting with a Cognoscenti, which is super expensive. It could have been a Josey, less expensive or even a Dale Perry, less expensive again.

Anyone know what it was? I can't believe I don't know for sure.....must be losing my touch!

Well if you dont know what cue it is Si,I doubt if us "mere mortals" would!

Hilarious to see Strickland smash his cue though....

Hey Si , how's it goin buddy

I do know that the original Model of the J18 was made by Dan, but did become a production model shortly after the original was made

As reguards the using the J18 instead of the Original Balabuska, I wouldn't blame them for not using it, after all, I don't think that it would be a pleasant sight of seeing Tom cruise, Pearling a possible $40?K cue stick lol

I was wondering exactly what cue sticks that you have at in your collection, as I'm taking a look round at the moment, for an alternative playing cue and I'm looking for a high end model , as anyone would expect, but I'll PM you about that

I will say though, of the cue sticks I've seen, Samsara, Joss, Southwest, Richard Black and Mike Webb's cues are some of the finest cues around, as well as the original Rambow's, Balabuskas, etc

Willie

Hi Willie

Everything cool here. Yes, I dare say Dan did build the first one. A very talented man that found his own niche in the Market.

With regards my own cues, I have all kinds but I am very specific about the collection cues. The photo below will give you an idea. I did this picture as a bit of a joke for AZbilliards (Dufferin surrounded by Szambotis).
Szams

I think Earl Strickland's shaft is either a vortex or thunderbolt shaft without any fibre glass coating.

On 2006-12-11 09:30 , TheWizard Wrote:

Dan and Billy Stroud (Joss West) were partners/founders in their earlier years, when they split they were know as Joss East and Joss West, Billy and his wife Barb lived in Colorado(sest) for many years, moving to Austin Tx then in the past few years to SE New Mexico. Billy addressed more of the individual needs of players, Danny (wonderful giving man) went for much larger numbers. I also heard Bill went overseas and taught (cheaper labor) how to make cues. Also, Billy Stroud is in the Smithsonian.

Eurowest Cues, made in Germany and distributed by Dynamic Billiards. Great cues. The use the same automotive finish as Mercedes.

Hey IslandDrive , how's 9it goin buddy?

I know that Dan and Billy were partners and were originally Joss West , I have had the good oppertunity to speak to dan about a cue stick before as I had a asked about having a cue stick made that was a Cross of 2 different production models and in fact would be a very nice cue stick indeed , but I decided to put the idea on hold for now, but is still an option

Hey Si , I thought that the cue stick I asked you about, was a Szamboti' lol, I checked the picture out and it's kind cruel and cool at the same time lol, very nice pic

Both Dan and BIlly have made some great cues, as well as many other cue makers out there

Thanks again for your replies and look forward to hearing from you again Si, on the cue sticks I asked about

Willie

Just to clarify (you know what I am like!)...Joss West is the name Billy Stroud took when him and Dan went their seperate ways.

Did you know Tim Scruggs apprenticed under Dan and Billy? I have a whole head full of cue facts, lol!

On 2006-12-11 16:21 , thediamond Wrote:

Si have you ever manage to get your hands on a Vollmer cue that are made in Germany?? I heard that the guy making them apprenticed under Tony at BlackBoar. I was thinking oy maybe picking one up sometime next year.

www.vollmercue.de

I haven't had one in my hands but they have been spoken about on AZ a few times. Looking at the website you can certainly see the Tony Scianella influence for sure. Some of the designs are direct Black Boar copies, some have a slight twist.

There is another German Maker that Ralf Eckert introduced me to in 2002, Arthur Cue. Again, like these, very high end works with incredible detail.

I don't know how the Vollmers are priced so I can't comment (although I suspect they wont be cheap) but the Arthur Cues are mega expensive. I just don't know if its Blue Chip stock as with the more established high end makers. You can't deny the quality for sure but as an investment....only time will tell. Spending $10 - $50,000 on a pretty new makers work is pretty high risk to me when I know I am guaranteed a return with a Gina, Szamboti, Balabushka, Hercek, etc. Not the whole point of buying a cue I know but I get peace of mind knowing I bought well.

If the draw for these is still strong, my advice would be to go for a players cue that isn't completely loaded out and the price is within the realms of sanity. That way, the risk is low and you sleep at night knowing you only sold your bike and not your car to pay for a cue.

If the Vollmers are reasonable in price and play like the Black Boars they look like, it seems to be the quickest (and cheapest?) way to get a Black Boar.

Si