Your opinions regarding custom made snooker cue - is the ebony ok?

[jrc750]

JCR, have you owned an AT? Do they play well? He doesn't charge a lot.

Yes i had one of his early ones, nice cue played well, just it was too light for me, so off it went to France
Ahem, it's jrc by the way (not jcr lol)

[Andy Travis]

Would be nice if you could put a picture up with the cue as a whole.

[mickl_kl]

I personally think that andy travis produces great cues, doesnt matter if the ebony got some odd brown to it, hence what u paid for, which is a lot less than what most other cue makers would ask for.
the most important thing is the play-ability, and as a owner of andy's cue, I can only say its one hell of cue for that money.
(P.S.. my cue butt also has these brown spots on it, but its not something that will affect my game in any way, ever)

[Gerry Armstrong]

As I said many posts ago, Trial by Forum.

I'm shocked!!

[Gerry Armstrong]

Cue looks a cracker, an absolute snip for the money.

[Dave Walton]

Personally I think Andy makes good cues, I've played with a mates and it was a great cue. The ebony on that was a little streaky but as I said in my previous post I think that adds character to the cue.

Keep up the good work Andy

[Dave Walton]

Its 2-3 months old - and I could choose black or white badge.

Well based on all your inputs I guess its just a lesson for the next cue Im gonna buy. If im gonna buy one - maybe Im gonna be happy with this one eventually. It plays well and thats the most important part of course.

Thx for the replies and best regards from Denmark.
Michael

Ah okay mate, I didn't know Andy still used white badges. Instead of worrying about the ebony just enjoy playing with your cue :-)

[MikeWooldridge]

you guys better get used to it cos ebony is getting increasingly hard to find. certainly good black stuff.

in the not too distant future, black ebony will be a rarity rather than the norm (if it isn't already), even on the most expensive custom cues.

and may i just add - ebony that has some colour, or a few flecks here and there, costs us just as much as jet black, and is all lumped in together when buying in bulk. so it's really not a case of expecting blacker stuff to be on cues that are higher priced cos the build/time cost is exactly the same. we use what we have at the time...

personally speaking, i prefer to see a bit of colour. it adds character. my favourite bits of ebony are ones that have 'something going on'.

don't get me wrong, black is cool, but it's the same wood grown from the same trees. just luck of the draw if it turns out totally black or not.

[Particle Physics]

Yes i had one of his early ones, nice cue played well, just it was too light for me, so off it went to France
Ahem, it's jrc by the way (not jcr lol)

Sorry about that, I must have thought JCR sounded better, excuse my moment of dailysex (dyslexia). lol

[Particle Physics]

you guys better get used to it cos ebony is getting increasingly hard to find. certainly good black stuff.

in the not too distant future, black ebony will be a rarity rather than the norm (if it isn't already), even on the most expensive custom cues.

and may i just add - ebony that has some colour, or a few flecks here and there, costs us just as much as jet black, and is all lumped in together when buying in bulk. so it's really not a case of expecting blacker stuff to be on cues that are higher priced cos the build/time cost is exactly the same. we use what we have at the time...

personally speaking, i prefer to see a bit of colour. it adds character. my favourite bits of ebony are ones that have 'something going on'.

don't get me wrong, black is cool, but it's the same wood grown from the same trees. just luck of the draw if it turns out totally black or not.

I suppose that if you only used the noir de noir, you'd have to put up prices because a lot of ebony would be 'dumped'? Wouldn't it be better to offer a price differentiation so folk could choose the standard of ebony, according to budget. Grandmother and eggs comment expected.

As for ebony, well, I'd rather have mpingo. Is that even more expensive? It's a superior wood to ebony, and instrument makers swear by it for their clarinets and bagpipes. It's very black, strong and hard. Just 10% of a tree is suitable, and of that, 20% is rejected in process. They don't mess around these guys.

[sanman]

Mpingo is blackwood and that is also ebony. Dont hold your breath too much as stocks are very small as these trees take 150 years to mature to get the black colour and thses trees grow in northern mozambique and tanzania. Last time I was in mozambique the chinese were raping these stocks so as Mike has said get used to brown streaks or other woods for butt materials as pure black ebony is gonna be scarce within the next 10 years if not non existant.

[Particle Physics]

Mpingo is blackwood and that is also ebony. Dont hold your breath too much as stocks are very small as these trees take 150 years to mature to get the black colour and thses trees grow in northern mozambique and tanzania. Last time I was in mozambique the chinese were raping these stocks so as Mike has said get used to brown streaks or other woods for butt materials as pure black ebony is gonna be scarce within the next 10 years if not non existant.

They may both be black but they come from different tree families. Mpingo is NOT ebony. Mpingo is stronger, tougher, oilier, polishes up better, and is warmer, hence it's use in instruments. An ebony clarinet would sound dreadful, and in comparison, it would be dull in appearance too.

Folk choose ebony for a reason; they like black. If I'd just ordered a cue for £200, and it wasn't pure black, maybe that's no biggie, as long as it plays well. £200 for a custom cue is a bargain IMO. If I'd just ordered a cue for £1000, and it's not black, I'd be furious. Ebony is expensive but the materials for a cue are only going to be about £70 I'm told, so the cuemaker can afford to offer pure black ebony at those prices and still make a huge profit.

[Gerry Armstrong]

Ebony can be Black, Brown, Stripey, Macassar or Black 'n' White. Black isn't always the most expensive so it's not as simple as Black = Expensive and Not Black = Cheap.

You should so some elementary reserach before you post inaccurate information.

[jaffa.johnson]

Ebony can be Black, Brown, Stripey, Macassar or Black 'n' White. Black isn't always the most expensive so it's not as simple as Black = Expensive and Not Black = Cheap.

You should so some elementary reserach before you post inaccurate information.

Great post,

I love maccasar, dark maccasar is lush.

[gagg8ball]

when you guys say blackwood, would that be the same as african blackwood?i was discussing this with a friend recently and he was sure his timber supplier said it could be the next big thing so far as cue butts go. Didn't mention it was rare,should prob get him to check. I saw a cue he was splicing with it,did look very very black.