How long have you waited?
 

Order something, then the wait for it to be produced?

Quite a small biz model...own a small company, believe expanding would reduce quality, so you place customers on a waiting list.

A post made yesterday on a billiards site I visit:

" got the call! Southwest Cues! - Yesterday, 06:41 PM

After placing my name on the list in 2005, I finally got the call from Laurie to begin designing my cues! I’m over the moon excited. Now I have to figure out what I want. Any suggestions? "

14 year waiting list? Great for a hobby...terrible if the goal is make money.

That is beyond ridiculous.

I'm not one of these kids who needs to have things right this second, but 14 years is a joke. I'm sure with that kind of waiting list, the cost is sky high too, which usually means only older people can afford them so I wonder how many on the list never make it to actually receiving the cue.

Or perhaps is sort of like the Packers season tickets waiting list, parents signing their kids up the day they are born just to say they are on the list, knowing full well its decades long.

I thought waiting 2 months for a manual lift rotaing handle, for my Bridgeport mill was a long time....evidently not.

I've bought many large industrial machines in my career that took a year or two to deliver, that's about it.

Sort of like that. Often people will sell their cue after getting it. I've shot with one. Nice cue with good feedback with a stiff hit. In that regard, I still prefer my Keith Josey cue. Plus the Josey waiting list is only 2-3 years depending. The best cue? Well, that's a subjective call. A lot of the top pros are making the switch to low deflection" shafts made of carbon fiber these days. Those just feel weird to me, so I stick with old fashioned maple. All that said, I wouldn't kick a Southwest out of my case, but at my age, I shouldn't buy green bananas...

Southwest started by Jerry Franklin. His widow runs the place now. She keeps a tight grip on quality, the cue made as her husband insisted on. Customers given choices in woods used and veneer colors. Players love them, but there is also a collector demand.

5 and a half years for the 22lr conversion kit for my FN-FAL build. There were about 100 of us that ordered 125 or so of them, plus lots of extra mags. The guy making it was great with communication - posting pics, status updates, videos of pre-alpha test systems, etc.

I waited five years for a rifle from C. Sharps Arms back in the 1990's. I had taken delivery of one the year previous, which was promised in six months. It only took four. With that recent experience, when they told me "six months" for the next one, I went ahead and placed my order. Paid in full.

To say I was pissed would be a massive understatement. The year they told me it was "ready", I made plans to pick it up on my way to the Quigley Match, held annually in Forsyth, Montana. When I swung through Big Timber, where their shop is located, I was told it wasn't ready. "Something came up." It was several months after that that it finally shipped.

There is only one other company that makes that particular rifle, an 1874 Sharps. Interestingly, they are right across the street in Big Timber, the Shilo Rifle Company. I currently have a rifle on order from them, a Hartford model with a standard weight 28" half octagon barrel in .45-2.4". It is supposed to be done about this time next year. We'll see...

So in the intervening fifteen years you have been unable to decide what you want?

Is there a weight difference? Does impact feel different?

Probably a person that buys it for the same reason collectors had a feeding frenzy on early 911's.

EUC to be approved on the hmmwv I bought.
Nothing like a wire transfer for 10 grand to Gov planet when they were still new, and a 6 month wait.

I'm 3.5 years into a 4 year wait for a d.m.h. jump hour watch. Fred Dingeman in the Netherlands makes them bespoke with the NOS movements from Tenor Dorly. I still need to pick out the style. No rush, really.

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I waited 6 months for a custom Langlitz.

I need to get one of those someday.

It's about low deflection. Hit a cueball aimed in a straight line. If you are off center to the left or right using English, the cueball will take an offline path. The carbon fiber shafts evidently use a special weave to minimize this. It began with a "revo" cue developed by Predator several years ago. So no real weight difference of the cue overall, but it seems that shafts with less weight near the tip deflect less than the old solid maple. You see more & more black shafts in the top tournaments.

(edit insert) To learn more about deflection, here's a pool video made by a Colorado physics prof who is also a pool fan. He attacks the game from the standpoint of his science, has lots of informative stuff on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwytGsNl2vc

Boy, is there ever a difference in feel...the feedback after a shot is totally different than with a solid maple shaft.

I should add a caution that just because a pro uses a certain cue, doesn't mean it will work well for you. Also, the pros often use whatever brand cue pays them best to use it.

Langlitz..a good memory of a now deceased buddy who ordered one shortly after high school. He wore it until he married a good cook. :rolleyes:

Interesting, wonder how a lighter, stiffer cue would feel to a maple cue, would it improve shots?

I'd imagine a cue with less inertia, deflection/bending would take a bit of adapting to

Has any carbon cue manufacturer laminated in a wireless strain gauge/accelerator for real time telemetry to give the pro super accurate feed back on the force he hits a ball with. Could also add tungsten ballast to increase inertia or to move the centre of gravity about. Would something like that would be helpful in training?

Sorry to derail an interesting thread but I could help myself from thinking out loud

Just spoke with a Belgian today about FN.

From what I've read, the carbon fiber shafts have a special weave, tapered of course, and have some sort of foam filler.

There is a "stroke trainer" gadget being sold today. Fastens to the bumper of a cue, gives feedback into a smart phone giving all sorts of data. Force, how straight the stoke, etc. Moveable ballast would not be desirable. Pool is very much a consistency sport. Watch the top pros on youtube and you'll see what I mean. Pre shot routine to the follow through..consistency! Cue weights can be adjusted, usually done by weight bolts in the butt.

It's a brutal game as well...mental pressure can be tremendous at the top level. (edit) To get a feel for that, here's a short match I enjoy watching. Mosconi cup, 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWnEGin7stU

I ordered a carbon fiber RS-60 decades ago...