This is such a cool idea...I just had to share it with you. Shawn Smith of FT Gibson in Oklahoma (AKA FTGoki on the AZ forums) put together a custom cue building contest.

He found 6 custom pool cuemakers to participate in his grand idea. They all agreed to build a cue to the same basic specifications. Then, the cues would be sent to pre-selected (LUCKY) players around the country for them to evaluate how the cues play, look, feel, etc. The cues do not have any identifying marks, so the participants don't know who made them.

That's what makes this so cool. They will be giving a totally unbiased opinion of the cues.
In the video below, Shawn is showing the cues that have been made by the cuemakers.  The case was made and supplied by John Barton of JBcases.com (his cases are THE BEST, IMHO).   Now, these cues will travel to the participants for their review.  I can't wait to see what they have to say.

I forgot to mention that the cues and cases are going to be raffled-off to one lucky winner, when this project is completed, so stay tuned.  I'll keep you well informed.  I'll try to get more details from Shawn on the progress of his American Cue Build-off.

Here is a list of requirements that were given to the cue builders (from PoolGoog.com)

Cheers,
Skippy

If you are a fan of custom cue making at a very high-level, then you won't want to miss the upcoming TAR broadcast. The guys from TheActionReport.com will be broadcasting live from Kansas City, MO on October 11th, 2008. That is the location of this year's International Cue Collectors Show (ICCS). If you haven't seen many high-end cues, then you really need to check out this show. With the list of cue makers, I'm sure there will be cues worth $10k or more.

The folks at TAR are real fans of custom cue makers and I'm sure they will give us a lot of inside information that we won't get anywhere else.

So if you are looking to buy a custom cue and you want information about cue makers, don't miss this broadcast.  This event will include many cue makers including Manzino, Josswest, Gilbert, Arthur, Nitti, Pfd, Chudy, Samsara, Bender, Schick, and McWhorter just to name a few.

The coverage begins at 1pm on 10/11/08 at www.TheActionReport.com.

Cheers,
Skippy