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16 May 15
22:46
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Date Joined:
14 Sep 04
Pictured below is a Telecue telescopic cue, it is undoubtedly one-of-a-kind and probably the only cue the company ever made that might be considered as being of a professional quality. The original models (endorsed by Tony Knowles) featured butts of moulded plastic and aluminium. The tooling cost a fortune but the finished product was clunky, unbalanced and sported a cheap imported ash shaft. These cues were, inevitably, a very expensive failure. The company was sold with large debts and the new owners embarked on a project to redesign the telescopic cue concept, abandoning the metal and plastic handles in favour of traditional wooden butts.
At this point Roger Bucknall, the founder of Barracuda Sports, was asked to make a prototype (the cue shown in the pictures). The cue is 57 inches long when closed (extending to 69 inches), has a 9.5 millimetre tip and weighs 16.4 ounces. Roger truly was an amazing crafstman, without peer in the art of cuemaking in my opinion. After selling Barracuda he garnered world renown as a master luthier (a violin and guitar maker) and there are countless biographies about him on the internet if you would care to google his name.
Sadly, however, as Telecue was primarily a company of engineers and not craftsmen (or players) they erroneously decided to incorporate the internal mechanisms from the old products in their new models as a cost-saving exercise, instead of re-tooling for the slimmer, correctly tapered design of my cue. It was another huge mistake. The resulting cues were ridiculously heavy (up to 23 ounces) and, once again, featured very poor quality shafts from Taiwan. Not only were the mail-order return percentages horrendous, the unit costs of manufacturing the butts were astronomical due to the scrappages that occurred in drilling them. The whole disastrous project was shelved within a couple of years and Telecue concentrated on the cue-extensions which, thankfully, have been their saviour.
I'm guessing that this cue isn't to everyone's taste, but I thought its story and provenance might be of interest and the fact that it is arguably the most expensive cue ever created.
[img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/4be9596c5267c57be00702d0bbced681.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/984a450d2c641d051f5c01fa32f06d0c.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/978ae55a257a476a83bb5cf454220823.jpg?v=270000[/img]
[img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/a48aac5a6f074a7e1a6364ce3fe4307c.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/5c6bf847bda814f2d504e0a35778b800.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/0b159a82c59f87bfcbcb87b80ef47b55.jpg?v=270000[/img]
At this point Roger Bucknall, the founder of Barracuda Sports, was asked to make a prototype (the cue shown in the pictures). The cue is 57 inches long when closed (extending to 69 inches), has a 9.5 millimetre tip and weighs 16.4 ounces. Roger truly was an amazing crafstman, without peer in the art of cuemaking in my opinion. After selling Barracuda he garnered world renown as a master luthier (a violin and guitar maker) and there are countless biographies about him on the internet if you would care to google his name.
Sadly, however, as Telecue was primarily a company of engineers and not craftsmen (or players) they erroneously decided to incorporate the internal mechanisms from the old products in their new models as a cost-saving exercise, instead of re-tooling for the slimmer, correctly tapered design of my cue. It was another huge mistake. The resulting cues were ridiculously heavy (up to 23 ounces) and, once again, featured very poor quality shafts from Taiwan. Not only were the mail-order return percentages horrendous, the unit costs of manufacturing the butts were astronomical due to the scrappages that occurred in drilling them. The whole disastrous project was shelved within a couple of years and Telecue concentrated on the cue-extensions which, thankfully, have been their saviour.
I'm guessing that this cue isn't to everyone's taste, but I thought its story and provenance might be of interest and the fact that it is arguably the most expensive cue ever created.
[img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/4be9596c5267c57be00702d0bbced681.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/984a450d2c641d051f5c01fa32f06d0c.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/978ae55a257a476a83bb5cf454220823.jpg?v=270000[/img]
[img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/a48aac5a6f074a7e1a6364ce3fe4307c.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/5c6bf847bda814f2d504e0a35778b800.jpg?v=270000[/img][img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/0b159a82c59f87bfcbcb87b80ef47b55.jpg?v=270000[/img]
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Loved snooker in my late teens poker. It was mine and my mates choice of endeavour when we used to bunk off school and then later sixth form. I'm pretty sure I've still got the cue I bought when I had a tenner on West Tip in the National Ante Post when I was 19. Absolutely beautiful one piece and it was a dream to handle. Haven't played seriously for nearly 30 years but on the rare occasions I have played it comes back to an extent after a few hours practice. Great game. I don't really watch it much these days but I remember me and my dear old dad used to watch the tourneys back in the mid 80's and he'd be constantly asking me what shot a player was going to take next and he used to love the way you could, a bit like chess, work out what was going to be happening several shots in advance.
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love watching snooker and that's thanks to the likes of Hurricane Higgins and Jimmy White and other attacking players.Ronnie is great to watch, when he's in the mood of course, and Trump will surely be world champ one day- or will he be another JW?
As far as playing the game, sadly I'm not so good. |
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I'm sure that discerning gentlemen such as your good selves would enjoy a trip over to the Snooker Forum, where a thread entitled "Your fave baize boy - and how you'd spend an afternoon with him" awaits your scrutiny and contribution.
The thread was on page 2 of that forum when I last looked. |
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Was a shock to see journeyman Stuart Bingham being crowned world champ. Lovely guy that he is he's not got the class for such a title, reminds me of when the likes of Graeme Dott won it or Joe Johnson
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Good morning, Gentlemen.
Nice to see there are a few snooker lovers on here. As Alun says, worth a visit to the snooker forum once in a while for a light-hearted anecdote or two. |
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I've still got the cue I bought when I had a tenner on West Tip in the National Ante Post when I was 19.
Talk about coincidence, amazingly enough I joined the local snooker club where I lived in Feb 1986 and one evening I went in and they had a draw for the National. This was a very small commuter village in Berkshire where nobody followed racing, and when I looked in the jar I could see that West Tip was still there, so I "randomly" drew him out... What follows is history, but sadly I never saw the race live as I was at Villa Park for the FA Cup quarter final when the toffees beat wednesday 2-1... I've always felt a bit guilty about that (the national win) ever since oh well, never mind  |
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Up till it turned into just another glorified handicap I used to do alright in the National and this year was my first bet in well over a decade. Of course it got pulled out lame. One of my abiding memories was in my short stint on division with the police and the race was on. The lad who was my instructor asked if I minded popping back to the station because he'd had a bet. Not at all I said as I do occasionally have a flutter if there's a big race on and I'd also backed one. He'd backed Suny Bay as I remember and had a tenner on. I'd backed Earth Summit and stood to pick up a decent wedge as I'd backed it ante post if I remember rightly at 33-1 and I'd had a fair bet on it. I was sweating like fucck as they duked it out and felt like bellowing like a lunatic as Earth Summit pulled clear. Of course I felt decorum for a police officer was a wise thing. He asked me how much I'd had on the cheeky bugger and I of course lied and told him it was only a couple of quid. I didn't want him reaising what a degenerate I am.
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The one that still makes me want to burst into tears is Garrison Savannah. It could all have been so different.
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I of course lied and told him it was only a couple of quid.
we've all been there |
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bloody hell Poker that's raised some memories I'd forgot all about that cue, I remember the Barracuda very well as a local sports shop actually stocked it. There were so many companies around at that time, every player must have endorsed a cue in his time. I had mine made by Tony Glover who was working from his home in those days, and I don't think there was much difference in price in what they were asking for the telecue.
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Indeed, BB. I've got quite a few photographs from back then, including a group picture of Alex Higgins, Jimmy White, Tony Knowles and Kirk Stevens dancing around with the old telescopic cues (set up by Howard Kruger to promote a music single of all things). I'll try and dig a few out and post them up later.
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wasn't Kruger Higgins's manager for a while?
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No decent player would ever consider using one of those Telecues, or the modern copies that are still available today, they're just poor quality gimmicks. The one I have is, without doubt, the only cue of a professional quality the company ever produced. If they had adopted this model, instead of following the engineers' advice, they might have proved a successful venture. As it was, a couple of hundred thousand was sunk without trace.
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Yes he was, BB. Higgins, Knowles, Stevens and White. The bad boys to Hearns' Matchroom goodies.
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Here you go, BB, the four of them with Telecues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMwCA64xOTU |
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he owned the company that made the video for Bohemian Rhapsody, not a lot of people know that
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Indeed. Kruger had a few much publicised troubles back then, but he seemed to bounce back and is still very successful to this day.
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not heard of him in ages, I know his old man died a couple of years ago
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I was there on the day that video was shot, BB, I think you probably just catch sight of me as the camera pans around.
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Here's a couple more pictures from the same time, BB.
The first is Higgins, Knowles, Stevens and White holding the aluminium Telecues during a promotional photoshoot for their Wanderer single, Tony persuaded them as he was being paid by the company. The second image is another example of Roger Bucknall's incredible skill. Being able to sculpt a hand so well is admirable enough, but when one learns that the cue it's holding began life as part of the same block it displays a level of artistry that has never been bettered in our industry. Note how the rosewood splicing carries on through the cue and across the knuckles. This is not two separate pieces of timber, a cue placed in a hand, it is a single carved piece of wood. [img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/685534a0488fb6fbc9b009034152a4b4.jpg?v=199350[/img] [img]http://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/pokermonster/pokermonsters_gallery/57ad149b55ffa36982687f9346c52e9b.jpg?v=157950[/img] |
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How much us your one off worth?
I started life pitting with a James wattanna endorsed cheapo. |
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quality craftsmanship for sure PM. Hard to value a cue MT, I think it is a bit of a cyclical market. I have a Glover cue, one of the first he ever made when he worked from his house, and I could have got £1k for it in the late 80's due to the boom in Hong Kong. A friend of mine used to ship them out there and usually always got that price, I doubt I'd get half that for mine now.
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I don't realy know what my cue is worth, MT. I suppose, as with many things, it can only be valued by what someone is willing to pay for it and I'm prepared to accept. All I could offer as a guideline is the fact that I turned down £350 a few years ago from a collector.
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It's sad really we had 3 snooker halls in town all are gone now there's a pool hall that has one snooker table.
Is the game on the way out?? |
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As a working man's pastime in Britain it will never return to three or four snooker halls in every town, MT, that space is just too valuable for other things these days. As a game in general, particularly worldwide, I don't think it's on its way out, though, sir. Quite the reverse, in fact, it looks set to enjoy something of a boom.
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I'll bid you good afternoon, gentlemen. A pleasure chatting with you.
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what are these clubs charging now per hour? at my local British Legion it's still the old coin meter, 20p for 20 minutes.
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That's good when we were kids we used to go to the more expensive club after 6th form as the lady served US pints thinking we were 18.
Funny you should mention the space being more valuable the largest hall was closed around 10 years ago the owner died and son inherited. He decided would be worth a fortune as flats or houses. Was quickly closed emptied and the building bulldozed in pre for development. It's still fenced off and empty due to location no developer was interested and the owner can't afford it himself. Very sad to drive past it. |