In responses to MK's request - Titlist Cues

You have seen Mee Kuen’s plea for more postings to keep this blog alive. It’s kind of hard to keep putting up stuff on reunions, old photographs and such. To keep MK from putting my pictures where the camel looks better than me, I better contribute something. Seriously, MK and Lee Too put in a lot of effort in making this blog possible and this should not go wasted. So on this Vesak Day, here is my blah-blah on one of my indulgences.


In 1998, I picked up playing American pool (billiards) in one of the pubs. For a Baby Boomer generation guy to learn the game from folks half my age, it was quite a travaille. This soon became a favorite past time and truth be told, the drinks & night out with the boys played a part in that. It was also a makeup for a lost childhood because I grew very attach to the game, even though I picked it up so late in life. In 2005, I join a group of pool enthusiasts (teens and Gen X really) and soon got caught up into the fascinating world of custom pool cues.

By August 2005, I had bought my first custom pool cue from a Florida-based US cue maker by the name of Paul Dayton. From then on, I was hooked and custom cue collecting became a pet indulgent. Through the influence of one Singapore cue collector, I got interested in collecting a special type of custom cues known as “titlist conversions”.

A brief history of the titlist cues

Titlist cues were made in the 1940s to 1970s by the Brunswick Billiard Company as mass production cues during the golden era of American pool. This line of pool cues was endorsed by the legendary pool player Willie Hoppe. The popularity of the sport during those years was fueled by movies such as the 1959 “The Hustler” starring Paul Newman and the 1986 sequel “The Color of Money” starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise.

Figure 1. The Hustler starring Paul Newman

Figure 2. The Color of Money starring Paul Newman & Tom Cruise

The earlier Titlist cues were one piece cues that were mass produced and used in pool halls as house cues. Figure 3 is an example of a one-piece titlist cue in my collection. Later, Brunswick also produced two-piece titlist cues which were two-piece cues joined in the middle using a screw-pin. Figure 4 is an example of a two-piece titlist cue, also in my current possession. 

Figure 3 A one-piece 1950s Willie Hoppe Titlist cue

Figure 4 A Titlist Profession (“Pro”) two-piece cue with two shafts

A titlist cue usually comprises of a lower handle and butt made from an exotic wood and spliced into a maple wood forearm extending all the way to the shaft. The veneers on the points in the forearm are always Purple, Green, Brown and White (“maple”) as in Figure 5.

Figure 5 This Titlist Pro is a finely preserved specimen and the veneer colors are still very vivid

 
 


The most common exotic woods used by Brunswick were different types of rosewoods but other exotic woods such as ebony, purpleheart, wenge and even oak were used. However, Ebony, Brazilian rosewood, and purpleheart are considerably rarer in that order.


Titlist Conversions

The idea of a “titlist conversion” is to take an old titlist cue (whether one or two-piece) and remake it into a new cue usually with a new joint/pin, new shafts and new wrap round the handle. Sometimes, inlays (decorations of ivory or mother-of-pearl) are put into the points and butt sleeve.

Why use an old cue to make a new one?

There are many reasons and the following are just two of them.

1. Wood being organic in nature, “move” over time when they are shaped & cut. The wood may expand or contract because of moisture. Due to uneven expansion/contraction, warping is the result. Most custom cue makers season their stock of wood for more than 10 years before using them to make cues so as to reduce warping. Most titlist cues are by now, at least 40-50 years old and some as old as 70 years. If an old cue has not warped by now, it is probably not going to do so, ever. Hence, old titlist cues in good conditions make ideal materials to be “converted” into a new cue. [Of course there are many other considerations before a titlist cue is deemed suitable but that is too detail to go into at this time].

2. Titlist cues have a lot of history behind them. Most of the one-piece titlists were used as house cues in pool halls and imagine what stories they will tell if only they can talk! Two-piece titlists on the other hand were usually sold as personal cues and some could well have been owned & used by pool hustlers or road players.

The following is a series of before & after pictures of a two-piece 1960s purpleheart titlist cue that I bought off e-Bay and had it converted by James White of Mottey Custom Cues in Pittsburg. Aren’t the fleur-de-lis ivory inlays by James simply incredible?

Figure 6 The purpleheart 1960s Titlist Pro. It came with an original Brunswick 1X1 softcase.

Figure 7 One way to tell the age of the Titlist Pro is the design of its label. Contrast this with the close up of the label of the two-piece titlist pro in Figure 8

Figure 8 Label of the early 1950s Titlist Pro

Figure 9 The final result of the conversion by James White. The cue has the classic “Rambow” design – no bumper with an ivory Hoppe ring. Four fleur-de-lis decorate the butt sleeve, a double-press black linen wrap and four Tiffany diamonds inside the points with an ivory dot on the tip of each of the points. The joint is flat-face ivory with standard James White 3/8X10 pin configuration. Two shafts with ivory ferrules complete the ensemble.

Figure 10 James cut the points long and the original titlist cue joint was meaty enough to realign the points to be fairly even.

Figure 11 Close up of the flat-face ivory joint with 3/8X10 pin. Although my playing preference is for a 5/16X14 SS joint, this one gives a very crisp hit!

Figure 12 Close up of the fleur-de-lis ivory inlay. The black outline is scrimshawed into the ivory.

Figure 12 The complete cue with a 1X2 It’s George case and joint protectors.












To be continued….maybe? (p.s. if you like or not like, to read more of this stuff, please let me know through your vote using the polling gadget on the left)