One of the saddest trends I’ve been noticing as of late is the complete lack of anything “new” in the billiards industry. I’m not talking about the whole low deflection shaft thing, (although it seems that everyone and their uncle is now making a low deflection shaft) I’m talking purely about design. Making pool cues is an art form, at least it used to be. Now it seems to be more of a paint by numbers than actual art and craftsmanship.
I’ll give you a couple of examples. A couple years ago, these Outlaw Cues came out. Not my thing, but at least they were doing something new with the designs, you know, the whole branded thing and such. There wasn’t anything else on the market that was like it (that I’d seen anyway). Then along comes some other company who churns out a line of cues called Desperado. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Desperado is just flat out leg humping Outlaw.
There are some differences. One the plus side, the bumper has a scuffer (although I can’t see myself ever using a 29″ butt as a scuffer for my tip). On the negative side, the Desperado designs are incredibly ugly.