Unique Original Articles » George Balabushka History and The History Of Cue Making

In the Film starring Tom Cruise "The Color of Money" ,a movie that just about each and every Billiard enthusiast has heard of. Tom Cruise and Paul Newman uncover precious George Balabushka billiard cues to the people. But many don't know anything more that his cues are worth good money

George Balabushka ,born 1912. George came to America when he was 12 and lived in New York. George loved hanging around the pool halls. He often took part in pool tournaments and because of his friendly attitude, he started to befriend many well known contestants and billiard professionals.

George started out crafting wooden toys in school for his teachers..
This planted the seed for the skills he would use later in cue building to create the cues he would be known for.Entering in to adult-hood George created a company that manufactured wooden products.In an electrical saw accident his middle finger was cut off. Not satisfied with the sight of his missing finger, he created and outfitted his hand with a wooden finger. It was made so finely, even some of his close friends didn't know that he lost his finger.

Besides the running of his own business, George also helped his friends maintain there cues. At the same time a cue maker ,Frank Paradise used the Paradise Name to brand his cues. Balabushka saw an opportunity to do the same with his own line of cues. At the end of 1959, at the ripe age 47 George Balabushka made some cues and gave them to his friends from billiards for Christmas. He took feedback on how well the cues played. Not long afterwords, Balabushka started taking many orders for his cues.

From 1959 to 1963, George was crafting 20 to 30 pool cues per year. George a simple simple individual showed his persona in his cue making. George focused his thoughts on the performance of the cues. At competitions, contestants were always discussing how well they liked there Balabushka cue. it would happen that a couple times two competitors would end up at the same table , both would be using Balabushka's cues in the same game. Because of this superexposure, his cues were getting famous, which led to more sales. The orders were coming in so fast that some were willing to send George an authorized check, signed with the price unidentified to own one of his cues.

If able to purchase a true G. Balabushka pool cue, here are some characteristics.

1. Almost all of his cue sticks use steel joints with 5/16x14 pins to attache shaft to the butt of the cue.

2. His pool cues have four colored veneers which were genuinely spliced creating a four point pattern on the forearm of his cue.

3.George most often used Mother of Pearl for his inlays in a star pattern on the Butt and or Forearm.

4. His Butt caps are most often plain white with no markings.

5.Balabushka's Points first came from Brunswick, later George would produce the prongs. In 66, George found Burton Spain of early Schon Cues to make points which was a specialty of Burton. Much later in life He met cue maker, Gus Szamboti, from the east coast
Are you interested in making your own pool cues you might need your pool cue parts
Balabushak Cues live on
Burton Spain of Schon Cues manufactured a good majority of Balabushak's Points. Schon Custom cues are gorgeous.

Get a Unique Version of this Article Article Spinner
Article Source: JS2 Article Spinner