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BRANDON and DAVID JACOBY
Maker of
pool cues from 1989 to present in Alamagordo, New Mexico.
In
1982, David Jacoby began doing cue repair and selling cues out of
his home under the name "Dave's Cue Service." The following year,
David and his son, Brandon, started making cues after visiting
Viking Cue Manufacturing to pick up a lathe he bought from Gordon
Hart.
During the early years, David made many trips to Marshfield,
Wisconsin to visit Herbert Eckes, who was immensely important to
Dave's cuemaking skills. In 1988, David changed the name of his
business to Jacoby Custom Cues and began to attend billiard trade
shows. David became a member of the American Cuemakers Association
the year it was formed.
David's cues were easily identifiable by his signature on the
forearm through 1996. They have undergone many improvements in
design to arrive at their current specifications. For example, the
very first few cues David made were identified by the Jacoby logo
of the pool player chalking his cue decal on the butt sleeves.
Cues made before 1991 had a lacquer finish instead of the
polyurethane now used. In addition, cues made after 1995 feature a
bumper with a threaded stem. These improvements have been geared
towards players rather than collectors, as Jacoby cues are
designed specifically to be used.
David prices his cues by starting with the basic design and
construction of a cue and adding for each option and type of
inlay. Jacoby Custom Cues makes everything that goes into their
cues except for the tips and the joint screws. David also repairs
all types of cues and will even fix cues that are broken into
pieces.
In 1998, David and Brandon moved into a location that is triple
the size of its predecessor, which they had occupied since 1992.
The new facility includes a showroom for cues, tables, and
accessories. Dave's wife, Peggy, handles the book work. Dave and
Brandon have been taking several machine shop and CNC courses at a
local technical college to boost their cuemaking skills. The
instructor told them that Brandon had a talent for working with
computers, so he concentrates on programming the inlay designs
they create on their CNC machine.
On
January 1, 1997, the company started engraving "Jacoby" in script
for identification in the butt caps. David will still sign a cue
occasionally by request, and if he does he will include the date
following the signature. In 2003, Jacoby Cues started threading
all of their components and in 2004 they started using laminated
tips. In late 2004 Jacoby Cues started producing limited editions
consisting of six cues numbered "1-6" to "6-6".
Jacoby cues are guaranteed indefinitely against construction
defects that are not the result of warpage or abuse.
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