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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.
Jacoby cues are guaranteed indefinitely against construction defects that are not the result of warpage or abuse.
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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".