ROBERTO FRANCO
FOUR POINT BOCOTE AND HOLLY
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Roberto Franco, from the Dallas-Ft.Worth area, has been making cues for quite awhile, but recently has started to gain notoriety outside his region by making some very fine sticks. He began about 20 years ago working for OB cues, learning the trade and started his own shop in 2020. As you can see from this cue, he has learned well.
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He starts this cue with a basic four point design and dresses it up with some pretty woods, nice veneers and classy rings. The end result is a very handsome cue.
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The cue is primarily bocote - both butt sleeve and nose - with four long points of pure white Holly.
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The quality of this bocote is excellent. It is bright with nice color, and the grain and figure in it is outstanding.
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The long white Holly points are framed with his excellent selection of veneers, which look great against the bocote background. The veneer colors are a lot like the old Titleist colors, but going in reverse order of the old Titleists. And of course, blue instead of black.
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Here is a full-length picture of the butt.
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The rings on this cue add a lot to the overall look. He uses two brass rings with a white LBM ring between them. Then he uses that same ringset throughout the cue.
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The colorful veneers provide the perfect frame for the Holly points against the dark background of the bocote. He uses white, orange, green and blue veneers and they blend together perfectly.
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The holly in these points is so white that you have to look hard to realize it's not some sort of white LBM material. It is almost without grain.
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For the handle he uses a nice black lizard leather. It feels good in the hand and dresses up the cue appropriately.
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A couple more looks at this handsome bocote ...
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He builds it with a black phenolic joint, matching the black butt cap.
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This lizard wrap looks exquisite on this stick.
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One more look at these dazzling veneers ...
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He builds it with 3/8X10 modified brass pin in a flat-faced joint. It comes with one 12.8mm keelwood shaft with a 5/8" elforyn ferrule and a medium Thoroughbred tip. It is 58 inches long and weighs 19.1 ounces (15.6, 3.5). As a final touch he builds in a receiver for a generic extionsion. This is a lot of cue for the money.
PRICE: $1875 plus shipping
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