BOB OWEN
EBONY AND POMELLE BUBINGA
BRIDGED FOUR POINT
WITH OVERLAPPING WINDOWS
AND SILVER AND ABALONE
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Here is another beautiful cue by Bob Owen of Wichita. For a small shop, custom cue maker, Bob has been very productive in recent years. And as the recognition of his skills has grown, so has his popularity, resulting in a lengthy wait list for his fine cues. It's become rare that I have a new one for sale.
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I picked this one up at the recent ICCS in Chattanooga, and was very happy to get it. There's a lot going on with this cue, and it takes a bit of time to take it all in. At a basic level, it's a four point cue built from a gorgeous piece of cocobolo burl, with ebony points and butt sleeve. But there nothing "basic" about this stick - it's as complex as they get, with no detail spared.
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Just describing this cue is a job. I can't imagine building it. Let's start with the points, Each ebony point is veneered with four colors - blue, gray and white, each layer separated with a thin layer of black construction paper. And then they are all bridged at their bottoms with the same veneers - a technique used by only the best cuemakers that requires extra time and effort, but always makes the veneers sharper and more distinctive.
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Looking at the butt sleeve, we have eight overlapping boxes, or windows. The underlying boxes are bigger and made from cocobolo burl matching the cue's nose, and the smaller overlapping boxes are made from white LBM.
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He frames all of the boxes with the same colored veneers as on the points, but reverses their order on the underlying and overlapping boxes so that the white veneers are all the same on the cocobolo background, giving good continuity with the white contrasting beautifully against the dark wood. Building a cue of this complexity takes a lot of thought and planning.
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In the base of each point he inlays a series of white dots, with a larger dot of abalone in the middle, framed in silver.
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In the butt sleeve, Bob goes a different direction. He engraves a scrolled pattern in black in the opposing corners of the white boxes.
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He adds a curvy, flowing silver ring at various locations throughout the cue, interrupted at regular intervals by small silver circles surrounding small dots of abalone.
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Below are some close up looks at the inlay pattern in the points and of the silver rings. Also, take notice of how good his veneered corners are. They are consistently sharp and even, and as good as this kind of work can get.
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The points are long, sharp and even, and the white veneer on the outside frame them perfectly against the dark cocobolo background.
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The cocobolo is figured with a nice burl effect, and the color is deep and rich.
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He builds it with a white LBM joint to match the white butt cap, and adds matching cocobolo joint protectors.
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He adds a handsome elephant ear wrap, dyed deep brown to match this exquisite cue.
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The grain and figure of the cocobolo is very consistent throughout the cue. It is really a beautiful piece of wood.
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It is built with a 3/8 X 11 brass pin in a flat-faced joint. It comes with two of Bob's premium quality tight-grained 13mm maple shafts with matching rings, long Juma ferrules and Searing Precision soft layered tips.
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This cue weighs 19.0 ounces (15.0, 4.0, 4.0) and is 58 inches long. This is a magnificent stick built by one of today's top cuethiers. His work is tight, his designs are carefully thought out, and their hit is always top of the line. This is a chance to get one of his best without a long wait.
PRICE: $6500 plus shipping
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