BILL SCHICK
FOUR POINT
BURL ON BURL
"CHICAGO FRONT"
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Here is a special offering from Hall of Fame cue maker, the late Bill Schick, who passed away five years ago. Since his death, his cues have sky-rocketed in both demand and value. This cue is a good example of Bill's work.
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Bill's cue is often very recognizable - even from across the room. It's hard to say exacty why, but they do. Especially in this design, one of Bill's favorites, the "Chicago Front." He was known to put a ring midway up between the points and usually change the wood typed below the ring. It came to be called the Chicago front. He may not have been the first to do it, but he was certainly the one who made the design famous.
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I haven't been able to make a positive identification on exactly what kinds of woods are in this cue. They are both obviously burls. I think the nose of the cue is likely a nicely figured maple burl with a light stain applied. However, it looks a lot like amboyna burl as well, so I can't be sure. The smaller pieces, the "Chicago Front", I believe are amboyna burl, and they are most certainly from a different wood than the nose.
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Bill loved ivory and loved building it into his cues. Many of his cues contain epic amounts of ivory. In this one, he used it in the large split arrow heads both above and below the wrap. It's interesting that he used two part arrow heads in the forearm and three part arrow heads in the butt sleeve.
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This cue is designed around the palindrome concept, i.e., the same design going both directions from the center. Of course, in this cue the design in the butt sleeve is shorter than in the forearm. (A true palindrome would consist of a design going in both directions from the exact center of the cue and be exactly the same going in both directions. This is really only possible in wrapless cue designs.)
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As with most of his cues, he engraves his name and the date he built it in the butt sleeve. In this case, 1997.
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He uses ebony for the long points and tips each of them with a small arrow head of ivory, outlined in ebony.
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Below is a full length picture of the entire butt of the cue.
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To tie everything together, he uses double brass rings at various locations throughout the cue.
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It's also interesting that the reverse ebony points in the butt sleeve, instead of coming to a point as usual, actually get wider and tie into the butt cap. Bill's designs were always unique.
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Again, you can see how well the double brass rings are used throughout the cue.
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| Bill probably used ivory joints in a higher percentage of his cues than any other cue maker. He loved ivory not just for aesthetic reasons - he believed the hit from an ivory joint was the best hit there was. He liked the sound, the feel, and the feedback to the player. His cues always had a crisp feel to the hit.
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A closer look at the tips of the points.
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As usual, the long black delrin butt cap, with Bill's name and date of build engraved.
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Bill's favorite joint ... all ivory.
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He builds it with a nice, smooth, lightly textured black leather wrap. Notice also that the joint is solid ivory, not a sleeve, giving this cue the hit that Bill loved. (On a personal note, I played a one-pocket session with Bill one time, and he shared his thoughts with me about how important he thought ivory joints and ferrules were. And yes, he was playing with a Schick cue.)
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There are a couple of other things that were distinctive to Bill's cues. One is that he frequently used longer butt caps than usual, and seemed to favor black delrin rather than white. Second, especially on his more expensive cues, he liked to add a small tip of ivory on the end of the joint bolt, engraved with a fancy "S" for Schick. (A couple of other well-known cue makers later copied this feature, with Bill's permission.)
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This cue is pre-owned and in spite of being 28 years old, it is in excellent condition, with no significant dings or scratches. It is in original condition. I think one of the shafts has been lightly played, but has been professionally cleaned and looks almost new. They are made with long ivory ferrules.
It weighs either 19.4 or 19.8 ounces depending on which shaft is used (15.9, 3.6, 4.0). One shaft measures 12.9mm and the other 12.7. It is 58 inches long. The tips look to be LePros.
Bill Schick cues are hard to find these day, as most have been absorbed into private collections. This is a rare find, especially in this condition.
PRICE: $7650 PLUS SHIPPING
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