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Elements - Sold - Price Ask
This case was done in close
collaboration with the customer. Bruce is a big fan of cue cases
in general and he has become a close friend to me as we "talk shop" a
lot. Bruce has given me great advice, turned me on to vintage
leather work by masters of the craft who have done some of the fanciest
work ever seen. After purchasing two of our J.Flowers Tribute
series Bruce decided that he wanted to have his "dream case"
done. So I told him to send me what he wanted the ulitmate case
to be and we would get it done. Bruce mailed - by the actual post
office - me 14 pages of specifications. Twice just to be sure I
got it. Then we spent several hours on the phone discussing
it. At the end Bruce had carefully chosen all the elements of our
cases and cases he has owned from others to make his dream case.
Hence the name Elements.
Some of the things we did for Bruce's case to make it just right for
him. The pockets are 2.25" high so he can fit billiard balls and
bridge heads. Inside the top pocket is a special space for chalk
and to store joint protectors when not in use. Of course the
handles and straps are just where he wanted them to be. We did a
magnetic Puzzle Latch for him so no moving parts to break ever.
And the decoration is done in the modifed Sheridan style with wild
roses and chestnuts flowing around the pockets and up the sides of the
case.
Then for the interior we chose a nice chocolate brown to complement the
rest of the case. We put a modifed Ultra Pad interior in it with
a custom spacer for his cue extension.
So that's it. We put a lot of love and care into this one and we
really hope that it is Bruce's dream case. We will let you know
at the end of the page what he thinks of it. :-)
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As promised here is Bruce's thoughts on the case after he received it.
I promised a follow up report when I came back so here it is. If you missed the first review, it is LINKED. If you missed Karen Barton's GREAT Custom Pool Cue photos, they are linked.
Well I have had my Element’s Pool Cue Case about two weeks, that John
Barton, and I collaborated on, then John & his team complete and
delivered to me about two weeks ago.
The Element’s Pool Cue Case has been getting used, and the design idea
is working out wonderful. When I want to take something out, or put
something back in the Cue Case it is easy in, easy out. The DEEP
POCKETS were a GREAT IDEA!
Weight is fine as my long walk, when I walk to the Community Pool Room
is all of a Mile, & a Third, and honestly if I wanted to lighten up
the load a lot, A good diet could take 20 pounds of fat off this OLD
PACK MULE (me),
with elimination of Beer, Cheetos, and Hershey Kisses for a
month....LOL. Plus most of the time I drive to the Pool Room, but some
days I feel like doing the walk.
Sometimes I just have to laugh at the lite, or light weight optional
offered in Pool Cue Cases, as honestly most of us only walk from the
parking lot to the inside of a Bar, or Pool Room to play. Not like you
are on the The Bataan Death March, in the middle of humid summer, with
no food, no water for a many miles to walk on a forces march with a
bayonet at your back.
I have to give John a lot of credit as I think this project was a tough
one, as he knew I wanted something unique. During the planning stages
John, and I e-mailed many time. We had a few phone conversations when
e-mail communication was not the way to brain storm.
When John, and his Team started the Pool Cue Case, Karen his life
partner, and wife sent photos to me as stage of the project were in
progress, or completed.
Also John and I communicated more as the Cue Case progressed, we did
some final tweaking as the Cue Case was nearing completion. One thing
that was tossed around was the Interior color, and the Brown that was
chosen to complimented the finished project exterior color. I think the
Brown rocks!
I honestly have had nothing but praise for the work of John, and his
Team, and I keep saying “TEAM” as John is I think the brain behind
everything coming out of his shop, but it is a team effort that does the
work.
I have got several PM’s about the Element’s Case, and did promise a
further review. One question people asked was how long did it take to
build the Finished Pool Cue Case?
Well I will say when work started on my Pool Cue Case, as I understand
it, the design, layout of the tooling work, and the actually tooling
work, as I understand it took about 40-60 hours from concept, to lay
out, to tooling all the leather parts. Than you got the dying of
leather, placement of zippers, stitching together components pieces,
building of interior, etc. More time. So many production time was 30
days.
I do know that John’s Team works on several Pool Cue Cases at a time, so
it is like sort of a assembly line where certain craftsmen do some of
the work, and other do other part of the work with John & his wife
Karen doing design, planning, production scheduling, quality control,
customer relation, problem solving, shipping, quotes, etc.
The one guy on John’s Team that is really special is, the talented Zhen Hai his Master Leather Worker ( pronounced GEN-HI) who was responsible for part of the tooling design, and all of the leather tooling.
I did get one PM from a buy American kind of guy, chastising me for
buying a Pool cue Case made in CHINA! My reply to that was I bought my
Pool Cue Case from an American. John Barton is an American Citizen,
American Military Veteran, working in China for an American Company, so I
got that American John, plus he came packaged with 10 + Chinese people (craftsmen) as a bonus.
As I said before, and will say again if any of you forum members want
something that is truly unique in a Custom Pool Cue Case, at a fair
price. Please consider JB Cases, as he and his team are capable of
doing what few others can.
The last thing I will say is John Barton tries real hard to make this
customers dream come true. He accomplished what he tried to do
JB Cases, aka John Barton also takes a great pride in producing a “top
quality”, product at a very competitive prices. I think he and his team
still are like the craftsman of the old days, who wanted nothing
leaving their shop before it was as best they could produce. What else
could one ask from anyone they do business with?
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