![]() He couldn’t get phenolic for seven months and the company in Canada where he gets his shaft wood, was shut down for five months. ![]() He enlightens us that production has been slowed lately due to Covid as many materials have been difficult to come by. He says it’s difficult to get enough quality materials to match product designs to fill orders. Ariel states the hardest part about being a cue maker is first “finding customers getting someone to try your product without dismissing you.” Now after being a long-established cue maker, the most challenging part is producing what everyone wants. Although he describes his shop looking as though a “nuclear bomb went off” he manages to produce some incredible playing cues out of the chaos. Ariel decided to keep it and in 1992 established Carmeli Custom Cues. Inspired by this, his friend Del Ramos surprised Ariel with a logo he’d created for the new cue maker. Ariel was a quick learner, and it wasn’t long before he began receiving his own orders to fill from people wanting a cue from him. He asked Tad to give Ariel some pointers and for the next year Tad would come in for an hour every other weekend and give Ariel lessons on building cues. Fortunately, the venue’s owner, Rick Landsburg also happened to be a sales representative for Hall of Fame cue maker, Tad Kohara (TAD Cues). ![]() Ariel laughs about his “extensive” lesson on the lathe from the venue’s manager, Robert Wong: He received all of about seven minutes of instructions and then spent the next two days getting comfortable using the lathe. He had never used a lathe before but was confident that if he could see the different parts of a cue, then he could effectively put one together. While he had a strong background in making and repairing furniture, it wasn’t long until he was asked to use his skills for cue repair. In the shop they also had furniture repair, which is where Ariel started. In 1991, Ariel began working at a billiard supply company called Best Billiards in Santa Ana, California. He also retained employment as a plumber, but it was when the next recession hit that he was forced to pursue another career path. Prior to becoming a cue maker, Ariel developed his wood-working skills while building furniture under his brother’s high-end sign shop called “Carmeli Design Group”. Testing different cues side-by-side is the way to go, if you have that luxury.Ariel Carmeli, 52, resides in Eastvale, California with his wife Debra and their family. But part of the enjoyment for me is the feel of the cue, not just the fact that it moves the cue ball where I want it to go. Maybe after a while I'd like one of them even better than the AC. ![]() I don't doubt that any of the cues I tested would play just fine. I've bought most of my cues without testing them first and haven't had any bad experiences. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.Īs a side note, the experience at the Midwest made me a believer in the hit-before-buying-if-at-all-possible credo. I was almost disappointed, since I was in the market for one of the other makers and not for an AC.Īlways hard to say what makes one cue feel better on a given day than another, but the AC feels every bit as good today as it did last fall. The AC felt the best of the lot - well-balanced, solid, good feedback, and great workmanship. I hit cues by James White, Blackcreek, Stacey, Sugartree, and several others. I bought an AC after testing a bunch of cues at the Midwest Cue show last fall. ![]()
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