TimeOut

. . . to obtain a C ertificate O f A uthenticity for my pal Bobby's '69 TAD. First, the photos. Shaft #1: Hard maple, phenolic joint with aluminum ring(?) and phenolic ferrule, original tip likely made by Tad Kohara. Shaft #2: Same as shaft #1; both shaft...  

. . . at a game of 9-ball? My pal Bobby can. 😮 Bobby and one of his friends went to an exhibition put on by Mosconi and Irving Crane in So Cal during the summer of '69. Mosconi asked for a volunteer to play a game of 9-ball. Bobby rose to the challenge. W...  

To be in that room with these two Legends 😍

. . . was the most celebrated sportscaster of his era.

🫢🫣😶🙄

. . . Vin Scully. Nobody compares in my book. ...  

I think TAD cues are among the best I have ever played with. I currently have four and I am now looking for a fifth! It's funny that Willie Mosconi gave so much feedback to TAD about how to make the ideal cue play and yet Mosconi is not well known to have... 

. . . so that we can both get a feel of how his cue plays. My recollection is that it was smooth as silk, but memory can be tricky. Best, Art

It certainly may have not quite gotten to the level of the later 1970s TADs which are famous and highly sought after. Any pre-serial number fancy TAD is really hard to separate from their owners. They are rare and a bit more musical yet more forgiving tha... 

Mine from the 1970’s ...  

That is a classic birdseye maple TAD M-1 , this is what TAD himself said was the best of his playing cues. I have a one of a kind variant with a Pink Ivory butt sleeve and also a Goncalo Alves Big Pin rare variant. But you have the best playing cue model ... 

Would love to see photos of yours if you’d care to share.

in Hiroshima. He understood wood like no one else on the West Coast. You can see from below on this bare TAD Kohara 1969 cue, you can't see any gaps between the inlays and the ebony wood. We would spend hours with a knife hand fitting the inlays using ste...  

. . . that's a keeper! Impressed, Art

Everything else is original.

I have never heard of nor seen a self aligning TAD cue joint. ...  

. . . it's a 5/16 - 18 pin that Tad occasionally used and that he, Fred, still uses. Nothing on Bobby's cue has been touched since he picked it up from Tad in late '69, including the tips. Good eye spotting the uncommon pin and joint!

This is by far the most un-TAD like Cue I have seen. There isn't anything I can identify as common to the TADs I have seen. Without a LOA, I don't think anyone can identify it as a TAD. Below are more common for 1970. ...  

. . . the COA to him. Best, Art

...  

. . . the apparently uncommon choice. Gratefully, Art

If you look carefully, the pin head is completely different shape and so is the metal . 1970 cue below with LOA and 4 points. This is Bobby ...  

Won't understand my hesitation until they see what TAD is known for in terms of designs which is unmistakable from 1970 onwards. TAD has such a unique and clear design language that many people can spot a TAD immediately. They basically look like Persian ...  

All hand made. This is the first 1970 catalog If the cue is visually perfect but it sounds bad, TAD is known to still scrap the cue. Only a 100 final cues make it out of the shop. Every flawed cue gets put into the trash. Not even the pitch of the sound t...  

Interesting how different they look and only months apart. One is crooked and has fat cuts into the inlays with lots of cracks. This is unusual too to see a TAD inlay filling in gaps with black glue. Normally TAD cut the wood so precisely the inlay fits l...  

. . . when Bobby ordered it. So it might be a prototype cue Tad let go of for a customer about to go into the Navy. Crane's presence might've been the tipping point.

Bobby's cue is very interesting and atypical. I hope we get to read the LOA. If there is a story behind its origin it may explain a lot about why it looks so different from the TADs of that era. I've actually seen some 1963-1968 era TADs which due to priv... 

that normally would be a red flag that TAD Kohara would not have built this cue even as a experimental cue (why would a test cue be so elaborately constructed to test a concept?) This huge set of rings between the points and handle for decoration is nothi...  

for having my doubts. Bobby does have a very early 1960s (no late 60s) Titlist conversion TAD cue. I saw proof today in a collection that is the best early tad collection I know of. The pin was used only on a handful of cues. Hence really very rare, but a... 

. . . for it to be so idiosyncratic that you had a hard time identifying it as such. I appreciate your sharing of knowledge which is much wider than mine. The only custom cue of note I've ever played with besides Bobby's TAD (and that was at least ten yea... 

I went through so many cues today...this is a photo from a long time ago, the Bobby Pin was on one of these two. You can also see from the wall all cues from the beginning 1963/4 that TADs have always been solid uncored cues. One thing that is on a Taiwan...  

That has a cue made from same period. Looks very similar. Important, note the pin. Inlays cut the same with the crowded look of too many diamonds in a row. Unusual Paradise/ Palmer / Rambow style butt cap. ...  

This kind of TAD , I have seem a few of this style before. Worth mentioning because it maybe a transitional style before the famous and unmistakable often forgery made TAD Persian designs. Persian style ...  

. . . are you the new owner, Seiji?

It's good to see there is at least one other very convincing cue built is a very comparable style as Bobby's cue. I have no interest in buying this cue since a TAD is a player's cue first and foremost so experimental cues are not really my area of interes...  

. . . supplies became scarce.

the much more common for other cuemakers, Goncalo Alves wood. The colors make it look like the nearly impossible to get BRW. My understanding is that as GA oxidizes over the decades, it can look a lot like Indian Rosewood. I have spotted 3 cues that are e...