Justis/Redding Custom Ostrich Cue Case

[Justis Cases]

This is a case made for one of my customers in Michigan and one of the first cases complemented by Redding tooling. The diamond inlays are elephant/lizard.

[RustyMelton]

This is a case made for one of my customers in Michigan and one of the first cases complemented by Redding tooling. The diamond inlays are elephant/lizard.

Very nice Jack, I love the one you made for me.

[King's X]

Absolutely beautiful.

A member in our guild would like to build one, but is stuck on how to get the skeleton (or what to you). You do awesome work.

Greetings from Austin, TX

[JohnBarton]

Absolutely beautiful.

A member in our guild would like to build one, but is stuck on how to get the skeleton (or what to you). You do awesome work.

Greetings from Austin, TX

What Jack and I use are specially made extruded tubes in an oval shape. They are then lined with a fabric liner that is sewn into compartments.

An alternative - and the way we still offer to customers who wish it is to use plumbing and electrical tubes to form the interior. You simply make liners that are sewn on one side and fold them over the ends. Use something soft but durable so that the liners won't wear out and they won't harm the cue. The plumbing tubes should be about 1.25" in inside diameter and the electrical tubes should be .75". You can test this by taking a cue to the hardware store.

Tape the tubes together in such a way that they can't move. Using tubes you can make virtually any shape you want - I prefer to make shapes which allow the tubes to nestle together naturally but sometimes the customer wants something else so you have to make spacers to get the shape. Spacers can be cut bits of scrap leather, foam, parts of tubes, whatever works to get a nice sturdy interior unit. Try to make it so that ends and the center are the same overall diameter. The way I do this is to cut sections of my tube liners and put them on the outside of the tube so that the tubes are connected at the same distance at four points - top, bottom, and at the quarters.

Then it's just a matter of figuring out the right size to cut your parts. You don't want to be too tight as it will be hard to get the tubes in. You also don't want to be too loose as that has danger of the interior coming out. I prefer it to be snug and unmoving.

I also have a pet peeve which I have built my reputation on of wanting the cues to fit snugly, almost a press or form fit. Most cue case makers don't do this and most customers don't care. Whether your guild member goes this way or not is up to them. It's much easier to not build to to this standard as the cases will be able to fit a much larger range of cues and there is never any danger of a cue getting stuck in the case. I just happen to not want my cues to rattle inside the case.

You can see some examples of the interior from a top view by going here:

http://www.jbcases.com/ordering.html

I am sure that Jack or Rusty or Marcel, cue case makers on this forum, as well as myself will be happy to talk with your guild member and advise him on the interior. The last alternative is to buy the premade extruded tube interiors from someone like me or Jack's supplier. I haven't sold any yet but I am preparing to send some to a few cue case makers who have asked me if we can sell them. I don't even have a price in mind but if your guild member contacts me then I am sure we can work something out.