Famous Billiard cuemaker series – Ernie Gutierrez, The Glory of Biliiard cues,
Gina Cues

When you are in America, just the name Gina billiard Cues will led you talk to any enthusiast for hours. Actually not just in America, in fact Gina Billiard Cue Stick is famed in all parts of the world. Ernie Gutierrez loves the sports of billiards, till 1961, his passion for billiards grew tremendously that he decided to set up a billiard cue stick repair shop in Los Angeles, that was how most of the great masters started.
His first break came when Willie Hoppe drop by to let Ernie Gutierrez repair his Brunswick billiard cue stick, whom Willie Hoppea professional player was endorsed by Brunswick. This decided his future in making billiard cue stick.

During that time, great cuemakers include, Harvey Martin from Los Angeles, Herman Rambow from Chicago and Frank Paradise; because of the movie “The Hustler”, it has exploded an interest in the sport in billiards, thus led to a great conversion of billiard enthusiasts and the billiard industry grew upwards.

Because of the passion in designing his billiard cue stick and the knowledge in making billiard cue stick, it gave him an added boost in his confidence which led hime to produce his own billiard cue stick at the garage of his home. He named his billiard cue stick, Gina Cues, after his 6 days old daughter. This started the era of Gina Cues, Ernie never stop selling his billiard cue stick all over L.A.. Because no one is willing to fork out 3 to 4 times the cost of an ordinary billiard cue stick than a handmade one, his sales was not doing too well, one of the factor is that Ernie is not famous. But this did not stop Ernie from realising his dreams, he knew in order to be famous, he need to produce a materpiece for the world to see.

Finally in 1966, Ernie produce the one of the finest billiard cue stick for the world to see. This masterpiece marked the new benchmark at that time even till now in terms of skills and technology. It is a silver 8 point billiard cue stick, wrap is made of ivory and even the decorative ornaments are highly detailed by silver craftmanship. One of the special part of the billiards cue stick is the box, it is made of the same highly detailed ivory design as the billiard cue stick. At the lauch of the billiard cue stick, the price of it was sold at US$3500, back in 1993, the price grew to US$65,000. But now, the price of the billiard cue stick has shot up to US$100,000 and no discount!

After that, his fame travelled fast, his fame doubled when a professional player Richie Florence used his billiard cue stick to win victories. His orders starts to multiply, the fame of his billiard cue stick travelled so far and wide even hollywood stars want him to make billiard cue stick for them.

In 1970, Ernie Gutierrez started using lots of ivory for his billiard cue stick, precious metal and precious stones are also used, of course this drives uo the price of the billiard cue stick to US$1000 per piece, which is an exorbitant price range at that time.

In the mid of 1973, Ernie suddenly gave up making billiard cue stick, he diversify his attention to designing sports cars and planes, he even designed the injection system of a Lola car for Indy 500 series. Even though he has left the cuemaking career for 15 years, deep inside him, he knew he will return someday.

In 1988, Ernie finally reopen his cuemaking business in North Hollywood, Vineland Avenue. This time he has changed the way he design billiard cue stick, he has combined his knowledge of making billiard cue stick and his knowledge in engineering (when he diverted his business), to set a new benchmark. The new generation of billiard cue stick is much more superior in quality and detail compared to those in the 60's and 70's. Although Ernie has been improving in his skills and technology, he still made his billiard cue stick in his old garage and named it “Brutus”.

Between 1961 to 1973, Ernie starts to engraved Gina Cue on all his billiard cue stick. In 1988, he uses the initial of GC for the logo of the billiard cues he made. In the 90's, Ernie use to deisgn and make pricey billiard cue stick for collectors and cuemakers alike, his billiard cue stick normally sells for tens of thousands of dollars. In 1991, Ernie arrived in Taiwan for the first ever Taiwan World Competition, with businessman Vince Tedesco to promote Gina Cue. At that time, the price of the non-ivory, four point billiard cues go for a whopping US$1,875.82.

Ernie Gutierrez is a rare talent and a great master in his own class, and in 1944 he was listed in American Cuemaker's Association as a master in cuemaking.

After receiving the honour, famous cuemakers often went to Ernie for comments on their newly produced billiard cue stick. In America, Ernie Gutierrez was said to be the new generation after George Balabushka and Gus Szamboti.
Actually in the 90's, C.N.C. Computer lathe has been used to laser cut those intricate details achieving point to point with a tolerance of lesser than 0.1mm. Thus all can see that the revolution of cuemaking has been changed.

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