McDermott has built pool cues in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin since 1975, and the lineup we carry spans the full range the company makes: playing cues, jump and break cues, shafts, cases and cue-care accessories. We stock 103 McDermott products today, 65 currently in stock, priced from about $20 for small parts up to about $2,450 for the flagship 50th Anniversary cues. Below is every series McDermott builds, from the maple-shafted GS line to the all-carbon-fiber Vanquish, along with the shaft technologies, joint types and warranty terms that actually separate one McDermott cue from another.
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4.9/5 average from 767 customer reviews across McDermott.
McDermott has manufactured pool cues since 1975, and in that time the company has grown from a single Wisconsin cue shop into a family of more than a dozen McDermott-distributed brands. The cues themselves are still built at McDermott Cue Mfg., LLC's own facility at N84W13660 Leon Rd in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where the company says a McDermott cue passes through more than 150 separate procedures before it leaves the shop. Shafts start as kiln-dried, hand-selected North American Hard Rock Maple that is turned eleven times during construction to check it for stability before it is fitted to a butt. McDermott markets itself directly as an American company, and it backs that claim with a lifetime warranty against warpage and manufacturing defects on the cues and shafts it builds domestically.
That combination of an old-school, wood-turning shop floor and modern shaft engineering is what shows up across the McDermott catalog we carry: 103 products in total, 65 of them in stock right now, spanning cues priced from about $20 for small hardware up to about $2,450 for the commemorative 50th Anniversary series. In between sits a wide spread of playing cues, jump and break cues, replacement shafts, cases and joint protectors, all built around a handful of named shaft technologies that McDermott has developed and refined over the decades.
G-Core is McDermott's blend of a traditional maple shaft with a triple-layer carbon-fiber core that runs through the first 7 inches of the shaft, the section that takes the direct impact of the cue ball. McDermott says that construction increases shaft stability by 65% and improves radial consistency compared with an all-wood shaft, while still keeping the hit and feel of maple. G-Core shafts also carry McDermott's CT Technology, a carbon-fiber ferrule core the company says makes the ferrule assembly stronger and more responsive. G-Core comes standard on McDermott's G-Series cues.
Where G-Core keeps a wood core with carbon fiber near the tip, McDermott's Intimidator i-Shaft line runs carbon fiber the full length of the shaft using the company's proprietary Intimidator Carbon Energy (ICE) construction, paired with Tenon Tip Technology at the ferrule. McDermott calls the i-Shaft the most radially consistent shaft it makes. The i-2, built with a 12.75mm tip, comes standard on McDermott's higher-tier cues rather than its entry lines, and the i-1 Big Boy variant also shows up as a jump-cue shaft.
The i-Pro and i-Pro Slim shafts take a different route to the same radial-consistency goal while keeping the shaft entirely wood-faced. They use McDermott's Octadic Laminated Shaft Construction, eight spliced pieces of maple, combined with a full-length triple-layer carbon-fiber core underneath. McDermott describes the pairing as the most radially consistent wooden shafts the company has built.
Defy is McDermott's true carbon-fiber shaft, meaning there is no wood core at all, not carbon wrapped around maple. It uses SmacWrap, a vibration-dampening layer originally developed for aerospace use, which McDermott says absorbs vibration and dampens noise for a quieter, softer-feeling hit with a low-friction glide through the bridge hand.
At the traditional end of the lineup is McDermott's Classic All-Maple shaft, built from North American Grade AAA Hard Rock Maple with no carbon fiber at all. It is the standard shaft on McDermott's GS-Series cues and is aimed at players who want the familiar wood feel and flex of a maple shaft at a lower price point than the carbon-core options above it.
Pool cues are the core of the McDermott catalog we carry, with McDermott Pool Cues covering the G-Series, GS-Series, Select, Sneaky Pete, Stinger, Vanquish and 50th Anniversary lines described in more detail below.
We stock 16 McDermott replacement and upgrade shafts on their own in the shafts category, for players who want to swap in a G-Core, i-Shaft or Defy shaft on a cue they already own rather than buy a complete new cue.
McDermott Cases covers the 4 McDermott-branded cases we currently carry, built to match the cues in the lineup.
The remaining 5 McDermott products in our catalog are accessories: joint protectors, a jump training ball and cue extensions, the small parts that keep a McDermott cue running the way it did on day one.
Compatibility on a McDermott cue comes down to two things: the joint and the shaft. Of the McDermott products in our catalog with a listed joint, 83 use the 3/8x10 joint, McDermott's standard pin across most of the lineup, while 8 use the proprietary McDermott Quick Release joint found on select cues. On the shaft side, 70 of our McDermott products carry a 13.00mm tip, the traditional McDermott playing diameter, with smaller pockets at 12.75mm (8), 13.25mm (5, used mainly on Stinger break and jump shafts), 11.75mm (3), 12.50mm (3) and 12.00mm (1). By shaft construction, 82 of our McDermott products use a classic wood shaft (maple, G-Core or i-Pro, all of which are wood-faced) against 4 built on a carbon fiber shaft (Defy or Vanquish). Wrap-wise, 50 use a linen wrap, 20 are wrapless, 8 use a leather wrap, 6 use a reptile-skin wrap and 1 uses a sport wrap. If you already own a McDermott and are shopping for a spare or upgrade shaft rather than a full cue, the shafts category is the place to match pin type and tip size before you buy.
McDermott positions its cues around handcrafted construction, exotic-wood forearms and inlay work, and a no-charge personalization program: the company says weight, shaft size, wrap material and stain are all interchangeable on request at no extra cost. Published retail listings corroborate the craftsmanship angle from the outside, describing McDermott as family-owned and operated out of Menomonee Falls for more than 50 years, and pointing to McDermott's three-piece butt construction as a contributor to long-term stability and consistent balance. Those same listings also call out McDermott's shaft lineup, spanning maple through G-Core, Intimidator i-Shaft, i-Pro and Defy carbon fiber, as one of the widest in the industry, which is part of why the technology section above has five different named shafts rather than one.
On the competitive side, McDermott sponsors a roster of ambassadors who play its cues in tournament conditions. Brian "Superman" Pauley, an ambassador since 2015 who competes in WPA artistic pool and trick-shot events, plays a McDermott G903 with an i-3 shaft, a Stinger break cue and an i-1 Big Boy jump shaft. Charles Marshall Jr., an ambassador since 2017 who plays 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball, uses a G1101 playing cue paired with a Stinger break cue. Caroline Egan Jackson, known as "Queen Cobra" and an ambassador since 2007, plays an M29B "The Bridgeport" with both i-2 and i-3 shaft options and a Sledgehammer break cue. Juan Vega Enriquez, "The Rabbit" of Lima, Peru, played McDermott cues representing his country at the 2008 World Cup of Pool in Rotterdam. At the far end of the range, McDermott's own site markets a custom Intimidator cue as, in the company's words, the most expensive pool cue in the world, which gives some sense of how far the brand's engineering and inlay work can be pushed above the production cues we stock.
McDermott's Lifetime Warranty covers manufacturing defects, including warpage, for as long as the original purchaser owns the cue. It applies only to that original purchaser and, per McDermott's own warranty page, the cue must have been bought through an authorized retailer for the warranty to apply; a warranty claim requires sending in the complete cue for evaluation at McDermott's facility. The warpage portion of the warranty was introduced in 2004, so it does not extend to older McDermott cues built before that date, and having a shaft turned down below 11.75mm voids the warranty outright. On top of the defect warranty, McDermott offers a free Lifetime Maintenance Plan on its American-made cues, essentially a standing multi-point inspection service. You cover return shipping, a flat $25 domestically via insured UPS Ground with signature required, and a handful of models, the Sledgehammer SH1, Stinger, Star, Lucky and Element, are excluded from the butt-refinishing part of that plan.
Community sentiment on McDermott is more divided than the manufacturer's own marketing lets on. A long-running, multi-page thread on the AZBilliards forums titled "Why so much hate for McDermott cues?" debates whether the brand's wide retail and mall-store presence has unfairly dragged down its reputation among more serious cue collectors, with posters in that thread describing decades-old McDermotts as still straight and still hitting well even as others push back on why the brand draws more criticism than its performance seems to warrant. On the G-Series specifically, sentiment runs more positive: posters on a separate AZBilliards thread about the G-Series and G-Core shaft say McDermott has sold thousands of cues built around that shaft, and that a G-Core cue represents about as much cue for the money as a buyer is likely to find. Elsewhere, a minority of posts describe deflection complaints, but those tend to reference older or entry-level McDermott shafts rather than the current G-Core, i-Shaft or Defy lines.
Everything above draws from the specific McDermott products we stock. For the full range, start with our McDermott Pool Cues category for complete cues, cross over to Shafts if you are hunting a replacement or upgrade shaft, or check Pool Cue Cases for something to carry it in.
McDermott builds its cues at its own factory in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, using kiln-dried North American Hard Rock Maple shafts turned eleven times during construction. McDermott markets itself directly as an American company.
Yes. McDermott's Lifetime Warranty covers manufacturing defects and warpage for as long as the original purchaser owns the cue, though warpage coverage only applies to cues built since 2004.
G-Core pairs a traditional maple shaft with a triple-layer carbon-fiber core through the first 7 inches. McDermott says this increases shaft stability by 65% and improves radial consistency while keeping a maple feel. It comes standard on G-Series cues.
The i-2 runs carbon fiber the full length of a maple-based shaft using McDermott's ICE construction. Defy is true carbon fiber with no wood core at all, built with aerospace-derived SmacWrap vibration dampening for a quieter, softer hit.
McDermott says weight, shaft size, wrap material and stain are all interchangeable at no extra charge on its cues, part of the personalization program the company backs with its lifetime warranty and free maintenance plan.
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